Reading roundup
Wrapping up 2006:
37. Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners -- I was curious but apprehensive about Kelly Link after she won all those awards. Because I often find that award-winning fantasy ends up being too pretensious (and self-impressed and post-morder and whatever) for my taste. So, I finally picked up the book, not necessarily expecting to like it -- and was surprised when I did like it, quite a lot. Although not every story in this short story collection. But I did love two of them, and enjoy most of the others on some level at least, which was enough. Going story-by-story, from what I liked least to what I liked best:
"The Cannon" -- this was the one story that I actually disliked. Fortunately, it was also very short. I don't know why it needed to be told in Q&A format, or what that added, rather than the shock/glamour factor of non-traditional narrative. There were maybe one or two sentences that did strike me as interesting, but the whole of it left me going, Huh?
My next least favorite story is "The Great Divorce" (dead people married to living people), which really didn't do much for me beyond the somewhat intriguing idea above. and some observations that were interesting but didn't actually grab me.
I liked "The Hortlak" (one of the several zombie-related stories, the one set in a convenience store) and "The Lull" (a story-within-a-story-within-a-story-within-a-story (the "we" story, Starlight's, cheerleader's, and Ed's), folded on itself like a Mobius strip, with the outermost story told in first person plural) better, but it felt like there was too much stuff going on, all of it interesting by itself, and, indeed, loosely related to what was going on in other parts of the story -- but not enough to let me get a coherent feel for it.
I have mixed feelings about "Catskin" -- a freaky fairy-tale-like story full of ants and death and fire and things buried alive and other fairly unsavory things. It was well done, and even profound/poignant in places, but it's just not the sort of thing I enjoy reading...
I was rather charmed by "Some Zombie Contingency Plans," although I'm not entirely sure it's a fantasy story at all. But it has a clean, quirky, funny, dreamy narrative style that reminded me, more than anything, of Louis Sachar, of all things -- the Wayside School is Falling Down stories, with their merry matter-of-fact madness, which the stories I liked best in this collection did, too. So, while all the stories up above were really idea/archetype stories, except bands of "The Lull," this was one where I was more engaged by the characters and narrative more than by the idea/plot. And I generally liked that better, so, that's primarily what puts this story over the others. Plus it has an awesome title!
I really, really liked parts of "Stone Animals" -- everything having to do with the kids (the daughter reminded me quite a bit of L, actually, which probably helped there) and the mother/wife (her arc actually felt like something out of One Hundred Years of Solitude). But I didn't much care for the husband/father's arc, and felt the ending was a disappointment after the build-up. Oh, well... I still enjoyed the bulk of the story before being disappointed.
I have a hard time deciding which I liked better: "Faery Handbag" (2005 Hugo and Nebula Winner, novelette) or "Magic for Beginners" (2005 Nebula winner for novella). They both featured lovingly mad, madly loving families, magic and weirdness co-existing peacefully but interestingly with normal life things, and engaging teenage protagonists. I think Link's mad magical realism style is particularly well suited to teenage protagonists, because they fit best into those kinds of worlds, full of wonder but unsurprised. I think I may like "Magic for Beginners" a little better, because it's a more unusual story idea, and also because I'd actually really like the watch "The Library" show. You just know there would be a community in LJ for it (and for all I know, there actually is...)
So, yeah, on average, a very worthwhile read!
38. Michael A Stackpole, Cartography -- this is the sequel to The Secret Atlas, which I read back in October. So, I went back and re-read what I said about that book, and then spent some minutes pondering what it was that had actually happened in the previous book, because it felt like the second one ended not all that far from where it had begun -- although I will admit to being rather intrigued by the twist at the end (which I would've been surely surprised by if I hadn't glanced at the very last page and gotten myself spoiled).
