Palimpsest
I haven't kept up my book-log this year.
This week though, I finished Palimpsest, by yuki_onna, and I adored it.
I met yuki_onna before I ever read her work. I met her right before Palimpsest came out. I decided to read another one of her books while I waited for Palimpsest came out. So I read The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice.
Coin & Spice was beautiful, but it was like eating baklava. It's delicious and RICH. I had to take numerous breaks because the language was dense and I needed to process it. Also, the structure of the book - where a character tells their story and in the story meets a character who tells their story who meets a character who tells their story.... was good, but got tiring after a bit. I wanted to still know what had happened to a character three stories back but had to wait another 6 characters to find out. It was hard for me to hold everything in my head.
Eventually I stopped trying to read it as a novel, and read it more like I read poetry. In short bursts, and to savor the language. I interspersed it with non-fiction. So I paired my baklava of words with strong coffee, and got a good balance.
Now, baklava is one of my favorite desserts of all time - so comparing it to baklava is NOT an insult. But the fact is, that no matter how much I love it, I can only eat a little at a time. That's what Coin & Spice was for me - I could only eat a little at a time, in nibbles, because the language was so rich with honey, nuts, spice and butter.
I expected Palimpsest too be similar. To a new reader of yuki_onna's work, one might find the language to still be baklava - but I found she had simplified her words just enough that I could devour several pieces in a sitting without getting a stomachache ;) Just a little less honey so that I could read more in greater swaths. The story was more structured too - it was easier for me to follow. Now, instead of a big platter of baklava, I had a platter of baklava and savory treats, with a glass of potent wine and another glass of strong tea - a lot of things to taste and chew and constrast, so I could stay at the table much longer. :)
As such, I found it to be a MUCH more satisfying meal read - still full of beautiful and haunting images, but much more cohesive and coherent while still feeling like a dream.
I cried at the end.
It was beautiful, and I loved it. Bits of it made me think of China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station". Of the novels I've read, I feel that the relationship of this book to his work is closest - but they are not the same - think of them as cousins perhaps. Mieville - you can't ever get to his cities from here. yuki_onna tells you how to enter Palimpsest, and that, to me, makes all the difference.
N.
This week though, I finished Palimpsest, by yuki_onna, and I adored it.
I met yuki_onna before I ever read her work. I met her right before Palimpsest came out. I decided to read another one of her books while I waited for Palimpsest came out. So I read The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice.
Coin & Spice was beautiful, but it was like eating baklava. It's delicious and RICH. I had to take numerous breaks because the language was dense and I needed to process it. Also, the structure of the book - where a character tells their story and in the story meets a character who tells their story who meets a character who tells their story.... was good, but got tiring after a bit. I wanted to still know what had happened to a character three stories back but had to wait another 6 characters to find out. It was hard for me to hold everything in my head.
Eventually I stopped trying to read it as a novel, and read it more like I read poetry. In short bursts, and to savor the language. I interspersed it with non-fiction. So I paired my baklava of words with strong coffee, and got a good balance.
Now, baklava is one of my favorite desserts of all time - so comparing it to baklava is NOT an insult. But the fact is, that no matter how much I love it, I can only eat a little at a time. That's what Coin & Spice was for me - I could only eat a little at a time, in nibbles, because the language was so rich with honey, nuts, spice and butter.
I expected Palimpsest too be similar. To a new reader of yuki_onna's work, one might find the language to still be baklava - but I found she had simplified her words just enough that I could devour several pieces in a sitting without getting a stomachache ;) Just a little less honey so that I could read more in greater swaths. The story was more structured too - it was easier for me to follow. Now, instead of a big platter of baklava, I had a platter of baklava and savory treats, with a glass of potent wine and another glass of strong tea - a lot of things to taste and chew and constrast, so I could stay at the table much longer. :)
As such, I found it to be a MUCH more satisfying meal read - still full of beautiful and haunting images, but much more cohesive and coherent while still feeling like a dream.
I cried at the end.
It was beautiful, and I loved it. Bits of it made me think of China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station". Of the novels I've read, I feel that the relationship of this book to his work is closest - but they are not the same - think of them as cousins perhaps. Mieville - you can't ever get to his cities from here. yuki_onna tells you how to enter Palimpsest, and that, to me, makes all the difference.
N.