Writerly and Readerly Things
Being a writer (or maybe an adult?) makes you notice a lot more about what you read. I'm currently into (or tying to be into) this book that I last read when I was in middle school but never finished (because I was in middle school and bored easily). And it would be a pretty good book if A) it didn't go on and on and on and... *ten minutes later* ... and on about the setting, the scenery, the wizard's blue piercing gaze and scarred hands and the female lead's boniness and scarred hands and both of them being totally awesome and B) if the male lead, the character who I find the most interesting and likable, didn't feel so much like he's just there to observe the other characters and point out their eye-color, scarring and awesomeness.
It's one of Barbara Hambley's works but must be her earliest of earliest because I know she is waaay better than that. I hate to compare the story to a fanfic but it really is like reading one - too much flowery language, lots of very particular character focus, the wizard is a total Marty Stu and the female lead (who has no personality what so ever) is on her way to becoming a Mary Sue. One character getting ever-so-slightly sidelined for another character is a major pet peeve of mine, and that's kind of what's happening with my favorite character. He does something smart but rather get praised for it, he gets reprimanded for something else. He's constantly on a learning curve, but the rest of the characters aren't. We see, through his eyes, how much the female lead as grown and become tough and cool despite being this wispy, bony thing (yes, she's bony, I get it, please, book, stop bringing it up every other paragraph!), but the lead female barely notices the lead male unless she absolutely has to. I've yet to see how much the lead male has changed beyond him having found love and an ability to use magic, and it's becoming irksome. I mean, the least that can be pointed out was that he lost some weight (because, I think at this point, he should be just as wispy and bony as the female lead) and that he has blisters on his feet or something.
I think if it wasn't for the lead male and my desire to actually finish the dang thing, I'd have set the book aside once again. Of course, now that I've complained, the book will probably end up proving me wrong (it's a trilogy and I'm currently heading into book two). But I would be ecstatic if that were the case.
It's one of Barbara Hambley's works but must be her earliest of earliest because I know she is waaay better than that. I hate to compare the story to a fanfic but it really is like reading one - too much flowery language, lots of very particular character focus, the wizard is a total Marty Stu and the female lead (who has no personality what so ever) is on her way to becoming a Mary Sue. One character getting ever-so-slightly sidelined for another character is a major pet peeve of mine, and that's kind of what's happening with my favorite character. He does something smart but rather get praised for it, he gets reprimanded for something else. He's constantly on a learning curve, but the rest of the characters aren't. We see, through his eyes, how much the female lead as grown and become tough and cool despite being this wispy, bony thing (yes, she's bony, I get it, please, book, stop bringing it up every other paragraph!), but the lead female barely notices the lead male unless she absolutely has to. I've yet to see how much the lead male has changed beyond him having found love and an ability to use magic, and it's becoming irksome. I mean, the least that can be pointed out was that he lost some weight (because, I think at this point, he should be just as wispy and bony as the female lead) and that he has blisters on his feet or something.
I think if it wasn't for the lead male and my desire to actually finish the dang thing, I'd have set the book aside once again. Of course, now that I've complained, the book will probably end up proving me wrong (it's a trilogy and I'm currently heading into book two). But I would be ecstatic if that were the case.