Comments | hamsterwoman: Reading roundup

hamsterwoman

Reading roundup

May 20, 2012 21:44

I am so, so behind on books, I don't think I can do my usual fully detailed write-ups with quotes and stuff. I just need to get this stuff out there and the books off the pile on my desk and back to the library.

10. Scott Westerfeld, Goliath (conclusion of the Leviathan trilogy) -- it was better than I was afraid it might be. ( Major spoilers! )

a: ysabeau wilce, a: m.t.anderson, a: cory doctrow, a: scott westerfeld, a: libba bray, hunger games, a: ursula vernon, a: christopher rowe, a: lev grossman, a: garth nix, a: kelly link, a: elizabeth knox, a: cassandra clare, a: kate elliott, short stories, a: delia sherman, a: suzanne collins, a: dylan horrocks, reading, a: holly black

Comments 20

ikel89 May 21 2012, 13:52:43 UTC

Wow, what a bulk:) I'm going to comment on Curseworkers and Hunger Games only, because I skipped the rest for spoiler reasons (like, I really want to read Westerfield's trilogy ( ... )

hamsterwoman May 21 2012, 16:19:22 UTC

The Westerfeld trilogy is well worth reading (IMO), and I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it if/when you do!

I agree with basically everything you say about THG --

"but I see her as a very good protagonist, which in itself is pretty rare"I so rarely like protagonists that I'm always excited to find one whom I'd consider in my top 5 favorite characters for the book, and Katniss is one of the few who makes the cut. I do think Finnick and Cinna are my favorites, followed by Haymitch and Johanna. And Peeta -- you are very right about Peeta being very refreshing after the jerkass sparkly vampire type. Like I said, he felt a bit too saintly, but I could rationalize it, and it was refreshing anyway ( ... )

ikel89 May 21 2012, 16:42:50 UTC

I generally love dysfunctional families, but Cassel's is a little too dark

Heh, I guess this is where my animanga shows. I think I'm pretty much beyond wanting less dysfunction by this point, because after what the Japanese do to their characters most of the western mindscrews seems like stuff for kiddies. That's why the noir setting of curseworkers seemed like the best kind of YA to me. It doesn't mean I don't read fluff (cuz I do, especially to relax in between more emotionally challenging things), it only shows why it felt the most natural thing to me. I hope I'll get to writing an appreciation post for the trilogy (maybe after rereading them, since I was feeling like it after Black Heart anyway - after the thesis business is over and done with), where I can give it its due. Also YOU HAVE READ DL omg I loved, loved the Ryves so much I flailed for weeks. They seem even more screwed-up family to me than the Sharpes, though, and all to the better.

Does this mean you've read Beauty Queens? Yep, I have. I found it when I was looking ( ... )

hamsterwoman May 21 2012, 17:03:00 UTC

I love the Ryves brothers! I agree there are very deeply screwed up, but it didn't bother me in the way the Sharpe family dynamics did. Probably because the one thing I never doubted was that Alan and Nick loved each other to the best of their abilities (and well beyond the abilities one of them should've had ( ... )

Thread 10

lyssa027 May 22 2012, 00:16:32 UTC

Glad you enjoyed Hunger Games, I found Mockingjay the least enjoyable of the series, mostly because of Snow and Coin

hamsterwoman May 22 2012, 00:32:10 UTC

I would probably also say that Mockingjay is my least favorite. Snow and Coin, and Peeta's brainwashing, and it was the most grim of the three. But I didn't hate it/wasn't disappointed by it as I know many people were. Though it might've made a difference that I read all three straight through and didn't have to wait for a conclusion / didn't have a chance to hype it up for myself.

lunasariel May 22 2012, 07:58:13 UTC

I did like some of the takes on fantasy tropes in this book as well, especially the whole thing with the tournament to find the best swordsman,
I still haven't read The Magician King, but it sounds like I should! This bit in particular sounds very Tourney of the Hand-like, which is always fun.

Snow, as the evil-so-evil dictator of the Capitol, with his scent of blood and open sores and prostituting victors and poisoning enemies and only barely avoiding munching live kittens onscreen was bad enough.
Hmm. This has been the main thing keeping me from reading The Hunger Games; I really can't believe a For Teh Evulz, kitten-eating, puppy-stomping dictator in a world built on complex gray vs. gray morality. I mean, people like this are good for minor villains or major henchmen, but for the main baddie, something more subtle is usually called for, especially in a situation like this.

hamsterwoman May 22 2012, 20:58:46 UTC

I definitely thought The Magician King was a very good read -- a lot of the same fun prose I loved in the first book, and it was really cool to get Julia's perspective.

