The first time I read this, Ciani shocked and thrilled me because I was so used to cardboard-cutout female characters. When Damien immediately hooked up with her, I thought, "Oh, there it goes. The romance interest rears its ugly stereotypical head," but she kept acting like an independent, capable woman, and it was awesome.
In retrospect, I detect more than a hint of the alien about her. She is never what Damien wants her to be, which is both attractive (see my derogatory stereotype comment) and offputting. In fact, she deliberately hides who she really is--not necessarily in the deceitful way, but she's definitely got a "polite society" facade, and we get a small taste of just how much that might cover up when we leave her dancing with the rakh at the end of her story arc.
She also clearly demonstrates a lack of mainstream morals, though in her own way she's highly ethical, and a willingness to throw over considerations of good and evil (which we eventually see are actually pretty damn well-founded when it comes to Tarrant) in favor of knowledge.
In all, it makes me respect her highly as a character and a woman who absolutely does not bend to irritating traditional gender roles, and also like her somewhat less as an individual because I don't think we'd see eye-to-eye in the real world. She's fantastic and I'm glad she went out when she did.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-09-11 10:07 pm (UTC)In retrospect, I detect more than a hint of the alien about her. She is never what Damien wants her to be, which is both attractive (see my derogatory stereotype comment) and offputting. In fact, she deliberately hides who she really is--not necessarily in the deceitful way, but she's definitely got a "polite society" facade, and we get a small taste of just how much that might cover up when we leave her dancing with the rakh at the end of her story arc.
She also clearly demonstrates a lack of mainstream morals, though in her own way she's highly ethical, and a willingness to throw over considerations of good and evil (which we eventually see are actually pretty damn well-founded when it comes to Tarrant) in favor of knowledge.
In all, it makes me respect her highly as a character and a woman who absolutely does not bend to irritating traditional gender roles, and also like her somewhat less as an individual because I don't think we'd see eye-to-eye in the real world. She's fantastic and I'm glad she went out when she did.