Reading Roundup and December meme, day 27: Volha
For the December ramble meme, Day 27, egelantier asked me to ramble about Volha, but I first needed to get my book thoughts down in more usual manner, and as I try to go in chronological order with the books, I should also post my last Reading Roundup of the year. I made it to 50, just barely... but hey, for a while it looked like even that might not happen
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The thing I liked a lot about Volha as series was definitely Pratchet-like approach to world building, and as a character, Volha really seemed likable for her devotion to her professionalism. (but Val still wins:P) Ksandr and Len's past (throw a couple more characters to the mix:) are a thing I really wanted to hear more about at the time, as well.
I'm thinking now that possibly one of the reasons why Volha as a series don't have my feels as of now is that they are single-handedly responsible for a TON of crap rip-offs that defined what's called женская фэнтези for YEARS to come. So many, many bad books got published that didn't even bother recycling the plot properly. (I even remember there was a story where the heroine - also a witch - was also hanging around some ярмарка and bought a frigging peach there and ate it by the fountain, as Volha did in one of the books. SERIOUSLY, people, was it hard to make it an apple? or change fountain to idek, столб?). I know it's not Volha's fault, of course, but the aftertaste from all the crap ripoffs left a bitter aftertaste and somehow tarnished my enjoyment of the original.
Год Крысы, btw, is something I read, but wasn't emotionally attached to. It has a ton of critters - way too much, if you ask me, lol - and I wanted a different resolution, I think, but otherwise I think you might like the books more than I did:)
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The Holly Black was good! Not as good as Curseworkers, I think, but well worth a read. (There is *tiny spoiler* a little bit of flashback-Russia in there, btw, but nothing there to interfere with my enjoyment.)
Volha really seemed likable for her devotion to her professionalism
That is my favorite thing about Volha-the-character (assigning her wry narrative voice to Volha-the-narrator as distinct from Volha-the-character, if that distinction makes any sense; I mean, there are people I really like as narrators whom I like a lot less as characters -- Harry Dresden, for instance, or even Corwin).
Ksandr and Len's past (throw a couple more characters to the mix:) are a thing I really wanted to hear more about at the time, as well.
We don't get much more in the next two books either, then?
single-handedly responsible for a TON of crap rip-offs that defined what's called женская фэнтези for YEARS to come.
Ah, I could see that happening -- and I could also see it very quickly devolving into something devoid of any of the things I actually like about Volha-the-series, because I think it's a rare talent to be as funny as Gromyko is, and her writing is really very neat.
I will sit here very happy in the knowledge that you and egelantier et al will have pre-filtered the crap out for me when it comes to immersing myself in otechestvennaya фэнтези :)
but otherwise I think you might like the books more than I did:)
Yes, I think I sumply must give it a try if only for the title critter, but I really do melt whenever Gromyko starts describing various zverushki, so there's a fairly good chance it will work for me at least on that level.
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I was a bit disappointed not to see you comment about Gavriel's Russian background here, ngl:> I thought maybe you said something on it (since I did skip the review in good faith before!XD). As I said, I hope to write a bit more about Coldtown myself, but regarding the points you covered in your review - yes, excellent world building idea is excellent, and also great for raising the media popularity angle so well. Also, Tana was a very nice and for me even somewhat relatable character - she was not the kind of protagonist that makes me head desk and groan about, which is so often the case with vampire romance books. I admired her pragmatism, perseverance, quite rational approach to most things, and general kindness to people that wasn't of goodie-two-shoes variety. Plus, kudos to HB for being able to write about LGBTQ characters so damn NORMALLY, I can't even find other words for it. Yes, they are represented, and no, it didn't feel to me like SRB's agenda at all - they were treated like people, like characters, not like the cardboard poster people (how I hate that, especially when it ends up sacrificing the narration too). Gavriel gave me some trouble, but also some unexpected joy as well, but that needs to be put in more thought-through words, so please give me some time for that.
On Volha loose ends:
We don't get much more in the next two books either, then?
Uh, sadly, I can't remember much about that, either in terms of "where I read it" or generally. I think the were also some random short stories Gromyko wrote in this universe, so whatever I remember might be from there, so I can look them up for you, if you want? They must be saved somewhere on my hard drive, iirc.
Ah, I could see that happening -- and I could also see it very quickly devolving into something devoid of any of the things I actually like about Volha
Yup, so very very easily, and getting worse with time, if my memory serves me well. That launched a circle of self-recycling that put me off the genre for YEARS. I think switching to exclusively English books at some point was also prompted by this disappointment.
I will sit here very happy in the knowledge that you and egelantier et al will have pre-filtered the crap out for me when it comes to immersing myself in otechestvennaya фэнтези :)
Glad to be of service, if you don't mind that my learnings are about a decade outdated at this point :P
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I'm curious about YOUR thoughts on this, but did not have very many of my own. Like, it did not impress me with surprising astuteness / aptness the way a character in RoL #4 did, and it didn't enrage me the way Blood of Tyrants did, and it didn't baffle me like Russia in Kushiel's Legacy did. I feel like maybe she did a decent amount of research to avoid anything glaring, and then didn't go so deep as to show any problems with subtler stuff? Which is already way better than most Western authors writing Russian characters...
I admired her pragmatism, perseverance, quite rational approach to most things, and general kindness to people that wasn't of goodie-two-shoes variety
Agreed on all of this -- she felt complex and likeable without at all being generic or too perfect.
Yes, they are represented, and no, it didn't feel to me like SRB's agenda at all
I saw Alenka's post on that as I petyred through, and your comments, I think -- does it get bad in Untold, then? Because I can't say it bothered me in Unspoken (but it only comes up towards the end, though it's foreshadowed earlier), or Demon's Noun.
Thank you for the Volha short stories offer -- let me catch up on the stuff I do have first, and see if I come across it naturally-like :)
if you don't mind that my learnings are about a decade outdated at this point :P
Considering that my Russian reading is 25 years out of date, that's totally fine, heh!
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I feel like maybe she did a decent amount of research to avoid anything glaring, and then didn't go so deep as to show any problems with subtler stuff?
that was my impression as well. Gavriel as a modern-day vampire is zero % Russian, but some parts of his backstory were well-done in spirit, imo.
does it get bad in Untold, then?
Mmm, i don't remember where one ends and the other one begins, I think. My impressions of lgbtq agenda ruining the story are associated with whole story at this point, so you maybe should ask Alenka for details? She has better memory for them. I was generally too pissed to file things for future reference.
and sure!:)
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