Reading roundup: dragon stories and Changes
31. The Dragon Book, edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.
"Dragon's Deep", Cecelia Holland -- my least favorite story in the book, which therefore distressed me, since it was the first one I read. The dragon itself is fairly interesting, but the rest of the tale annoyed me. I don't think it made the points it was trying to make nearly as elegantly as it should've in order to work. Pearl herself didn't really feel like a cahracter to me, except maybe for her interest in stories and missing them (that seemed like the only reason for her to go back to the dragon, too). It also bothered me that while most of the men in the story got names, none of the women except Pearl did. Now, the powerlessness of women is a central theme, so I suppose this was intentional, but whatever it was trying to do didn't work for me -- it just seemed to make Pearl guilty of the same thing she was herself a victim of, but without doing anything with it if that was intentional too. (The dragon is nameless, too, and so are the characters in Pearl's tales, and maybe that's an intentional echo... but the whole thing still bugged me.)
"Vici", Naomi Novik -- yay and hee! a Temeraire-verse story, explaining,in fact, how the idea of using dragons in battle came about, in Ancient Rome. The protagonist is hilarious, the dragon is, as per usual, adorable, and there's a cameo appearance by Julius Caesar. This story doesn't do anything profound, but it made me laugh and it made me squee and it made me even more impatient for the next Temeraire book.
"Bob Choi's Last Job", Jonathan Stroud -- interesting little story. I liked the never-clearly-explained mechanics and dynamics of dragon-hunting. Really, it would've been neat to have a longer story delving into those in more detail. As it was, the worldbuilding whetted my appetite but the plot didn't really deliver.
"Are You Afflicted with Dragons", Kage Barker -- cute. Mostly I liked the business model that Crankhandle had devised, which was very clever, and the whole view of (little) dragons as pests. Again, not anything profound, but reasonably fun.
"The Tsar's Dragons", Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple -- well, I'll be! Jane Yolen seems to mostly be writing Jewish-themed stories these days, which I'm not particularly fond of, I have to admit. Like, it's a neat idea, but I tend to judge them more harshly, especially since they seem to be set in Russia for the most part, and so they've been kind of making me like her less as a writer. So I was really rather apprehensive about this one, but it surprised me big-time, and in a positive way. I don't know that I'd say it's my favorite from this collection, but it's definitely the most interesting one.
You know how Temeraire is Napoleonic Wars with dragons? Well, this is the Russian Revolution with dragons. The story has three parallel POVs: an unnamed courtier/functionary at the Tsar's palace who is plotting to kill Rasputin (I was left wondering whether said courtier was someone I should have recognized from history or an OC), Rasputin himself, and Lev Bronstein (Trotsky), who is working on hatching dragons for the Revolution, so they can stand against the Tsar's dragons. The courtier is mostly slimy and was the least interesting. Rasputin, who never interested me particularly as a historical figure, makes a more interesting POV character, and tends to think in Russian proverbs, which was kind of neat (I didn't recognize all of them, but the ones I did recognize were translated pretty well). He is macabre and almost indestructible and kind of funny. The most interesting POV is Bronstein's, as he confides to his friend, a fellow Jew, and then deals with the other revolutionaries. We get to see a bit of Lenin, and there's an appearance by Koba (Stalin, who isn't named, unlike the others, but gets a pun (I think): "There was something hard about Koba, Bronstein decided, like his innards were made of stone or steel rather than flesh and blood."
Anyway, this was a short story that I didn't think could have succeeded, but did. The Russian details didn't make me cringe (an unusual occurrence), and there was only one error ("a bliny" <-- which is a plural word in Russian). There are hints and nods at historical bits, but it didn't feel over-explained or too wink-wink-y. Struck the right balance for me.
Yolen's co-author on this is her son, who apparently also collaborates with Steven Brust on songs. Curious!
"The Dragon of Direfell", Liz Williams -- I liked the description of this piece, and the plot, I guess, worked pretty well in a fairy-tale fashion. The dragon in this one, one of the several stories where the dragon is a lady, was interesting -- or, rather, the dragon-lore was interesting, but the way in which it was realized in this particular case I found somewhat off-putting. But I did like this quote, about why women are not allowed to study magic: "the [magical] talent of the fair human sex outstrips that of the male. Small wonder that Aoife and her predecessors [faery queens] have not been able to face the competition."
"Oakland Dragon Blues", Peter S Beagle -- this story made me a bit sad, because I had yet to encounter a Beagle story that I didn't think was lovely and one of my favorites in whatever anthology it appeared in, but this one was a disappointment. It felt kind of self-indulgent, because it's the story about a fantasy writer/storyteller and the dragon he inadvertently creates and then releases, and also, as a story, it wasn't particularly special. I enjoyed the setting -- Bay Area, with mentions of the influx of Russian immigrants and other things I recognized, and I liked the human protagonist, but overall... not what I had expected from a master storyteller like Beagle.
"Humane Killer", Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Sykes -- this was... weird. It was somewhat entertaining to read, but really felt more like the "novelization" of a sitcom than a proper story. The characters were pretty one-note, the situations and reactions intentionally ridiculous, the dialogue was not nearly as clever as it seemed to imagine itself, and, yeah, basically a sitcom, and not a very good one. I did like the fact that rather than vanquishing a dragon they ended up having to bargain with and bribe one, but that was basically the only thing I liked. Meh.
