Not much of an update, but still...
So we'll talk about the rest of my life tomorrow, when I've had sleep, but I figured you'd all care deeply about what I'm reading.
After finishing A Feast for Crows (which I loved except for the cliff hangers associated with a couple of storylines) I started on the first of Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry novels. Knowing what more articulate souls than I have said about the mad literary sk1llz or lack thereof of Ms. Hamilton, I'm trying to read them as escapist fluff.
My impressions as of halfway through A Kiss of Shadows :
1. Laurell, sweetie, it was a very bad idea for you to hire a blind retarded monkey as your editor. I'm sure you're one of those authors that's just so good (read: really rich) that you don't actually need an editor, but trust me, you do. The fact that you keep repeating yourself every five minutes is proof of that.
As this is an audio book, I can't really provide examples, but one might be something like this:
"Doyle looked at me in abject disgust, and I realized what was happening. He was seeing me for what I truly was, the author's wish-fulfillment fantasy, Mary Sue incarnate. All girls wanted to grow up to be fairy princesses, but here I was, actually one in real life. Sometimes it was good to be me.
'I think you're the ultimate in Mary Sues, Merry,' Doyle spat contemptuously. 'I mean, you're obviously the embodiment of the author's childhood wish to grow up to be fey royalty.'"
2. I suppose pointing out that Merry is obviously a wish-fulfillment fantasy and there is nothing whatsoever resembling a character flaw anywhere to be found on the woman would be unnecessary since I just said that. But it bears repeating, and the problem with characters like that is that it's hard for me to totally get wrapped up in their story. If I know there is no immediate, true danger for the hero(ine) to overcome, it's hard for me to truly care about them. And unless something earth-shattering happens, I'm not seeing that Merry's going to change very perceptibly emotionally.
3. However, despite the retarded monkey on crack that's Ms. Hamilton's editor and despite Merry being an epic Mary Sue, I am still reading because I am hooked. Part of that is the fascination with train wrecks, and I have a feeling that I'll be spacing out the rest of the books so I'm not reading them all at once, but a lot of it is that beneath Merry's self-centeredness there is a really fascinating story being unfolded about fey culture, and I am a sucker for urban fantasy. And watching all the men Merry ever meets fall under the mad sway of her vagina is truly fascinating.
After finishing A Feast for Crows (which I loved except for the cliff hangers associated with a couple of storylines) I started on the first of Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry novels. Knowing what more articulate souls than I have said about the mad literary sk1llz or lack thereof of Ms. Hamilton, I'm trying to read them as escapist fluff.
My impressions as of halfway through A Kiss of Shadows :
1. Laurell, sweetie, it was a very bad idea for you to hire a blind retarded monkey as your editor. I'm sure you're one of those authors that's just so good (read: really rich) that you don't actually need an editor, but trust me, you do. The fact that you keep repeating yourself every five minutes is proof of that.
As this is an audio book, I can't really provide examples, but one might be something like this:
"Doyle looked at me in abject disgust, and I realized what was happening. He was seeing me for what I truly was, the author's wish-fulfillment fantasy, Mary Sue incarnate. All girls wanted to grow up to be fairy princesses, but here I was, actually one in real life. Sometimes it was good to be me.
'I think you're the ultimate in Mary Sues, Merry,' Doyle spat contemptuously. 'I mean, you're obviously the embodiment of the author's childhood wish to grow up to be fey royalty.'"
2. I suppose pointing out that Merry is obviously a wish-fulfillment fantasy and there is nothing whatsoever resembling a character flaw anywhere to be found on the woman would be unnecessary since I just said that. But it bears repeating, and the problem with characters like that is that it's hard for me to totally get wrapped up in their story. If I know there is no immediate, true danger for the hero(ine) to overcome, it's hard for me to truly care about them. And unless something earth-shattering happens, I'm not seeing that Merry's going to change very perceptibly emotionally.
3. However, despite the retarded monkey on crack that's Ms. Hamilton's editor and despite Merry being an epic Mary Sue, I am still reading because I am hooked. Part of that is the fascination with train wrecks, and I have a feeling that I'll be spacing out the rest of the books so I'm not reading them all at once, but a lot of it is that beneath Merry's self-centeredness there is a really fascinating story being unfolded about fey culture, and I am a sucker for urban fantasy. And watching all the men Merry ever meets fall under the mad sway of her vagina is truly fascinating.