Reaction post!
Book reactions I promised, and one that I didn't promise but want to include anyway.
One day I went to a bookstore and it had a bunch of the LJ books (either ones that spread over it like a rash, or ones written by LJ bloggers) that I wanted to read, bam, all at once. I'm not sure I've ever bought that many books at a time at a non-second hand store - there's still a stunned feeling deep in my cheapo soul. At least so far it was money well spent.
karenhealey's Guardian of the Dead - An urban fantasy set in New Zealand, based around its folklore. The first ~20 pages made me think 'this is so LJ'. It's rather like it was based off a checklist of things LJ fandom wants to see more of in fiction, but nonetheless the book was serviceable. Then my reactions go like this:
1. Ooh, getting interesting.
2. aaah
3. aaaah!
4. AAAAAHHH
5. AAAAAAAAAHHH
6. Sleep is an invention by the man to prevent reading! Work in the morning, pssh, who cares.
7. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
The book often went to unexpected places, including literally. I so didn't expect the characters to go THERE, SERIOUSLY, WOW, and it could have been difficult to make suitably epic but Healey does that thing. After the paint-by-numbers intro, all those "things LJ fandom wants to see" are actually really good to see and feel organic. I love the heroine, her BFF is adorable, the side characters are ace (but in reference to one of them: dear heroine, you know it's racist and I'm glad you realise, so ... stop saying it), and the love interest is--well. Quite likable, except he oughta be shot, except he's quite likable? In general: it's the standard YA urban fantasy story but it is good and creepy and provides funtimes, consider this a rec, and please Ms. Healey, can I have some more?
The Thief + Queen of Attolia: The copies I bought have such classy covers. It's the ones in this style AND I LOVE THEM. --Seriously, this is what work has done to me. I constantly stared at the covers with adoring cow eyes thinking how I'd have loved to be in the meeting where they were approved. Slow clapping, going "Understated! Beautiful, elegant, a little frightening! Perfect match for the contents!" and possibly weeping quietly. They fit REALLY WELL OKAY. (And we've approved some crappy covers at work lately. I think I'm experiencing marketing team envy.)
They actually strike me as a little boring for a YA book, which tend towards gloriously dramatic, whether in the sparkles and colours way or the Artful Visual of the type made highly popular by Twilight. That works too of course, as the books are actually about pretty boring things. There's a lot of 'he said she said, this war that war', except somehow it's GRIPPING--I don't know how Turner does it. Usually you need a lot more explosions.
(Where there are explosions, they're awesome. "Hello. By the way I blew up your Navy" was great. EUGENIDES. YOU CARD. Way to work a re-introduction. ♥)
My experience with The Thief a few months ago was awkward because it turns out that a Yuugiou fic I loved is a ripoff of the book. In my head Eugenides continues to be played by Thief King Bakura, leading to internal editing whenever the text describes him as pale-skinned and brunette, and ridiculous glee when there are mentions of scarring on his cheek and when he gets to be Thief + King lololol. The magus is played by Odion although I think in the aforementioned fic Odion was actually that old soldier who got killed in The Thief, but whatevs, this mental landscaping makes me happy. Occasionally Attolia got played by Dark Bakura/Ryou Bakura, but that got really weird and too hilarious to consistently picture. Dark Bakura would totally lead Eddis aside for a chat about running kingdoms that went CRUSH THEM FUCK THEM UP AND KILL THEM ALL, though. but too hilarious.
General things:
- I like that Nahuseresh didn't turn out to be that bad when he seemed to spend the book trimming his beard to spell E-V-I-L. He's not nearly as cartoon villain as he seemed.
- Although I thought he was nailed. "Oh that Attolia, what a lovely flower of ineffectual womanhood" - why would he think that. Why would anyone. He SHOULD have been nailed. And hammered. All literally, just for that stunning oversight, whoo boy.
- It was great that Eddis and Attolia hung out. I thought I'd have to turn to fic! It's kind of endearing that, for all the politics and patronisation, the first thing Attolia says to Eddis's questions about Nahuseresh is "His hairstyle SUCKS". Annoying too, because the Girls are having a Girl Talk, but Attolia gets to feel human. ♥
- Augh those scenes where Eddis and Eugenides pretend to be makin' it are so awkward. I have incest ships, but they don't feel half so incestuous as that.
- I love it when Eugenides gets over himself and works to get over his injury and distress. As said above, his reintroduction via EXPLODE THE NAVY is excellent in all ways, especially for the friendly kidnapping of the magus. They're cool together. And the way Eugenides learns to fight alongside his dad fills me with warm fuzzies. There are great relationships in this series! Platonic, romantic, whatever.
- But that romance.
- WOW.