"Stop!", Garth Nix -- I liked this take on dragons, one of the most unusual in the book, and I liked the setting, and I liked the human characters (the guards and the scientist). But the reveal and resolution were really unsatisfying to me, and retroactively spoiled my enjoyment of the rest of the story.
"Ungentle Fire", Sean Williams -- I actually really enjoyed this story (the main character, Ros, and the descriptions, especially the spiderweb dragon), but then I forgot all about it and needed to remind myself what the title was even connected to. So, I guess not the most memorable story in the collection, but it was cozy and pleasant, and the sort of dragon story I expected to read when I picked up this book.
"A Stark and Wormy Knight", Tad Williams -- another disappointment, because I normally enjoy Tad Williams's short stories, but this one was just kind of painful to get through. It's written in this homonym/spoonerism-rich prattle that takes a lot of energy to decipher, or, at least more energy than the payoff it delivers. Marginally amusing, but I can't say I'm particularly glad I persevered and read the whole thing rather than quitting a page in as I considered doing. Oh well...
"None So Blind," Harry Turtledove -- I really liked this story, not so much the end. On the one hand, it's nice to see the locals' "savage beliefs" validated. On the other hand, the thing I'd been enjoying the most about the story was not the possibility of real vast dragons but the scientific inquiry (however flawed) and the minutia of the expedition and so on. I would happily read a novel in this setting, especially if it was just all about a magical expedition equipped with wizards, looking for near-mystical animals... but the "moral" feels kind of facile to me.
"JoBoy", Diana Wynne Jones -- huh. This was OK, I guess. A short little story, and I liked some aspects of it, especially JoBoy recreating himself, but on the whole it didn't do much for me.
"Puz_le", Gregory Maguire -- this was a lot of fun! Here's a case where the twist ending, which comes totally out of the blue, felt cheerfully random and charming to me rather than tacked on. And the lead-up to it was very nice. So I definitely liked this story overall.
"After the Third Kiss", Bruce Corville -- interesting premise -- what happens after the maiden who had been turned into a dragon has the enchantment broken and returns to her own form. The surrounding intrigue, though, distracted and detracted from this premise for me. I liked May Margaret's weird relationship with the toad!queen, but the whole business with her being the daughter of the lord the old king tortured and the wise old woman being said lord was kind of bzuh and didn't add anything to the story for me.
"The War That Winter Is", Tanith Lee -- Tanith Lee's stories are hit and miss for me, and this one was more hit than miss. I liked this dragon, the fact that his weapon was a blast of ice rather than fire, and the aurora borealis-like descriptions of him, and the landscape, and the life in the north. The central idea, of a hero born of winter, who wouldn't have been born if not for the dragon's killing of the village, and how he finds a race of his own people, was fairly interesting, too. I especially liked the fact that he is raised to think of himself as the hero who must slay the dragon, only to find himself unable to do it (not for lack of trying) and then gain the true understanding of his nature and possible future.
"The Dragon's Tale", Tamora Pierce -- narrated by Skysong from the Immortals books. This was cute, I guess? Skysong's pantomime bit got old fast, but the way she, able to communicate fully at last, starts barraging everyone with questions, toddler-like, at the end was quite cute.
"Dragon Storm", Mary Rosenblum -- the resolution felt too fast and too easy (no bloodshed, just *poof*), but I liked the worldbuilding around the grove-dwellers, and the idea of surf-dragons along with sea-dragons.
"The Dragaman's Bride", Andy Duncan -- this was a story I really enjoyed, mainly the narration and the local flavor, but also the unusual and fairly adorable dragon. There are also a lot of small neat details, like the ghost miners who "never exchanged direct looks, for fear their lamps would blind somebody," and how they talk about work even in death, and "the foreman's modesty or his arrogance in claiming to own their mutual disaster."
So:
Liked "The Tsar's Dragons", "The Dragaman's Bride", "Vici", to a lesser extent, "Puz_le" and "Ungentle Fire".
Found interesting but close but no cigar "The War that Winter Is", "After the Third Kiss", "None So Blind"
Was disappointed by the Diane Wynne Jones, Tad Williams, and Peter S. Beagle stories
Didn't like "Dragon Deep" and "Human Killers"
32. Jim Butcher, Changes -- Well, I can't say it blew me away as entirely as it seems to have done for some folks, but it was certainly a pretty wild ride. I should mention that before I started I thoroughly spoiled myself for many of the major developments, though not the specifics of how they happened -- the cliffhanger ending/Harry's "death" at the end, Susan's death, Harry's relationship with McCoy, Harry taking up the Winter Knight job, probably some other stuff. I don't think it interfered with my enjoyment of the book, and I'm kind of glad I spoiled myself for the ending at least, because I think I would've been upset if I hadn't known about it.
This one isn't going on my ist of most favorite Dresden Files books, but I think it's definitely very effective as the pivotal book where everything changes, i.e. very good at tearing down all of the established structures and it's not at all clear where things are going to go from here -- could be anywhere at all. I don't think I've felt this way after any other Dresden Book; Proven Guilty maybe comes closest in terms of leaving all kinds of unanswered questions.
