As of the lastest marathon reading session (over 5 hours and 200 pages to finish the book), I have read a grand total of 26 books this year. Considering my goal was 12 I'm doing pretty good. So I'm going to reward myself and read the Quantum Gravity series all over again!
For the record: I loved this series. Actually, I more than loved this series. I adore this series so much that I contemplated doing something I haven't done since college: staying up until the wee hours to finish a book because I adored it so much. There are very few books I adore so thoroughly. This may in fact be the only series that I would truly list among my favorite books (provided it survies the second read test--said test having killed "The Dark Is Rising" series changes of getting on the illustrious list of truly favorite books), and let me tell you that is a pretty small and select list (i.e. it pretty much contains 2 books: "The Hero and The Crown" and "Tigana", although I've only actually read "Tigana" once so I don't really know why I keep it on the list, but I do, so there must be a reason). Not to mention the fact I tend not to let myself reread books any more (too many to read) and too few I really want to reread. The fact that I can't wait to reread this series is really something. And all this despite the fact that I don't always follow what's going on in the story's big picture (and frankly, I don't think I'm supposed to) and the fact that I counted at least one major plot whole in the last book. I still adore these books. I relate to Lila. I'm completely in love with Zal. Teazle is even starting to grow on me in a irritating but cute little-brother kind of way.
Which is why I was rather concerned after I finished book 4 last night and realized that if this was the last one then there were some seriously loose threads left, and that kind of concerned me, and had me on the verge of pissed off.
Until this morning when I checked Ms. Robson's website to find that book 5 is in the works. Yah, keep 'em coming, I say!
Which totally made my day! Especially as I was not left with any disasterous cliffhangers at the end of book 4 (helloo, book 3, yes I'm talking to you). I could potentially see that book 4 might be the finale, even if not an entirely satisfactory one.
- Books and Book Report: Justina Robson's Quantum Gravity Series
-
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
aplwrite- November 25th, 12:05
- Book Report and Reading/Writing in General
-
- aplwrite
- November 16th, 8:22
- Reading and Writing
-
- aplwrite
- October 29th, 19:37
The last two books I've read have been really good, and therefore, thought provoking in the writing sense.
The first of the two was Elizabeth Bear's All the Windwracked Stars. One of the main reasons I liked it was that it's not straight fantasy or straight science fiction, but a little of both--post-apocolyptic world with technology-related magic and a large dose of mythology/Otherworld. Add on to that a cool world that basically uses Norse myth as the foundation, but futurizes it. And ambiguous characters who may be good but have done less than admirable things or may be evil but maybe not as evil as first appears. And salvation and redemption. And battle angles. And talking steeds. And reincarnation. And cat people. Really. Cool.
And what this reminded me of is some of the reason why the current Doctor Who appeals to me, and maybe Torchwood (and I will be oh so very happy if Jack is redeemed in the season finale of Doctor Who). I do like me some anti-hero protagonists who have a past. And I also like me some genre crossing--which leads me to the second book...
Emma Bull's Territory is quite possibly the quintessential "Andrea" book. Consider: Doc Holliday as a POV character. Tombstone, Arizona Territory, 1881. And magic. Throw in the fact that the history in the book really is quite sound, Doc is perfect, Wyatt's unlikable, and Kate is, it's pretty much downright perfect. Plus, I enjoyed how Bull makes the historical characters real--not one dimensional white hats - black hats. And the fictional characters are interesting and have good stories too.
The bottom line, though, is that Bull combines two of the things I really love: The American West and fantasy. Which has got me to thinking, particularly in light of the recent upsurge in Steampunk that is appearing on bookshelves, why I don't try my hand and combining my two favorite things in a story. It's not like I haven't thought about it before--I have story ideas with Puebloan and Southern Plains horse cultures intertwined with Aztec mythology. I'd like to develop a fantasy culture based on the Lakota horse lords-Pawnee farmers dynamic on the Central Plains. I've even toyed with making one of my novels fit the bill more closely as it is already based on Spanish colonial culture and native resistance. There really is a load of inspiration in Western American history. It's just that I want to bring in my outlaws and gunfighters, railroads and cow-towns and mix it up with magic or fantasy in some new and interesting way, and I just can't quite figure out how. Admittedly, my use of magic in my fantasy worlds is usually fairly limited. And most of my current fantasy worlds are based on some place and time in history (I am, after all, a historian).
It is something I realize I need to think about more. I need to think about the elements of both Western American history and fantasy/magic that appeal to me. I think that for me it's not so much about the use of magic in the story but the possibility of the fantastic. Ultimately, it's about the characters, though, regardless of their setting. So maybe that is the key--finding the similarities, playing with themes and situations--just like any other story building, and making it what you love. Of course, you also have to write it, and that still seems to be my biggest stumbling block.
- Book Reviews in Brief: Jane Eyre by (One of the) Bronte (sisters)*
-
- aplwrite
- June 17th, 11:49
*I'm too lazy to look it up. Sorry.
