Bloodhound Review
(Or, Dear Tamora Pierce, I wish to bear your children.)
In case you couldn't tell, I was looking forward to this book rather a lot. I picked up where I left off last summer in my reread of the Tortall books, and spent the beginning of the month rereading the Kel and Aly books, and then Terrier. I spent a day wandering through every bookshop in the city trying to find a copy of Bloodhound, but because Random House is awful for distributing (and I live on a freaking island, which makes shipping take that much longer), the shipping was delayed due to the long weekend and no one received them until late afternoon.
There was some rage at that. I went so far as to attempt the city's giant chain bookstore, and I think I frightened the woman in the children's department when I almost burst into tears at their lack of what I was looking for. It had been a grueling morning, thanks to my literary theory final. I hadn't had a great deal of sleep (do I ever?).
And then the lovely Boss-type person called me to inform me that the book had arrived. I flew as quickly as this city's awful public transit system would allow and squeezed through the door right before the shop closed.
BOSS-TYPE PERSON: So, you are excited about this book, then?
ME: I nearly started sobbing at the woman in Chapters.
BOSS-TYPE PERSON and ME (in unison): Chapters. *spits*
(For a demonstration, see around 4:50.)
Anyway, it was totally worth the frantic hunting and the anxious waiting and everything else. It feels like it has been forever since I last read a book with which I had no quibbles (although that's a lie-Wuthering Heights just made me cranky).
So, in no particular order, I give you a list of things that I loved. Kind of spoilery. No, fuck that-really spoilery.
Beka failing at staying with a partner. I cannot describe how happy that made me. I loved that she even arrested one of them.
Port Caynn - Really detailed, intricate world-building can be so difficult to come by, so it was delightful to see yet another corner of this world that hadn't been fully explored.
I don't know why, but it amuses me to no end that Alanna has such a pompous, corrupt ancestor.
Dale. And just the fact that Tamora Pierce isn't so busy writing about her characters' true love to forbid them from having flings. Connected to this is the lovely detail of Rosto having fits of rage. I love Rosto, but I'd have a random, torrid affair with Dale, too.
Pearl was a fairly straightforward villain, but Hanse wasn't. I like it when I can like villains and feel properly conflicted when they get what they deserve.
Okha. And Nestor, but mostly Okha. My heart was in a constant state of breaking for him.
Goodwin. Because she is Goodwin.
Counterfeiting as a plot in a fantasy novel. It isn't something I've come across ever before (not even close), which made it much harder to predict.
Tunstall and Lady Sabine.
And that is where I end for the night. It's late again, but I would love to know what other people thought of it.
Oooh, and I finally watched Serenity tonight. And sobbed at it. And laughed. Cinematic perfection, my friends.
In case you couldn't tell, I was looking forward to this book rather a lot. I picked up where I left off last summer in my reread of the Tortall books, and spent the beginning of the month rereading the Kel and Aly books, and then Terrier. I spent a day wandering through every bookshop in the city trying to find a copy of Bloodhound, but because Random House is awful for distributing (and I live on a freaking island, which makes shipping take that much longer), the shipping was delayed due to the long weekend and no one received them until late afternoon.
There was some rage at that. I went so far as to attempt the city's giant chain bookstore, and I think I frightened the woman in the children's department when I almost burst into tears at their lack of what I was looking for. It had been a grueling morning, thanks to my literary theory final. I hadn't had a great deal of sleep (do I ever?).
And then the lovely Boss-type person called me to inform me that the book had arrived. I flew as quickly as this city's awful public transit system would allow and squeezed through the door right before the shop closed.
BOSS-TYPE PERSON: So, you are excited about this book, then?
ME: I nearly started sobbing at the woman in Chapters.
BOSS-TYPE PERSON and ME (in unison): Chapters. *spits*
(For a demonstration, see around 4:50.)
Anyway, it was totally worth the frantic hunting and the anxious waiting and everything else. It feels like it has been forever since I last read a book with which I had no quibbles (although that's a lie-Wuthering Heights just made me cranky).
So, in no particular order, I give you a list of things that I loved. Kind of spoilery. No, fuck that-really spoilery.
Beka failing at staying with a partner. I cannot describe how happy that made me. I loved that she even arrested one of them.
Port Caynn - Really detailed, intricate world-building can be so difficult to come by, so it was delightful to see yet another corner of this world that hadn't been fully explored.
I don't know why, but it amuses me to no end that Alanna has such a pompous, corrupt ancestor.
Dale. And just the fact that Tamora Pierce isn't so busy writing about her characters' true love to forbid them from having flings. Connected to this is the lovely detail of Rosto having fits of rage. I love Rosto, but I'd have a random, torrid affair with Dale, too.
Pearl was a fairly straightforward villain, but Hanse wasn't. I like it when I can like villains and feel properly conflicted when they get what they deserve.
Okha. And Nestor, but mostly Okha. My heart was in a constant state of breaking for him.
Goodwin. Because she is Goodwin.
Counterfeiting as a plot in a fantasy novel. It isn't something I've come across ever before (not even close), which made it much harder to predict.
Tunstall and Lady Sabine.
And that is where I end for the night. It's late again, but I would love to know what other people thought of it.
Oooh, and I finally watched Serenity tonight. And sobbed at it. And laughed. Cinematic perfection, my friends.