Sarah Monette: Mélusine
ohmygosh, I'm so behind once again on you all's doings and postings... How ya been?
4th of July and fireworks and too much good food and then lots of working and oh yeah, I got stuck in a wonderful book!
Sarah Monette is my favorite new author. I admit that I picked up her book, Mélusine, because the cover was attractive (clicky for gorgeous man with tattoos... so ok, their photoshop artiste did a crappy job, but the male model sure ain't hard on the eyes).
However, 1/3 of the way into the book, I've ordered the hardcover of the next book in the trilogy, The Virtu.
--> ETA: this is a terrible review if you were to read it that way, but it's a list of the things that make me go "OOH fun! Now this is a well researched fantasy world"
Why? I'm always looking for a fantasy full of interesting twisty characters and magic and moral complexity. She throws tortured violent male/male sex into the first 40 pages, hidden pasts, a tarot deck reading diviner, dominant females, etc....mad wizards and thieves sneaking through a Victorian London-ish/Parisian setting mix in with hints at necromancy and a huge epic past for the city. My only complaint is that I kept thinking I'd walked into the 2nd book in a series, only to find that things would get mostly explained as the story progressed. Her style of writing is quite the equivalent of Jacqueline Cary and remind me a lot of what I like about fleshdress's fiction. Plus, plenty of snark and bits of wry humor. I'm really enjoying how she uses similies. Really highly recommended overall.
ter369 for some reason I think of you first as liking this type of writing and setting.
She even has an LJ! truepenny.
quintos I think her article on ' how to write strong female characters' might appeal to you
4th of July and fireworks and too much good food and then lots of working and oh yeah, I got stuck in a wonderful book!
Sarah Monette is my favorite new author. I admit that I picked up her book, Mélusine, because the cover was attractive (clicky for gorgeous man with tattoos... so ok, their photoshop artiste did a crappy job, but the male model sure ain't hard on the eyes).
However, 1/3 of the way into the book, I've ordered the hardcover of the next book in the trilogy, The Virtu.
--> ETA: this is a terrible review if you were to read it that way, but it's a list of the things that make me go "OOH fun! Now this is a well researched fantasy world"
Why? I'm always looking for a fantasy full of interesting twisty characters and magic and moral complexity. She throws tortured violent male/male sex into the first 40 pages, hidden pasts, a tarot deck reading diviner, dominant females, etc....mad wizards and thieves sneaking through a Victorian London-ish/Parisian setting mix in with hints at necromancy and a huge epic past for the city. My only complaint is that I kept thinking I'd walked into the 2nd book in a series, only to find that things would get mostly explained as the story progressed. Her style of writing is quite the equivalent of Jacqueline Cary and remind me a lot of what I like about fleshdress's fiction. Plus, plenty of snark and bits of wry humor. I'm really enjoying how she uses similies. Really highly recommended overall.
ter369 for some reason I think of you first as liking this type of writing and setting.
She even has an LJ! truepenny.
quintos I think her article on ' how to write strong female characters' might appeal to you