Things I didn't like so much:
The beginning. After the initial sucker punch of the first line, it was actually kind of slow. Mostly because a lot of it was just Harry by himself and Harry and Susan, and Susan is my least favorite character and I really prefer it when Harry has other people to play off rather than just going around by himself.
The emphasis on blood relations. I totally understand that for Harry, as an orphan, his own kid and being there for her is a really Big Deal. And that's fine. I can definitely see him being willing to sacrifice himself and tell the White Council and the Grey Council to go to hell with their "greatest good" arguments on behalf of his kid. But I was a bit iffy on the point where Uriel confirms for him that Maggie is indeed his daughter and that's the final bit it takes for him to summon Mab. And then, once Harry learns that McCoy is his grandfather and he has the revelation that this is why McCoy took him in, and that's why he showed up now, for him and for Maggie... it was just all on rather thick, the emphasis on blood ties, especially given that one of my favorite things about this book series is the theme of Harry making a family for himself, both with people he is related to, like Thomas, and people he is not, like Murphy, Molly, Ivy, et al. And, granted, Harry's fixated on this stuff, especially under the circumstances, and we see everything through Harry's eyes, so I could claim unreliable narrator, but it just rubbed me the wrong way some.
Mouse "talking". I've always really liked Mouse, but the way he talked when the lot of them were turned into hounds just kind of felt off to me, and also rather randomly inserted. I don't really know what it was there for, even.
The way Molly apparently has the hots for Harry and both Susan and Murphy feel compelled to comment on it (especially Susan's reaction, ick). I just don't buy this. Since the first time Molly attempted to "seduce" him when she first became his apprentice, I have not seen ANY indication that she is interested in him, no vibe at all. Like, we get everything from Harry's perspective, and if Harry is clueless about Molly's feelings for him then maybe we wouldn't see it, but that's not good writing if that's the intent. Their relationship just doesn't ring that way to me, even one-sidedly, and it would be kinda skeevy if it did. And, just, why does every recurring woman in the series have to have sexual tension with Harry? I never liked the relationship with Susan, I do like the UST with Murphy (and I also disliked susan asking why Harry and Murphy never hooked up), and Lash was great, and Harry/Lara is always entertaining, and then there's Elaine the old flame (bo-ring), and the assorted Faerie Queens, and the whole thing with Luccio... does Molly really need to be on this list, too? And in the book where Harry has a particularly touching conversation with her where he promises to Show Up for her in Michael's stead, without any vibes whatsoever that she is not feeling the same sort of relationship between them as he does (i.e. substitute-paternal, or maybe Cool Uncle).
The epic destruction of the Red Court was epic, but once I started thinking about it... I am sort of skeptical that it could have worked the way it did. I just find it really difficult to believe that a curse like that would work the same way in the case of human family relations and in the case of vampire sire/child sort of relations. It's epic, and the whole set piece with Martin the triple agent of the long game sacrificing himself calmly and Susan turning vampire and Harry having to be the one to kill here was quite amazing... but I'm not sure it holds up. Like, that's not only a really long game but also a really long shot on Martin's part, and I'm kind of iffy on the magical internal consistency of it, as mentioned. But still -- epic! And I'm also somewhat selfishly glad of how it all worked out because I find the Red Court vampires really boring, so yay for no more of that, and also dislike Susan so... she had a good exit, and I don't have to read about her anymore.
I also would have liked to have seen Ramirez more -- or, you know, at all. He was name checked, sort of, but I really don't understand why he wasn't there at the final showdown. I did enjoy the brief cameos of Marcone, Kincaid, and Butters (and OMG I thought the hitman had killed Butters, but no! And Butters got some of the best lines in the book. Like "It's alive. Alliiiiivve. [...] You're welcome.").
Things I liked:
I liked how Harry acted under the pressure of this. It's really shown how much he has matured that he didn't go haring off right away, was somewhat suspicious of Susan's claim (and wouldn't invite her over the threshold when she first arrived), and tried to think through the possibilities, and looked at all the different options open to him in order of least to greatest evil, how it took him a long time to take the plunge with Mab, the way he understood he had to let Maggie go and not even know where she was for her optimum safety. And yet, though clearly grown up, Harry was very much still Harry, with the same impulses and buttons, just in better control of them.
The way this book both wraps up some loose ends very emphatically -- Red Court, Susan and company, Mab's standing job offer -- and, as mentioned before, changes the nature of the game -- Harry losing his home, his office, his car, his staff, Mister (who I hope is OK).
