Reading Roundup and December meme, day 27: Volha

[hamsterwoman]

For the December ramble meme, Day 27, egelantier asked me to ramble about Volha, but I first needed to get my book thoughts down in more usual manner, and as I try to go in chronological order with the books, I should also post my last Reading Roundup of the year. I made it to 50, just barely... but hey, for a while it looked like even that might not happen

Comments

[postingwhore]

Seems like I'm the only one who hated The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime-so much, in fact, that I'd anti-rec it. From the thoughts I jotted down:

I found the writing style interesting and refreshing at first, but that changed about halfway through the book, when I got fed up with Christopher. I found him a completely unsympathetic protagonist because his disregard for other people is just astounding, and in no way do I believe that someone on the autistic spectrum who is relatively integrated into neurotypical society can be so selfish and unable to care about the effects his actions have on other people-that seems more like a sociopath to me. So, as soon as I stopped caring about Christopher, I stopped caring about the book, and the second half was just tedious and full of ugh. (Not to mention the author using the narrator to ~espouse his own views on religion. Ugh, just no.)

[hamsterwoman]

Interesting -- thank you for sharing your thoughts from reading, because I'm always very curious to see what makes books work for some people but not work for others

[deeplyunhip]

I've read and enjoyed The Curious Incident and I found it to be quite a believable take on how an autistic child would think/react to things, based on my experiences working with some students on the spectrum. I'm a little suspicious about how well this book translated to the London stage, though. >.>

[hamsterwoman]

I found it to be quite a believable take on how an autistic child would think/react to things,

That is very neat to know, so thank you for sharing that insight!

They... made it into a play? O.o That seems like it would be difficult, given how much of the book, and its strength, is Christopher's internal monologue...

[lyssa027]

I like Hine's Princess series: http://www.jimchines.com/novels/princess/ I found it very enjoyable, and very well written

[hamsterwoman]

I've heard good things about the Princess Series, but so far have kept coming across books from the middle that didn't seem like good starting point. I will probably give them a try eventually, as you, sephystabbity, and several other folks on my flist enjoy them.

[lyssa027]

They're really enjoyable, I really like his take on fairy tale heroines and his twist on the actual stories of fairy tales

[hamsterwoman]

I used to really like fairy tale retellings, but may have moved away from the sub-genre a bit. But would definitely give these a try if I come across the first one -- thank you!

[egelantier]

hiiiii i've resurfaced and ready to leave ALL THE COMMENTS. thanks for your post!

i think a lot of my love for volha is that she was literally the first heroine of this kind in russian fantasy market (and ikel89 is absolutely correct, it immediately created a TON of completely godawful epigons, that i thankfully haven't read), and i immediately fell in love with her voice. the whole shtick with humorous ladyfantasy in first pov is insanely tough to pull off, step to the left and you're in marysueish chicklit, step to the right and you're in marysueish tough chick with tragic past land, and volha is all and neither. i really, really loved - and you're right, it's very, and probably intentionally, reminiscent of pratchett - the juxtaposition of humorous setting and live breathing characters with actual stories to tell

[hamsterwoman]

Hi! :D (and, didn't mean to rush you, btw! I just wasn't sure if LJ was displaying things on flists properly, because that's been happening to me rather a lot, and to some other people, too, entries not showing up on flists for no reason)

the whole shtick with humorous ladyfantasy in first pov is insanely tough to pull off, step to the left and you're in marysueish chicklit, step to the right and you're in marysueish tough chick with tragic past land, and volha is all and neitherI really agree with this point, and am impressed with how well Volha as a character and Gromyko as an author negotiate this line. I have read a fair bit of western fantasy (mostly urban, but some second-world as well) with female protagonists (let's say Toby Daye, Rachel Morgan, Sookie Stackhouse, Marla Mason, Kaylin Neya, though there are doubtless others I'm not thinking of atm) and I don't think I can think of one that navigates this line better than Volha. Though, I don't think she really needs the tragic past -- her grounding in her work served better

[egelantier]

i read it, but i wasn't either into it or against it, i think? it's kinda sweet, it ends on a rather weird note, it operates within a sorta-not-really love triangle rather than ensemble, and it didn't leave much impression on me.

the only thing i strenuously anti-rec is 'plus na minus', which is just - honestly, i blame ulanov for this one. it reeks of, like, this specific genre of dude wish-fullfillment shtick, and i don't remember details, but it just enraged and annoyed me when i read it.

my personal gromyko preference order is vv - volha - kamaleynik - cosmopeople, i think.

[hamsterwoman]

Ah, thanks for the warning about the sorta-love triangle, since those tend to bug me more often than not.

I was super-not-impressed by what I perceive to be Ulanov's contributions to the first Kosmo~oluhi book (based on the characters he was writing and the fact that I liked solo-authored book 2 more), so "+/-" was at the bottom of the list, and with your anti-rec I simply won't bother with it.

But it's good to hear that you liked Kamaleynik! I was curious about it based on the fanart-y things that had popped up in Fandom Battle and Volha Konkurs and so on. Maybe I'll read that one next...

[lunasariel]

I'm glad Zuko turned out to be Ozai's son after all (I didn't think it would be any different, but if it had been, that would've really sucked)Exactly. I didn't exactly think they would go through with the whole red herring thing (since it would, y'know, completely negate, like, 90% of Zuko's character arc), but after the disappointment and ham-handedness of LoK, I wasn't completely sure

[hamsterwoman]

honestly, the coolness of the premise is the only thing keeping me going

That's pretty much how I felt about it, too. But the premise IS really cool!

I want one, and I *hate* spiders.

Haha, AWW!

I don't find Isaac interesting either, and, yeah, now that you mention it, he is rather "generic urban fantasy protagonist", isn't he...

but right now it still feels a little too much like fanservice

Lena is such a weird case! Because on the one hand I do feel like Hines is trying to show how creepy such fanservice-y characters are. But on the other hand, she does still feel vaguely fan-service-y, and she's the love interest, and I feel like the book is still, perhaps inadvertently, capitalizing on the squicky fanservice even while trying to lampshade it or deconstruct it or whatever...

kudos to JCH, I guess, for being slightly less skeevy than I expected?

I do think, from reading his blog and stuff, that he's a really good guy trying to do the right thing. He's the one doing those poses of female characters on covers that you

[lunasariel]

He's the one doing those poses of female characters on covers that you might have seen going around.
Oh, he's that guy! :D In that case, yeah, I'm much more inclined to see the whole Lena situation as attempting to have one's cheesecake and thematically analyze eat it too, rather than just pulling a Jim-Butcher-at-his-worst.

Actually, perusing his blog, I agree more and more with what you said above - he actually does sound like a rather erudite and thoughtful dude, especially re: fanservice, the male gaze, etc.! I mean, he's clearly thought about all the issues he brings up in Libriomancer a good deal... I guess I just wish the execution could be a little better in this case. XD

[hamsterwoman]

o have one's cheesecake and thematically analyze eat it too

Heh, great turn of phrase!

And, yeah, that's my conclusion as well, both about intent and about execution...