Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
[...] Yeah, I know, no buckles to swash that way, but I felt like arguing that the nobility of the League was a pretty hollow construct.  |
It's a perfectly valid point. It's not like, if the republicans suddenly turned around around and said "sorry, we got a bit carried away, here's your throne back", that the aristocrats were going to be all "well, we can see why, we were pretty awful rulers, we're sorry too and we'll try to do better". That just wasn't going to happen - which it does make it tempting to question whether they were worth saving.
However, retention of the class distinctions, and gender roles, doesn't make this book stand out from the crowd. I see it pretty much the same as re-reading Tarzan books now: you have to be ready to cringe a bit, and be thankful that there are some things we have (at least partly) grown out of.