It’s not that surprising to me that this perspective has been uncommon in fantasy, because the shininess of students learning magic is just so iconic and emblematic. But Tesh shows us that the space of teachers, adults, in a “magical school”, as front and center characters, is intensely interesting.
“After all, it’s so much easier and pleasanter to think that everything must be fine, and it’s one’s perceptions that are skewed, rather than the situation; surely, if something were wrong, one of The Adults would step in and fix it.”
Instead of the cliche of the female character who must be punished or killed for having sex, a la “Troopers”, “Mickey 17” gives us a couple for whom sex is an act centred in being a fun, shared exploration of joy for both people with the mature viewpoint that demonstrates talking and planning and listening to each other does not make things any less enjoyable. Heck, Mickey and Nasha’s joyful sex life is integral to everything not ending up very bad for everyone. I think that’s both pretty cool and wildly different from the kinds of choices so many movies make.
The Tribe is a novel of continued relevance, as well as intellectual and emotional depth, that makes it deserving of a broad audience beyond typical horror readers. It should have crossover appeal to fans of crime fiction, historical fiction, or religious mysticism, and its themes around Jewish identity, racism, and general humanity put The Tribe on equal footing to any celebrated work of ‘literary’ fiction.
“My favorite stories from January and February look at conformity, assimilation, diversity, and connection from various angles.”
It was an engrossing read; the characters continue to be fully engaging and the protagonists sympathetic (even though not always in agreement with each other), and the rich worldbuilding continues with interdepartmental squabbling providing insights into the politics.