Seeing Thomas being more or less normal. Thomas is one of my favorite characters, and what happened to him in Turn Coat was one of the hardest things in the series for me to accept, and I'm still rooting for him very much. So it was great to see him back to sorta-normal, interacting with Harry, cracking jokes, giving him a place to crash. I also loved the Soulgaze with him and Molly, and the way they both reacted. Much as Molly contiuing to crush on Harry (apparently) annoys me, Molly going for Thomas after the soulgaze makes perfect sense. She's got a history of making bad decisions trying to help people she can't help (that's what got her warlocking in the first place), so wanting to help Thomas in that way is totally in character. And: "Thomas never moved as her fingers touched his. Not a muscle. His eyes closed very slowly. 'Miss Carpenter,' he whispered. 'Do not touch me. Please.'" There's something about the attempt at restraint and lack of control and the intimacy of the soul gaze and the formality if the way Thomas addresses her that makes me really, really like this scene. And then the confrontation with Mouse, and Thomas and Mouse standing guard over Molly in the final battle scene was a nice conclusion to it. As was Lara's navy helicopter.
I also liked his reactions when Harry first pulls him in -- being slow to get what Harry means by "You're an uncle", gradually figuring out what the implications of bloodline curse are (and that he is concerned about it getting the other Raiths apparently even before he thinks about using that as leverage to get Lara to help). Also just Thomas being Thomas: "Lara's going to be annoyed with me. That's the third one this year."
Murphy wielding the sword. I'm not sure if I hope she takes it up full time or just wields it occasionally (maybe the latter...), but that was pretty awesome. (I do wish Amoracchius had gone to Thomas though, not Susan, but mainly because I like Thomas a hell of a lot more than I like Susan.)
McCoy being badass, and the implication that he may have taken up the Blackstaff for reasons similar to Harry becoming Winter Knight. And just McCoy in general. "I got another one" and "Everything's never in the open, son."
Odin. I love Odin in general, and this incarnation of him was pretty great. I especially liked his "Let me help you understand" line and this description: "He had a hearty laugh, like Santa Clause must have had when he was young and playing football". I liked his receptionists (Hugin and Munin, clearly). I was also intrigued to learn he was on the Grey Council. I guess this confrontation is reaching possible Ragnarok proportions?
The interlude with the Erlking -- it was neat to get a closer look at him. The Eeks were kind of blah, and reminded me a bit of much less interesting Aldrick and Odiana (from Furies of Calderon). If Butcher misses the "axe murderers in love" dynamic, I wish he would've given me more Aldrick... :P)
The fairies in general. Mab broadcasting the ritual and Toot asking Harry about it. Lea having fun. Oh, also, Toot speaking Russian was hilarious.
Tilly ("I'm a different kind of asshole") the FBI agent was pretty good, too. Seems set up to be a recurring character, which I have no objections to. (Especially if Murphy will be taking up the Sword, the series needs a Badass Normal, and while Marcone sort of counts, a mob boss who runs all of Chicago is not exactly "normal", and he has supernatural entities serving him, like Ms Gard.
I am a bit unsure whether I liked the "cast everyone as LOTR characters" conversation. On the one hand, amusing pop culture references, and Thomas's "Are you kidding? I'm obviously Legolas", arguments for Murphy and Mouse being Gimli, and Harry being annoyed that Lea and not he ended up as Gandalf, Sanya's words about Sam being the true hero, and Harry thinking about himself as Gollum potentially -- that was all awesome. On the other hand, it strained my suspension of disbelief a bit that they would devote so much time to it on the eve of battle, even if you assume it's joking around to keep from being too terrified sort of thing. It just felt too drawn out, even for a die-hard LOTR fan like me. And I couldn't help but be a little offended at "a world of blacks and whites with precious little in the way of grey, where you could tell the good guys from the bad guys with about two seconds of effort". LOTR is definitely not a terribly grey world, but it's not so black and white as that (take Gollum, for instance, or Boromir, or Denethor, or just about anyone in the Sil). Also, what, no, Martin is not Boromir, WTF. I did unreservedly enjoy this thread on dresden_files, though.
Along the same lines, I found the concept amusing but the way it was drawn out rather odd when Lea got to do fairy godmothering on Harry and Susan's costumes. What the hell was that? I mean, it's plot relevant, especially Susan's invisibility, but that was still very odd.
Oh, yeah -- I don't think Harry's dead or anything. It would make for bad writing otherwise, because after Harry destroys the Red Court, he talks about how it went down in history books, and there's no way for him to know it unless he did not, in fact, die pretty much right after. So, he aten't dead.
Quotes:
"We proceeded to the White Council's ostentiatory" [that should be a world]
"Each strand had its own strand of symbols, work so tiny and precise that only svartalves and maybe Intel could have pulled it off."
"Mouse ghosted along behind us, staying mostly in the shadows and easily keeping pace with the car. Which speaks to my dog's mightiness, and not to my car's wimpiness. Seriously." [This cracked me up, because it made me think of the old Soviet joke.]
Marcone on Harry's building exploding: "I didn't order it. I made no money on it. I failed to profit financially or politically from its destruction. And you survived. It was a complete waste."
Harry and Molly:
"Study with a wizard has made you manipulative."
"N-no," she said. "That was my mom."
"Wizards don't giggle," I said, hardly able to speak. "This is cackling."
"Bottom line, I could get the tiger to show up. Once it was there, all I had was a really good chalk drawing of a pit on the sidewalk and 'Nice kitty.'"
My favorite line in the book: "Go, go, Gadget Faustian bargain."
And I loved all the quotes and allusions to LOTR, The Princess Bride, Star Wars, James Bond movies, etc. of course.
