Reading roundup: YA and Uprooted

[hamsterwoman]

42. Naomi Novik, Uprooted -- I bought this book while sitting on the tarmac during boarding attempt #2 (I think) of my flight to Japan, because I didn't have anything I was passionate about reading at the moment and I felt like I deserved it after the nonsense with the flight (sweet summer child, etc. -- the nonsense was only starting, of course).

Comments

[_profiterole_]

I'm waiting for Uprooted and Stranger to be out as paperbacks.

[hamsterwoman]

I hope you enjoy them when they do! (I got Uprooted in Kindle, which tends to be a bit cheaper for new books, but for Stranger it didn't make much difference, and I was thinking the rodents would want to read it, so I got it in a paper version.)

I think the diversity in Stranger should definitely appeal to you! (I'm not through it yet, so can't really judge based on plot and the rest.)

[_profiterole_]

I'm enjoying her Fast & Furious fics these days. ;-)

As for Stranger, I've been following its progress since the whole shenanigans where the authors couldn't find an agent because of the diversity and the subsequent #yestogayYA campaign.

[hamsterwoman]

Oh, is that her fandom these days? :) I'm always so sad that she's writing in fandoms I'm not familiar with/have little interest in, because I love her writing, pro and fannish.

I figured you probably were aware of all the Stranger history, but, publication travails aside, the diversity really does work very nicely in the book in situ, both the gay protagonist and his love interest and the ethnic diversity of the setting (which I didn't hear mentioned as much because I think it was kind of overshadowed by the other). I don't think a single one of the protagonists is white.

[gelsey]

I have Uprooted on my tbr list so I will be back when I'm done :)

[hamsterwoman]

I hope you enjoy it, and look forward to hearing what you thought of it! :)

[gelsey]

I absolutely loved it. So much. It's my favorite thing I've read in quite a while!

[hamsterwoman]

Yay, so glad to hear that! :D Would be happy to hear more about what you liked / thought if you're inclined :)

[egelantier]

marek was so fascinating. horrible, and yet, yes, not without a flare to him. i wonder how he would've turned out if his mother wasn't kidnapped?

and hating solya, opportunist he is, was just SO MUCH FUN.

[hamsterwoman]

i wonder how he would've turned out if his mother wasn't kidnapped?

That is a really interesting question! I feel like he'd still come up with some idee fixe that would be his path to glory (and the throne), but maybe it would be a less doomed one and thus one that twisted him less? He was so INTERESTING!

And yes! Hating Solya was so satisfying! I loved that he's the only one who survives basically unchanged and is right back to proposing marriage to Kasia to advance his position at court. So indomitable! XD

[gelsey]

You know, though. I can see Solya and Kasia working in the long run, after she's made him run around and actually, I dunno, start caring and working at things he's normally so good at before finally giving him the time of day. The end of the world can't change a man but trying to catch the eye of a woman....

[hamsterwoman]

The end of the world can't change a man but trying to catch the eye of a woman....

Heh, I hadn't thought of it that way, but it would definitely be an interesting thing to see! :D

[a_t_rain]

This is probably apropos of nothing in particular, but Sarah Dessen's father was my dissertation director. So you can impress your daughter with your three degrees of separation, if you like.

[hamsterwoman]

Haha, I will totally tell her that! (And I love "small world" encounters like that, so, thank you for telling me :)

[meathiel]

Me - I'd rather Naomi Novik hurried up with a new Temeraire book instead of writing something else ...

I could use Jonathan Strange for that square as well ... I only read the first few pages the first time around ... haha ...

[hamsterwoman]

I've been waiting for her to finish Temeraire, too, of course, and that was my initial reaction on hearing she had an unrelated book out, but, frankly... she seems to have had more fun writing this one than the last couple of Temeraire volumes, and I had more fun reading it than Blood of Tyrants for sure, and maybe a couple of books before then, too. (I suspect it's really hard to wrap up to a satisfying degree all the open threads that are currently going in Temeraire. No idea how she's going to do it in a single book!)

I only read the first few pages the first time around ... haha ... Heh, well, one of the reasons I put it off for so long even though I was pretty sure that I was going to use it for that for the bingo (I don't very often set books aside that I still want to read, so there are not a lot to choose from) is that it is 1000 pages, and you want to be really sure you want to read them all! (I'm finding it much easier going this time around. Thank goodness it's a paperback and not a hardcover, and I think it would be even

[meathiel]

That's the problem ... with the RSI in my arms I'm having a hard time holding books that have 1000 pages. I've since "acquired" it in ebook form so I may give it a go aagain ... :D

[hamsterwoman]

I'm finding, this time around, that it's going pretty fast, for such a long (and slow-build) book. So, hope you find it enjoyable, too, if you do give it another shot! (All the footnotes will probably be more annoying w/ the Kindle, though... But not as annoying as holding a 1000 page book!)