- I did not see that coming. I knew they fall in love, but given the amputation that looked like next book's thing, which would slowly grow from a purely political marriage. But no, there goes Eugenides, in love and terrified, and Attolia ... ditto, but also purposefully terrifying into the bargain. Frankly, O_O.
- Also: awesome proposal.
- But you know, for all that the relationship is fascinating and a mess and I would love to see a documentary about whatever the fuck kind of love life that's going to be (forgive me, but at the moment I see Eugenides screaming a lot in all kinds of situations. A LOT), the ending of the book had me going "Well yes, you two are verging on stable and are in love, that's nice. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ENCROACHING WARS? The negotiations with the nobility! The hostile court!" Turner is amazing at making that stuff engaging.
But it's going to be a while before I pick up King of Attolia. Thinking about Queen still makes me let out a breath. Eugenides's dad trying to give him a mercy kill would be enough to knock me out, but then there's ... the rest of the book. DANG.
Demon's Covenant: I would have said stuff like 'Brennan definitely dodged the second book lag', or 'damn it, I bought an incomplete copy, my version is missing all the pages where Mae jumps Sin!' or commented on how the world built in this series is really grim, etc etc, and then. Then we stab Jamie and Mae's mum through the stomach for no reason.
I really liked Annabel, in all her emotionally stunted control freak glory. And I liked her even more when she makes the effort to connect with her kids, and then hell yeah the Golf Club of Great Justice! Making a character likeable is no reason not to kill them, and I would have been saddened but satisfied if she'd bit it during the fight. But the way it was done was stunningly stupid! It's a terrible idea for the villains. Annabel's not attacking and isn't really much of a threat anyway, Jamie's actually listening to Gerald, and then Helen stabs her!
What the Jiminy Cricket crap, Helen. I'm invoking Disney characters, this is how confused and upset I am. Frigging Gerald or Celeste Drake don't even say 'great job, genius, now the kid won't want to join us', they stay quiet like this is standard practice. Oh, killed your mother, as one does. ???
Worst thing is that it WORKS, as Jamie joins the circle. If no one is suspicious in The Demon's Surrender about his motivation, my brain will spontaneously liquefy.
Also, sorry, Chris, I can see where you're coming from with Nick/Jamie (especially once I stop thinking everybody should take random opportunities to smack Jamie in the face), but er, actually Annabel/Nick seemed awesome. Hot young man cooks for her and then engages her in a shirtless sword fight, I'm sure she was ready to get her cougar on. And then, you know, SUDDEN DEATH.
One day I went to a bookstore and it had a bunch of the LJ books (either ones that spread over it like a rash, or ones written by LJ bloggers) that I wanted to read, bam, all at once. I'm not sure I've ever bought that many books at a time at a non-second hand store - there's still a stunned feeling deep in my cheapo soul. At least so far it was money well spent.
karenhealey's Guardian of the Dead - An urban fantasy set in New Zealand, based around its folklore. The first ~20 pages made me think 'this is so LJ'. It's rather like it was based off a checklist of things LJ fandom wants to see more of in fiction, but nonetheless the book was serviceable. Then my reactions go like this:
1. Ooh, getting interesting.
2. aaah
3. aaaah!
4. AAAAAHHH
5. AAAAAAAAAHHH
6. Sleep is an invention by the man to prevent reading! Work in the morning, pssh, who cares.
7. AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
The book often went to unexpected places, including literally. I so didn't expect the characters to go THERE, SERIOUSLY, WOW, and it could have been difficult to make suitably epic but Healey does that thing. After the paint-by-numbers intro, all those "things LJ fandom wants to see" are actually really good to see and feel organic. I love the heroine, her BFF is adorable, the side characters are ace (but in reference to one of them: dear heroine, you know it's racist and I'm glad you realise, so ... stop saying it), and the love interest is--well. Quite likable, except he oughta be shot, except he's quite likable? In general: it's the standard YA urban fantasy story but it is good and creepy and provides funtimes, consider this a rec, and please Ms. Healey, can I have some more?
The Thief + Queen of Attolia: The copies I bought have such classy covers. It's the ones in this style AND I LOVE THEM. --Seriously, this is what work has done to me. I constantly stared at the covers with adoring cow eyes thinking how I'd have loved to be in the meeting where they were approved. Slow clapping, going "Understated! Beautiful, elegant, a little frightening! Perfect match for the contents!" and possibly weeping quietly. They fit REALLY WELL OKAY. (And we've approved some crappy covers at work lately. I think I'm experiencing marketing team envy.)
They actually strike me as a little boring for a YA book, which tend towards gloriously dramatic, whether in the sparkles and colours way or the Artful Visual of the type made highly popular by Twilight. That works too of course, as the books are actually about pretty boring things. There's a lot of 'he said she said, this war that war', except somehow it's GRIPPING--I don't know how Turner does it. Usually you need a lot more explosions.
