The Girls in the Story

Use this forum to discuss the September 2019 Book of the month, "The Crystilleries of Echoland" by Dew Pellucid.
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Kro92813
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Re: The Girls in the Story

Post by Kro92813 »

Mr Benji wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 07:21
cristinaro wrote: 01 Sep 2019, 01:50 Although I enjoyed reading the novel, I couldn't help noticing the female characters were given only marginal roles. Will's sister, Emily, and Valerie, Victor Valerian's niece, are the only girls in the story. They save the day more than once, yet I don't think they are given enough attention, especially Emily. Would you like them to acquire a central position in the future novels in the series?
I feel that each character has their role to play.

Every author choses the character to portray a particular theme as seem fit.

I think charcters Emily could have had such central role but hers is as significant as Will.

Thank you for the question.
Evecharacter has its role to play but some, likeemmy's, just wasnt explores enough in my opinion ,
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Post by Ferdinand_Otieno »

Kro92813 wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 07:25
Mr Benji wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 07:21
cristinaro wrote: 01 Sep 2019, 01:50 Although I enjoyed reading the novel, I couldn't help noticing the female characters were given only marginal roles. Will's sister, Emily, and Valerie, Victor Valerian's niece, are the only girls in the story. They save the day more than once, yet I don't think they are given enough attention, especially Emily. Would you like them to acquire a central position in the future novels in the series?
I feel that each character has their role to play.

Every author choses the character to portray a particular theme as seem fit.

I think charcters Emily could have had such central role but hers is as significant as Will.

Thank you for the question.
Evecharacter has its role to play but some, likeemmy's, just wasnt explores enough in my opinion ,
Think the author wanted to view the wonder of Echoland with a lense of terror, determination, and wonder. Will provided this along with being the central figure in the plot. I think She would explore Emmy in any planned sequel because they both now have some experience of Echoland.
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Post by MellaBella »

I think the next book should be told from the girls' side. How it was for Emmy in the shadow realm, or how it was for Valerie. Why wasn't her mother saved? She was just verbally killed. Nothing really in that back story. I want to know how the Fate Sealers knew everything, who's eyes were actually watching and who worked with them! I also wanted more back story on Tear too. I'm so curious of their experiences. It would make the 1st book look even better.
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Post by Kro92813 »

Ferdinand_otieno wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 07:29
Kro92813 wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 07:25
Mr Benji wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 07:21

I feel that each character has their role to play.

Every author choses the character to portray a particular theme as seem fit.

I think charcters Emily could have had such central role but hers is as significant as Will.

Thank you for the question.
Evecharacter has its role to play but some, likeemmy's, just wasnt explores enough in my opinion ,
Think the author wanted to view the wonder of Echoland with a lense of terror, determination, and wonder. Will provided this along with being the central figure in the plot. I think She would explore Emmy in any planned sequel because they both now have some experience of Echoland.
And they are actually able to be seen together in the next book
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Post by Kro92813 »

MellaBella wrote: 30 Sep 2019, 13:47 I think the next book should be told from the girls' side. How it was for Emmy in the shadow realm, or how it was for Valerie. Why wasn't her mother saved? She was just verbally killed. Nothing really in that back story. I want to know how the Fate Sealers knew everything, who's eyes were actually watching and who worked with them! I also wanted more back story on Tear too. I'm so curious of their experiences. It would make the 1st book look even better.
These are all good questions I would like to know the answers to as well. And have created quite the debate on this forum :lol2:
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Post by Nicole_Boyd »

I agree. I would like to see them deveopled more in the next book and have more central roles.
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Post by Lindsey Klaus »

I'm hoping female characters will play a bigger role in future installments. It can be difficult to introduce a complex world and complex characters in one go, hopefully the author decides to expand on their more intriguing female counterparts. I agree they felt a little marginalized, but that can be easily remedied.
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Post by Florence Nalianya »

I did notice that in the entire story, female characters were dim though in everything, its impossible not to identify a weak point.
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Post by Elizabeth Pass »

If this book primarily had female characters and the males took a backseat, would there be complaints that males had less of a role? I don't mean that condescendingly. If we're striving for equality, then it's more important to see diverse characters than diverse genders.
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Post by BookPower9 »

That's the reason why I'm wondering since the girls had not given more emphasis in the story. And my question is, did Will were able to find her sister?
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Post by InStoree »

Yes, I agree. That is a good point of view, and maybe an additional development of the girl's characters would bring a fresh flavor to the story.
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Post by Amanda Stueve Pense »

Leah39 wrote: 01 Sep 2019, 07:56 YES! I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed this.

The story couldn't have happened without the women and girls, but they were all working behind the scenes.

Emmy and Valerie often ran interference and placed their own safety on the line for the boys, but were given background roles.

Cully Flower was an amazing help to the boys in their efforts to translate the book, but again, she just seemed like an afterthought.

This book reminded me in some ways of the {i}Harry Potter[/i] series minus Hermione, which just wouldn't have worked. I think that there should have been a more central role for at least one female character. Hopefully future books will have Emmy or another female character more involved in the main plot, rather than as a player on the sidelines.
So it seems like the girls are given important roles in one sense, in that they are saving the day and performing vital tasks, yet it feels like they are marginalized in other ways. Is it because not a lot of time is spent on them? Or because their characters are not well developed?
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Post by ciecheesemeister »

I think Emmy deserves her own story. The things that she went through would make for a very interesting read.
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Post by lucia_kizas »

It's sad that in books meant for teenage audiences girls are still not given important roles. I understand, the Harry Potter influence might play a role for the creation of similar books, but Hermione was indeed a strong female character, and in my opinion, this is what made the books more interesting to read.
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Post by vermontelf »

The roles of the females were similar to other books of similar genre such as the Harry Potter books. The characters were not weak women, but not expanded as much as the men. Certainly they can be expanded in further books and I hope they are. There is strong groundwork to build on.
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