Reviews - Josh Lanyon, China Miéville, Garth Nix
The Dark Farewell (Josh Lanyon)
I've been meaning to read more of Josh Lanyon's work for a while. Wanted to grab something for my iPod tonight -- I was going to a gig where I knew I didn't care for the support band -- and ended up getting this from the Kindle store. It's quite a short book -- nine chapters -- and easy to read, though I felt weird about reading the sex scenes while leaning up against the barrier in front of the stage!
Not that it's all about the sex. There's the mystery, of course, in the background, and the supernatural elements, and the relationship which grows between Julian and David. I didn't like either of them much at first -- David is too closed off, and Julian too... flamboyant. But I got to like both of them, even in such a short space.
The mystery itself, I should've seen the end coming more clearly than I did. I got distracted by the misdirection! One part of the end is terribly convenient, really, removing a certain problem from the equation... and I do wish, in some ways, there was more of it, and it went on to show how Julian and David get on. Still, everything wraps up nicely.
There's a pretty good sense of place and time, too. It's not a setting that's particular familiar or resonant to me, being a Brit, although there are aspects that Britain and the US share -- the strikes the characters talked about, and the young war veterans...
Josh Lanyon is pretty good for light reading. I'm tempted to read more of his stuff when I'm on the train, on Saturday, but on the other hand, reading sexy stuff on the train... Hmmm!
The City & The City (China Miéville)
I read this one in bits. The last half or so was all in one go, on a long train journey, but for the most part, I just read it in bits, a few pages at a time, and didn't really get involved with it. I didn't really care how it ended, for most of the time. I did get tense during the last parts, and I was sad for the main character about the ending, but I didn't really care, for the most part. I wanted to care more about Corwi and Dhatt, but I didn't really see enough of them, or enough positive about Dhatt...
I suppose it was pretty realistic, in that, but what actually kept me reading was the core idea -- and, to some extent, the mystery. I've always said that cities were the most interesting thing about Miéville's work: he's really good at making them feel alive, I think. Less the individual parts, more the whole life of the city. This is a particularly interesting one, especially the way he navigates it: nothing here is overtly fantastical or sci-fi ish, really. I mean, it sounds completely far-fetched, but we know how deeply cultural conditioning can affect people, and if you just take it as a thought experiment...
Still, I like the idea -- and Miéville evokes his worlds well -- but it really didn't have me on the edge of my seat, or caring about the characters, or needing to read more.
Mister Monday (Garth Nix)
I read this, oh, at least six years ago, originally. Probably close to when it first came out. I loved it, read it really quickly, but didn't read much of the rest -- I think I might've read Grim Tuesday, and possibly even Drowned Wednesday, but I have a bad attention span for uncompleted series, and wandered away, intending to come back someday when it was done. Well, I'm back, and I decided I'd reread the first two or three books to refresh my memory of what's going on.
I love the way Garth Nix writes. It's easy to read, often amusing, and I like the weird and wonderful way he puts together worlds. Stuff like the Paperwings in the Abhorsen 'verse, and the whole set up of the House in these books.
If we were going for realism, maybe Arthur's rise to hero-dom would seem a little too fast. The Arthur we see at the beginning doesn't seem really capable of what he does at the end, though very little time has passed, as far as I could tell -- a few days, at most. If I have a criticism of these books, it's that from the lofty age of twenty-one, I don't really believe in him, in some ways. Not in the way I believed in, say, Sabriel, in Garth Nix's other work. I don't quite believe in the emotional background of the story, either: Arthur's need to rescue the victims of the Sleepy Plague, etc. It seems to fall by the wayside for large stretches -- maybe that's my problem. Still, it's the same old story of a young boy being swept by events bigger than himself toward heroism. I can suspend my disbelief for this.
There's something about the writing and the pacing that just sweeps me up, whenever I read Garth Nix's work. It's nice to just flop back and read it, without too much being expected of you. Yet, at the same time, it doesn't go straight down into the old tropes without stopping to look at them. For example, the Will is sometimes questionable, from a mortal, sympathetic-to-Arthur point of view, misleading him and manipulating events. And the Architect is referred to as female, when so often creation stories have a male god bringing forth the world.
