Lying with Scorpions (Memory of Scorpions, #2) in Riptide Publishing

Dec 21, 2013 Bucletina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: alucinantemente-geniales

Cada uno tiene su forma y sus criterios para calificar en GR los libros que lee. El mío, absolutamente personal, tiene algunas variables lógicas en cuenta (estructura, personajes, trama, etc) pero básicamente responde a sensaciones, a algo meramente instintivo, que viene de las entrañas. Son las emociones que se me ponen en juego cuando lo leo. No pretendo que siga ningún precepto mas que el de estar en sintonía con mis ideas, sentimientos, gustos y convicciones.

Cuando leí Scorpions 1, no tuve Cada uno tiene su forma y sus criterios para calificar en GR los libros que lee. El mío, absolutamente personal, tiene algunas variables lógicas en cuenta (estructura, personajes, trama, etc) pero básicamente responde a sensaciones, a algo meramente instintivo, que viene de las entrañas. Son las emociones que se me ponen en juego cuando lo leo. No pretendo que siga ningún precepto mas que el de estar en sintonía con mis ideas, sentimientos, gustos y convicciones.

Cuando leí Scorpions 1, no tuve dudas de que merecía un 5: por su trama, el desarrollo de sus personajes, la intensidad y credibilidad de lo que sucedía, los nudos y vueltas de tuerca, los destellos que ya aparecían sobre el poder, la política y los intereses, y cómo todo se mezclaba en perfecta armonía, teniendo sobre todo en cuenta de que se trataba de una primera parte. Pero sin desmerecer nada de lo dicho, y reafirmándolo aún, su segunda parte lo supera ampliamente. No es que su predecesora merezca menos estrellas sino que ésta se lleva muchas mas. Es lo que uno sueña que sean las segundas partes. ¿Por qué?

Primero por los personajes. Kendras es absolutamente genial y estará para siempre en mi altar, pero lo es no solo por mérito propio sino también en relación con la galería de personajes no tan secundarios que lo rodean. No son simples satélites o muñecos puestos en relación con un personaje armado para que todos los lectores lo amen. Voinov se tomó el trabajo de pensar cada uno, de darles vida, de dotarlos de características, ideas, sentimientos y roles. No es un diseño pensado en detalle, y luego copiado por computadora una docena de veces. Por eso parte de la gracia es ir descubriéndolos y viendo para dónde se disparan. Cada uno es diferente, con fuerza e identidad propia. Algunos desarrollos me los esperaba con ansiedad, me imaginaba que podía suceder, pero con esa mezcla de "quiero que pase esto, pero no quiero, y si pasa ¿cómo hará su autor para rearmar todo, cómo reaccionarán los demás ante el cambio en las reglas del juego?". Jamás pongo spoilers en mis reviews, ni hablo en particular de la trama (para eso vayan mejor a leer el libro), pero hay algo que quiero decir: Graukar me sedujo el corazón y los instintos. Qué mágico vinculo con Kendras y qué diferente a otros que ha tenido.

Otro punto que para mí fue bisagra es el lugar de la mujer en el universo de Scorpions, y en general de la igualdad de género. No hay roles asignados de acuerdo a los géneros y sus prejuzgadas características: hay mujeres guerreras, comandantes, líderes, reinas. No sirven exclusivamente al propósito de justificar la necesidad de que haya mujeres, poniéndolas siempre como las "damiselas en peligro". Para eso mejor no incluyas ninguna e inventate que los niños nacen de una almeja. En Scorpions las mujeres son figuras claves para el desarrollo de la trama, tanto como puede serlo un hombre o un transexual. No es un detalle menor. Para mi es vital. No sé por qué es tan difícil para los autores incluir personajes femeninos que no caigan siempre en los mismos clichés: o como interés amoroso del protagonista, o como figura maternal / familiar, o como víctima. Y cuando alguien piensa en la necesidad de ahorrarse alguna crítica por la "igualdad de genero", le arman a la mujer una personalidad absurdamente poderosa, o la hacen una guerrera desproporcionadamente habilidosa. Sin embargo siempre en algún momento -indefectiblemente- termina necesitando ayuda del macho alfa; cuando su "esencia femenina" le juega una mala pasada y necesita un miembro viril de caña.

Y como si fuera poco, las intrigas políticas y los juegos de poder. Soy politóloga. Mi tema es ese. Me seduce inexorablemente, sobre todo cuando está bien armado. Cuando muchos intereses se ponen en juego frente a la conquista del poder político, en la forma que sea. Y mucho más cuando éstos son múltiples y variables. Nado en mi salsa de chocolate.

Que suerte haber conocido a Aleksandr Voinov. Qué suerte haber ampliado mi campo de lectura. Qué alucinante que es sentir el incomparable placer que una inteligente, profunda, entretenida e intensa lectura puede generar en un humilde lector.

Debo admitir que cuando un autor me desestructura la cabeza me pongo un poco tonta, me vuelvo algo groupie y stalker. Así que si su autor llega a leer esta única review en castellano de su magnífico libro le pido disculpas de antemano en el caso de que mi agradecimiento y felicidad lleguen a ser muy pesados.