I was kind of surprized by a) how much I wanted to read this book once I got going; and consequently b) how fast I read it.
Despite some minor language issues (early 19th century British does not necessarily always translate to 21st century American and also, I do not read--or speak for that matter--French), I really liked this book. Maybe not as much as Jane Austen though (Mr. Rochester doesn't hold the same appeal as Mr. Darcy or Captain Wentworth or Edward Farris--probably because he doesn't have quite the same moral fortitude). I liked Jane, and more importantly, I liked her voice, which is why I think I read the book so quickly. I also liked the fact that all the people that truly mistreated her got their comeuppance to some degree. We like justice in my family.
Now I am proceeding with a sojourn into Arthurian-based literature. I commence by catching up with the sequels to one of my favorite Arthurian-inspired novels: Grail Prince by Nancy McKenzie (the previous book being Queen of Camelot). So far I am not totally enamored, but then I'm only on page 15.
- Comments on The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
-
- aplwrite
- May 23rd, 21:34
Well, I gave up on The Lies of Locke Lamora. I was going to give it until page 100, but I only made it to 90 before I'd had it. I've already expressed my problems with this book, and things hadn't improved by page 90. The final straw, however, was that after going through this whole con job set up, the narrative jumped back to when the MC was a boy explaining why his master wanted him dead. First, it took me a bit to realize that we had jumped back (not much to indicate we were jumping back in time other than a chapter heading that wasn't all that clear). More importantly, however, was that it didn't explain anything really, just part, then jumped back to the con job. I do not appreciate books that attempt to keep you reading by leaving cliffhangers everywhere. I especially didn't appreciate the cliffhangers in the con job part because in the end nothing really bad happened. Talk about build up for nothing. I suppose my biggest pet peeve with this book, however, is that by page 90 you still don't know what the point of the book is. What is the conflict? Why should I care about this character? Where is this story going? It's impossible to have any expectations of this novel because it is completely unclear what the plot/story is. As far as I'm concerned, there's too much set up and not enough getting into the real story. The only hint of a larger conflict are mentions of this mysterious shadowy figure jumping across the rooftops. Blah! I was not impressed. There are too many other books out there I want to read to waste my time of 700 pages of this.
Now, off to Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw.
- Random Thoughts on a Slow Day
-
- aplwrite
- May 21st, 13:39
A SLOW DAY! What's that!
So it's been awhile since I've posted. All I can say is that the past month has been busy. I mean, we did go to Cardiff for 11 days! And work has been positively nuts (with no end in sight to that). And really, other than the trip and finishing a couple books, not a whole lot has been going on.
As to the books--I've kind of grown tired of book reviews, unless I have something particularly interesting to say. I've now read 14 books this year (11 of which I'm counting towards my goal--WOOT! One more and I'm there!). I recently finished a series by Jo Walton (Farthing, Ha'Penny, and Half a Crown), which I highly recommend as long as you don't mind getting worked up by fascism and injustice. They were really good books, written in an interesting way*, but they did tend to get me a little agitated. Oh, then there was the fact that I accidentally started with Ha'penny and realized about a third of the way in that it was actually the second book. Fortunately, this didn't entirely ruin things. My only beef with the series was that I felt that the third book ended too abruptly. Really, it's a denoument (sp?) issue, or a lack thereof issue. I think it happened in all the books, but it was most notable in the third. Now, I don't need my endings drawn out, mind you, but I'd like enough to be able to come down from the climax with the characters and know that everything is going to basically be okay. Didn't get that here.
Now I'm reading Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, and I'm just not too sure about it. I'm not ready to give up, but it's getting close, because some of the problems I just don't foresee getting any better. The possibly surmountable problem is that I'm just not engaging with the main character. Somehow he feels too removed from the reader for me. I don't know if it's just because I'm in the beginning of the book or if it's the writing style (I fear it's the writing style). I like to be a little more intimate with the characters I'm reading. The other problem, which is more problematic because I think it probably is this particular writers style is that it's not exactly an easy book to read. The story jumps around. You get glimpses of background info, not all of which makes particular sense, and then your into the first job (these guys are con men) and it's almost written like a movie or TV show--you see a little of what's going on here, then it jumps to a little of what's going on here. Personally, I don't really like reading that way. So we'll see how much further I go with this book. There's way too much else out there I want to read to waste time on a 700+ page book that I don't really care for (especially when I just looked at my reading list and realized I had actually planned to start reading one of Jo Walton's other books next).
In other news, I am slowly working back into writing. I had been brainstorming about my paranormal-Regency mix story idea until I made the mistake of trying to brainstorm about it with my husband and he poo-pooed all over part of the worldbuilding because it was "icky" (I paraphrase). That kind of put me in the dumps, so instead I've been trying to focus on the fantasy adventure I started to work on a few years ago for a writing class. I'm now starting to realize it may end up being a heaftier book than I originally thought. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just unexpected. It's actually got a pretty solid story line. I just have to work out some details.
