(no subject)
So, um, yeah. Reviews. Have any of you people read:
Shadows Return (Lynn Flewelling)
This is the fourth book about Alec and Seregil, and a new turn in their continuing adventures.
Actually, that's not really true. While the first and third book play out like mystery/political intrigue stories, the fourth one, like the second, is rather more of the typical fantasy "a great magical item/spell/plot to summon the gods of darkness must be stopped" tale.
I thought this was an interesting new direction in the story, though it wasn't much of a surprise (the "You will father a child by no woman" bit was obvious). I liked how Ilar was worked into the story -- of course, you knew he'd show up at one point or another. I thought his character was quite well-drawn, and his revenge upon both Seregil and Alec was perfectly true to character and realistic, not turning into a completely sadistic act, unlike the necromancer's torture of Alec in Stalking Darkness. The tensions between Alec and Seregil were also handled deftly, and I was glad to see them argue and disagree about important things, because they can't be blissfully in love and screwing like rabbits all the time, right?
Though the other books all ended with lots of loose threads, this one is even more clearly a set-up for further exploration of Alec's heritage. I can haz sequel?
I read this in two days, because a) I love me some gay spies and b) the print is bigger than it was in the previous three books. Also, I wondered at first whether the publisher had changed, because there was at least one instance of "fuck" (or a variation thereof) and the more intimate scenes between Alec and Seregil, though nowhere near explicit, were racier than they were in Traitor's Moon.
My only major complaint is that the title is rather lame, though it's so far been 50/50 for this series: Luck in the Shadows is a great title, I think, and Traitor's Moon is nicely suggestive; Stalking Darkness could be ANYTHING, and Shadows Return is just too easy.
Final verdict: 8/10
Lady Chatterly's Lover (D.H. Lawrence)
Another Book Off purchase, I mainly wanted to see what all the fuss is (or was, rather) about. Ooh, a book banned for years because of its sexually-explicit contents!
I'm of two minds about this book. On one hand, I agree that it's good to explore your sexuality and to not be afraid of the flesh, etc. etc. On the other hand, it's a bit hard to take seriously a character (that would be the titular lover) who states that a woman who can only achieve orgasm through clitoral stimulation must be a lesbian, and also that the only truly fulfilling orgasm is one reached simultaneously by both parties. *rolls her eyes* Oh yeah, and black women are over-sexed. @_@
On top of that, I'm naturally suspicious of any book written by a man that claims to be about a woman's sexual awakening.
Still, the writing itself drew me in, and the book has rather amusing (though I'm sure they weren't meant to be) passages in which Lady Chatterly observes the gamekeeper's non-erect penis and thinks about how small and innocent and almost pitiful it looks. XD Also, there's a great line about how nowadays, the main function of a monarch seems to be to open soup kitchens.
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl)
I was certain I'd never read anything by Roald Dahl but what he's written for children, but the second story in this book is "Lamb to the Slaughter", which I'm sure you must be familiar with. It's the story of the young wife who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, then invites the policemen investigating the murder to dinner so that they eat the murder weapon.
Well, that story is famous enough that I've seen it, or seen it retold, in various places, and I think I must have read it at least once before (secondary school English class, possibly?), but I'd completely forgotten that the author was the same guy who came up with a fantastical chocolate factory.
Anyway, these stories are actually from two other short story collections of his, and they're all short, darkly funny or ironic little tales of revenge, pettiness, and getting even. Many of them are quite disturbing, and Dahl manages to ramp up the tension in them to the point that I was almost too uncomfortable to turn the page. A recurring theme is a hard-done-by spouse who finally snaps, or at least manages to let events take their course in such a way that they get revenge by proxy, and I loved that for most of the stories, the twist endings really surprised me.
In a way, I'm glad the book wasn't any longer (16 stories), because I don't read this genre too often, and I found it almost stressful, though that could just be the author's talent shining through.
Final verdict: 9/10
I've still got all my reviews from last year to do, but I plead cookery as my excuse this evening (don't look at me like that -- it took a lot of motivation to chop up all those vegetables!). And there are no new tv reviews because I'm in the middle of three series at once and not even halfway through any of them. So You Think You Can Dance Canada, The Tudors and Antique Bakery (anime), if you must know.