This has been the main thing keeping me from reading The Hunger Games

Kitten-eating Evil bugs me, too, but I enjoyed the books despite that complaint. I do think it weakens the third book, but, IMO, it's much less a Good vs Evil story than a survival story (and so it doesn't matter so much if what Katniss is fighting against to survive is sensible evil or kitten-munching evil or just plain nature). And I could see the rather unsubtle view of evil being a narrator thing, too (this is why I shouldn't overdose on Brust :P -- everything becomes justifiable as an unreliable narrator thing XP) -- Katniss is not a very subtle person, and is not very interested in seeing the subtleties of those who would kill her and those she wants to protect. So, anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that I think the books still work well despite this, and it might not even be an authorial

lunasariel May 23 2012, 01:47:14 UTC

I guess what I'm saying is that I think the books still work well despite this
Good to know. It probably does help that (from what I've picked up, at least) Snow isn't the only baddie around, so there's plenty of "sensible evil" (good description, heh) and plain ol' survival to contend with as well. The unreliable narrator thing also sounds plausible; I'm guessing that she wouldn't be very kindly disposed towards the Big Bad, and so much more likely to describe him as the embodiment of pure evil, whether or not he actually is.

hamsterwoman May 23 2012, 04:13:42 UTC

The other major in-power baddie is, sadly, not much better (IMO), but there are a lot of antagonists who I'm not sure it would be fair to consider baddies because they're really as much victims as the protagonists are -- they just happen to be fellow victims who are trying to kill her. And then there are some people who are on her side and are still nicely shades-of-grey. So that worked for me.

I'm guessing that she wouldn't be very kindly disposed towards the Big Bad, and so much more likely to describe him as the embodiment of pure evil, whether or not he actually is.

Yep. I was kind of sensing that from her, and I think, from the author's skill with shades-of-gray with the other characters, that this might be an intentional byproduct of the narrowness of the POV.

l_vestrit May 22 2012, 12:19:06 UTC

About Hunger Games.

I like Katniss in general, but it would've been nice to have more details of this world, of districts and of other characters. And Katniss, on the other hand, because of her age and circumstances doesn't see an inch beyond her nose. I love how Collins described her emotional state, though. So I think the main weakness of this series was the protagonist's narrow point of view ( ... )

hamsterwoman May 22 2012, 21:12:03 UTC

So I think the main weakness of this series was the protagonist's narrow point of view

It is definitely very narrow... In most ways it worked for me as a feature more than a bug -- I don't think I would've found Katniss nearly as belieavable if she stopped to think about broader implications or people outside her narrow circle of people she cares about/wants to protect. I'm usually all about breadth and depth in worldbuilding, but for some reason I didn't miss it here -- I guess maybe the immediacy of the story gripped me enough not to want to wander off into archives and appendices. I do wish we'd gotten to see more of other characters, though...

But than I thought, what about District 1? I always thought, that District 1 was Capitol's pet alongside with District 2 I wondered about that, too. I never got much of a feel for District 1, except that they seemed to have a sort of Capitol-like focus on prettiness -- all of those good-looking types with fancy names. I was surprised by the revelation that they had rebelled and would've ( ... )

lachan July 7 2012, 10:24:11 UTC

Ha, the world is small! I know you as a regular commenter of Aome's LJ entries, and now I found you on Jae's LJ account as a newly added friend, so, I became curious.
I must say we have a very similar taste in books, I am also SUCH a sucker for magic school narratives and I had wondered about The Magician King, too. :) I like the other one very much.
so, not so much school involved, hm? too bad!

hamsterwoman July 7 2012, 11:00:55 UTC

Hi! I have definitely seen you commenting regularly on Debbie's journal, and have noticed you in Jae's as well. Small world indeed! :) And always glad to meet a person with similar reading taste.

The Magician King has pretty much no "traditional" magic school narrative, alas, which I did miss. I didn't love it as much as the first book, but it's still definitely worth reading, I think. I did think Julia's arc was very powerful and intense, and I like her better as a central character than I liked Quentin (and I liked Quentin just fine0.