I've also begun to have niggling thoughts about maybe starting back on my history book project. I've probably been bored with that project for a year now. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I am starting to think about it again.
And finally, it being nearly 6 months into the year and one of my goals being to focus on my health (which hasn't really happened so far), I joined Weight Watchers with one of my work buddies this week. Conveniently, they do this at our place of employment. There have been quite a few major success stories here. I really hope I might be one of them. We'll see. So far so good. I also have the husband unofficially doing it for himself.So that's the current state of affairs. I suppose I should consider doing a state of the yearly goals exercise here in June (although, I've kind of done it here). We'll see about that too.
*They were almost two books in one going on simultaneously. One character, the inspector, carries through all three books, and his parts are written in third person. Each book also has a female character telling her story in first person. The two stories mesh together with alternating chapters. Unlike other books (namely, the Queen's Bastard) that do changing POVs based on characters, I really didn't pick up on what she was doing until I was quite a ways in. The writing was that fluid and seamless.
- Book Review: Torchwood-The Twilight Streets by Gary Russell
-
- aplwrite
- March 1st, 22:14
Another book down (Number 9 for the year--it's amazing how much reading I seem to get done when I'm not fretting about my writing).
Okay, so I'm a little embarrassed about admitting that I read a TV tie-in. Not that I haven't done it before (I read at least a couple Highlander tie-ins when I was in college). But I'm not a college anymore. Nevertheless, I couldn't resists trying at least one, since the local bookstore had some in stock. And I did some research first to find out which ones other people thought were best.
I'm not sure I'd want to read the ones that weren't considered best.
Not that this book was bad, per se. It had some issues though. The minor ones being at least one typo (and no, I don't know why I've turned into the typo police in my book reviews, but they do stand out) and a really weird contraction ("it'd"--I mean, who says it'd? Worse, though, you have to sit their and figure out what it's a contraction of-- it would? it should? it had? This would be why nobody uses "it'd" in actual speech). Oh, and what's up with "cos" instead of "because". Not everyone says "cos" instead of "because." I'm almost positive that not every single person on the Torchwood team talks like that. Just a minor pet peeve.
The bigger issues I had with this book include the characters not quite being true to form (at least in my opinion) at the beginning of the book. This did seem to get better, though. The other issue was that even after having finished the book, I'm not really sure what happened. Oh, and I know it's good to have a twist at the end, but I'm somewhat resentful of the one at the end of this book. Too much mystery is a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned. Things just didn't seem all that wrapped up.
Now, the good things: I learned some stuff about Cardiff. Well, I learned one important piece of info if the author really knows Cardiff (which I'm guessing he does): don't expect to be impressed when I step out of Cardiff Central station. Also, there were some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments. Multiple ones in fact. Can't say that about many books I've read recently (in their defense, they were not meant to be humorous). However, while funny, sometimes the funny wasn't really appropriately placed in the story--and the story even acknowledges it.
Other things I liked: the thing I like about tie-ins is that the writers have more of an opportunity to delve into the characters, and when there are multiple characters, this includes delving into their relationships. Now admittedly, I think anyone who watches Torchwood has a clue about the relationships between Jack and Gwen, Jack and Ianto, and Tosh and Owen. This book touched upon the relationship between Ianto and Gwen, which I admittedly never really thought about. Not that this book gets into it all that much, but it starts to touch upon it. And really, in season 3, I imagine understanding that relationship might be more important.
I also have to say, despite his relatively small part, I loved Rhys. Now, I like Rhys--he seems like a really great, sweet, normal guy. But deep down I am a Jack-Gwen shipper and deep down Rhys is just sort of in the way. So, the guy doesn't necessarily get the love from me that he really deserves. But I did really love him in this story.
Anyway, I fully realize I'm a total geek. But I do love me some Torchwood, so much that I will read tie-in novels. Well, at least one. And maybe some more. We'll see. I might not admit it next time though.
Anyway, now I have to decide the next "fluff" novel (aka the "secondary" novel). I still have to finish That Hideous Strength, and I'm contemplating just not starting a second novel until that is done (once I get to the final installment of the Karen Miller tomology I'll probably need a secondary novel). The likely candidate is the first book of Jim Butcher's Dreseden Files series.
- Book Review: The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller
-
- aplwrite
- February 24th, 20:42
This book is a tome. Actually, all of the books in this series are tomes. But despite the amount of time you have to devote to reading this series, it's worth it. It's not your typical fantasy tome series. And while at times the story may drag or be a bit predicable, I don't know how Miller could have left anything out.
The first book of the series told the story of Hekat and how she became Empress of Mijak. The second book is about how Rhian becomes Queen of Ethrea. Both books have strong female leads (something I appreciate in a novel), who are as similar as they are different. Both are bound by their sense of duty, have faith in their respective gods, both believe they are destined to be rulers, both can be rather cold, and both are willing to fight for what they believe in. The primary difference is that Hekat has no thought for killing, whereas Rhian is nearly devastated by the prospect of shedding blood.
