Reading Wednesday: Two Free Portal Fantasies I Couldn’t Get Through

[rachelmanija]

1632, by Eric Flint.A chunk of a modern American town, including the entire local chapter of Mine Workers of America, is mysteriously transported into 1632 Germany. What those people need are red-blooded Americans with lots of guns

Comments

[sartorias]

Stray: maybe if you skip up to when the aliens get her? (If you already did that, then maybe this one just isn't your cuppa.)

[rachelmanija]

I read well into where the aliens get her. Endless pages of not quite understanding the language, being a lab rat, being bored, sort-of interacting with people she has no personal interest in and whom I can't tell apart. I read about 15 pages past into the part where she discovers her psychic power, then decided that if that didn't interest me, nothing would.

I think this one just isn't for me.

[sartorias]

If you do try another, I suggest Medair, which has a different vibe altogether--more epic in feel, slightly elegiac. Could be this author just isn't for you.

(With you on the Flint, found it totally unreadable, though it sounded like something I'd love.)

[rachelmanija]

I think what I struggled with the most was the combination of no relationships (I don't mean romantic - I mean that Cassandra wasn't emotionally connected with anyone in any way) and no dialogue. Is Medair different?

[sartorias]

She eventually does build relationships, but the pace might be a bit slow for you. And she really does stay central pretty much through all three books, so if you don't like her voice and her slant on events in the first, good chance you won't cotton to the rest. Book three nearly pushed me past the edge of too much tell rather than show, and I was invested.

Medair also features a woman alone (I think most of her books have that as a starting point) but yeah, she begins building relationships quicker. Some are adversarial, but there is connection, rather than that existence in the lab rat bubble. Eventually, even, she begins fighting the connection, and there are reasons--Medair is my favorite of them, I think.