Reading roundup -- Soulless and The Name of the Wind

Dec 04, 2011 13:39

59. Gail Carriger, Soulless -- cute and mostly enjoyable, but I can't say I like it. ( Spoilers! )

a: patrick rothfuss, a: walter moers, reading, kvothe, soulless, geekery, a: gail carriger

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mauvais_pli December 5 2011, 17:23:09 UTC
Also, please tell me this fandom is shipping Kvothe/Bast like crazy
I don't really know about fandom, but I certainly do. Bast is actully one of the reasons I am invested in the present moment-narrative, in Kote and his innkeep routine and that tiny community. I love the journey, just like you say, but somehow the inkeep thing does intrigue me enough.

Of the positive things you mentioned, the culture/civilisation things, sayings and such, which for me does include the Chandrian, however. I cherish the hope that the next books will actually turn it from something extraneous in to something much more basic, material and instrumental to the story. I enjoyed the Tarbean part and the visit to the shoemaker as a sort of culmination of it - the shoemaker bit and the symbolism of it really stuck with me. I might have invented the symbolism, I admit.

Taken from my initial reaction to the book, while still reading: "It's a bit weird reading a fantasy author that doesn't care about his language accuracy after Martin who takes care to age his, but the colloquiality mixed with the invented words makes for a style experiment of sorts. The world is well-written, and the hero is a redhead singer actor warlock extraordinaire, seriously, in no universe I would say no to that." And yeah, half of the secondary character have already blurred in my mind, but I am terminally emotionally invested in redheads.

Finally, I completely agree with you on your whole paragraph on magic/sympathy. Weird, considering Sanderson magic (that takes care to be science-based, too, sort of) doesn't quite inspire the same feelings in me. But I'm close to posting that, as well, I swear :)

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also fanart! mauvais_pli December 5 2011, 18:06:38 UTC
I like this and this, and this particularly. Just started browsing again, and this one is also quite arresting, if doesn't really capture Kvothe the way I see him.

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hamsterwoman December 6 2011, 18:41:04 UTC
I don't really know about fandom, but I certainly do.

Oh good! :) Bast is definitely my favorite thing about the present-day storyline, and I can't wait to get to the part of the story where Kvothe first meets him and takes him on as a student.

and the visit to the shoemaker as a sort of culmination of it - the shoemaker bit and the symbolism of it really stuck with me.

I did like the shoemaker scene... one thing about Tarbean, I guess, is that it felt to me a bit too much like the city was divided into saints and monsters, with the exception of the pawn shop owner, maybe, who was adequately gray.

I quite liked the colloquiality of the language, and the mixing of actual scientific and invented scientific words. For me that added up to a pretty modern feel, which I thought went very well with the generally scientific nature of the magic.

the hero is a redhead singer actor warlock extraordinaire, seriously, in no universe I would say no to that."

Heh. I think there might be a line coming beyond which Kvothe will start feeling simply too unbelievable to me under the weight of all that amazingness, but for now I felt like all of his skills were within my abilities to suspend disbelief for. (And I do have a soft spot for redheads as well :)

And thank you for the fanart links! Very pretty! Having looked at several representations of Kvothe now, I find myself wondering more about what the secondary characters look like. I think, perverse as ever, I most want to see fanart of the University masters, which I doubt exists... :P

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