I think I liked this book better than Empress simply because you gain respect and admiration for Rhian as her story unfolds, whereas it becomes harder to like Hekat as her story progresses. Plus, this book didn't seem plagued by the twin problems of typos and weird comma usage that bothered me in Empress.
The first third of this book was rather slow (as there were slow parts to Empress as well) and to a certain extent predictable. We know that Rhian has to get away from the Prolate one way or another, or there's no story. It's not until the reader reaches that point that there's true mystery and suspense about what is going to happen. What keeps you reading, however, is the larger story. There is something bigger happening behind the scenes, out in the ether. My speculation about what was happening excited me. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was expected, exactly (although, the more I think on it, it is basically the same--but I won't give it away).
Overall, I definitely commend Miller. She has created an interesting world, a dramatic situation on many levels, and likable (or at least interesting) characters, all of which keeps you reading to see where it's all going to go. Unfortunately, the first two books (about 1500 pages between them) are really just setting up the big final conflict, and that's a lot of pages of backstory to get through. The true test of the story will be how it plays out in the third and final book (yet another tome!).
- Book Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
-
- aplwrite
- February 22nd, 16:09
Ah, fluff books.... you know, the kind of book you can finish in a day or two, opposed to the epic fantasies that take at least two months to plow through.
I picked this book up yesterday because a) I'm interested in seeing the movie, and b) I read the back cover to find it's actually set in London, so I thought: "Hmmm, latter-day Bridget Jones? Let's give it a try."
Obviously, the book wasn't bad, since I finished it (especially so quickly), but at the same time, I'm not likely to read the sequels. First off, although I will say it was well written, I do not prefer to read first person present tense. It's just the tiniest bit off-putting.
I also didn't particularly care for the main character. While Bridget Jones gets herself into embarrassing and/or silly situations because she's somewhat naive and silly herself, her biggest flaw is her lack of self-confidence. Becky Bloomwood's biggest flaw, at least in my opinion, is that she's a liar. (Actually, the lying is just a facet of her flaw, which is immaturity.) I don't particularly like liars. All her problems come about because she is irresponsible, impractical, childish, and worst, a liar. If she's even a gross characterization of the modern twenty-something, god help us. Besides the consummate lying employed to dodge responsibility, her impractical fantasizing about how she's going to get out of her financial woes (everything from winning the lottery to marrying a multimillionaire, even though she has no interest in him) are pathetic, if not something to despise her for. Her only saving grace is her realization that her final fantastical plan (to marry her flatmate's millionaire cousin) of her is despicable.
Then there's the fact that there really isn't all that much romance in this book (unlike Bridget Jones). Mostly, it's about her financial troubles, not her man troubles. And maybe this book isn't really a "romance" per se (not, I suppose that Bridget Jones was truly a romance novel either), but I would have liked maybe a little more (which may be why they smushed this and the next book together to make the movie, which I presume is a romantic comedy).
Anyway. This wasn't a bad book, despite my criticisms. Actually, it's technically quite a good book, I suppose. My major issue with it is primarily a personal one (I really don't like lying). I actually think I might like the movie better than the book, so I will still give it a try. And although Becky changes considerably at the end of the book, I think I've had my fill of reading her story.
- Book Report: Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange
-
- aplwrite
- February 1st, 15:47
While not the book I intended to finish in January, I did, in fact, manage to finish this just under the wire. It took me only two days to read, in fact (not even that really), which was one of the plusses of this book. It was a fast read, largely in part to it being in the first person/diary format.
It wasn't a bad book (obviously, since I finished it), but I can't say it was a particularly good book either. Besides being a quick read, it was a nice overview of the whole Elizabeth/Darcy story from Darcy's point of view. However, it didn't really add that much to the story. A large part of the story (i.e. conversations and happenings) came directly from Pride and Prejudice. There was some nice addition in the form of what happened after Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage, particularly regarding some ancillary characters, but that was about it.* Not even Darcy's personal reflections on events and his realization of his flaws were all that new, nor were they even that particularly believable.
What really bugged me about this book, however, was that it was supposed to be a diary, and was structured as such (broken into days), yet it was written like a novel. Conversations were the most jarring, because nobody writes down their conversations like a novel--who can even remember them in that much detail? And letters! Who writes down the content of letters in their diary?! So overall, the book just didn't feel believable, and it kept pulling me out of the narrative because it just didn't feel right.
It is nice, however, to revisit Austenland every so often though, and this was a nice, quick journey.
*Personally, I'm not really into the whole retelling of the story thing. Although I will say that this book paled against Pamela Aidan's version of Darcy's story (even if I didn't finish the series). At least Aidan added something more substantial to the overall story. I think I prefer the books that are meant as sequels, although I haven't found one I've particularly liked yet.
- Extra Book Review: Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
-
- aplwrite
- December 22nd, 2008
So I'm rereading one of my favorite children's series, The Dark Is Rising, so obviously, I like the series. I'm not entirely enamoured of all of the books, however. I vaguely remembered this. I don't enjoy the books with the Drew children like I enjoy those with Will Stanton. Part of the reason is that I just don't like the Drew children as well. I think that Jane grows on me in the later books, but I still prefer Will. Maybe because he isn't quite so child-like.
This time around I realized another reason I prefer the Will Stanton books, one that might not have been as obvious to me the first time around, but now that I've taken some writing courses, really kind of bothers me. The book is written in third person limited, as most books tend to be, but it's third person extremely limited, to the point where it's almost third person objective. Very rarely does it drop into the character's thoughts and feelings, and usually only for a paragraph, occasionally for a whole scene. And it can jump around from head to head over the course of a scene. It's never to the point where it is particularly confusing (although some of the dialog could use stage action to make it more clear which child is speaking).
I do wish the book had a map, though, because the setting is very confusing. I have a hard time picturing Trewissick and the bay from the descriptions, and keeping where everything is straight. And the setting plays such a major role in the story that it would be nice if it was more clear. And since a map figures so prominantly in the book, would it have been so hard to put a map in the beginning?
I will give Over Sea, Under Stone that it is an exciting read. And as always, I enjoy the Arthurian connection. And I know that the series only gets better, so I'll look forward to that.
- Book Review: A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
-
- aplwrite
- December 12th, 2008
I bought this book because I like Elizabeth Bear. Mostly, I like reading her blog. I've read one other book by her (Blood and Iron) and while I did enjoy the book, and will read more by her, her writing can be a little opaque, "upper brain," and harder to read. I can definitely see Monette's influence on the writing, because this book was in no way hard to read. Well, except for keeping all the characters and their associated wolves straight. the narrative was straightforward. It didn't dwell on excruciating details. In fact, there were times where relatively unimportant, and at least once fairly important events were basically summarized. This doesn't deter from the book, I should make clear. I think it makes it better because you don't get bogged down in stupid stuff.
I also bought this book because it is set in a Viking-like society, and I thought it might also appeal to my husband as he likes that kind of thing. After reading the book, however, I'm not so sure he would be so comfortable with it. This book is not for everyone. But more on that later.
This book had a nice mesh of story and plot. The story is about a young nobleman turned wolfcarl coming to terms with his place in the wolfmaegth (okay, so the other thing that made this book trying at times were the Viking-like names), made difficult by the fact that he bonded with a queen-wolf. There is some gender discourse in this book, but I'm not really into analyzing that sort of thing. I just recognize that it's there. Anyway. The plot, then, is pretty straightforward: wolfcarls and wolfless men face an increasing threat from trolls (which apparently look a lot like Gamorrean guards from Star Wars, from the descriptions), engage in war against the trolls, things don't go well and they have to find a way to save themselves. I won't give more than that away.
I really liked the characters. Mostly I think I enjoyed their relationships: their friendship, loyalty, compassion for one another, and their humor. I liked how the authors developed the human-wolf bonding and its associated society. Apparently, according to some reviews, the book puts the human-animal bonding genre on its edge, but comments from other readers argue it's not really any different a relationship than McCafferty's Dragonriders of Pern books. It's been a long time since I read any of those books, so honestly, I can't remember what that bonding was like. I better remember the Companions in Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books (ironically, the only other books I've read where homosexual relationships are normal). I think the difference with how this concept is dealt with in A Companion to Wolves is that the humans (only men) become part of wolf society when they bond. I don't think even McCafferty's dragonriders truly become part of dragon society when they bond.
I learned something about myself while reading this book. Something that I'm not sure I should admit in public, but nevertheless: I apparently get turned on by guy on guy sex. Maybe. Or maybe it's just that the relationships were often so tender and sweet and compassionate (and yes, I mean compassionate and not passionate). You can't help but respect the love the characters feel for one another. And the book isn't really about being gay. I wouldn't say that many of the characters are what we would actually term "gay". It more makes an argument that one's gender is irrelevant when it comes to love. And I really like that idea. Maybe I have a 51st century kind of mind (sorry, Doctor Who/Torchwood reference thrown in there).
This is probably the longest review I've written yet this year. I wouldn't say this is the best book I've read this year (that honor, I believe, goes to The Name of the Wind), but I believe it does come in at second place (Empress would probably be third).
Next up: The Riven Kingdom. And it appears I may have broken my cycle of only finishing every other book I start.
- Book Review: Empress by Karen Miller
-
- aplwrite
- December 9th, 2008
Book 11 of 12 for the year. I'm pretty sure, at this point, that I'm going to reach my goal, as I only have about 100 more pages of A Companion to Wolves to finish.
So, what I liked about this book:
Story: a girl's rise from unwanted "she-brat" to slave to warrior to empress. I like girl empowerment.
Setting: Kind of Middle Eastern, desert/oasis. Very heavy religious aspect to the culture. "Magic" was part of religion, although it wasn't really considered "magic" as such. I kind of like that too.
