(no subject)

[paleaswater]

Finished Liz William's Snake Agent. It's actually not really a detective story, which is a little disappointing -- I was kind of expecting Judge Dee, with mythology and fantasy thrown in for good measures, but there's really not a lot of deductive investigation, just a lot of dashing about with plots hanging on amazing serendipity, and a true Hollywood style blow'em up ending. Still, it was reasonably entertaining, and I think I will get the next book. It's a little strange though. Liz Williams in her fanfic days was one of the most restrained and subtle writers anywhere. I always loved the elegiac quality of her stories, which carried over to the first of her commercial novels. But her newer books are showing a -- dare I use the word -- coarse streak that I would never have expected.

Next post will be Chinese story recs.