Rereading
Cryptonomicon doesn't have any interiors to its women.
This is a pity, as Stephenson's satire is most effective and kind when
showing flaws from both the inside and the out. It's also a pity
because the tragic freedom fighter Glory would have had a really
interesting inside story, especially in parallel with the tragic Marine
Bobby Shaftoe (silver buckles...); and their descendant Amy is not
reliably distinguishable from a Barbie doll with a sneer and a big
knife. YT had insides; so did her mother, who was unromantically not
just a Mom but a petty government official. Clearly Stephenson can
manage it. I hope he didn't take it out to write a saleable airplane
book, or at least, that the next one will be saleable even with more
perspectives.
Dunnett's Lymond novels are still fun, but the period
dialogue now sounds a lot more first-half-of-the-twentieth to me, and
less gloriously sixteenth. On the other hand, as I read plenty of the
originals after tracking down a Dunnett quote, I am still in her debt.
(And 1920-1950 are falling into the past enough to have a quaint charm.)
ISBN: 0-380-97346-4
ISBN: 0-7126-0386-7
So wrote clew in
SF&F.