march book log
Outlaws of Sherwood - Robin McKinley
SPOILERS
Tell me if this sounds familiar: Marian dresses up like a man to do something dangerous and rather stupid. Guy of Gisborne attacks her, stabbing her in the side, and she is taken away to safety in a cave by Robin's men. There, as she is close to death, Robin finally admits that he loves her.
Yup, that's the climax of this book, which I'm willing to bet some of the writers for Robin Hood read at some point (it was written 20 years ago). And I'm sad to say that I didn't really like it (the book, not the climax). McKinley admits in the afterword that she's not a historian and is basically trying to keep it ahistorical so as not to embarass herself, but then that means she takes up tropes from Scott and Pyle, like Normans vs. Saxons, which are not historically correct at all and completely irritating (to me). King Richard was a good guy again, which I know is the popular view of things, but doesn't make it less annoying, and his timely appearance in the castle was way too convenient. The other thing I didn't like about the book is that the language is so stilted it's hard to read sometimes--again, like she'd been reading Scott or Pyle and was trying to keep with the tone.
On the other hand, I loved the characters. Marian and Much and Cecil, especially, and I would have loved McKinley to break out of the boundaries set by other authors and just do her own thing. I realize that her version probably seemed really fresh and new in the 80s, but after having seen all kinds of revisionist versions of Robin Hood, as well as how she altered traditional tales in her other books, it leaves me wanting more.
Ultimately, I wanted to like it, but I just couldn't get past the horrible dialogue and all the stereotypical Norman vs. Saxon stuff. I bet fanfic for this book would be really good though ; )
More about the characters:
"[Nigel, Marian's undesired suitor] then turned on Marian. She was trying to look female and negligible, which was more difficult for her than speaking out against the sheriff had been." p. 156
This made me laugh, because of course I had the BBC characters in the back of my brain the whole time:
"'Even in Sherwood, Guy will find his quarry; the stories say that Guy doesn't sleep, and he finds his men by smelling the heat of their blood.'" p. 182
And I couldn't help myself . . .
"The sword drew a line of blood along Robin's jaw till it came neatly to its resting place in the hollow of his throat. Robin straightened up slowly . . . "Kneel," said Guy. Robin did not move, and Guy pressed the point of his sword a little harder into Robin's throat . . . "Kneel," said Guy, but Robin only rocked back on his heels." p. 229 (Tuck's reactions edited out)
Ouran High School Host Club vol. 10 - Bisco Hatori
So here we see the introduction of Mei, who I can't say I really care about, though I like that Haruhi now has a friend who's a girl. She's also definitely needed if the manga is going to have an actual plot, which Bisco Hatori says it will. I'm not sure how I feel about specific romantic pairings because the Host Club is adorable as it is (the anime was great for me).
I do think I like Tamaki/Haruhi better in the manga than in the anime, which is where I think this is going. And apparently there are hints of canon slash coming up? Hmmm. Anyways, this was as usual cute and fun and I laughed out loud for a long time at the panel where Tamaki greets Mei and says 'Hello! I'm Tamaki Suoh and these are my agreeable friends!.'
Phantom - Susan Kay
So I used to love this book in junior high. In fact, the only fandom I have ever been into as much as I've been into Robin Hood is The Phantom of the Opera. Some day I will pull out all the old stories I wrote with my friend J and we will laugh and then cry at how ridiculous we were.
But anyways, I wanted to reread this since I hadn't read it in about ten years. It was a little sad to take the shine off something I loved so much, but in the end I still really enjoyed it. One of the nice things was how familiar it was--I remembered so many of the scenes, and there were even lines and descriptions that I remembered perfectly (the line about bad sopranos sounding like the 'whistle of a demented peanut vendor' still makes me laugh way too much).
It's funny how dramatic it seems now, all the elipses and purposefully melodramatic statements. Aside from that it's not too bad, though I don't think Kay is quite a good enough writer to do what she's trying to do. For example, the first-person narrator, which changes throughout the book, is far too even and lucid, especially when Madeleine is slowly going crazy. She knows things she shouldn't, and she reacts to her actions in ways that she really shouldn't. It's like the narrators are all floating above the story, but I want to be immersed.
And I have to wonder, why would a provincial French priest name a kid Erik? For one, it's a Scandinavian name; two, you'd think he'd be given the name of a saint because the child clearly needs all the help he can get. But anyways.
I found myself rather impatient with the bildungsroman bits, but by the time I got to the counterpoint with Erik & Christine I appreciated all that background stuff--it made for a much more lush character (and I love Erik's wry sense of humor). I wanted more of the Erik & Christine than I got. Whatever happened to the episode at Perros-Guirec? And I obviously had more to say on this when I finished it two weeks ago, but I forgot everything. Basically, I rolled my eyes through much of the first bit, got into it more in Persia, and totally loved the end (BECAUSE THEY GET TOGETHER, OBVS.). And I'm still completely ambivalent about Raoul. Okay, I think I would be less so if we're talking about the original Leroux, but for this book, it's Erik/Christine all the way.
Though I do have a hard time believing a man so unbound by society could have gotten to the age of 50 as a virgin.
Also, EDWARD WOULD BE APPALLED IF HE FOUND OUT.