But what I liked best were the characters. The major players were all very vivid. I appreciate that there is no real villain, so to speak. Even if you don't like all the characters, you can respect their beliefs and their motives. I especially like the contrast between the main character, cold, confident Hekat, and my other favorite character, Vortka, the kind, uncertain priest.
What I didn't like about this book: the editing. There were quite a few typos in the text that can only be wracked up to lack of attention to detail. The other thing that bothered me was the use of commas where there really should have been periods. Usually this happened in dialogue, so it's possible it was intentional to convey how the characters spoke, but it was a little jarring at times.
I'll also note that some reviews complained about how the book kind of dragged on and on. I can see where those reviewers are coming from. The whole book is kind of backstory, I think, for the next two books. Fortunately, it's interesting backstory. But it does cover a lot of ground.
I definitely will be reading the next book, The Riven Kingdom. Funny story, though: I went to get the next two books this past weekend. I found the second book at the Borders at the mall, but they didn't have the third. So I went to the Borders near my house. Still didn't have the third. So I went online to Amazon to order it (along with the other book that nobody carried), only to learn that the reason I hadn't been able to find it is that it won't be released until January. Doh!
- Book Reports: Dead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson and Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas
-
- aplwrite
- October 30th, 2008
Okay, I'm not really going to review these books. At least not as I have been. So I started this romance novel writing course, in part for fun, but also because I had this crazy notion that writing romance novels was fairly formulaic and would therefore be easy, so maybe it would be a good way to stabilize a potential writing career. I call this a crazy notion because it quickly became apparent to me that writing romance novels is really not for me. More on that in a moment.
Anyway, I also quickly realized after the start of the course that I needed to read some more romance novels. After all, reading a genre is the best way to learn how to write the genre. I had about 3 romance novels in my existing reading pile. I went out and bought about three more, mostly historicals since I thought I might like to write those and had some questions about how exactly one wrote that sort of thing.
The thing I like about romance novels is that they are generally quick reads. I read half of one in one night. Travelling also helps one make a dent in their reading list. We went to Vegas for a conference last week and I managed to finish Undead and Unwed on the plane there, and read the other book while we were there.
They were fine books. I do like the occasional romance novel. But I really don't have anything to say about them that isn't really a thought on why writing romance novels isn't for me. First of all, I can't really get past my suspension of disbelief. With the paranormals it's easier. In the ones I've read the romance part of the story is even easier to swallow. In the historical, however, not so much. The men are just a little too unreal. The men made more sense in the paranormals, I think, because they're not actually men, per se. In my favorite Katie MacAlister books the guy is actually a dragon, so yah, he's going to act a little differently than most normal men. In the Davidson book, the guy is a vampire. He maybe can't get away with as much as a dragon, but he's got some leeway. Besides the guys being unrealistic, the lovemaking is terribly unrealistic. Again, this isn't as much of a problem in the paranormals as it is in the historical I read. Maybe it's the authors. I don't know. What is clear to me, however, is that the historicals don't do much for me--unless it's Jane Austen, of course.
I think what really tipped me off, however, that romance writing was not for me is the realization that the stories are basically driven by the characters need/desire for a relationship and overcoming whatever has been holding them back from having a fulfilling relationship. Or rather, the whole story is basically about bringing two people together. This isn't as easy as it first seems. And on top of that there can also be a plot, some other goal, that the characters are dealing with/striving for. It really is more complicated than it seems, and kind of difficult to come up with something really good.
The clincher, I think for me, however, is the whole happy ending thing. Romances require happy endings. I don't always like happy endings, particularly in my love stories. I think the fundamental problem is that I don't read romances for the same reason that most people read romances, and therefore I'm not sure I could write such romances.
I still may toy with it though. I have an idea, I'm just having trouble figuring out how to make it work, largely because I don't go in for the typical Romance-type male character (my male character looks like Jack Davenport (Steve, from Coupling) for Pete's sake!). I am still taking the class, just not participating in the discussion or doing the assignments. If I can make the time, I might try to do more, but I am significantly behind at this point and have NaNoWriMo to finish preparing for. So, we'll see.
I'm not done with the romance novels, either. I'm still reading one (a historical--I'm trying to find out how the authors bring in love scenes involving proper unmarried people in Regency England. This is my whole suspension of belief issue: I mean really, genteel pre-marital sex in the 1800s? Yah, I'm sure it happened, and maybe was kept quite, but really?). I've got two paranormals from my old reading pile and on new sci-fi as well. We'll see if I get through them. I can usually only read a few romances in a row before I get bored (yet another reason why I'll never make a living writing them).
- Book Report: The Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy
-
- aplwrite
- October 1st, 2008
[So I started to type "The Bastard Queen" for the book's title, which would make for a good yarn I imagine, but I digress.]