There is a good deal less worldbuilding in this one, which is understandable, since it's not the first of a series, but it's also disappointing -- that had seriously been the best part of Atlas. Instead, we get some ancient history (largely meh), intrigue (not all that spectacularly done), and a lot of "protagonists discovering their godlike powers (and previously untapped wells of angst)" (even more meh), and lots of battle scenes (not really my thing). Also, Stackpole apparently has some weird thing against actually killing off any of his protagonists EVER -- like, they sort of die, but then not really, and, dude, I totally understand him, but reading that sort of thing when I've got a GRRM book lying next to it is rather... low stakes.
The series did get a little better in the character department, I thought. Keles was still boring, and I really wasn't buying the love triangle/whatever dilemma; Nirati was still an idiot, and a largely superfluous one at that; and Jorim -- I think he actually regressed and became less fleshed out in this one. And, of course, the one Anturasi that I was actually intrigued by, Qiro, was essentially non-existent in this book. Moraven Tolo stayed an OK character -- actually, I liked him better in this one, even -- but it did confuse me when, all of a sudden, he got first-person narration, which none of the other POV characters get. It made me wonder whether that meant he was actually narrating everybody else's chapters, too, and how he knew about all of them, etc., etc. I wonder if this was merely the way the author had come up with of continuing to conceal his secret identity, now that "Moraven" himself has recovered it -- but, eh, not particularly smoothly done.
I was holding out some hope for the characters of the Princes Cyron and Pyrust at the end of Secret Atlas, and we did to see quite a bit of them in this book. Cyron quickly devolved into angst and thus lost pretty much all of my interest (although that one paragraph with the maggots, towards the end, was absolutely priceless!), but Pyrust actually came through -- I did finally end up being somewhat invested in/rooting for a character. I wonder what the twist ending means for him in book 3 -- will be most curious to find out.
39. George R.R. Martin, Storm of Swords
40. George R.R.Martin, Feast for Crows -- my impressions are captured in bits and pieces under the ASOIAF tag, spoilerrifically so.
I was going to write up Kushiel's Legacy (or the first two books of it, anyway) as well, but that got overlong, and I think will need its own post. So, forthcoming! (not that anyone reads these roundups but me...)
37. Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners -- I was curious but apprehensive about Kelly Link after she won all those awards. Because I often find that award-winning fantasy ends up being too pretensious (and self-impressed and post-morder and whatever) for my taste. So, I finally picked up the book, not necessarily expecting to like it -- and was surprised when I did like it, quite a lot. Although not every story in this short story collection. But I did love two of them, and enjoy most of the others on some level at least, which was enough. Going story-by-story, from what I liked least to what I liked best:
"The Cannon" -- this was the one story that I actually disliked. Fortunately, it was also very short. I don't know why it needed to be told in Q&A format, or what that added, rather than the shock/glamour factor of non-traditional narrative. There were maybe one or two sentences that did strike me as interesting, but the whole of it left me going, Huh?
My next least favorite story is "The Great Divorce" (dead people married to living people), which really didn't do much for me beyond the somewhat intriguing idea above. and some observations that were interesting but didn't actually grab me.
I liked "The Hortlak" (one of the several zombie-related stories, the one set in a convenience store) and "The Lull" (a story-within-a-story-within-a-story-within-a-story (the "we" story, Starlight's, cheerleader's, and Ed's), folded on itself like a Mobius strip, with the outermost story told in first person plural) better, but it felt like there was too much stuff going on, all of it interesting by itself, and, indeed, loosely related to what was going on in other parts of the story -- but not enough to let me get a coherent feel for it.
I have mixed feelings about "Catskin" -- a freaky fairy-tale-like story full of ants and death and fire and things buried alive and other fairly unsavory things. It was well done, and even profound/poignant in places, but it's just not the sort of thing I enjoy reading...
I was rather charmed by "Some Zombie Contingency Plans," although I'm not entirely sure it's a fantasy story at all. But it has a clean, quirky, funny, dreamy narrative style that reminded me, more than anything, of Louis Sachar, of all things -- the Wayside School is Falling Down stories, with their merry matter-of-fact madness, which the stories I liked best in this collection did, too. So, while all the stories up above were really idea/archetype stories, except bands of "The Lull," this was one where I was more engaged by the characters and narrative more than by the idea/plot. And I generally liked that better, so, that's primarily what puts this story over the others. Plus it has an awesome title!
