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Ozark Trilogy #3
And Then There'll Be Fireworks
Original 1st Edition Hardcover!!! Book Three of the Ozark Fantasy Trilogy.
185 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
71 people want to read
About the author
Suzette Haden Elgin
97 books185 followersSuzette Haden Elgin was an American science fiction author. She founded the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and is considered an important figure in the field of science fiction constructed languages. Elgin was also a linguist; she published non-fiction, of which the best-known is the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense series.
Born in 1936 in Missouri, Elgin attended the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the 1960s, and began writing science fiction in order to pay tuition. She has a Ph.D. in linguistics, and was the first UCSD student to ever write two dissertations (on English and Navajo). She created the engineered language Láadan for her Native Tongue science fiction series. A grammar and dictionary was published in 1985. She is a supporter of feminist science fiction, saying "women need to realize that SF is the only genre of literature in which it's possible for a writer to explore the question of what this world would be like if you could get rid of [X], where [X] is filled in with any of the multitude of real world facts that constrain and oppress women. Women need to treasure and support science fiction." [1]
In addition, she published works of shorter fiction. Overlying themes in her work include feminism, linguistics and the impact of language, and peaceful coexistence with nature. Many of her works also draw from her Ozark background and heritage.
Elgin became a professor at her alma mater's cross-town rival, San Diego State University (SDSU). She retired in 1980.
Born in 1936 in Missouri, Elgin attended the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the 1960s, and began writing science fiction in order to pay tuition. She has a Ph.D. in linguistics, and was the first UCSD student to ever write two dissertations (on English and Navajo). She created the engineered language Láadan for her Native Tongue science fiction series. A grammar and dictionary was published in 1985. She is a supporter of feminist science fiction, saying "women need to realize that SF is the only genre of literature in which it's possible for a writer to explore the question of what this world would be like if you could get rid of [X], where [X] is filled in with any of the multitude of real world facts that constrain and oppress women. Women need to treasure and support science fiction." [1]
In addition, she published works of shorter fiction. Overlying themes in her work include feminism, linguistics and the impact of language, and peaceful coexistence with nature. Many of her works also draw from her Ozark background and heritage.
Elgin became a professor at her alma mater's cross-town rival, San Diego State University (SDSU). She retired in 1980.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 11, 2013
The conclusion of the Ozark Trilogy is a wee bit daft, like the rest of the series, but it begins on a seriously dark note. The Travellers, the dour, black-clad "fundamentalists" of the Planet Ozark, having now successfully isolated themselves from the rest of the world, have gone seriously Hillbilly-Taliban, and the book opens with them whipping a ten-year-old girl to death.
WTF?
In the last book, Ozark's Magicians of Rank put Responsible of Brightwater in a magical coma. It turns out that Responsible was the one holding the planet together, in more ways than one. Without her, not only does the Confederation of Continents fall apart, causing the entire planet to descend into anarchy, but magic also goes away. The Magicians of Rank no longer have any power, and without magic and technology, starvation, disease, and war follows.
Troublesome, who everyone insists on calling wicked and evil and without human feeling, goes on a quest to find out what happened to her sister and then how to make it right. Meanwhile, the Garnet Ring, the villains of the trilogy even though they spend all three books entirely off-stage, have positioned giant magical diamonds over all twelve Castles, portending doom for everyone.
Troublesome, of course, revives Responsible, who saves the day by televising a morale-boosting call to action to the rest of the planet.
All the charming, daft worldbuilding details remain charming, daft, and never really explained. Telepathic sentient mules, two races of aliens living on the same planet but hardly ever seen, an imperialistic magical interstellar empire that wants to take over Ozark but won't because of some convenient self-imposed rules, and the fate of the Planet Ozark resting in the hands of fifteen-year-old girls.
This is a fun trilogy, not exactly tight in terms of consistency or plausibility, but it's offbeat and there are some imaginative gems and a few clever ideas about language and society. The series shares a lot in common with a unicorns-and-dragons fantasy series, reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey or Mercedes Lackey or Piers Anthony, but very mildly feminist, and with certain expectations subverted.
WTF?
In the last book, Ozark's Magicians of Rank put Responsible of Brightwater in a magical coma. It turns out that Responsible was the one holding the planet together, in more ways than one. Without her, not only does the Confederation of Continents fall apart, causing the entire planet to descend into anarchy, but magic also goes away. The Magicians of Rank no longer have any power, and without magic and technology, starvation, disease, and war follows.
Troublesome, who everyone insists on calling wicked and evil and without human feeling, goes on a quest to find out what happened to her sister and then how to make it right. Meanwhile, the Garnet Ring, the villains of the trilogy even though they spend all three books entirely off-stage, have positioned giant magical diamonds over all twelve Castles, portending doom for everyone.