This book was okay. I preferred it over whatever book it was that I had started. It kept me interested. The world was an alternative reality to Elizabethan England and Europe in general. I can appreciate that since I find myself working in similar worlds. The plot was engaging and moved along, and I did enjoy it. But the book didn't suck me in. It took me quite a while to finish it because I could put it aside for days and not care. Even more telling, I could put it down for days with only about 30 pages left to read. Basically, I was able to leave it in the middle of the climax--and I didn't care.
But I learned something from this. The character is everything. I am convinced that what keeps the reader reading is the character. Think about it: we read Harry Potter because we care about what happens to Harry. (I could come up with others, but that would be too time consuming.) The point is, I didn't really care about the main character in this book. The book was interesting enough, but it was hard to identify with the character. It was hard to care about her (especially because she did some less than savory things over the course of the story). I'm not sure I even really liked her.
So having a character that readers like and can identify with, and most importantly who readers care about is important. It is possibly tantamount to having a bestseller (although that isn't really my goal).
There was another interesting aspect of this book that wasn't really a problem, although neither did it make it better. The part of the story involving the main character was written in past tense, like most novels, but when the story was told from a different point of view it was in present tense. It was only a little jarring so it didn't significantly deter from the book, yet it wasn't particularly beneficial either. Especially since each section was labeled with the name of the POV character.
This was the first book in a series, so now I have to decide if I want to read the rest. I might. I'm curious enough to see how the things set up in this book develop. I can see some potential, although seeing that could set me up for disappointment.
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I'm kind of behind on my reading schedule, but I'm not feeling terribly enthusiastic about anything. I do have a new book by Emma Bull called "Territory" which is about the Gunfight at the OK Corral if the Earps were secretly magicians. It had some appeal, but right now I'm not really feeling the love for reading. I really need to work on my writing, so I might take a hiatus and do that.
- Book Report: The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon
-
- aplwrite
- August 14th, 2008
I tagged this book for my wishlist because I was intrigued by the cover copy, particularly that it was about an immortal. What can I say, ever since Highlander, it's been a soft spot for me. I was so interested in this book from the cover that I bought it in hardback (something I try to avoid) and promptly started reading it instead of Spirit Gate, which I will have to try another time.
Unfortunately, the book didn't really live up to my expectations. In the end it was a good book, but it took awhile to get there.
First, the things I liked about the book: Immortals. The whole world premise and the role of the immortals is cool. It seemed rather fresh and original. The world in general is well done. That whole part of it I liked a lot.
What I didn't like is the fact that the book didn't really get interesting until about half-way through. What was worse was that I was starting to feel like the book was wrapping up, then realized I was only half-way through, and THEN it started to get interesting. This makes me think that maybe the first half of the book could have been tightened up a bit. It was mostly just a means of relating backstory. It lacked any real tension or conflict or sense of imminent doom, although it tried.
I suppose the only thing that saved it was that the characters were sufficiently interesting, or at least the Immortal Prince was, and so you waited through the rest for the bits that highlighted his backstory. The female lead could get a little annoying, but not bad enough not to like her (unlike the girl in one of the other books I've recently read).
The other thing I didn't like about this book is that the author can be rather repetitive. One of the early chapters was entirely too repetitive, and while it didn't persist in an entirely annoying fashion, there were times when she basically said the same thing twice on the page. I don't particularly care for that.
By the end the book was good enough and interesting enough that I do kind of want to read the sequels. I imagine now that things have picked up maybe the next book won't be as slow. We shall see. Don't know when the next book comes out.
Next up is The Summoner by Gail Martin.
- Book Report: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
-
- aplwrite
- July 9th, 2008
So I thought it would take me awhile to get through this book because it's 722 pages long. WRONG. Two and a half weeks, people. Two and a half weeks!
So, yes, it was good. Rothfuss definitely has the ability to keep you wanting to come back to the story.
Other things I liked about this book:
1. The framing. It's a story being told within the context of a story. Part of the book is in third person, but most of it is in first. This was really rather cool and worked well for this particular novel.
2. How magic works. It's different and well developed (and well explained within the context of the novel).
3. The main character. I will admit that I was more drawn to the main character at the point in which he is telling the story than to his younger self. What really grabbed me at the beginning was how the character reminded me of Doc Holliday: someone who's lost the life they thought they would have, who's become something bigger than maybe he really is (the man as myth vs. man in reality thing), a man who's waiting to die. A hero, yet not. A man with good, if not noble intentions. And a man who is both lauded as a hero and defamed as a villain. I really like the main character. I think I will like him more as the story progresses, turning him into the character that I like so much that is telling the story.
4. The whole myth vs. reality theme. Being a historian of outlaws in the West I would have to say that this is one of the themes that draws me to the field. I take delight in both sides of the story, and love seeing them juxtaposed against one another. To see where the myth and reality intersect--one is born of the other. Very cool.
This was probably one of the best books I've read in a while. I don't have anything particularly bad to say about it. More importantly, although I was concerned it would make me feel woefully incompetent as a wannabe writer because of all the "hype" (which may not really be hype so much as marketing), it didn't have that affect. In fact, it made me want to write all the more, but not in a competitive way, or a "I can do something as good as that" kind of way. Maybe just in a "I want to do something like that" kind of way. I want to see my own world and characters come alive on the page too.
