Reading roundup (including Cold Days)

[hamsterwoman]

Catching up on the last of 2012 and starting off 2013:

45. Elizabeth Bear, Range of Ghosts -- The beginning of an epic fantasy trilogy set in Central Asia (in 12th-13th century, apparently;

Comments

[ikel89]

Intro to Aute is no easy thing! For starters, the setting is sci-fi on technological level, but it's a fact easily overwhelmed by the multiverse of world. Planets/worlds come and go as the narration flows, from the magical fantasy realms to hi-tech genetically modified people to totally surreal places with very endemic realities (like, the main heroine comes from эль-онн, a place in the middle of stomy skies, which became home to a branch of people who fled the ancient Earth, faced the chaos and the crazy of this uninhabitable place face-on and evolved into a bunch of very...chaotic individuals with uncanny adapting skills). And the first book, apart from the said El Onn, features a realm of a priviledged race or Arrs, who maintain the most political leverage in the mutliverse because they alone know (and faithfully guard)the secret of travelling between the worlds. Aristocratic, posh, stuck-up arrs, psychotic power-hungry arrs, who are faced with a RIDICULOUS proposition from one crazy el-in lady. What follows is a LOT of politicking, a lot of family dysfuction, noble houses caught up in multi-level intrigue, dazzling , a prettiness of the worlds, fights, sass. There is a lot about duty and being forces into positions of power without wanting to, and manipulating your way out of it (or not). Apart from Anteya, main character and narrator for the books, who is like bomb waiting to go off at any minute, there is Arrek, who is among my longest fictional crushes, because he's very Alan-esque in his charm, manipulativeness and heartbreak. ILU, Arrek *sniff* btw, he's the one on A's userpic "Because mortal men suck" ;>>

Re: Громыко. Профессия: ведьма is the first one, and it features a young student of a magical academy (settings are sort-of casually slavic, but in a very people-friendly fashion, not this epic nationalistic stuff) who is sent to help with an investigation to вампирская долина - basically, because no one else wanted to go deal with vampires there. Hilarity ensues, and the characters are all non-dramatical and yet quite lifelike. I especially like a few side-characters, like a Bronn-style sellsword troll(orc?) :) Book order is Профессия :Ведьма, Ведьма-Хранительница,Верховная Ведьма, and Ведьмины Байки (this one is a set of short stories)
А про Кощея - a loving parody and retelling of some folk tales, where Василиса Прекрасная feels so grossed out by the prospect of marrying a canonical богатырь that she swaps places with her sister and gets shipped off to marry Кощей. Adorable marrage ensues)

[hamsterwoman]

Ah, thank you for the thorough introduction to "Aute"! It does sound very intriguing still, though I did not realize it was sci-fi-y -- that's good to know, as my sci-fi moods definitely come and go. The politics and family dysfunction are making it sound kind of Amber-y to me -- is that a useful impression? And I'd been wondering about the gentleman in A's icon, so thank you for clarifying that, too :)

I have to say "Профессия: ведьма" sounds right up my alley (magical academies are a weakness, as is hilarity ensuing and Bronn-style sellswords), so I suspect I'm going to try that next, unless the sci-fi bug mugs me and I go for "Aute".

Thank you very much!

[ikel89]

Sci-fi in Aute is also not the super-dominant thing, as you said about Vorkosigan. The books are character and intrigue centered, not the faux science explanations at all. The ideas lean quite heavily on psychology (the author is a graduate in that sphere, I think), mythology and study of human nature more than fancy-shmancy technology, but the latter provides for some cool worldbuilding. I especially love how advances magic and technology blur together:) Amber comparison... It's both right and wrong. Amberites are a bit larger-than-life and Roman-esque in their personalities and ways of plotting, and they are majorly one family. Characters in Aute have most different backgrounds which in turn determine their VASTLY different styles of politicking, which makes it all the more entertaining for me. Plus, they have to deal a lot with being of different races/cultures/worlds, so it's an interesting subject in itself, too.

Профессия:ведьма is a very fun read, too, believe me! It has this air of безбашенное студенчество which I very much like. Btw, same as with Parfenova, Gromyko was very young when they either finished their first books or got them published (not yet out of uni back at the time, I think).

You're most welcome! Re-discovery of favourite books through the eyes of a friend is always a cool experience:))

[hamsterwoman]

Sci-fi in Aute is also not the super-dominant thing, as you said about Vorkosigan.

I thought that might be the case, so thank you for confirming it! Advanced technology indistinguishable from magic or the blending of the two tend to be hit or miss for me, but I've found it really depends on the instance -- e.g. I love it in Ponedelnik and am very intrigued by it in Zelazny's Lord of Light (speaking of sci-fi/mythology, have you read it?), but it just annoys me in some other things (e.g. alien planet + dragons type of stories). But I'm getting the sense Aute is more like the former than the latter, which sounds encouraging. Sci-fi/fantasy culture clash/interaction is one of my favorite things in any SFF subgenre, though, so that's definitely good!

[ikel89]

Despite my fangirling about the series, somehow I'm fully prepared for people not liking it for reasons of writing style or something #worrywart Seeing how Dasha was meh about it too... but we often have polar opinions on books with her. IDEK T__T

No, I haven't read Lord of Light, and for a stupid reason too: somehow I was too slow, and totally missed the library's expiration date (deadline? whatever those give-all-the-books-back dates are called) and only remembered it in the last minute before we were leaving on some trip or something so I rushed back with the book to the library... And just never remembered to take it again:)

[hamsterwoman]

Lord of Light is a very odd book, if you ask me. I liked it a lot, but, like, 15% of that was due to the worldbuilding (Hindu pantheon [sorta] IN SPACE!), and 75% due to one particular character I totally adored. But it was certainly an interesting read, I thought, and interesting to compare to Amber, too.

[ikel89]

Ah right, Hindu pantheon. Not my strongest point at all, so that might have prevented me from coming back to the book. Lazyness takes over at times even the mythology love:)

[hamsterwoman]

I had a really good teacher for freshman history in high school who taught us all about the Hindu pantheon, and I've had a soft spot for it ever since (though not as much as the Greek and Norse ones, of course). So that was interesting, but the character I ended up flailing over was one I didn't know about until I read the book, so it wasn't as huge a contribution to my enjoyment as I was expecting.