Reading roundup (Craft, Locke, Wool), and finishing season 3 of B5

[hamsterwoman]

6. Max Gladstone, Three Parts Dead -- I'd been meaning to read Max Gladstone's books for ages and then forgetting to look them up at the library, until egelantier hooked me up. I figured the necromantic lawyers would work with my "magic as craft" worldbuilding kink, and they totally do.

Comments

[avanti_90]

OMG. I didn't know there was a second Locke Lamora book! I thought there was just one! *stupid, stupid, self*

[hamsterwoman]

There are actually 3 now! (of I think a planned 7 book series?) He was really, really slow at getting the second one out, and I think the third, because of life upheaval. And I don't think the second one quite lives up to the first one, and opinions differ on book 3 as to whether it's better than the second or about the same. But even though it took me a while, even the second one was a rollicking good read, and I got my Jean and Locke fix, so, really, can't complain :)

[egelantier]

yeeehaw, you liked gladstone! i was sure you will, but i'm still glad. and the sequels are at once similar and not like first book at all, and i really love the variance in both setting and characters there.

the final scene with elaine is one of the best FUCK YES satisfying surprise endings i've ever read. oh, mrs. kevorkian.

[hamsterwoman]

the final scene with elaine is one of the best FUCK YES satisfying surprise endings i've ever read

YES! That was really great, and both perfectly set up and totally unexpected! (I was convinced Denovo was being set up as a recurring villain -- he's such a smug snake, he'd be good for that -- and then he wasn't :D)

And, yeah, I pretty much expected to like it, too, so it wasn't a surprise, but it's nice to be proven right about a highly enjoyable book! :D

Usually I'm not very happy when a series leaves characters I'm familiar with in favor of new people in the sequel, but in this case the prospect strikes me as perfectly fine -- it's the world and the writing I want more of, and periodic updates on how the bunch from this one is doing.

Thank you again for being the catalyst that finally got me to read Gladstone! Who knows how long I would be remembering about him immediately upon coming home from the library otherwise :P

[egelantier]

by the way, cat is one of the ensemble protagonists in the third book, and there's a character arc for her - maybe she'll work better for you there.

[hamsterwoman]

I'm open to being won over by Cat! I did like her more in the end of the book than I had prior to that, so maybe she's on the right track for me to like her.

[a_phoenixdragon]

*HUGS*

[hamsterwoman]

<3

[aome]

I didn't like Locke #2 quite as much, either. And I also admit I've forgotten most of the details, aside from the dire straits Locke is in by the end. I liked #3 better, hope you will, too. :)

[hamsterwoman]

I strongly suspect #3 will work better for me, too. I've heard very mixed things about Sabetha (and am prepared to be disappointed, though hoping not to be), but flashbacks that include some of my favorite, now-dead, characters sound very promising! Plus more Locke and Jean, of course.

Actually, I think the plot is fairly forgettable because it doesn't really advance the story forward that much except for Locke's dire straits... and that might've been part of the reason it didn't work for me as well as I'd been hoping.

Thanks again for the present! (and sorry it took me like three years to read it XP)

[hamsterwoman]

I was constantly fighting the urge the skim, yeah. Which is a pity, because I love the way Lynch writes -- it's highly entertaining! -- but all the damn ships, and a multitude of characters I never really started caring about... meh.

there would have been shitloads of emo-ness after that. Instead, it became comic relief because of Jean's reaction!

That is a good point! I did enjoy the way the two of them talked about it later -- it was definitely very funny! But, yeah, pretty unbelievable as a premise to me.

I also strongly suspect I will enjoy the Republic of Thieves more than the second book, but less than the first one. We'll see! I'm in the groove, so I'm probably reading that next. :)

[egelantier]

I also strongly suspect I will enjoy the Republic of Thieves more than the second book, but less than the first one. We'll see! I'm in the groove, so I'm probably reading that next. :)

that's how it worked for me. third book is faster and tighter, and has more enjoyable shenanigans. but locke/sabetha disappointed me, because it's one of these pairings that makes each of them lesser and less pleasant when together rather than other way around.

[hamsterwoman]

I'm not very fun in at this point, but that's exactly what I'm finding, yeah. I'm loving seeing Chains and the Sanzas again in the flashbacks, and Jean and Locke in the present are great as always, but Locke/Sabetha is having exactly that effect on me -- Locke is pathetic in his crush (since six years old, really? his whole adult life? I mean, he's not meant to be sane, in this or many other respects, but still...) and while I have a lot of sympathy for being the object of an unrequited crush, ESPECIALLY when it's based on someone's perception of one and not on the person herself, the way Sabetha has been acting about it just makes me dislike her. Of course, I haven't seen them meet as adults yet, but I'm expecting more of the same at this point...