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A review by deecreatenola
The Mirror of Her Dreams by Stephen R. Donaldson
2.0
I found the Mirror of Her Dreams among my mom’s many thousands of books that she left. I immediately had a warm feeling of recollection and put the book aside to keep. I thought rereading it would be like visiting an old friend. However, now that I’ve done so, I cannot be sure whether I read it or not. Parts of it are familiar…maybe. Other parts not at all. And overall I have a lot of problems with the book.
First there’s Terisa. When we meet her, she’s a completely blank slate. She has pretty much always done what she was told. She grew up in a house of very little love, and seemingly never had any dreams or goals for herself. She’s so blank that she even questions her existence, leading her to put up mirrors all around the condo her father pays for her to live in. This is not the kind of heroine I want to read about – someone who has no inner drive. Yes, she gains it over time. But there’s nothing there at the beginning. It’s aggravating to have a female character drawn this way. And it only gets more aggravating when she goes to Orison.
One night while she’s questioning her own existence, a young man crashes through one of her mirrors. Amazingly, or maybe not, he convinces her to come back through the mirror with him to Mordant. Mordant is an alternate world, medieval in nature with a castle, a king, princesses, etc. The young man, Geraden, believe Terisa is the champion meant to save them, basically from themselves since their king has checked out of all of his responsibilities and not dealing with any internal or external threats.
Like any good medieval story, there are wizards, in this case Imagers who can do magic with mirrors. She meets Master Eremis who is immediately taken with her – and wants to “take” her. Now, we know Terisa is an innocent, but on more than one instance she completely melts before him. She lets him undo her blouse, suckle her breasts, feel her up, etc., but consummation is always interrupted.
It’s clear this book could ONLY have been written by a man. This is not a strong heroine, lifting her blouse every time the mysterious magician arrives. Come on! The story pits Geraden and Eremis as opposed suitors in a sense. Now, I get that women are drawn to bad boys. That is true. But Eremis is sort of icky. We don’t 100% know if he’s good or bad, but it’s clear he is icky, and I do not want my heroines falling for the slop he delivers. Geraden is good and kind and goofy. I don’t see this innocent young woman who’s got no experience with men and barely believes she exists would immediately lift her shirt for smarmy Eremis who seems to be at least ten or twenty (or more) years older than she is. It sounds like a male fantasy, packaged in a female fantasy book.
The story as a whole is slow moving for all the nearly 650 pages. I wanted so much more from the story. I wanted Terisa to quit dithering. I wanted some clue to what was really going on (but I guess you don’t find that out until Book II). I felt like we spent most of the time going back and forth to rooms, drinking wine, looking out the window. Sigh.
Something interesting the author does that I want to bring up, which is naming things. The land is Mordant, and there are numerous regions contained within it. The castle is Orison (maybe the area around the castle, too). Each of the other regions within Mordant also has a leader, like nobleman, who seems to be titled based on the region. So the leader of Tor is the Tor, the leader of Domne is the Domne, for Armigite it’s the Armigite, and so forth. I found that unique. Slightly confusing, but interesting, too.
Then there’s the issue of Alend and Cadwal. These seem to be beyond Mordant and are enemies. The leader of one of them (and it got confusing) is the High King Festten. I could not figure out why he was the High King yet Mordant’s leader was the King. What made him the High King? The High King also had a sidekick, like his own super-Ninja, called the High King’s Monomach. This was not a word I’d ever seen before but it’s presented like “a thing.” So the world building was good overall.
Individual names were interesting, too. I didn’t know if Terisa was pronounced Theresa or Teriza. Geraden is foreign but sounds like it could be a name we would use. I was never sure how to pronounce Artagle (long ‘a’ or short ‘a’?). I think the naming in this book was really good.
I don’t know if I’ll read Book II. This experience was so frustrating, especially since I was expecting a comfort read. I do want to know what happens. I read a lot more fantasy thirty years ago, and mores have clearly changed. I was a feminist then but probably a more self-aware feminist now, and the charged testosterone and masculinity of Mordant and this world were difficult. The women could prevail in the next book. But can I take that chance?
First there’s Terisa. When we meet her, she’s a completely blank slate. She has pretty much always done what she was told. She grew up in a house of very little love, and seemingly never had any dreams or goals for herself. She’s so blank that she even questions her existence, leading her to put up mirrors all around the condo her father pays for her to live in. This is not the kind of heroine I want to read about – someone who has no inner drive. Yes, she gains it over time. But there’s nothing there at the beginning. It’s aggravating to have a female character drawn this way. And it only gets more aggravating when she goes to Orison.
One night while she’s questioning her own existence, a young man crashes through one of her mirrors. Amazingly, or maybe not, he convinces her to come back through the mirror with him to Mordant. Mordant is an alternate world, medieval in nature with a castle, a king, princesses, etc. The young man, Geraden, believe Terisa is the champion meant to save them, basically from themselves since their king has checked out of all of his responsibilities and not dealing with any internal or external threats.
Like any good medieval story, there are wizards, in this case Imagers who can do magic with mirrors. She meets Master Eremis who is immediately taken with her – and wants to “take” her. Now, we know Terisa is an innocent, but on more than one instance she completely melts before him. She lets him undo her blouse, suckle her breasts, feel her up, etc., but consummation is always interrupted.
It’s clear this book could ONLY have been written by a man. This is not a strong heroine, lifting her blouse every time the mysterious magician arrives. Come on! The story pits Geraden and Eremis as opposed suitors in a sense. Now, I get that women are drawn to bad boys. That is true. But Eremis is sort of icky. We don’t 100% know if he’s good or bad, but it’s clear he is icky, and I do not want my heroines falling for the slop he delivers. Geraden is good and kind and goofy. I don’t see this innocent young woman who’s got no experience with men and barely believes she exists would immediately lift her shirt for smarmy Eremis who seems to be at least ten or twenty (or more) years older than she is. It sounds like a male fantasy, packaged in a female fantasy book.
The story as a whole is slow moving for all the nearly 650 pages. I wanted so much more from the story. I wanted Terisa to quit dithering. I wanted some clue to what was really going on (but I guess you don’t find that out until Book II). I felt like we spent most of the time going back and forth to rooms, drinking wine, looking out the window. Sigh.
Something interesting the author does that I want to bring up, which is naming things. The land is Mordant, and there are numerous regions contained within it. The castle is Orison (maybe the area around the castle, too). Each of the other regions within Mordant also has a leader, like nobleman, who seems to be titled based on the region. So the leader of Tor is the Tor, the leader of Domne is the Domne, for Armigite it’s the Armigite, and so forth. I found that unique. Slightly confusing, but interesting, too.
Then there’s the issue of Alend and Cadwal. These seem to be beyond Mordant and are enemies. The leader of one of them (and it got confusing) is the High King Festten. I could not figure out why he was the High King yet Mordant’s leader was the King. What made him the High King? The High King also had a sidekick, like his own super-Ninja, called the High King’s Monomach. This was not a word I’d ever seen before but it’s presented like “a thing.” So the world building was good overall.
Individual names were interesting, too. I didn’t know if Terisa was pronounced Theresa or Teriza. Geraden is foreign but sounds like it could be a name we would use. I was never sure how to pronounce Artagle (long ‘a’ or short ‘a’?). I think the naming in this book was really good.
I don’t know if I’ll read Book II. This experience was so frustrating, especially since I was expecting a comfort read. I do want to know what happens. I read a lot more fantasy thirty years ago, and mores have clearly changed. I was a feminist then but probably a more self-aware feminist now, and the charged testosterone and masculinity of Mordant and this world were difficult. The women could prevail in the next book. But can I take that chance?