because I want to talk about it
sometimes I read a book and before I can write the review for it, I want to discuss what I liked and didn't like in a less formal way. with spoilers. just because.
a lot of times these are one-sided conversations with myself, they used to be written down in a notebook and I referred to them as my "ID's" (Internal Debates) because I was just that sort of friendless person.
yeah I may be feeling a little morose right now, it'll pass there's just a lot making me kind of anxious because I can't do anything to fix the problems 100%. just a lot of waiting around and making my concern known. i'm not good for this sort of thing.
anyhow so I finished an ARC i picked up at BEA called Passion Play by Beth Bernobich. The cover is what got me (pretty outfit, vivid red, faintly asian inspired background, shiny pointy knife) and its a 'fantasy romance' which I don't read too much of anymore. Ah Maria V. Snyder mostly. I think she qualifies for that title.
Its the first in a planned trilogy--first book due out in October 2010, second book in 2011 and third book in 2012, so I have quite a ways to go. I wasn't sure what to expect beyond it sounded interesting enough for me to abandon an autographing line for an author I knew I loved to go and talk to this one.
I don't regret this decision.
Its fair to say this book disturbed me for a small part of it. The MC is only 15 (almost 16) at the start of the novel. By the end she is almost 18 I believe. At the start she runs away from home and makes very bad judgment calls. Trusts the wrong people. Makes the wrong decisions. She takes on with a caravan, her money is stolen and the caravan leader decides to make her pay off her debt. she refuses, but eventually succumbs and becomes the caravan's sex slave (the caravan had 30 men in it) because going home would be worse. She lives this way for 5 weeks before she escapes. She gets to a town, but falls ill, loses the child she is carrying and things begin to get better from there at least. Well better then being the sex slave to those men.
After that things get a little better, but I didn't like that her past is thrown in her face so often. I understand why SHE is upset and anxious over it, but I couldn't understand why others threw it in her face. why they looked down on her and treated her so badly because of it. what sort of person does that? Ilse went through a truly terrifying, traumatizing experience. I'm shocked she was able to survive it, I don't think I could. I'm not a brave or resourceful person. Up against what she was going against...I think I would have killed myself rather than endure what she did.
But I would feel pity for her. I would seek to help her. To befriend her and show her that things are better. I wouldn't seek to make things worse for her out of some misplaced pettiness.
I got a little teary-eyed over the novel as well, especially at the end, when hard choices had to be made to make things better. In a lot of ways this reminded me of the feelings I went through during Mistborn. not that the stories are terribly similar. Other than both being fantasies, with empires at stake, secret organizations promoting a regime change and some unique relationships formed...the two are very different in tone. Mistborn was more epic, more involved and detailed. That's just how Sanderson works. Passion Play, despite also being quasi-political and detailed world building, wasn't as epic in scale I don't think. Mistborn was talking about the fate of the WORLD, Passion Play was mainly concerned about the fate of two kingdoms.
Regardless of anything else I stayed up instead of sleeping to finish it. I may regret it in the morning, but I have a feeling all kyle and I will be doing is sleeping anyhow since he is going into seclusion mode because of his mom. I meanwhile am going to keep this calm act up. no one needs my emotional and psychological issues getting in the way of progress.
Lexie
a lot of times these are one-sided conversations with myself, they used to be written down in a notebook and I referred to them as my "ID's" (Internal Debates) because I was just that sort of friendless person.
yeah I may be feeling a little morose right now, it'll pass there's just a lot making me kind of anxious because I can't do anything to fix the problems 100%. just a lot of waiting around and making my concern known. i'm not good for this sort of thing.
anyhow so I finished an ARC i picked up at BEA called Passion Play by Beth Bernobich. The cover is what got me (pretty outfit, vivid red, faintly asian inspired background, shiny pointy knife) and its a 'fantasy romance' which I don't read too much of anymore. Ah Maria V. Snyder mostly. I think she qualifies for that title.
Its the first in a planned trilogy--first book due out in October 2010, second book in 2011 and third book in 2012, so I have quite a ways to go. I wasn't sure what to expect beyond it sounded interesting enough for me to abandon an autographing line for an author I knew I loved to go and talk to this one.
I don't regret this decision.
Its fair to say this book disturbed me for a small part of it. The MC is only 15 (almost 16) at the start of the novel. By the end she is almost 18 I believe. At the start she runs away from home and makes very bad judgment calls. Trusts the wrong people. Makes the wrong decisions. She takes on with a caravan, her money is stolen and the caravan leader decides to make her pay off her debt. she refuses, but eventually succumbs and becomes the caravan's sex slave (the caravan had 30 men in it) because going home would be worse. She lives this way for 5 weeks before she escapes. She gets to a town, but falls ill, loses the child she is carrying and things begin to get better from there at least. Well better then being the sex slave to those men.
After that things get a little better, but I didn't like that her past is thrown in her face so often. I understand why SHE is upset and anxious over it, but I couldn't understand why others threw it in her face. why they looked down on her and treated her so badly because of it. what sort of person does that? Ilse went through a truly terrifying, traumatizing experience. I'm shocked she was able to survive it, I don't think I could. I'm not a brave or resourceful person. Up against what she was going against...I think I would have killed myself rather than endure what she did.
But I would feel pity for her. I would seek to help her. To befriend her and show her that things are better. I wouldn't seek to make things worse for her out of some misplaced pettiness.
I got a little teary-eyed over the novel as well, especially at the end, when hard choices had to be made to make things better. In a lot of ways this reminded me of the feelings I went through during Mistborn. not that the stories are terribly similar. Other than both being fantasies, with empires at stake, secret organizations promoting a regime change and some unique relationships formed...the two are very different in tone. Mistborn was more epic, more involved and detailed. That's just how Sanderson works. Passion Play, despite also being quasi-political and detailed world building, wasn't as epic in scale I don't think. Mistborn was talking about the fate of the WORLD, Passion Play was mainly concerned about the fate of two kingdoms.
Regardless of anything else I stayed up instead of sleeping to finish it. I may regret it in the morning, but I have a feeling all kyle and I will be doing is sleeping anyhow since he is going into seclusion mode because of his mom. I meanwhile am going to keep this calm act up. no one needs my emotional and psychological issues getting in the way of progress.
Lexie