Territory
by Emma Bull
Enjoyable. The first fantasy (the first fiction) I've read in a surprisingly long time.
The ending was weirdly anticlimactic, though. I mean, call me naive, but I thought the actual Gunfight was going to be involved. This was more like... fanfic of a historical event. Like she didn't feel the need to cover everything; she was just covering a side story. I guess that's okay if you're a LOT more familiar with the historical events than I am. I read the Wikipedia page, though, and while I was entertained to recognize the names, the relationships and back-and-forth were very confusing. A fictionalized version of the full event could have been a lot more fun and made a lot more sense.
I could tell she was trying to subvert the race stuff, and that was relatively interesting. But for all that Jesse's flashbacks suggested he and Lung were friends and equals who got into trouble together, in the book Lung only played "wise older Asian teacher." The disconnect was just bizarre. (I knew in advance that Bull has been kind of a douche re: race, but it may be one of those cases where someone who is trying and failing to get it gets a lot more flack than someone who is oblivious from start to finish. That doesn't excuse her, but it does a lot to explain some of the reactions I've read.)
The Chu subplot was loosely tacked on and unnecessary. I was even more annoyed once the secret had been revealed. I guess the way Mildred's reactions change is period-accurate (hell, it's pretty accurate for today, too), but it made me sick.
It was also weird how Wyatt finally gets his humanizing moment right at the end. Might have been interesting to have the competing philosophies right out on the table, instead of just letting him lurk around menacingly the entire book. Similarly, it might have been interesting to let some of Jesse's initial menace stick around.