"Dragon's Deep", Cecelia Holland -- my least favorite story in the book, which therefore distressed me, since it was the first one I read. The dragon itself is fairly interesting, but the rest of the tale annoyed me. I don't think it made the points it was trying to make nearly as elegantly as it should've in order to work. Pearl herself didn't really feel like a cahracter to me, except maybe for her interest in stories and missing them (that seemed like the only reason for her to go back to the dragon, too). It also bothered me that while most of the men in the story got names, none of the women except Pearl did. Now, the powerlessness of women is a central theme, so I suppose this was intentional, but whatever it was trying to do didn't work for me -- it just seemed to make Pearl guilty of the same thing she was herself a victim of, but without doing anything with it if that was intentional too. (The dragon is nameless, too, and so are the characters in Pearl's tales, and maybe that's an intentional echo... but the whole thing still bugged me.)
"Vici", Naomi Novik -- yay and hee! a Temeraire-verse story, explaining,in fact, how the idea of using dragons in battle came about, in Ancient Rome. The protagonist is hilarious, the dragon is, as per usual, adorable, and there's a cameo appearance by Julius Caesar. This story doesn't do anything profound, but it made me laugh and it made me squee and it made me even more impatient for the next Temeraire book.
"Bob Choi's Last Job", Jonathan Stroud -- interesting little story. I liked the never-clearly-explained mechanics and dynamics of dragon-hunting. Really, it would've been neat to have a longer story delving into those in more detail. As it was, the worldbuilding whetted my appetite but the plot didn't really deliver.
"Are You Afflicted with Dragons", Kage Barker -- cute. Mostly I liked the business model that Crankhandle had devised, which was very clever, and the whole view of (little) dragons as pests. Again, not anything profound, but reasonably fun.
"The Tsar's Dragons", Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple -- well, I'll be! Jane Yolen seems to mostly be writing Jewish-themed stories these days, which I'm not particularly fond of, I have to admit. Like, it's a neat idea, but I tend to judge them more harshly, especially since they seem to be set in Russia for the most part, and so they've been kind of making me like her less as a writer. So I was really rather apprehensive about this one, but it surprised me big-time, and in a positive way. I don't know that I'd say it's my favorite from this collection, but it's definitely the most interesting one.
You know how Temeraire is Napoleonic Wars with dragons? Well, this is the Russian Revolution with dragons. The story has three parallel POVs: an unnamed courtier/functionary at the Tsar's palace who is plotting to kill Rasputin (I was left wondering whether said courtier was someone I should have recognized from history or an OC), Rasputin himself, and Lev Bronstein (Trotsky), who is working on hatching dragons for the Revolution, so they can stand against the Tsar's dragons. The courtier is mostly slimy and was the least interesting. Rasputin, who never interested me particularly as a historical figure, makes a more interesting POV character, and tends to think in Russian proverbs, which was kind of neat (I didn't recognize all of them, but the ones I did recognize were translated pretty well). He is macabre and almost indestructible and kind of funny. The most interesting POV is Bronstein's, as he confides to his friend, a fellow Jew, and then deals with the other revolutionaries. We get to see a bit of Lenin, and there's an appearance by Koba (Stalin, who isn't named, unlike the others, but gets a pun (I think): "There was something hard about Koba, Bronstein decided, like his innards were made of stone or steel rather than flesh and blood."
Anyway, this was a short story that I didn't think could have succeeded, but did. The Russian details didn't make me cringe (an unusual occurrence), and there was only one error ("a bliny" <-- which is a plural word in Russian). There are hints and nods at historical bits, but it didn't feel over-explained or too wink-wink-y. Struck the right balance for me.
Yolen's co-author on this is her son, who apparently also collaborates with Steven Brust on songs. Curious!
"The Dragon of Direfell", Liz Williams -- I liked the description of this piece, and the plot, I guess, worked pretty well in a fairy-tale fashion. The dragon in this one, one of the several stories where the dragon is a lady, was interesting -- or, rather, the dragon-lore was interesting, but the way in which it was realized in this particular case I found somewhat off-putting. But I did like this quote, about why women are not allowed to study magic: "the [magical] talent of the fair human sex outstrips that of the male. Small wonder that Aoife and her predecessors [faery queens] have not been able to face the competition."
"Oakland Dragon Blues", Peter S Beagle -- this story made me a bit sad, because I had yet to encounter a Beagle story that I didn't think was lovely and one of my favorites in whatever anthology it appeared in, but this one was a disappointment. It felt kind of self-indulgent, because it's the story about a fantasy writer/storyteller and the dragon he inadvertently creates and then releases, and also, as a story, it wasn't particularly special. I enjoyed the setting -- Bay Area, with mentions of the influx of Russian immigrants and other things I recognized, and I liked the human protagonist, but overall... not what I had expected from a master storyteller like Beagle.
"Humane Killer", Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Sykes -- this was... weird. It was somewhat entertaining to read, but really felt more like the "novelization" of a sitcom than a proper story. The characters were pretty one-note, the situations and reactions intentionally ridiculous, the dialogue was not nearly as clever as it seemed to imagine itself, and, yeah, basically a sitcom, and not a very good one. I did like the fact that rather than vanquishing a dragon they ended up having to bargain with and bribe one, but that was basically the only thing I liked. Meh.
