I also enjoyed the book; it wasn't my favorite of her books, but I really liked Cordelia and Jole getting to write their own happy ending, and the retconned relationship didn't bother me at all. (I did struggle with certain aspects of the logistics -- they never told Miles, and Miles never figured it out, really?) but as far as the Aral/Jole relationship diminishing the Aral/Cordelia relationship, pffft, no. I mean, if ever there was a fictional character who would be totally cool as part of a poly triad, Cordelia is that character. And I also really loved the general theme of moving past grief and weathering the death of a partner.
It also frustrated me exceedingly that so much of the criticism of the book was about Cordelia wanting to have kids. Like, I remember seeing a lot of open hate for her, such as kinkmeme prompts along the lines of "Cordelia's obsession with motherhood causes her to pressure other characters to have lots of kids/shame them for not having kids" (paraphrasing, but that one really stuck in my memory) and, just, fandom whyyyy. I am very happy not having kids myself, but it really ticked me off that so much of the fandom seemed to feel that Cordelia wanting a large family and choosing a retirement that involved having and raising a bunch of kids diminished her somehow, to the point that fandom somehow seems to forget everything she's done, said, and been in the last 10 books. I'm glad she figured out what she wanted and went for it, and her happy ending is not my happy ending, but I'm delighted she got it!
... er, sorry. This comment turned out to be less about "the book is fun" and more about "the fandom is wrong". >_> Anyway, yeah, it's nice to see a positive review of it!
no subject
It also frustrated me exceedingly that so much of the criticism of the book was about Cordelia wanting to have kids. Like, I remember seeing a lot of open hate for her, such as kinkmeme prompts along the lines of "Cordelia's obsession with motherhood causes her to pressure other characters to have lots of kids/shame them for not having kids" (paraphrasing, but that one really stuck in my memory) and, just, fandom whyyyy. I am very happy not having kids myself, but it really ticked me off that so much of the fandom seemed to feel that Cordelia wanting a large family and choosing a retirement that involved having and raising a bunch of kids diminished her somehow, to the point that fandom somehow seems to forget everything she's done, said, and been in the last 10 books. I'm glad she figured out what she wanted and went for it, and her happy ending is not my happy ending, but I'm delighted she got it!
... er, sorry. This comment turned out to be less about "the book is fun" and more about "the fandom is wrong". >_> Anyway, yeah, it's nice to see a positive review of it!