I also love the background to this story: so matter-of-fact, but not actually the world as we know it. The flu outbreaks, the laws about quarantine... Believable, and different, without being shoved in one's face. Interesting.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this series, finally.
Grim Tuesday (Garth Nix)
Reading this series back to back is definitely better than the piecemeal way I was reading them when I read them as they came out (briefly as that lasted). There's no space between the books -- minutes at best between the end of Mister Monday and the beginning of Grim Tuesday. So it's nice to read them in one go. (It's also nice to read them on the appropriate days. I'll be greatly amused if I can keep that up all week.)
I didn't remember this book as well as Mister Monday, but I'm pretty sure I did read it. The same applies to this book re: the pace, the fun-ness, the lack of true emotional connection... It might be more helpful to think of this series as one long book split up into seven: so far that's true, anyway, but we'll see.
I'm interested by the reversal of the magical healing of Arthur: often, if characters have some kind of disability, it's handwaved away. People think that it only makes sense, things are easier plot-wise that way. But with Arthur, Garth Nix went out of his way to reverse that.
I loved the inclusion of the Mariner, and the slight reference to his background, which doesn't wave it around shouting, "Look! Clever literary reference! Look at meeee!". I love that he's related to the Piper, and whose son he is. I hope he comes into it more later, and I hope more is revealed about what his parents are/were like...
Drowned Wednesday (Garth Nix)
The same general likes and dislikes from Mister Monday and Grim Tuesday apply here. It's interesting to see that the formula of the plot has been disrupted, though -- Drowned Wednesday doesn't behave in the same way as Monday and Tuesday at all.
It's also great that Leaf gets to play a greater part in this book, giving Arthur not one but two strong female characters at his side, at least for now. I'm not counting the Will here, of course, since the parts on their own are presented as male, as least so far. I hope Leaf has more to do, since despite her being swept off to have adventures with Arthur, a lot of the book was spent away from him.
Oh, and I forgot to mention this at first, but I also loved the very brief reference to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Blink and you'd miss it, but given my interests, I wasn't likely to miss it...
Sir Thursday (Garth Nix)
A lot of things from previous books came into play in this book -- the Piper, and the Piper's children, and especially the stolen pocket from book one, which was planted in Nothing during book two, producing the Skinless Boy we saw at the end of book three... I love how these threads keep on coming back: few are irrelevant (one that bothers me because of its seeming lack of necessity was the appearance of Grim Tuesday's Nithling-eyebrow).
Arthur continues to grow, too, beginning to take more command, and learning to fight as a soldier. He starts to think about how he's treating people and how well that accords with the person he's been taught to be, and he has to fight to keep his mortality. Leaf also plays a greater part, and her part is actually more interesting than Arthur's, at least to me.
The 'formula' that began in the first two books, of Arthur getting caught up in something at the beginning of the book and returning to his mortal life at the end, has definitely dissolved by this point: this book begins and ends with Arthur already in the House.
I trust the Will less and less with each book.
Lady Friday (Garth Nix)
I loved how much time in this book was spent with Leaf. I think the focus on her is the first time the point of view has spent so much time with a character other than Arthur -- we don't see the adventures of Suzy Turquoise Blue in quite the same way, for example. The more inhuman Arthur becomes, the more time is spent with Leaf...
Each new book seems less and less resolved than the others, partly because the first two books make you begin to expect Arthur to go home at the end, and partly because the pace is ratcheting up.
Surprisingly enough, I liked the Fifth part of the Will, and am slightly less worried about the Will. Still. We'll see. I was entertained by Arthur simply grabbing back the keys when he needed them, even if it was unintentional. Yay Arthur!
Superior Saturday (Garth Nix)
Eeek! Even less resolved than all the rest so far. We don't even really get to see Arthur's claiming of the key, here, and the pace is absolutely frantic. I was wrong, in my last review, about getting to see more of Leaf the more inhuman Arthur becomes. We didn't get to see much of her at all, here. In fact, I'm not sure we got to see much of anything in this book, somehow. I think I'd dock a star for that...
