The Sword and Laser discussion

One thing I often find interesting about books is expectation. Personally, I like when I expect a book to follow a certain, sometimes predictable, storyline and then it goes very differently. And yet, I see some readers get annoyed by this.

Then again, I have been annoyed a few times with Neil Gaiman, when I felt like he was making his story go a weird direction just to subvert expectation.

Still, I had certain ideas about Iron Widow that were constantly being subverted.

At the beginning, we are introduced to Wu Zetian and she has a vendetta we can get behind. The system is stacked against her; where she is expected to go into battle and die, but her goal is to flip this and instead kill.

What I expected was that she would get paired with successively more powerful male pilots, only to be revealed to be stronger and stronger when she killed them. Then, inevitably and reluctantly, those in charge would move her to the male seat and start pairing her with 'sacrifice' males.

What I expected to happen was that she would inevitably have to come to terms with what the males were being forced to do by becoming the very thing she hated.

But that story arc would have been predictable, or at least more predictable than the one we got.

What did you expect to happen in the book?

Well I certainly thought it would take longer for her to avenge her sister! I loved that break in expectation. Day 1, meets her sister's killer, kills him, laughs about it in front of everyone. It felt like the climax, but that was what? 1/4 of the way through the book? Didn't see that coming.

Another subversion I really enjoyed were the relationships! The book didn't give me love-triangle vibes initially, but when she started getting to know Shimin, I started wondering if the plot was going to turn into a love-triangle after all.
Of course, it does end up being a love-triangle of sorts, but certainly not the kind readers are used to! I did NOT see the polyamorous relationship coming.

Paul wrote: "I did NOT see the polyamorous relationship coming."

The only part I didn't see coming, was Zetian being part of it. 😜

I had Yizhi and Shimin shipped very early in the book.

Yizhi was giving off gay BFF vibes to Zetian from the very first page.

I think for me it was two things:
When she kills the first male pilot in the first battle, I fully expected her to get paired with another pilot and then also kill him. I was really anxious Li Shimin was going to die at the end of part 2, because i was really starting to like him. I was even more devastated when he ended up being killed at the end of part 4. 💔

The other thing I was caught off guard by was the actual polyamorous relationship on page. 🤯
Gao Yizhi gave me poly vibes from very early on. However I did not expect both Wu and Li to both follow along. 💞
I always ship poly couples. And I think it’s the first time in a fiction book I actually saw it happen in the story. I’m still blown away by this.

I guess you haven't read Anita Blake. The beginning of the latest book is rather overwhelming. She has psychic bonds with multiple lovers while talking to her parents. https://www.goodreads.com/series/4908...

The Expanse also had Michio Pa's group marriage, so it wasn't my first encounter, but in that case, the author doesn't show the relationship develop, and also I think with how different belter culture already is, for whatever reason, a poly-arrangement among space pirates just seemed kind of natural.
I think since this relationship took place in a more conservative "traditional" culture, and because we watched it develop from a first-person perspective, the polyamorous relationship felt more subversive and intimate.

Osgood in Osgood As Gone, a ghost detective, is also polyamorous.

Is Polyamory supposed to be a new thing in SFF? Heinlein had Line Marriage in Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and more loosy goosy free love in Stranger in a Strange Land. That's the earliest I recall reading in SFF but would not be surprised to see it appear decades earlier. SFF has always attracted free thinkers.

John (Taloni) wrote: "SFF has always attracted free thinkers."

When I try to read classic sci-fi I most often run into what I just encountered at the beginning of Ringworld - a sexy 20-year old woman inserted just to share a bed with the old man main character. I think "free love" in classic sci-fi gets too much of a pass as progressive - it more often feels like male wish-fulfillment.

Yeah, there are two different extremes with old Sci-Fi. I'm currently reading Stand on Zanzibar and its more of the Ringworld/Lucifer's Hammer type - which has been a huge disappointment.

TMIAHM was one of the first things I thought of when reading Iron Widow, because in that book they are so laid back about it. It is what it is or I especially love the The Forever War series for its future sexuality.

John (Taloni) wrote: "Is Polyamory supposed to be a new thing in SFF? Heinlein had Line Marriage in Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and more loosy goosy free love in Stranger in a Strange Land. That's the earliest I recall re..."

Given Mary Shelly's proclivities its been there since the beginning.