Anyway. I unfortunately now must wait for the second book to come out... next April. Gah!
In the meantime, I'm going to start Kate Elliott's Spirit Gate and hopefully start some work on a book of my own.
- Book Report: Bitterwood by James Maxey
-
- aplwrite
- June 23rd, 2008
I read this book relatively fast (over 2 weeks actually), thanks to 6 hours stuck in the Cincinnatti airport, and 6 hours stuck in the emergency room courtesy of my mother-in-law (who is fine, by the way--just as I expected was the case when we went). Unfortunately, the circumstances of my reading this book also made me somewhat sick of it, at least after the airport stint (I hadn't read any of it since the airport until forced to by the ER visit).
I found this book via a short story that served as a prequel to the novel. I REALLY like the world, especially because dragons are in charge (even if they aren't very benevolent rulers). The world backstory (where the dragon's come from) is interesting and realistic. I enjoyed that you could work out some of the backstory simply by paying attention to little cues. And I loved that you could figure out where the story was set.
As to the characters, I really liked the dragons. They had very real personalities: where intelligent, rounded, and relatable. The humans, however, bothered me some. The title character (who really wasn't the main character--not that I could truly pin down a "main" character) was probably the best developed, however, the "main" character of Jandra grated on my nerves. Maybe it's just that she is too idealistic to the point were she completely lacks a practical brain cell in her body. It makes her behave recklessly and stupidly, and it really annoyed me because she wouldn't listen to reason. It does make her a driving force to the plot, but not one that I particularly liked.
This was the first book in a series, so it has an open ending (although there were some surprises and some definite endings for a number of characters). The next book, Dragonforge I believe comes out next month (July). I'll read it, but not immediately. I'm still feeling somewhat overdosed on the series given how this one was read.
The next book up is the highly-acclaimed novel The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I started it last night when I couldn't sleep and I like it so far. I do fear, however, that it is going to make me feel woefully incompetent as a wannabe writer.
- Book Reports: Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear
-
- aplwrite
- June 14th, 2008
Despite taking awhile to get into this book, I did enjoy it. I think the problem was that it wasn't like the fantasy books I'm used to reading, or really any genre of book I'm used to. Or rather, maybe it was just that now that I've taken a writing class that helps me understand how plots are built and the general buildup in the plot/story that goes along with that I have certain expectations when I read, and this book really didn't meet those expectations. Overall, the book was working at a much higher level than I'm used to dealing with (one that makes me feel that if this is what is expected of a writer I'm never going to get there). The plot structure didn't feel like it had the same ramp up speed as some other books.... more like you kept moving up levels to plateaus. There was a climax to the story, but it didn't really feel like a big climax, just one more plateau of activity progressing the story along (albeit it did serve to start tying things up). The story was also very deep--more deep than I feel capable of grasping. I think the depth of writing was what was throwing me, along with the writing style, at the beginning. I guess I just don't like to think so much about what I'm reading.
Anyway, I applaud Elizabeth Bear and stand somewhat in awe of her work. I have added her other books set in this same world to my list of books to get. I found the world very interesting: the battle and the balance between humanity and fae, and particularly the fact that neither is truly "right" in any way that we usually want to think about "rightness" so that there is no hero. You understand where the Mages are coming from, but they are blinded by there own sense of righteousness from realizing that their cause is destructive. You empathize with the Fae because of the wonder they add to the world, despite the price, yet know that they are also dark and scary. At least they are honest about what they are. I all this fresh and exciting (but then it may just be that my reading is limited).
What amused me most about this book is the similarities with the books I read before this (The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay). My selection was completely random, but yet again, I found myself reading a book pulling from Arthurian mythology, particularly in the sense of the cyclical nature of the Arthurian story (in terms of betrayal and sacrifice). Yet again, King Arthur awakes. I was also amused to see someone else notice the similarities between the Arthurian myth and the myth of Vlad Tepesh (sp?) and to actually tie those things together. I made that connection long ago (although, I've come to realize that it is one of those universal myths--possibly a universal myth, including the Christ story). In fact, it is probably the story that I find myself the most drawn to, and why I love Arthurian myth, and was interested in Vlad Dracula at one point, and am generally drawn to the concept of sacrifice as a moving element in stories. I just always forget about that betrayal part, which is so very important.
Anyway, next up on my reading list is Bitterwood by James Maxey. I should be finishing it shortly as it was the only thing I had to do while stuck in Cincinatti for over 6 hours when I was flying back from visiting my mom.
- Interim Book Report: Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear
-
- aplwrite
- May 19th, 2008
Okay, always give a book through page 50. And I did, and will continue to do so. And now we're into some real action and it's starting to get more interesting. And there's also the matter of Arthurian tie-ins, which weren't quite so apparent before this point, but are always a plus with me.