...if I wasn't enchanted by the re-emergence of Elephant. If there's anything that would keep someone human, it'd be a childhood toy. I'm pretty sure that's what my conscience would look like, if it were a separate being. I am kind of desperately hoping that that's what Elephant will do in the story. I actually had kind of a lump in my throat when Arthur picked up Elephant and cuddled him hard, even though it was just a tiny moment. (I hugged my own teddy tight in sympathy, and was terribly glad I have never lost her.)
One other thing I enjoyed especially about this book was Arthur's struggle between the part of him that is a Denizen (or something higher), and the part that is still a mortal. By this point, his mortality is seriously dwindling, but there's still enough of it to seriously fight against that influence.
I rather hope he loses the fight not to become a Denizen, but wins the fight to keep loving and caring, with the help of Elephant.
Oh, I was also pleased to see the Old One again, and I rather hope he does get free.
Lord Sunday (Garth Nix)
Alas! Due to a gig, I was unable to read Lord Sunday entirely on Sunday. I did read most of it, though, and finished it on my train ride this morning. That was pretty unfortunate, when I got to the part where Elephant plays his part, because it made me cry, as Elephant always has, in this book. I knew Garth Nix wouldn't treat Elephant well. I am shaking my fist at you, sir. Oh, it was meaningful and lovely, and well done: bringing in a soft toy and bringing it to life could easily be over-sentimental, even for a soft toy lover. But this wasn't. It was just touching, and I ached to be able to bring my own soft toy -- a hippo -- to life.
As the end to the series, I found it appropriately exciting, vivid and satisfying. I'm not disappointed it's over -- it was all followed through quite well, and it doesn't leave me wanting, I guess is what I mean. I do want more of Garth Nix's writing, but he ended in just the right place, here.
Stuff here is posted first to Dreamwidth. I won't disable comments here, but I prefer to receive comments on DW. Go here to do so. If you need a DW invite, ask. There is a tutorial on how to set up your OpenID here. If you comment anonymously, please sign your comments!
I've been meaning to read more of Josh Lanyon's work for a while. Wanted to grab something for my iPod tonight -- I was going to a gig where I knew I didn't care for the support band -- and ended up getting this from the Kindle store. It's quite a short book -- nine chapters -- and easy to read, though I felt weird about reading the sex scenes while leaning up against the barrier in front of the stage!
Not that it's all about the sex. There's the mystery, of course, in the background, and the supernatural elements, and the relationship which grows between Julian and David. I didn't like either of them much at first -- David is too closed off, and Julian too... flamboyant. But I got to like both of them, even in such a short space.
The mystery itself, I should've seen the end coming more clearly than I did. I got distracted by the misdirection! One part of the end is terribly convenient, really, removing a certain problem from the equation... and I do wish, in some ways, there was more of it, and it went on to show how Julian and David get on. Still, everything wraps up nicely.
There's a pretty good sense of place and time, too. It's not a setting that's particular familiar or resonant to me, being a Brit, although there are aspects that Britain and the US share -- the strikes the characters talked about, and the young war veterans...
Josh Lanyon is pretty good for light reading. I'm tempted to read more of his stuff when I'm on the train, on Saturday, but on the other hand, reading sexy stuff on the train... Hmmm!
The City & The City (China Miéville)
I read this one in bits. The last half or so was all in one go, on a long train journey, but for the most part, I just read it in bits, a few pages at a time, and didn't really get involved with it. I didn't really care how it ended, for most of the time. I did get tense during the last parts, and I was sad for the main character about the ending, but I didn't really care, for the most part. I wanted to care more about Corwi and Dhatt, but I didn't really see enough of them, or enough positive about Dhatt...
I suppose it was pretty realistic, in that, but what actually kept me reading was the core idea -- and, to some extent, the mystery. I've always said that cities were the most interesting thing about Miéville's work: he's really good at making them feel alive, I think. Less the individual parts, more the whole life of the city. This is a particularly interesting one, especially the way he navigates it: nothing here is overtly fantastical or sci-fi ish, really. I mean, it sounds completely far-fetched, but we know how deeply cultural conditioning can affect people, and if you just take it as a thought experiment...
