I don't have a problem with her writing mostly male protagonists--as you say, she's basically doing what slashfic writers do now, and I do get the appeal! I'm more annoyed by the female characters she does write, you know? She could have kept them as supporting characters but made them more three dimensional if she'd liked. I really wish she had!
True. I'm trying to think of the female characters in her books now, and yes, they mostly lack agency. None of them really get to push the plot at all.
That said, I've got a soft-spot for Cottia clinging onto her identity as a woman of the Iceni, even if beyond that she's mostly characterised by her loyalty to Marcus and fondness for Cub. According to Wikipedia a major antagonist in The Mark of the Horse Lord was a woman (the Queen of the Caldones) and I can't remember that at all.
Anyway, thanks, I enjoyed your post a lot. I keep on saying that I'll read Le Guin beyond Earthsea, and I really must.
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True. I'm trying to think of the female characters in her books now, and yes, they mostly lack agency. None of them really get to push the plot at all.
That said, I've got a soft-spot for Cottia clinging onto her identity as a woman of the Iceni, even if beyond that she's mostly characterised by her loyalty to Marcus and fondness for Cub. According to Wikipedia a major antagonist in The Mark of the Horse Lord was a woman (the Queen of the Caldones) and I can't remember that at all.
Anyway, thanks, I enjoyed your post a lot. I keep on saying that I'll read Le Guin beyond Earthsea, and I really must.