"Stop!", Garth Nix -- I liked this take on dragons, one of the most unusual in the book, and I liked the setting, and I liked the human characters (the guards and the scientist). But the reveal and resolution were really unsatisfying to me, and retroactively spoiled my enjoyment of the rest of the story.
"Ungentle Fire", Sean Williams -- I actually really enjoyed this story (the main character, Ros, and the descriptions, especially the spiderweb dragon), but then I forgot all about it and needed to remind myself what the title was even connected to. So, I guess not the most memorable story in the collection, but it was cozy and pleasant, and the sort of dragon story I expected to read when I picked up this book.
"A Stark and Wormy Knight", Tad Williams -- another disappointment, because I normally enjoy Tad Williams's short stories, but this one was just kind of painful to get through. It's written in this homonym/spoonerism-rich prattle that takes a lot of energy to decipher, or, at least more energy than the payoff it delivers. Marginally amusing, but I can't say I'm particularly glad I persevered and read the whole thing rather than quitting a page in as I considered doing. Oh well...
"None So Blind," Harry Turtledove -- I really liked this story, not so much the end. On the one hand, it's nice to see the locals' "savage beliefs" validated. On the other hand, the thing I'd been enjoying the most about the story was not the possibility of real vast dragons but the scientific inquiry (however flawed) and the minutia of the expedition and so on. I would happily read a novel in this setting, especially if it was just all about a magical expedition equipped with wizards, looking for near-mystical animals... but the "moral" feels kind of facile to me.
"JoBoy", Diana Wynne Jones -- huh. This was OK, I guess. A short little story, and I liked some aspects of it, especially JoBoy recreating himself, but on the whole it didn't do much for me.
"Puz_le", Gregory Maguire -- this was a lot of fun! Here's a case where the twist ending, which comes totally out of the blue, felt cheerfully random and charming to me rather than tacked on. And the lead-up to it was very nice. So I definitely liked this story overall.
"After the Third Kiss", Bruce Corville -- interesting premise -- what happens after the maiden who had been turned into a dragon has the enchantment broken and returns to her own form. The surrounding intrigue, though, distracted and detracted from this premise for me. I liked May Margaret's weird relationship with the toad!queen, but the whole business with her being the daughter of the lord the old king tortured and the wise old woman being said lord was kind of bzuh and didn't add anything to the story for me.
"The War That Winter Is", Tanith Lee -- Tanith Lee's stories are hit and miss for me, and this one was more hit than miss. I liked this dragon, the fact that his weapon was a blast of ice rather than fire, and the aurora borealis-like descriptions of him, and the landscape, and the life in the north. The central idea, of a hero born of winter, who wouldn't have been born if not for the dragon's killing of the village, and how he finds a race of his own people, was fairly interesting, too. I especially liked the fact that he is raised to think of himself as the hero who must slay the dragon, only to find himself unable to do it (not for lack of trying) and then gain the true understanding of his nature and possible future.
"The Dragon's Tale", Tamora Pierce -- narrated by Skysong from the Immortals books. This was cute, I guess? Skysong's pantomime bit got old fast, but the way she, able to communicate fully at last, starts barraging everyone with questions, toddler-like, at the end was quite cute.
"Dragon Storm", Mary Rosenblum -- the resolution felt too fast and too easy (no bloodshed, just *poof*), but I liked the worldbuilding around the grove-dwellers, and the idea of surf-dragons along with sea-dragons.
"The Dragaman's Bride", Andy Duncan -- this was a story I really enjoyed, mainly the narration and the local flavor, but also the unusual and fairly adorable dragon. There are also a lot of small neat details, like the ghost miners who "never exchanged direct looks, for fear their lamps would blind somebody," and how they talk about work even in death, and "the foreman's modesty or his arrogance in claiming to own their mutual disaster."
So:
Liked "The Tsar's Dragons", "The Dragaman's Bride", "Vici", to a lesser extent, "Puz_le" and "Ungentle Fire".
Found interesting but close but no cigar "The War that Winter Is", "After the Third Kiss", "None So Blind"
Was disappointed by the Diane Wynne Jones, Tad Williams, and Peter S. Beagle stories
Didn't like "Dragon Deep" and "Human Killers"
32. Jim Butcher, Changes -- Well, I can't say it blew me away as entirely as it seems to have done for some folks, but it was certainly a pretty wild ride. I should mention that before I started I thoroughly spoiled myself for many of the major developments, though not the specifics of how they happened -- the cliffhanger ending/Harry's "death" at the end, Susan's death, Harry's relationship with McCoy, Harry taking up the Winter Knight job, probably some other stuff. I don't think it interfered with my enjoyment of the book, and I'm kind of glad I spoiled myself for the ending at least, because I think I would've been upset if I hadn't known about it.
This one isn't going on my ist of most favorite Dresden Files books, but I think it's definitely very effective as the pivotal book where everything changes, i.e. very good at tearing down all of the established structures and it's not at all clear where things are going to go from here -- could be anywhere at all. I don't think I've felt this way after any other Dresden Book; Proven Guilty maybe comes closest in terms of leaving all kinds of unanswered questions.