Still, I like the idea -- and Miéville evokes his worlds well -- but it really didn't have me on the edge of my seat, or caring about the characters, or needing to read more.
Mister Monday (Garth Nix)
I read this, oh, at least six years ago, originally. Probably close to when it first came out. I loved it, read it really quickly, but didn't read much of the rest -- I think I might've read Grim Tuesday, and possibly even Drowned Wednesday, but I have a bad attention span for uncompleted series, and wandered away, intending to come back someday when it was done. Well, I'm back, and I decided I'd reread the first two or three books to refresh my memory of what's going on.
I love the way Garth Nix writes. It's easy to read, often amusing, and I like the weird and wonderful way he puts together worlds. Stuff like the Paperwings in the Abhorsen 'verse, and the whole set up of the House in these books.
If we were going for realism, maybe Arthur's rise to hero-dom would seem a little too fast. The Arthur we see at the beginning doesn't seem really capable of what he does at the end, though very little time has passed, as far as I could tell -- a few days, at most. If I have a criticism of these books, it's that from the lofty age of twenty-one, I don't really believe in him, in some ways. Not in the way I believed in, say, Sabriel, in Garth Nix's other work. I don't quite believe in the emotional background of the story, either: Arthur's need to rescue the victims of the Sleepy Plague, etc. It seems to fall by the wayside for large stretches -- maybe that's my problem. Still, it's the same old story of a young boy being swept by events bigger than himself toward heroism. I can suspend my disbelief for this.
There's something about the writing and the pacing that just sweeps me up, whenever I read Garth Nix's work. It's nice to just flop back and read it, without too much being expected of you. Yet, at the same time, it doesn't go straight down into the old tropes without stopping to look at them. For example, the Will is sometimes questionable, from a mortal, sympathetic-to-Arthur point of view, misleading him and manipulating events. And the Architect is referred to as female, when so often creation stories have a male god bringing forth the world.
I also love the background to this story: so matter-of-fact, but not actually the world as we know it. The flu outbreaks, the laws about quarantine... Believable, and different, without being shoved in one's face. Interesting.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this series, finally.
Grim Tuesday (Garth Nix)
Reading this series back to back is definitely better than the piecemeal way I was reading them when I read them as they came out (briefly as that lasted). There's no space between the books -- minutes at best between the end of Mister Monday and the beginning of Grim Tuesday. So it's nice to read them in one go. (It's also nice to read them on the appropriate days. I'll be greatly amused if I can keep that up all week.)
I didn't remember this book as well as Mister Monday, but I'm pretty sure I did read it. The same applies to this book re: the pace, the fun-ness, the lack of true emotional connection... It might be more helpful to think of this series as one long book split up into seven: so far that's true, anyway, but we'll see.
I'm interested by the reversal of the magical healing of Arthur: often, if characters have some kind of disability, it's handwaved away. People think that it only makes sense, things are easier plot-wise that way. But with Arthur, Garth Nix went out of his way to reverse that.
I loved the inclusion of the Mariner, and the slight reference to his background, which doesn't wave it around shouting, "Look! Clever literary reference! Look at meeee!". I love that he's related to the Piper, and whose son he is. I hope he comes into it more later, and I hope more is revealed about what his parents are/were like...
Drowned Wednesday (Garth Nix)
The same general likes and dislikes from Mister Monday and Grim Tuesday apply here. It's interesting to see that the formula of the plot has been disrupted, though -- Drowned Wednesday doesn't behave in the same way as Monday and Tuesday at all.
It's also great that Leaf gets to play a greater part in this book, giving Arthur not one but two strong female characters at his side, at least for now. I'm not counting the Will here, of course, since the parts on their own are presented as male, as least so far. I hope Leaf has more to do, since despite her being swept off to have adventures with Arthur, a lot of the book was spent away from him.