Ni cabe aclarar que espero con ansias la tercera y última parte. ...more

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Dec 25, 2013 Adara rated it it was amazing

If it has been a while since you have read Scorpion, I highly suggest going back to re-read it and remember the intricacies of who people are to each other. This book begins where the last one left off, still told from Kendras's point of view. This story is less action and much more political intrigue than the last. And this is to be a trilogy, so the ending is unfinished. It's a bit of a cliffhanger, even. (Though we can deduce what will happen next.)

So, when I originally read this story, I had If it has been a while since you have read Scorpion, I highly suggest going back to re-read it and remember the intricacies of who people are to each other. This book begins where the last one left off, still told from Kendras's point of view. This story is less action and much more political intrigue than the last. And this is to be a trilogy, so the ending is unfinished. It's a bit of a cliffhanger, even. (Though we can deduce what will happen next.)

So, when I originally read this story, I had reservations about Kendras becoming the Officer because I wasn't sure he could see Adrastes as anything but his Officer and make his own decisions, and that setup was completely intentional by the author. That problem becomes the point of this entire story - how Adrastes and Kendras change. Can Adrastes adjust to no longer being the Officer of the Scorpions? Can Kendras truly become the Officer? Can Kendras ever come to understand the level of politics--the chess match--he's being dragged into? Will the Scorpions stay or leave Adrastes?

The story begins with Adrastes and the Scorpions riding into the city of Dalman, where an attempt is made on Adrastes's life right off the bat. Adrastes and Kendras are still in something of a honeymoon phase with each other, but responsibility begins to weigh on Kendras. He knows that Adrastes plans to attempt to reunite the three cities and rebuild the Empire of Shara, with a legion of Scorpions leading the charge, but their unit is reduced to three. (Four if you count Kiran the tanesh, five if you count Selvan, their slave, too.) But that means Kendras must find new recruits. And if they become an actual legion, as Adrastes desires, then the brotherhood and ways of the Scorpions (as a mercenary group) will be lost to the mechanics of the military. Kendras makes more than one decision which goes against everything he knows about the history and Memory of the Scorpions, and he struggles with figuring out whether or not those decisions are right.

But what grates on Kendras the most is Adrastes forgetting it is the Officer who leads the Scorpions and that he no longer has the right to give them orders. Kendras watches as Adrastes changes from the Officer and comrade he has long known into not just a noble, but a King with a vision to become Emperor, standing on the backs of others to do it. The ideals which Adrastes once held become secondary to claiming that vision, no matter the cost involved. Adrastes doesn't even see it happening to himself; he forgets who Kendras is, his core self, and doesn't see that what he's commanding of Kendras goes against that nature that Adrastes once praised.

And we, as readers, know it is going to happen, that the two of them are going to fall apart when their worlds and ideals collide, because there is no other way for it to happen. But having to watch it happen through Kendras's eyes and share in that pain is difficult. We experience his wavering loyalty as Kendras watches Adrastes change right before his eyes, barely able to believe that the man in front of him was once the Officer he knew and trusted with his life. Kendras has some tough choices to make, and we watch as he grows into the person able to make those choices, pushed by Adrastes overstepping his bounds.

We also watch as Kendras grows apart from Adrastes and closer to another whose ideals more closely match those of the brotherhood of Scorpions he has grown up with. This felt entirely natural given the whole situation that Kendras is in, caught between a rock and a hard place. It is the strength of this relationship which grounds him, and maybe even helps give him conviction.

Additionally, the Jaishani enter the scene and stir things up. The Jaishani ambassador shows up for the coronation but sticks around for the aftermath to discuss strategy and assist in some ways. They drag Kendras further into the deceptions and lies because he is full-blooded Jaishani.

The pieces are intricately and expertly woven together. I cannot wait for the end of the story.

(And because I know he tends to read my reviews: Aleks, get right on that, please.) ;) ...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Dee Wy rated it really liked it

Shelves: m-m, m-m-fantasy, war-military

Wish I could give this book a higher rating, because there was a LOT of good stuff happening in this story. But...it was surrouned with lots of politics and unhappy twists that forced me to put the book down for periods of time before I could go back to it. My rating is simply based on my enjoyment as a reader, and this story made me suffer to get to the good parts.

The highlights for me included how very human the author made Kendras seem, insecurities and all. I love him more than ever. Another ...more

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Dec 21, 2013 Lady*M marked it as dnf

Shelves: fantasy, m-m-romance

I am giving up for the time being and I'm not rating the book (I am at maybe 73-74 %). The big part of the problem is me - I am just taken up with other things right now. When I'm reading the book, it flows easily, but I am also too easily distracted from it and I cannot do it justice.

The second problem for me is that this book doesn't feel like sequel to Scorpion - the book I fell in love with - but some other story with the similar characters. Gone is the gritty, masculine world of the previo ...more

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