Troublesome, of course, revives Responsible, who saves the day by televising a morale-boosting call to action to the rest of the planet.
All the charming, daft worldbuilding details remain charming, daft, and never really explained. Telepathic sentient mules, two races of aliens living on the same planet but hardly ever seen, an imperialistic magical interstellar empire that wants to take over Ozark but won't because of some convenient self-imposed rules, and the fate of the Planet Ozark resting in the hands of fifteen-year-old girls.
This is a fun trilogy, not exactly tight in terms of consistency or plausibility, but it's offbeat and there are some imaginative gems and a few clever ideas about language and society. The series shares a lot in common with a unicorns-and-dragons fantasy series, reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey or Mercedes Lackey or Piers Anthony, but very mildly feminist, and with certain expectations subverted.
September 26, 2017
Responsible of Brightwater, who has served since childhood to hold the planet of Ozark together, lies in a magical coma. Without her efforts, the kingdoms splinter into warring factions, the weather goes awry, and the magic that usually serves to cure disease, travel far distances in snap, or any number of useful things, wanes and then fails entirely. Bereft of their magical powers but still perfectly logical, a cabal of Grannies go to Responsible's older sister Troublesome and beg her to help.
As a character, Troublesome is an absolute delight. She has no patience or interest in any of the social norms of Ozark (which I hate myself), and is competent at everything necessary without showboating. I love that we got to see into her mind a bit in this book, and I really liked the scenes she shared with Silverweb. (I wish there was a book about them falling in love; after just a few minutes together they each trust each other implicitly, and Troublesome does up her braid and Silverweb teases her about it, and Troublesome is so isolated, and Silverweb so odd, that I think they'd suit very well together. In my head they end up together, and travel Ozark in the summers to find things to excite Troublesome's far-ranging curiosity, and then hole up in winters in a spare but cozy little house.) I only wish she'd gotten a little more to do; the book is so short that I only got to spend ~100 pages with her.
I don't know how to feel about the universe created in the Ozark trilogy. The Grannies and Responsible maintain a world in which genders are rigidly segregated and men are told that only they can do complicated magic and/or rule. But at the same time, every woman is told that *they* underhandedly rule by manipulating men. The Grannies further keep secret the existence of aliens who will only protect Ozark from other aliens if the Ozarkers maintain a peaceful unified government. So the male rulers and Magicians of Rank have no idea why it's important to maintain the Confederacy, and further, think that Responsible is an unnatural witch when her magic is revealed. In their ignorance, the Confederacy is destroyed and Responsible put into a coma, and the whole world descends into chaos. And then when So even as I was cheering for Troublesome to succeed, I was groaning about the status quo returning, because it's such a crap quo.
As a character, Troublesome is an absolute delight. She has no patience or interest in any of the social norms of Ozark (which I hate myself), and is competent at everything necessary without showboating. I love that we got to see into her mind a bit in this book, and I really liked the scenes she shared with Silverweb. (I wish there was a book about them falling in love; after just a few minutes together they each trust each other implicitly, and Troublesome does up her braid and Silverweb teases her about it, and Troublesome is so isolated, and Silverweb so odd, that I think they'd suit very well together. In my head they end up together, and travel Ozark in the summers to find things to excite Troublesome's far-ranging curiosity, and then hole up in winters in a spare but cozy little house.) I only wish she'd gotten a little more to do; the book is so short that I only got to spend ~100 pages with her.
I don't know how to feel about the universe created in the Ozark trilogy. The Grannies and Responsible maintain a world in which genders are rigidly segregated and men are told that only they can do complicated magic and/or rule. But at the same time, every woman is told that *they* underhandedly rule by manipulating men. The Grannies further keep secret the existence of aliens who will only protect Ozark from other aliens if the Ozarkers maintain a peaceful unified government. So the male rulers and Magicians of Rank have no idea why it's important to maintain the Confederacy, and further, think that Responsible is an unnatural witch when her magic is revealed. In their ignorance, the Confederacy is destroyed and Responsible put into a coma, and the whole world descends into chaos. And then when So even as I was cheering for Troublesome to succeed, I was groaning about the status quo returning, because it's such a crap quo.
June 7, 2019
Responsible, the Meta-Magician, is still in her magical pseudocoma, and Planet Ozark is falling apart. Social changes are being made--something Ozarkers don't want. War and violence are breaking out. The Magicians and Grannies overcome their mutual resentments enough to confer and realize they're all losing their magical powers. In this time of crisis, the alien residents of Ozark, who mostly avoid the humans, alert the humans to the need to awaken Responsible and save the planet.