I really, really liked parts of "Stone Animals" -- everything having to do with the kids (the daughter reminded me quite a bit of L, actually, which probably helped there) and the mother/wife (her arc actually felt like something out of One Hundred Years of Solitude). But I didn't much care for the husband/father's arc, and felt the ending was a disappointment after the build-up. Oh, well... I still enjoyed the bulk of the story before being disappointed.
I have a hard time deciding which I liked better: "Faery Handbag" (2005 Hugo and Nebula Winner, novelette) or "Magic for Beginners" (2005 Nebula winner for novella). They both featured lovingly mad, madly loving families, magic and weirdness co-existing peacefully but interestingly with normal life things, and engaging teenage protagonists. I think Link's mad magical realism style is particularly well suited to teenage protagonists, because they fit best into those kinds of worlds, full of wonder but unsurprised. I think I may like "Magic for Beginners" a little better, because it's a more unusual story idea, and also because I'd actually really like the watch "The Library" show. You just know there would be a community in LJ for it (and for all I know, there actually is...)
So, yeah, on average, a very worthwhile read!
38. Michael A Stackpole, Cartography -- this is the sequel to The Secret Atlas, which I read back in October. So, I went back and re-read what I said about that book, and then spent some minutes pondering what it was that had actually happened in the previous book, because it felt like the second one ended not all that far from where it had begun -- although I will admit to being rather intrigued by the twist at the end (which I would've been surely surprised by if I hadn't glanced at the very last page and gotten myself spoiled).
There is a good deal less worldbuilding in this one, which is understandable, since it's not the first of a series, but it's also disappointing -- that had seriously been the best part of Atlas. Instead, we get some ancient history (largely meh), intrigue (not all that spectacularly done), and a lot of "protagonists discovering their godlike powers (and previously untapped wells of angst)" (even more meh), and lots of battle scenes (not really my thing). Also, Stackpole apparently has some weird thing against actually killing off any of his protagonists EVER -- like, they sort of die, but then not really, and, dude, I totally understand him, but reading that sort of thing when I've got a GRRM book lying next to it is rather... low stakes.
The series did get a little better in the character department, I thought. Keles was still boring, and I really wasn't buying the love triangle/whatever dilemma; Nirati was still an idiot, and a largely superfluous one at that; and Jorim -- I think he actually regressed and became less fleshed out in this one. And, of course, the one Anturasi that I was actually intrigued by, Qiro, was essentially non-existent in this book. Moraven Tolo stayed an OK character -- actually, I liked him better in this one, even -- but it did confuse me when, all of a sudden, he got first-person narration, which none of the other POV characters get. It made me wonder whether that meant he was actually narrating everybody else's chapters, too, and how he knew about all of them, etc., etc. I wonder if this was merely the way the author had come up with of continuing to conceal his secret identity, now that "Moraven" himself has recovered it -- but, eh, not particularly smoothly done.
I was holding out some hope for the characters of the Princes Cyron and Pyrust at the end of Secret Atlas, and we did to see quite a bit of them in this book. Cyron quickly devolved into angst and thus lost pretty much all of my interest (although that one paragraph with the maggots, towards the end, was absolutely priceless!), but Pyrust actually came through -- I did finally end up being somewhat invested in/rooting for a character. I wonder what the twist ending means for him in book 3 -- will be most curious to find out.
39. George R.R. Martin, Storm of Swords
40. George R.R.Martin, Feast for Crows -- my impressions are captured in bits and pieces under the ASOIAF tag, spoilerrifically so.
I was going to write up Kushiel's Legacy (or the first two books of it, anyway) as well, but that got overlong, and I think will need its own post. So, forthcoming! (not that anyone reads these roundups but me...)