Mary Gentle, The Book of Ash
Here's a book situation I'd like some input on from those of you in the know...
A year or so ago, I picked up the first volume of Mary Gentle's The Book of Ash (published in two four volumes in U.S. paperback). It had ended up on my list on the basis of its being mentioned by someone (don't remember who) in an LJ conversation about something (don't remember what). I didn't particularly like the book at first, but the academic frame story intrigued me (I am nothing if not predictable), so I kept reading, and it grew on me enough that I picked up the second volume when I happened to find it shortly afterwards, but not so much that I immediately plunged into it.
I've done quite a lot of book purchasing in the intervening year; I have stacks and stacks of books waiting to be read. I found the second volume of The Book of Ash in one of these stacks last night and thought "Do I really want to read this?" And, as a corollary, "Am I ever going to re-read the first one? Should I just cut my losses and ditch them both? Should I read Golden Witchbreed instead?"
So, for those of you who've read The Book of Ash, I'd like to hear why you liked it and/or what I should like or find interesting about it - or, on the other hand, why it'd be okay for me to let it go and start reading something else.
A year or so ago, I picked up the first volume of Mary Gentle's The Book of Ash (published in two four volumes in U.S. paperback). It had ended up on my list on the basis of its being mentioned by someone (don't remember who) in an LJ conversation about something (don't remember what). I didn't particularly like the book at first, but the academic frame story intrigued me (I am nothing if not predictable), so I kept reading, and it grew on me enough that I picked up the second volume when I happened to find it shortly afterwards, but not so much that I immediately plunged into it.
I've done quite a lot of book purchasing in the intervening year; I have stacks and stacks of books waiting to be read. I found the second volume of The Book of Ash in one of these stacks last night and thought "Do I really want to read this?" And, as a corollary, "Am I ever going to re-read the first one? Should I just cut my losses and ditch them both? Should I read Golden Witchbreed instead?"
So, for those of you who've read The Book of Ash, I'd like to hear why you liked it and/or what I should like or find interesting about it - or, on the other hand, why it'd be okay for me to let it go and start reading something else.