(Where there are explosions, they're awesome. "Hello. By the way I blew up your Navy" was great. EUGENIDES. YOU CARD. Way to work a re-introduction. ♥)
My experience with The Thief a few months ago was awkward because it turns out that a Yuugiou fic I loved is a ripoff of the book. In my head Eugenides continues to be played by Thief King Bakura, leading to internal editing whenever the text describes him as pale-skinned and brunette, and ridiculous glee when there are mentions of scarring on his cheek and when he gets to be Thief + King lololol. The magus is played by Odion although I think in the aforementioned fic Odion was actually that old soldier who got killed in The Thief, but whatevs, this mental landscaping makes me happy. Occasionally Attolia got played by Dark Bakura/Ryou Bakura, but that got really weird and too hilarious to consistently picture. Dark Bakura would totally lead Eddis aside for a chat about running kingdoms that went CRUSH THEM FUCK THEM UP AND KILL THEM ALL, though. but too hilarious.
General things:
- I like that Nahuseresh didn't turn out to be that bad when he seemed to spend the book trimming his beard to spell E-V-I-L. He's not nearly as cartoon villain as he seemed.
- Although I thought he was nailed. "Oh that Attolia, what a lovely flower of ineffectual womanhood" - why would he think that. Why would anyone. He SHOULD have been nailed. And hammered. All literally, just for that stunning oversight, whoo boy.
- It was great that Eddis and Attolia hung out. I thought I'd have to turn to fic! It's kind of endearing that, for all the politics and patronisation, the first thing Attolia says to Eddis's questions about Nahuseresh is "His hairstyle SUCKS". Annoying too, because the Girls are having a Girl Talk, but Attolia gets to feel human. ♥
- Augh those scenes where Eddis and Eugenides pretend to be makin' it are so awkward. I have incest ships, but they don't feel half so incestuous as that.
- I love it when Eugenides gets over himself and works to get over his injury and distress. As said above, his reintroduction via EXPLODE THE NAVY is excellent in all ways, especially for the friendly kidnapping of the magus. They're cool together. And the way Eugenides learns to fight alongside his dad fills me with warm fuzzies. There are great relationships in this series! Platonic, romantic, whatever.
- But that romance.
- WOW.
- I did not see that coming. I knew they fall in love, but given the amputation that looked like next book's thing, which would slowly grow from a purely political marriage. But no, there goes Eugenides, in love and terrified, and Attolia ... ditto, but also purposefully terrifying into the bargain. Frankly, O_O.
- Also: awesome proposal.
- But you know, for all that the relationship is fascinating and a mess and I would love to see a documentary about whatever the fuck kind of love life that's going to be (forgive me, but at the moment I see Eugenides screaming a lot in all kinds of situations. A LOT), the ending of the book had me going "Well yes, you two are verging on stable and are in love, that's nice. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE ENCROACHING WARS? The negotiations with the nobility! The hostile court!" Turner is amazing at making that stuff engaging.
But it's going to be a while before I pick up King of Attolia. Thinking about Queen still makes me let out a breath. Eugenides's dad trying to give him a mercy kill would be enough to knock me out, but then there's ... the rest of the book. DANG.
Demon's Covenant: I would have said stuff like 'Brennan definitely dodged the second book lag', or 'damn it, I bought an incomplete copy, my version is missing all the pages where Mae jumps Sin!' or commented on how the world built in this series is really grim, etc etc, and then. Then we stab Jamie and Mae's mum through the stomach for no reason.
I really liked Annabel, in all her emotionally stunted control freak glory. And I liked her even more when she makes the effort to connect with her kids, and then hell yeah the Golf Club of Great Justice! Making a character likeable is no reason not to kill them, and I would have been saddened but satisfied if she'd bit it during the fight. But the way it was done was stunningly stupid! It's a terrible idea for the villains. Annabel's not attacking and isn't really much of a threat anyway, Jamie's actually listening to Gerald, and then Helen stabs her!
What the Jiminy Cricket crap, Helen. I'm invoking Disney characters, this is how confused and upset I am. Frigging Gerald or Celeste Drake don't even say 'great job, genius, now the kid won't want to join us', they stay quiet like this is standard practice. Oh, killed your mother, as one does. ???
Worst thing is that it WORKS, as Jamie joins the circle. If no one is suspicious in The Demon's Surrender about his motivation, my brain will spontaneously liquefy.
Also, sorry, Chris, I can see where you're coming from with Nick/Jamie (especially once I stop thinking everybody should take random opportunities to smack Jamie in the face), but er, actually Annabel/Nick seemed awesome. Hot young man cooks for her and then engages her in a shirtless sword fight, I'm sure she was ready to get her cougar on. And then, you know, SUDDEN DEATH.