Things I didn't like so much:
The beginning. After the initial sucker punch of the first line, it was actually kind of slow. Mostly because a lot of it was just Harry by himself and Harry and Susan, and Susan is my least favorite character and I really prefer it when Harry has other people to play off rather than just going around by himself.
The emphasis on blood relations. I totally understand that for Harry, as an orphan, his own kid and being there for her is a really Big Deal. And that's fine. I can definitely see him being willing to sacrifice himself and tell the White Council and the Grey Council to go to hell with their "greatest good" arguments on behalf of his kid. But I was a bit iffy on the point where Uriel confirms for him that Maggie is indeed his daughter and that's the final bit it takes for him to summon Mab. And then, once Harry learns that McCoy is his grandfather and he has the revelation that this is why McCoy took him in, and that's why he showed up now, for him and for Maggie... it was just all on rather thick, the emphasis on blood ties, especially given that one of my favorite things about this book series is the theme of Harry making a family for himself, both with people he is related to, like Thomas, and people he is not, like Murphy, Molly, Ivy, et al. And, granted, Harry's fixated on this stuff, especially under the circumstances, and we see everything through Harry's eyes, so I could claim unreliable narrator, but it just rubbed me the wrong way some.
Mouse "talking". I've always really liked Mouse, but the way he talked when the lot of them were turned into hounds just kind of felt off to me, and also rather randomly inserted. I don't really know what it was there for, even.
The way Molly apparently has the hots for Harry and both Susan and Murphy feel compelled to comment on it (especially Susan's reaction, ick). I just don't buy this. Since the first time Molly attempted to "seduce" him when she first became his apprentice, I have not seen ANY indication that she is interested in him, no vibe at all. Like, we get everything from Harry's perspective, and if Harry is clueless about Molly's feelings for him then maybe we wouldn't see it, but that's not good writing if that's the intent. Their relationship just doesn't ring that way to me, even one-sidedly, and it would be kinda skeevy if it did. And, just, why does every recurring woman in the series have to have sexual tension with Harry? I never liked the relationship with Susan, I do like the UST with Murphy (and I also disliked susan asking why Harry and Murphy never hooked up), and Lash was great, and Harry/Lara is always entertaining, and then there's Elaine the old flame (bo-ring), and the assorted Faerie Queens, and the whole thing with Luccio... does Molly really need to be on this list, too? And in the book where Harry has a particularly touching conversation with her where he promises to Show Up for her in Michael's stead, without any vibes whatsoever that she is not feeling the same sort of relationship between them as he does (i.e. substitute-paternal, or maybe Cool Uncle).
The epic destruction of the Red Court was epic, but once I started thinking about it... I am sort of skeptical that it could have worked the way it did. I just find it really difficult to believe that a curse like that would work the same way in the case of human family relations and in the case of vampire sire/child sort of relations. It's epic, and the whole set piece with Martin the triple agent of the long game sacrificing himself calmly and Susan turning vampire and Harry having to be the one to kill here was quite amazing... but I'm not sure it holds up. Like, that's not only a really long game but also a really long shot on Martin's part, and I'm kind of iffy on the magical internal consistency of it, as mentioned. But still -- epic! And I'm also somewhat selfishly glad of how it all worked out because I find the Red Court vampires really boring, so yay for no more of that, and also dislike Susan so... she had a good exit, and I don't have to read about her anymore.
I also would have liked to have seen Ramirez more -- or, you know, at all. He was name checked, sort of, but I really don't understand why he wasn't there at the final showdown. I did enjoy the brief cameos of Marcone, Kincaid, and Butters (and OMG I thought the hitman had killed Butters, but no! And Butters got some of the best lines in the book. Like "It's alive. Alliiiiivve. [...] You're welcome.").
Things I liked:
I liked how Harry acted under the pressure of this. It's really shown how much he has matured that he didn't go haring off right away, was somewhat suspicious of Susan's claim (and wouldn't invite her over the threshold when she first arrived), and tried to think through the possibilities, and looked at all the different options open to him in order of least to greatest evil, how it took him a long time to take the plunge with Mab, the way he understood he had to let Maggie go and not even know where she was for her optimum safety. And yet, though clearly grown up, Harry was very much still Harry, with the same impulses and buttons, just in better control of them.
The way this book both wraps up some loose ends very emphatically -- Red Court, Susan and company, Mab's standing job offer -- and, as mentioned before, changes the nature of the game -- Harry losing his home, his office, his car, his staff, Mister (who I hope is OK).