Shadows Return (Lynn Flewelling)
This is the fourth book about Alec and Seregil, and a new turn in their continuing adventures.
Actually, that's not really true. While the first and third book play out like mystery/political intrigue stories, the fourth one, like the second, is rather more of the typical fantasy "a great magical item/spell/plot to summon the gods of darkness must be stopped" tale.
I thought this was an interesting new direction in the story, though it wasn't much of a surprise (the "You will father a child by no woman" bit was obvious). I liked how Ilar was worked into the story -- of course, you knew he'd show up at one point or another. I thought his character was quite well-drawn, and his revenge upon both Seregil and Alec was perfectly true to character and realistic, not turning into a completely sadistic act, unlike the necromancer's torture of Alec in Stalking Darkness. The tensions between Alec and Seregil were also handled deftly, and I was glad to see them argue and disagree about important things, because they can't be blissfully in love and screwing like rabbits all the time, right?
Though the other books all ended with lots of loose threads, this one is even more clearly a set-up for further exploration of Alec's heritage. I can haz sequel?
I read this in two days, because a) I love me some gay spies and b) the print is bigger than it was in the previous three books. Also, I wondered at first whether the publisher had changed, because there was at least one instance of "fuck" (or a variation thereof) and the more intimate scenes between Alec and Seregil, though nowhere near explicit, were racier than they were in Traitor's Moon.
My only major complaint is that the title is rather lame, though it's so far been 50/50 for this series: Luck in the Shadows is a great title, I think, and Traitor's Moon is nicely suggestive; Stalking Darkness could be ANYTHING, and Shadows Return is just too easy.
Final verdict: 8/10
Lady Chatterly's Lover (D.H. Lawrence)
Another Book Off purchase, I mainly wanted to see what all the fuss is (or was, rather) about. Ooh, a book banned for years because of its sexually-explicit contents!
I'm of two minds about this book. On one hand, I agree that it's good to explore your sexuality and to not be afraid of the flesh, etc. etc. On the other hand, it's a bit hard to take seriously a character (that would be the titular lover) who states that a woman who can only achieve orgasm through clitoral stimulation must be a lesbian, and also that the only truly fulfilling orgasm is one reached simultaneously by both parties. *rolls her eyes* Oh yeah, and black women are over-sexed. @_@
On top of that, I'm naturally suspicious of any book written by a man that claims to be about a woman's sexual awakening.
Still, the writing itself drew me in, and the book has rather amusing (though I'm sure they weren't meant to be) passages in which Lady Chatterly observes the gamekeeper's non-erect penis and thinks about how small and innocent and almost pitiful it looks. XD Also, there's a great line about how nowadays, the main function of a monarch seems to be to open soup kitchens.
Final verdict: 7.5/10
Tales of the Unexpected (Roald Dahl)
I was certain I'd never read anything by Roald Dahl but what he's written for children, but the second story in this book is "Lamb to the Slaughter", which I'm sure you must be familiar with. It's the story of the young wife who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb, then invites the policemen investigating the murder to dinner so that they eat the murder weapon.
Well, that story is famous enough that I've seen it, or seen it retold, in various places, and I think I must have read it at least once before (secondary school English class, possibly?), but I'd completely forgotten that the author was the same guy who came up with a fantastical chocolate factory.
Anyway, these stories are actually from two other short story collections of his, and they're all short, darkly funny or ironic little tales of revenge, pettiness, and getting even. Many of them are quite disturbing, and Dahl manages to ramp up the tension in them to the point that I was almost too uncomfortable to turn the page. A recurring theme is a hard-done-by spouse who finally snaps, or at least manages to let events take their course in such a way that they get revenge by proxy, and I loved that for most of the stories, the twist endings really surprised me.
In a way, I'm glad the book wasn't any longer (16 stories), because I don't read this genre too often, and I found it almost stressful, though that could just be the author's talent shining through.
Final verdict: 9/10
I've still got all my reviews from last year to do, but I plead cookery as my excuse this evening (don't look at me like that -- it took a lot of motivation to chop up all those vegetables!). And there are no new tv reviews because I'm in the middle of three series at once and not even halfway through any of them. So You Think You Can Dance Canada, The Tudors and Antique Bakery (anime), if you must know.