Legend of Korra: Book 2, Chapters 8-14

The second half of LoK Book 2 did some really interesting things story-wise, including telling the story of the first Avatar and providing an ending with real consequences, one that set the stage for the next and arguably the best season of the show. There were some weaknesses in the buildup that I think undercut the conclusion, but overall I was okay with the season. I could see its flaws, but I had fun watching and certainly I wasn't enraged by the end, which is always a plus.

( Some spoilers )

For all its imperfections, however, the ending of Book 2 made lasting changes to the world--something Book 1 miserably failed at--and set up the events of Book 3: Changes. For that reason I think of it as a bridge season, and the Book 1 that should have been.

Novels starring Soseono: Really? I mean, really?

My heroine, the Lady Soseono, is a famous figure in Korean history and one of the most prominent women from ancient Korean history. She has appeared in numerous works of historical fiction, usually as a supporting character by her second husband's side but more rarely as a protagonist in her own right. Obviously I couldn't neglect the market research in this area, and I felt a combination of trepidation and anticipation as I searched for novels starring Soseono for comparison with my own ideas.

What I found, to my disappointment and admittedly a small thrill of delight, was that these novels did not in any way do her justice. Some combination of the words trashy, offensive, and pointless applied to all of them, and none of them showed the depth of linguistic and historical research that I was hoping for. Here are some of the works I've looked at, or at least skimmed because my patience only goes so far. I did get some ideas for my own novel from these, mostly in terms of what not to do, so at least it wasn't a complete waste of time.

( Three novels, many non-graphic mentions of rape because ugh. )

Even aside from quality issues, these books don't accurately portray the language or society of ancient Korea. "Soseono," for instance, was unlikely to be her given name but was probably a place name or title. Then again this lack of research is a flaw in all Korean historical fiction, not just these three novels, and that's something I hope to correct with my own work. These novels taught me what to do and especially what not to do along the way.