Oh, and I forgot to mention this at first, but I also loved the very brief reference to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Blink and you'd miss it, but given my interests, I wasn't likely to miss it...
Sir Thursday (Garth Nix)
A lot of things from previous books came into play in this book -- the Piper, and the Piper's children, and especially the stolen pocket from book one, which was planted in Nothing during book two, producing the Skinless Boy we saw at the end of book three... I love how these threads keep on coming back: few are irrelevant (one that bothers me because of its seeming lack of necessity was the appearance of Grim Tuesday's Nithling-eyebrow).
Arthur continues to grow, too, beginning to take more command, and learning to fight as a soldier. He starts to think about how he's treating people and how well that accords with the person he's been taught to be, and he has to fight to keep his mortality. Leaf also plays a greater part, and her part is actually more interesting than Arthur's, at least to me.
The 'formula' that began in the first two books, of Arthur getting caught up in something at the beginning of the book and returning to his mortal life at the end, has definitely dissolved by this point: this book begins and ends with Arthur already in the House.
I trust the Will less and less with each book.
Lady Friday (Garth Nix)
I loved how much time in this book was spent with Leaf. I think the focus on her is the first time the point of view has spent so much time with a character other than Arthur -- we don't see the adventures of Suzy Turquoise Blue in quite the same way, for example. The more inhuman Arthur becomes, the more time is spent with Leaf...
Each new book seems less and less resolved than the others, partly because the first two books make you begin to expect Arthur to go home at the end, and partly because the pace is ratcheting up.
Surprisingly enough, I liked the Fifth part of the Will, and am slightly less worried about the Will. Still. We'll see. I was entertained by Arthur simply grabbing back the keys when he needed them, even if it was unintentional. Yay Arthur!
Superior Saturday (Garth Nix)
Eeek! Even less resolved than all the rest so far. We don't even really get to see Arthur's claiming of the key, here, and the pace is absolutely frantic. I was wrong, in my last review, about getting to see more of Leaf the more inhuman Arthur becomes. We didn't get to see much of her at all, here. In fact, I'm not sure we got to see much of anything in this book, somehow. I think I'd dock a star for that...
...if I wasn't enchanted by the re-emergence of Elephant. If there's anything that would keep someone human, it'd be a childhood toy. I'm pretty sure that's what my conscience would look like, if it were a separate being. I am kind of desperately hoping that that's what Elephant will do in the story. I actually had kind of a lump in my throat when Arthur picked up Elephant and cuddled him hard, even though it was just a tiny moment. (I hugged my own teddy tight in sympathy, and was terribly glad I have never lost her.)
One other thing I enjoyed especially about this book was Arthur's struggle between the part of him that is a Denizen (or something higher), and the part that is still a mortal. By this point, his mortality is seriously dwindling, but there's still enough of it to seriously fight against that influence.
I rather hope he loses the fight not to become a Denizen, but wins the fight to keep loving and caring, with the help of Elephant.
Oh, I was also pleased to see the Old One again, and I rather hope he does get free.
Lord Sunday (Garth Nix)
Alas! Due to a gig, I was unable to read Lord Sunday entirely on Sunday. I did read most of it, though, and finished it on my train ride this morning. That was pretty unfortunate, when I got to the part where Elephant plays his part, because it made me cry, as Elephant always has, in this book. I knew Garth Nix wouldn't treat Elephant well. I am shaking my fist at you, sir. Oh, it was meaningful and lovely, and well done: bringing in a soft toy and bringing it to life could easily be over-sentimental, even for a soft toy lover. But this wasn't. It was just touching, and I ached to be able to bring my own soft toy -- a hippo -- to life.
As the end to the series, I found it appropriately exciting, vivid and satisfying. I'm not disappointed it's over -- it was all followed through quite well, and it doesn't leave me wanting, I guess is what I mean. I do want more of Garth Nix's writing, but he ended in just the right place, here.
Stuff here is posted first to Dreamwidth. I won't disable comments here, but I prefer to receive comments on DW. Go here to do so. If you need a DW invite, ask. There is a tutorial on how to set up your OpenID here. If you comment anonymously, please sign your comments!