I really liked the world and Amber-in-space in Dust and didn't care for most of the same things you didn't care about. I mean, I liked Gavin the basilisk and Hero Ng and I was pretty intrigued by Jacob and felt sorry when he, you know, whatever the proper term is for what happened there at the end -- but I really didn't care about any of the living, human characters.
You know it's part of a planned trilogy, right? I think Chill is supposed to come out... well, I don't remember exactly, but it's somewhere on matociquala's LJ, I'm pretty sure, and I forget what the title for #3 is. So, there should be more world after this, which I'm happy about.
I really want to read the LeGuin book you mentioned now (which I didn't realize existed). And this reminds me I should try to track down the last Kushiel book, too...
I thought Jacob was CREEPY. massively creepy. I kept wondering if we were supposed to feel sympathetic to him and WTF with that, but turned out, no, we weren't. I liked Sammael, though. I was rooting for him ^^
I knew about Chill, didn't know there was a third after that.
I didn't know that Leguin book existed until I found it one day either!! It's a YA novel, perhaps that's why.
I thought Jacob was creepy (but I like creepy :) -- but sort of... not sympathetic, really, but something that elicited emotion more than most of those other characters. Kind of the opposite with Sammael -- I felt like you were supposed to like him, but I didn't feel anything for him at all. I also ended up liking Pinion. It's not that I felt a wing-shaped possessed colony of nanites had a more appealing personality than the protagonists... but I did feel the way its character was done (not least the fact that it actually seemed to have/be a character) was more interesting -- if that makes any sense.
I am picking up the rec for Black Ships - wishlisted for one day, one of these days.
I actually read that LeGuin in translation, when i was a teenager. I actually remember it but more of a vague impression. Of her early work I read as a teen, maybe I am sf based, but I remember the sf better.
That Cherryh duo I tried to read once, I quit at some early page, and then my copy got accidentally destroyed. It was very Cherryh-like mixed with elves being mysterious, which made it all incomprehensible to me at first read - though I did not persevere.
Hmm. Oddly enough, I just put Th1rt3n on my library hold list. I think I'll take it off and replace it with Black Ships. That sounds good.
(I love my library - I can now request books online, and I get an e-mail when the books ready to pick up. It has saved me so much money in recent months.)
The exposition/discussion of thematics done in dialogue is to a ridiculous point. Seriously, there is no way people would sit done and make philosophical discussions (often while pointing guns at each others) to this amount. The amount of villains who did it the novel is simply laughable.
Yes, that was one of my biggest problems with the book as well - for people who are supposedly ultra-aggressive they spend an awful lot of time talking philosophy with their enemies. Although it does have some interesting ideas in it and some parts of it are good at the most basic level it is a thriller that is rarely particularly thrilling. I don't normally think the books I read should have less talking and more action sequences but it might have helped here.
I'm glad I wasn't the only who had this reaction. Yeah, i would have settled with not more action, just less dialogue and a more natural way to insert the themes into the narrative. Not that it is easy, of course, but good writers should do that, heh!
Comments 13
You know it's part of a planned trilogy, right? I think Chill is supposed to come out... well, I don't remember exactly, but it's somewhere on matociquala's LJ, I'm pretty sure, and I forget what the title for #3 is. So, there should be more world after this, which I'm happy about.
I really want to read the LeGuin book you mentioned now (which I didn't realize existed). And this reminds me I should try to track down the last Kushiel book, too...
Reply
I knew about Chill, didn't know there was a third after that.
I didn't know that Leguin book existed until I found it one day either!! It's a YA novel, perhaps that's why.
Reply
Reply
Reply
I think I also may have enjoyed myself immensely and then missed the point. Perhaps a reread is in order for me!
Reply
Reply
I actually read that LeGuin in translation, when i was a teenager. I actually remember it but more of a vague impression. Of her early work I read as a teen, maybe I am sf based, but I remember the sf better.
That Cherryh duo I tried to read once, I quit at some early page, and then my copy got accidentally destroyed. It was very Cherryh-like mixed with elves being mysterious, which made it all incomprehensible to me at first read - though I did not persevere.
Reply
I usually like LeGuin's SF better as well. Not that I dislike the fantasy...
I found the Cherry one hard to get into at the beginning as well.
Reply
(I love my library - I can now request books online, and I get an e-mail when the books ready to pick up. It has saved me so much money in recent months.)
Reply
I wish I had a library like this! with books in english and stuff!
Reply
Yes, that was one of my biggest problems with the book as well - for people who are supposedly ultra-aggressive they spend an awful lot of time talking philosophy with their enemies. Although it does have some interesting ideas in it and some parts of it are good at the most basic level it is a thriller that is rarely particularly thrilling. I don't normally think the books I read should have less talking and more action sequences but it might have helped here.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment