A review, of sorts - and much rambling
So, on Sunday afternoon I went to a bookshop and bought Fire because no one had gotten it for me for Christmas. However, finding it was quite a chore, so I browsed the rest of the "Young Adult/Scifi/Fantasy" section that I could find in my search and ended up with two DWJ's before I had even seen a single McKinley.
So, I have read the first story of Fire, one of Peter Dickinson's, about the Phoenix and it was lots of fun(and I thought some parts rang more true with my own beliefs on firebirds than other parts) but I haven't yet opened Fire again to explore the rest of it. There is something thrilling about knowing that there are stories on your shelf bed waiting for you to pick them up and read them.
Last night I picked up one of the DWJ's that I had discovered, a book called The House of Many Ways, which is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. It's more Howl-like than Castle in the Air was, but it makes references to Castle in the Air, so I don't think you can rightly call House of Many Ways the sequel to Howl(which is what the cover claims), it's more "another book in this set of books which involve the same world and the same characters to a certain extent, which isn't really a trilogy, it's more like a continuum or something".
Anyhow, I'm only halfway through it so far, but I am really enjoying it. I love the protagonist, she's a young bookish girl who really doesn't want these adventures, thank you very much, she would much rather spend her evenings reading a book; she reminds me rather of how I think I would find myself reacting were I in that situation. Also, I'm reading along and figuring some things out before the protagonist does, at least I think I'm figuring things out. In her defense, she's not really aware that she's in a story, and she doesn't know about what's happened in the earlier books in the continuum, so some of these things aren't clues for her like they are to me. Since it's a DWJ, I am perfectly prepaired for there to be some sort of unforeseen twist, but I think I've got at least part of the mystery worked out.
I suppose I'll post more after I've finished it. I still need to write out my thoughts on the Queen's Thief series coherently, and I still need to write something for WG on Monday, and I'm going to be decorating a cake tonight.
I've been reading nonstop since 12th Night, I feel a bit like a lizard lying on a warm rock, trying to soak up the warmth of all these books or something... Usually I can go a day or so without needing to read, but these days I'm chain-reading, going through books much too fast to think about them - I think I may be somewhat addicted.
So, I have read the first story of Fire, one of Peter Dickinson's, about the Phoenix and it was lots of fun(and I thought some parts rang more true with my own beliefs on firebirds than other parts) but I haven't yet opened Fire again to explore the rest of it. There is something thrilling about knowing that there are stories on your shelf bed waiting for you to pick them up and read them.
Last night I picked up one of the DWJ's that I had discovered, a book called The House of Many Ways, which is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. It's more Howl-like than Castle in the Air was, but it makes references to Castle in the Air, so I don't think you can rightly call House of Many Ways the sequel to Howl(which is what the cover claims), it's more "another book in this set of books which involve the same world and the same characters to a certain extent, which isn't really a trilogy, it's more like a continuum or something".
Anyhow, I'm only halfway through it so far, but I am really enjoying it. I love the protagonist, she's a young bookish girl who really doesn't want these adventures, thank you very much, she would much rather spend her evenings reading a book; she reminds me rather of how I think I would find myself reacting were I in that situation. Also, I'm reading along and figuring some things out before the protagonist does, at least I think I'm figuring things out. In her defense, she's not really aware that she's in a story, and she doesn't know about what's happened in the earlier books in the continuum, so some of these things aren't clues for her like they are to me. Since it's a DWJ, I am perfectly prepaired for there to be some sort of unforeseen twist, but I think I've got at least part of the mystery worked out.
I suppose I'll post more after I've finished it. I still need to write out my thoughts on the Queen's Thief series coherently, and I still need to write something for WG on Monday, and I'm going to be decorating a cake tonight.
I've been reading nonstop since 12th Night, I feel a bit like a lizard lying on a warm rock, trying to soak up the warmth of all these books or something... Usually I can go a day or so without needing to read, but these days I'm chain-reading, going through books much too fast to think about them - I think I may be somewhat addicted.