I'm a little down...
so I've decided to pass it along to you guys, too try to post something besides just pure info here. ;)
For today I'm going to do a review of a book I just read. It certainly didn't help with me being down, oi, but I liked it all the same. The book in question is The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron. I've seen various reviews and descriptions of the book list it with the steampower tag attached, but I don't think that's really all that apt. Yes, there are clockwork mechanisms and automatons in the story, but usually with things that are described as steampower you have some element of fantasy involved, or at least some level of improbability about what the gadgets can perform (like a Victorian era James Bond type of thing ;), but here the only magic in the automatons and clockwork mechanisms is that they're very cool, not that they do anything really improbable. I'd say the people who are using the gothic tag have it far more right, though the story doesn't have the overblown prose and such that often goes with that genre (thank heavens!).
Overview: Katharine Tulman discovers a fantastic world where science seems like magic when she arrives at her uncle’s remote estate to have him committed to a lunatic asylum. But instead of a lunatic she is confronted with a genius inventor with his own set of child-like rules, a brooding apprentice and a mysterious young student of science, the dwindling family fortune and the hundreds of families her uncle is using it to support. Having Uncle Tulman sent to the asylum is no longer an easy choice. And that’s when Katharine Tulman begins seeing things that aren’t really there.
Pros: engaging characters, the romance isn't overblown either, smooth, competent prose, lots of intrigue and ups and downs and such to keep you at least a little bit in the dark about what's going on.
Cons: the fact that a lot of people, whose livelihoods and homes depend on what the heroine is going to do, treat her with such open contempt at first is a little odd (and thoroughly stupid, as how is that likely to help your cause, oi... though that does get a little addressed along the way, at least), there are parts of the plot that are totally guessable (though this hardly unusual in YA novels... or, sadly, adult ones, either ;), and the ending is a little unresolved (though that could just be leaving it open in case the author gets contracted for a sequel, which would be good).
But, really, the biggest con for me was that there are two quite sad bits, one following pretty closely on the heels of the other, and while other people might not be as bummed by the first one as I was, it... well, it really did bum me out, and the second one made me get all misty and stuff. :( I don't like sadness in stories much (says the person who sometimes writes it), even when I know it sometimes shortchanges the story to get rid of it, but what with the already being a little down... well, yeah, perhaps not the wisest choice of things to read right now. Still, it was a good read for all that, so if you yourself are feeling okay, by all means give it a try! ;)
For today I'm going to do a review of a book I just read. It certainly didn't help with me being down, oi, but I liked it all the same. The book in question is The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron. I've seen various reviews and descriptions of the book list it with the steampower tag attached, but I don't think that's really all that apt. Yes, there are clockwork mechanisms and automatons in the story, but usually with things that are described as steampower you have some element of fantasy involved, or at least some level of improbability about what the gadgets can perform (like a Victorian era James Bond type of thing ;), but here the only magic in the automatons and clockwork mechanisms is that they're very cool, not that they do anything really improbable. I'd say the people who are using the gothic tag have it far more right, though the story doesn't have the overblown prose and such that often goes with that genre (thank heavens!).
Overview: Katharine Tulman discovers a fantastic world where science seems like magic when she arrives at her uncle’s remote estate to have him committed to a lunatic asylum. But instead of a lunatic she is confronted with a genius inventor with his own set of child-like rules, a brooding apprentice and a mysterious young student of science, the dwindling family fortune and the hundreds of families her uncle is using it to support. Having Uncle Tulman sent to the asylum is no longer an easy choice. And that’s when Katharine Tulman begins seeing things that aren’t really there.
Pros: engaging characters, the romance isn't overblown either, smooth, competent prose, lots of intrigue and ups and downs and such to keep you at least a little bit in the dark about what's going on.
Cons: the fact that a lot of people, whose livelihoods and homes depend on what the heroine is going to do, treat her with such open contempt at first is a little odd (and thoroughly stupid, as how is that likely to help your cause, oi... though that does get a little addressed along the way, at least), there are parts of the plot that are totally guessable (though this hardly unusual in YA novels... or, sadly, adult ones, either ;), and the ending is a little unresolved (though that could just be leaving it open in case the author gets contracted for a sequel, which would be good).
But, really, the biggest con for me was that there are two quite sad bits, one following pretty closely on the heels of the other, and while other people might not be as bummed by the first one as I was, it... well, it really did bum me out, and the second one made me get all misty and stuff. :( I don't like sadness in stories much (says the person who sometimes writes it), even when I know it sometimes shortchanges the story to get rid of it, but what with the already being a little down... well, yeah, perhaps not the wisest choice of things to read right now. Still, it was a good read for all that, so if you yourself are feeling okay, by all means give it a try! ;)