Reviews: the return

[rivkat]

I'm back! From outer space! Actually from the end of classes, but it's a lot like.

Comments

[parkersstarbuck]

well i read laura k. hamiliton ... not the right stuff for me. AND i agree with you on kellerman

[herewiss13]

I've got to ask, since you dislike Hamilton so much (this has to be the 3rd or 4th negative review in a row), why do you keep _reading_ her? ;-)

Myself, I don't mind it so much. But opinions do differ...and I'm probably not reading it as closely. ;-)

[rivkat]

I have stopped reading the Merry Gentry books. And I doubt I'll buy Danse Macabre. But my ultimate verdict on Incubus Dreams wasn't that negative. I really liked Anita for a long time, and I hoped those crazy kids could work it out.

[elynross]

With Hamilton, I'm feeling like I did with Piers Anthony's Xanth books. I still have the first four of those, and I will keep and reread the earlier Hamilton, but the last several books have gone increasingly downhill for me. She apparently deliberately stepped away from the troubles with Richard due to fans "bugging" her about it, and where they originally seemed to be decent plots with sex scattered around, now they seem sex with plot barely holding them together. I haven't yet read Micah, but the last book seemed all setup and excuses for Anita to literally have Yet More Guilt-Laden Sex with Men She'd Just Met because of the ardeur, and very little story advancement

[rivkat]

That's a fascinating question, because I have the same problem with Douglas Adams. I feel like they present a world full of inexplicable menace -- as the world is always inexplicably menacing to children -- and outrageous happenings, both good and bad, that provide Snicket/Handler an opportunity for witty commentary while constantly reminding us that the children are sad and scared. I like his asides about what big or complicated words really mean, and I like how Sunny's word salad usually has some relevance if you get the reference. I guess I feel that, though Snicket-the-narrator is affected in a lot of ways, those ways work in service of the underlying humanity of the characters. I know I haven't explained it all that well, and I might be gravely disappointed by the end, but I really hope that the last book will reveal the mysteries and give the children some sort of resolution. It could even be pretty happy, given that Snicket's never going to forget that the children lost their parents horribly and nothing will ever make it

[elynross]

Well, it's always hard to try to explain what you get to someone who doesn't, isn't it? *g* And I'm always afraid I come off as aggressively asking people to defend their preferences, but I really was surprised not to care for the Snicket books, and very disappointed. I expect I'll read them all through at some point to see what they're like overall

[chase820]

Laurell K. officially lost me after the last Merry Gentry book. I just couldn't read one more interminable sex scene with the candy-colored stud of her choice.

It makes me sad, really, because the early Anita Blakes are really fun, tight little mysteries. And it was rather refreshing to find a heroine who wasn't actively trying to be likeable. Anita's degeneration into perpetual cat-in-heat is one of the saddest transformations since those bastards at 1013 turned Scully into the bloody Virgin Mary.

I've made a vow: no more paying for Laurell K. The library always has tons of copies, anyway. I think one of the local librarians is a big fan.

[elynross]

I've already put Micah on hold at mine -- I think to read in horrified fascination of exactly this, the degeneration from actual mysteries to excuses for more sex.

Oddly, I actually still enjoy the Merry Gentry books, I think because they never were anything more than an excuse for unlimited sex scenes, since the major premise early on was that the heroine had to get pregnant. Somehow the fact that they've never really been anything other than what the Anita books have become means I am not as disappointed in them. *g*

[chase820]

I loved the first two Merry G.'s, when there was a little plot to go along with all the shagging.

What I can't abide anymore is the sloooooowwwww progression of what little plot there is. Hasn't Merry been trying to get to that stupid ball for like, three books now?

The Merry G. story really should have been a fun, sexy trilogy. Turning them into a twelve-part epic just smacks of greed to me.

[elynross]

It seems to me the plot has always been fairly minimal, although it seemed like more initially, with all the setup. But from the first book, Merry's been set up to shag her entourage as often as possible, so as I said, for me the books have always been about shagging in and around a little plot, as opposed to the Blake books, which originally had substantial plot in each book, and relatively minimal shagging, usually tied to the plot. So, I completely understand your frustration with slow plot development -- that's the point I've reached and passed with Anita -- it was just never really why I read the Gentry books, so for me, so far, they're fulfilling the purpose I read them for, which is fantasy-based relatively soft porn. I just can't enjoy the Blake books that way, because they used to be more, bah.

[ter369]

For a little therapeutic satire post-Micah (thanks for taking one for the team, Rivka) I suggest this satire written after reading his debut appearance in the series.

Die, Micah, Die as a title just says it all, yes?