Reading Roundup

[hamsterwoman]

28. Melina Marchetta, Froi of the Exiles -- well, this is a neat trick that I don't think any sequel has managed till now -- it retroactively made me like the first book less. Which is not to say that I hated Froi -- I didn't, and am in the middle of reading Quintana. But I had liked Finnikin a lot for the subversion of tropes I'm sick of seeing

Comments

[nutmeg3]

I just got a friend who lives for audiobooks hooked on the Locke Lamora series. ::is proud::

[hamsterwoman]

Good work! :D (They are such fun books!)

[ikel89]

so, shall we exercise in diplomacy?:)
At this point I don't think I can comment at all on how bad the actual writing was - I read CP too quickly and too long ago. But I remember just how poorly edited book three was, even though it's overall better than book 1 was. Anyway, even with all the redundant descriptions of Herondales that thrive on obsolescent adjectives, I think the book had more serious problems - aka plot, or more accurately, its holes and general scarcity.

okay so i fail at diplomacy don't judge me SORRYTessa's powers - along with the whole pendant thing - have been very problematic from the start. When you have an overpowered character - and she IS one, mind you, especially given that she undergoes her jedi training THE FIRST thing in those books, it's not even a quest - it's hard to have them as a main character and not be boring. So the authors are forced to come up with contrived reasons why they can't use these powers, and well, CC doesn't do it well. I think some of the most obnoxiously vague excuses try to be

[hamsterwoman]

So the authors are forced to come up with contrived reasons why they can't use these powers, and well, CC doesn't do it wellI would agree with that, and the thing that makes this most mystifying to me is that Tessa's powers are thus hampered to a point where I don't even understand why she needs to have them. Like, being able to assume someone's appearance is fine -- Polyjuice potion leaves plenty of room for drama because you still have to "pass" -- but why the mind-reading? So far it's only been used for psychic communication with Camille (which could've been handwaved some other way, since she's a vampire), and glimpses of suspicious stuff, which can also be foreshadowed in other ways. Possibly it's going to be critical in book 3, but any plot point to which this is a resolution is going to be boring, I'm pretty sure, because it's such a cop-out way of resolving anything... (And as for the powers being the key to why Mortmain wants her -- if that's even the case -- that's easy enough to justify in other ways, too, e.g. with

[hamsterwoman]

Gideon might actually be a huge dork (at least that might have been the intent) - more on that in book3 - but it's actually lost to me in the overall efforts to glamorize and dramatize the characters needlesslyOh, interesting! The books could certainly use more dorkiness, outside of Henry's rather caricaturish variety (which I still find charming, but it's not the same thing). What you say about glamorizing and dramatizing makes a lot of sense, and is unfortunate... The lack of glamour and the dorkiness was what had made Simon my favorite in TMI -- and also what's making me reluctant to read the sequel trilogy, because I kind of feel like that's the trajectory that's happening to him

[egelantier]

i've finished froi and got stuck on quintana, because i don't think the style - simplified, young adult, broad - can't support THIS degree of darkficness. plus everybody got an asshole personality transplant (one might argue that finnikin always was sorta assholish, but he's beyond in fourth book), and soooooooo much confusion with magical switching twins, and soooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuch raaaaaaaaaaape. and just, idk. the structure of the book does not support the emotional feeling of it.

(for all i quite like froi, and like quintana. quintana is awesome).

varvara was pretty awesome, wasn't she? not much in the way of клюква, nothing i could point out outright, and AMAZING SHOWDOWN WITH NIGHTINGALE, gimme more (plus peter's adorable nightingale fanboying, as ever. 'oops, was it YOUR tigert tank?').

THE FINALY THOUGH D: D: D: D:!

[hamsterwoman]

plus everybody got an asshole personality transplant

Yeah... I think this was primarily bugging me in Quintana, unless I just don't remember where the line between the two books is -- Froi was always kind of an asshole (which is one of the things I liked about him), but Finnikin's sudden attack of jealousy (what O.o) and Isaboe's apparent inability to see beyond the need for revenge on Charyn (which is very much NOT the sense I got from her in either the end of Finnikin or the beginning of Froi even), and the whole thing where "a Charynite tells us this random guy was the king's trusted advisor several years before the unspeakable so he must be the architect of the deaths of the Lumateran royal family"... basically everybody turned into an idiot and a jerk, yes.

idk. the structure of the book does not support the emotional feeling of it.Yeah, it was a really weird feeling. And I think the structure and the style undermine the emotions/themes. IDK, it was very strange -- I had expected to be a lot more impressed based on the things

[egelantier]

yes, exactly! i bailed on isaboe being just... completely un-isaboe unreasonable re: charyn, and finnikin having the ATTACK OF STUPID JEALOUSY, because what? why? HOW. i liked the what'shername arranged marriage chick, but she got pretend-dead too soon to actually sort out her arranged marriage, and everything just felt - wasted. i still hope to pick up and finish one day, but if i knew it'd be like this, i'd stick to the first book only.

i have no theories about lesley :( i mean, i desperately hope i can trust author to put everything right and have her NOT do what she pretty explicitly done, but how? all points to it being for real, on one hand, but on other? i can't believe in lesley siding with somebody faceless man's level of bad, faces or not faces. so, i guess, we have to wait and trust, and be heartbroken meanwhile.

(poor peter. poor nightingale. poor everybody).

(this book needed 100% more grumpy lesbian police lady, she was a delight).

[hamsterwoman]

i bailed on isaboe being just... completely un-isaboe unreasonable re: charyn, and finnikin having the ATTACK OF STUPID JEALOUSY, because what? why? HOW.

I think maybe it was trying to show that Lumaterans could be fallible too, shoe's on the other foot, that sort of thing, which I could appreciate in theory, but NOT when it seemed to go against everything we knew about the characters from the previous book (and it's not like you can blame it on narrator or whatever when the books are in omnicient...)

Phaedra seems like a nice addition, but not a lot was done with her, although I do kind of like her dynamic with Quintana, as foils.

but if i knew it'd be like this, i'd stick to the first book only

I feel the same, which is a really odd feeling :/ I had something similar happen to me once before (Rampant + Ascendant, of the Killer Unicorns series), but even then I was just disappointed in the sequel itself -- it didn't make me appreciate the first book less, the way it happened with this set...

i mean, i desperately hope i can

[loupnoir]

You gloat like a gloating thing over the Abramovich book. I will now pout, because I don't get to read it until next year. Look, pouting. More pouting.

[hamsterwoman]

Aww, I did not mean to gloat, at least outside of spoiler cut. I have a MOBI (I think?) copy of the eBook that I would be happy to pass on to you if it would be useful to you? (I tried very hard to buy a digital copy, but Amazon wouldn't let me, so I'll have to restore balance to the universe some other way...)

[lyssa027]

Magnus Bane is my favorite character in all the Clare books.

[hamsterwoman]

Mine too, probably. Like, I liked Simon a lot in the early books, and I like Alec, but Magnus is the only one I think who has never disappointed me in a scene. Plus, he is definitely the most fun!

[lyssa027]

Magnus has also become one of my literary crushes LOL