Sex and Gender
The novel is famous for being a fantasy tale with a distinctively secondary generic categorization as “queer fiction.” This is a reference to the multitudinous references to non-normative sexual preferences. At the same time, however, certain readers might interpret certain of these elements less positively as being anti-man:
“A man is like a clam,” her mother had once told her. “Let him open on his own, and he will give you a pearl.”
The Alcoholic’s Burden
Similes are a great vehicle for conveying universal aspects of a very specific action. For instance, alcohol. What is the deal with so many people willingly swallowing a bitter liquid that later makes them behave like complete idiots?
“At first, the alcohol was sweet on his tongue like summer fruit, but it had a long tail that burned down his throat like chipped glass.”
Magic
What is magic? A hot-selling show in Vegas? A novel by William Goldman featuring a ventriloquist as its protagonist? Magic is all these things and more as one metaphorical assertion by a character in the novel reveals:
“Magic is a foolish man’s crutch. It’s nothing but sleight of hand and superstition.”
Things in the Sky
Things in the sky are always fodder for metaphors and similes. Maybe it is their otherworld metaphorical existence itself. Or perhaps there is something about tilting one’s head back and looking upward that leads to a more philosophical state of mind. Whatever the case, it’s something for sure:
“He watched as the sky cleared to reveal a tattered sun, hunched like a dull watery ball atop the mountains. And to its side, a darkness loomed.”
An Approaching Storm
Storm metaphors are also very popular and widely used. This is especially so in the fantasy novel when events are leading to a major engagement between good and evil. The nearer major transitional conflicts get, the closer the reader has usually made it to a storm metaphor:
“I am the only storm that matters now, and there is no shelter from what I bring.”