Seeing Thomas being more or less normal. Thomas is one of my favorite characters, and what happened to him in Turn Coat was one of the hardest things in the series for me to accept, and I'm still rooting for him very much. So it was great to see him back to sorta-normal, interacting with Harry, cracking jokes, giving him a place to crash. I also loved the Soulgaze with him and Molly, and the way they both reacted. Much as Molly contiuing to crush on Harry (apparently) annoys me, Molly going for Thomas after the soulgaze makes perfect sense. She's got a history of making bad decisions trying to help people she can't help (that's what got her warlocking in the first place), so wanting to help Thomas in that way is totally in character. And: "Thomas never moved as her fingers touched his. Not a muscle. His eyes closed very slowly. 'Miss Carpenter,' he whispered. 'Do not touch me. Please.'" There's something about the attempt at restraint and lack of control and the intimacy of the soul gaze and the formality if the way Thomas addresses her that makes me really, really like this scene. And then the confrontation with Mouse, and Thomas and Mouse standing guard over Molly in the final battle scene was a nice conclusion to it. As was Lara's navy helicopter.
I also liked his reactions when Harry first pulls him in -- being slow to get what Harry means by "You're an uncle", gradually figuring out what the implications of bloodline curse are (and that he is concerned about it getting the other Raiths apparently even before he thinks about using that as leverage to get Lara to help). Also just Thomas being Thomas: "Lara's going to be annoyed with me. That's the third one this year."
Murphy wielding the sword. I'm not sure if I hope she takes it up full time or just wields it occasionally (maybe the latter...), but that was pretty awesome. (I do wish Amoracchius had gone to Thomas though, not Susan, but mainly because I like Thomas a hell of a lot more than I like Susan.)
McCoy being badass, and the implication that he may have taken up the Blackstaff for reasons similar to Harry becoming Winter Knight. And just McCoy in general. "I got another one" and "Everything's never in the open, son."
Odin. I love Odin in general, and this incarnation of him was pretty great. I especially liked his "Let me help you understand" line and this description: "He had a hearty laugh, like Santa Clause must have had when he was young and playing football". I liked his receptionists (Hugin and Munin, clearly). I was also intrigued to learn he was on the Grey Council. I guess this confrontation is reaching possible Ragnarok proportions?
The interlude with the Erlking -- it was neat to get a closer look at him. The Eeks were kind of blah, and reminded me a bit of much less interesting Aldrick and Odiana (from Furies of Calderon). If Butcher misses the "axe murderers in love" dynamic, I wish he would've given me more Aldrick... :P)
The fairies in general. Mab broadcasting the ritual and Toot asking Harry about it. Lea having fun. Oh, also, Toot speaking Russian was hilarious.
Tilly ("I'm a different kind of asshole") the FBI agent was pretty good, too. Seems set up to be a recurring character, which I have no objections to. (Especially if Murphy will be taking up the Sword, the series needs a Badass Normal, and while Marcone sort of counts, a mob boss who runs all of Chicago is not exactly "normal", and he has supernatural entities serving him, like Ms Gard.
I am a bit unsure whether I liked the "cast everyone as LOTR characters" conversation. On the one hand, amusing pop culture references, and Thomas's "Are you kidding? I'm obviously Legolas", arguments for Murphy and Mouse being Gimli, and Harry being annoyed that Lea and not he ended up as Gandalf, Sanya's words about Sam being the true hero, and Harry thinking about himself as Gollum potentially -- that was all awesome. On the other hand, it strained my suspension of disbelief a bit that they would devote so much time to it on the eve of battle, even if you assume it's joking around to keep from being too terrified sort of thing. It just felt too drawn out, even for a die-hard LOTR fan like me. And I couldn't help but be a little offended at "a world of blacks and whites with precious little in the way of grey, where you could tell the good guys from the bad guys with about two seconds of effort". LOTR is definitely not a terribly grey world, but it's not so black and white as that (take Gollum, for instance, or Boromir, or Denethor, or just about anyone in the Sil). Also, what, no, Martin is not Boromir, WTF. I did unreservedly enjoy this thread on dresden_files, though.
Along the same lines, I found the concept amusing but the way it was drawn out rather odd when Lea got to do fairy godmothering on Harry and Susan's costumes. What the hell was that? I mean, it's plot relevant, especially Susan's invisibility, but that was still very odd.
Oh, yeah -- I don't think Harry's dead or anything. It would make for bad writing otherwise, because after Harry destroys the Red Court, he talks about how it went down in history books, and there's no way for him to know it unless he did not, in fact, die pretty much right after. So, he aten't dead.
Quotes:
"We proceeded to the White Council's ostentiatory" [that should be a world]
"Each strand had its own strand of symbols, work so tiny and precise that only svartalves and maybe Intel could have pulled it off."
"Mouse ghosted along behind us, staying mostly in the shadows and easily keeping pace with the car. Which speaks to my dog's mightiness, and not to my car's wimpiness. Seriously." [This cracked me up, because it made me think of the old Soviet joke.]
Marcone on Harry's building exploding: "I didn't order it. I made no money on it. I failed to profit financially or politically from its destruction. And you survived. It was a complete waste."
Harry and Molly:
"Study with a wizard has made you manipulative."
"N-no," she said. "That was my mom."
"Wizards don't giggle," I said, hardly able to speak. "This is cackling."
"Bottom line, I could get the tiger to show up. Once it was there, all I had was a really good chalk drawing of a pit on the sidewalk and 'Nice kitty.'"
My favorite line in the book: "Go, go, Gadget Faustian bargain."
And I loved all the quotes and allusions to LOTR, The Princess Bride, Star Wars, James Bond movies, etc. of course.