There are things I don't like about the end of this story. It's not over; the other characters may have learned valuable lessons, but Responsible has yet to learn anything. The Traveller family can't all be as grim and ghastly as their disgraced tribal leaders, but who's going to lead them out into the light?
But there were constraints of length and time for this trilogy, which Elgin often described having started on a whim. Talking about writing short stories, she illustrated the idea that one can start anywhere with a throwaway line about "it all started when I noticed the mules weren't flying properly." (The Mules of Ozark, for the information of one commenter here, are not dumb animals who "don't have powder rooms." They are fully rational aliens who choose to carry humans around for reasons of their own--whatever those reasons may be; we're not told.) This led to the trilogy, and also to several short stories and artworks that have never been collected into a book.
I liked the whole trilogy, and still do: partly because, although Appalachian Mountain dialects and subcultures differ from Ozark Mountain ones, they have much in common; partly for the girl-power dynamic (the magical forces that control the planet are embodied in women of ages at which real humans are only half grown); partly for the quirky sense of humor that bubbles up through the more serious dynamics of the plot, and partly for the linguistics, psychology, and philosophy. I spent many happy hours studying otherwise boring (but degree-related) material, like Chomsky's grammar, that went into the background of these books.
There are things I don't like about the end of this story. It's not over; the other characters may have learned valuable lessons, but Responsible has yet to learn anything. The Traveller family can't all be as grim and ghastly as their disgraced tribal leaders, but who's going to lead them out into the light?
But there were constraints of length and time for this trilogy, which Elgin often described having started on a whim. Talking about writing short stories, she illustrated the idea that one can start anywhere with a throwaway line about "it all started when I noticed the mules weren't flying properly." (The Mules of Ozark, for the information of one commenter here, are not dumb animals who "don't have powder rooms." They are fully rational aliens who choose to carry humans around for reasons of their own--whatever those reasons may be; we're not told.) This led to the trilogy, and also to several short stories and artworks that have never been collected into a book.
I liked the whole trilogy, and still do: partly because, although Appalachian Mountain dialects and subcultures differ from Ozark Mountain ones, they have much in common; partly for the girl-power dynamic (the magical forces that control the planet are embodied in women of ages at which real humans are only half grown); partly for the quirky sense of humor that bubbles up through the more serious dynamics of the plot, and partly for the linguistics, psychology, and philosophy. I spent many happy hours studying otherwise boring (but degree-related) material, like Chomsky's grammar, that went into the background of these books.
June 30, 2011
I have trouble saying that I loved this book. I enjoyed the two prior books in this trilogy quite a bit, but this one left my with more questions hanging than I enjoyed. Even so, I have to admire the fact that not everything was wrapped up in a nice, neat, and tidy package--I think I just felt the ratio of unanswered questions to loose threads was a little uneven.
May 29, 2020
The final volume of the Ozark Trilogy begins with Responsible of Brightwater in a pseudo-coma that was imposed upon her by the Magicians of Rank. While she sleeps, everything has been going to heck on the Planet Ozark. Magic has stopped working, and Magicians, Grannies, and mules cannot count on its power to control disease, communicate, travel safely, or maintain the society they have built. As the settlers of Ozark slide into darkness and barbarism, their interstellar neighbors look at the planet as their potential next conquest.
The settlers of the Planet Ozark came by starship, leaving the Ozark region of Earth behind in order to establish their own society. They have twelve founding families which established the Twelve Kingdoms. They have spent a thousand years on the planet, and have discovered or developed magic, flying mules, and other trappings of fantasy.
This all sounds silly, but somehow it comes together in a workable story. I guess it helps if one is a little familiar with real Ozark culture and language. This is one of the reasons that the University of Arkansas Press is the only place that is keeping this triology in print in an omnibus edition. The book is filled with quaint language and old-fashioned concepts, that are fun to enjoy in print.
The settlers of the Planet Ozark came by starship, leaving the Ozark region of Earth behind in order to establish their own society. They have twelve founding families which established the Twelve Kingdoms. They have spent a thousand years on the planet, and have discovered or developed magic, flying mules, and other trappings of fantasy.
This all sounds silly, but somehow it comes together in a workable story. I guess it helps if one is a little familiar with real Ozark culture and language. This is one of the reasons that the University of Arkansas Press is the only place that is keeping this triology in print in an omnibus edition. The book is filled with quaint language and old-fashioned concepts, that are fun to enjoy in print.
December 18, 2023
Nice. Took my mind off current events (December 2023)
February 8, 2016
An OK fantasy/SiFi series. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews