Merc Fantasy and In Media Res
I saw Violette Malan's The Sleeping God recommended by somebody here on good ole lj and so I picked it up because it sounded like my kind of book.
So far I've read 16 pages and I'm thinking about giving up. It's one of those books that starts in media res, which is supposedly the hot new way to do everything, all the time. Don't bore your reader with backstory. So there's an inciting incident like on page 4. And I don't care. The motivations of the characters seem very unclear to me. I find myself comparing it unfavorably with Barbara Hambly's "Ladies of Mandrigyn", also a novel of mercenary brothers. To make sure that I wasn't being sentimental, I went back and read the first 16 pages of "Ladies of Mandrigyn". The inciting incident, which really is the incident that will launch the story, is all the way on page 12. In Sleeping God's case it's unclear if the page 4 inciting incident really is the inciting incident or whether it's minor action.
By page 16 of LoM, I felt very grounded in its world and was totally in love with Starhawk and Sunwolf. By page 16 of Sleeping God, I sort of maybe like the main characters okay, but I don't feel that I know them, nor do I understand their world well at all. It's been some years since I read LoM, so my familiarity with the characters has faded a bit. I think it's a fair test for comparison at this point. I didn't start out wondering how Sleeping God would compare to LoM. I started out excited about a new author and book that sounded like the sort of thing I very much enjoy.
Now my question is whether I keep plodding along with Sleeping God to get to the good part (the reviewer did mention that it starts slow) or give up and move on to something else.
It's really ironic that you can have what appears to be the inciting incident on page 4 and STILL have a book that is slow to start. It kind of shows the fallacy behind that whole "in media res" obsession that various people about the writing web have.
Much to think about!
So far I've read 16 pages and I'm thinking about giving up. It's one of those books that starts in media res, which is supposedly the hot new way to do everything, all the time. Don't bore your reader with backstory. So there's an inciting incident like on page 4. And I don't care. The motivations of the characters seem very unclear to me. I find myself comparing it unfavorably with Barbara Hambly's "Ladies of Mandrigyn", also a novel of mercenary brothers. To make sure that I wasn't being sentimental, I went back and read the first 16 pages of "Ladies of Mandrigyn". The inciting incident, which really is the incident that will launch the story, is all the way on page 12. In Sleeping God's case it's unclear if the page 4 inciting incident really is the inciting incident or whether it's minor action.
By page 16 of LoM, I felt very grounded in its world and was totally in love with Starhawk and Sunwolf. By page 16 of Sleeping God, I sort of maybe like the main characters okay, but I don't feel that I know them, nor do I understand their world well at all. It's been some years since I read LoM, so my familiarity with the characters has faded a bit. I think it's a fair test for comparison at this point. I didn't start out wondering how Sleeping God would compare to LoM. I started out excited about a new author and book that sounded like the sort of thing I very much enjoy.
Now my question is whether I keep plodding along with Sleeping God to get to the good part (the reviewer did mention that it starts slow) or give up and move on to something else.
It's really ironic that you can have what appears to be the inciting incident on page 4 and STILL have a book that is slow to start. It kind of shows the fallacy behind that whole "in media res" obsession that various people about the writing web have.
Much to think about!