Kathi's comments (member since Mar 31, 2009)

Kathi's comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Marty wrote: "I am not reading to improve myself when I read fiction but to enjoy myself."

That's a great description of why I read fiction as well, Marty. Welcome to the group!

I enjoyed the story a lot and loved the way in connected thematically with the 2 other books in the omnibus.

Unfortunately, I don't have the "Borders of Infinity" omnibus so I will miss that story.

Random wrote: "For anyone who may have missed it, she tossed in a reference to this adventure in Cetaganda with a reference of Terrence Cee and its recovery. "

See, that's the kind of thing I miss all the time!!

I liked this book a lot and thought it paired well with Cetaganda in the Miles, Mystery & Mayhem omnibus. Both, at heart, are mysteries and, as Stefan said, have themes of genetic and "sociological" engineering.

I think Ethan's inner curiosity contributed mightily to how quickly he "lost his naivete". Given that he was raised in such a closed society, he was amazinly open-minded.

I liked the way Elli Quinn consciously invoked "WWND?" (What Would Naismith Do?)

Will read the short story "Labyrinth" probably tonight.

I'm forcing myself to not buy any books for myself till after the holidays. Our family exchanges gifts & I have some books on my list, so I'll shop for myself after the holidays.

Thanks for the comments, Jim, and I understand that some of the interludes and other things were to add depth to the story. My mind, however, is always trying to see the connections, which, if present, are often subtler than I think.

I did find where Miklos and Devera had met--it was when Miklos was on his journey into Faerie, after Bolk had left him. So that was one mystery solved... it came to me in bed last night.

Ok, this is my review and maybe some of you who are more careful readers than I can help me with my bits of confusion.

Brokedown Palace is the first book I've read by Steven Brust, and I know I will read more, but I have to say I had a hard time getting into this book.

What I liked: the characters, especially Prince Vilmos, Countess Mariska, and Brigitta. While they didn't feel like "main" characters, each was a key in the story.

What I didn't like: the Interludes--for the most part, they felt incongruous, especially the ones that were "legends" of past kings, princes, or other Fenarians. I tried to figure out what they had to do with the main story, but most of the time, I was clueless. I also didn't like how many things were just unexplained--the various animals, for example--there was very little description and I was unable to picture them.

I will admit to being a not very careful reader--I usually read too fast and, in this book, I read it in fits and starts and didn't get into a "flow" with it. At the end of the book, I couldn't recall where Miklos had previously met Devera. And although I understand that Brigitta had Power from Faerie, I don't understand the oblique reference to who her father was. Nor do I understand what happened to Mariska before she came to Fenario.

So--I enjoyed the book enough to want to read more of Brust's work, but I hope I won't always be so frustrated and feel so confused at the end of his books.

Stefan wrote: "unless we want to start a second (fantasy) series to run concurrently. "

Yikes, no! I can't keep up now and I'm not reading all the BOTMs... but that's just me. :-)

I forgot about games--family board games and card games, definitely a family tradition that we carry on.

Stefan wrote: "We could stop making the polls anonymous, if no one has any objections. "

This would help me because I can NEVER remember what my vote was, and when we rank the BOTMs, I usually am "Currently reading" or "Intending to read" and then can't recall if I ranked the book when I actually read it. So I vote for "not anonymous".

Stefan wrote: "Jo Walton's next re-reading project on tor.com appears to be the Dragaeran books! "

May be this should be our next "series" after the Miles books.

Ken wrote: "It was a break from Naismith, we got to see more of the "real" Miles.."

As fun as Naismith & the Mercenaries are, I prefer Miles as Miles and that's why I liked this book so much.

"Help support this blog" or "Pay to get premium content" is different, to me, than just "Donate".

Reading--it was always big around our house when I was growing up, and discussions about the books we were reading. Now I'm supplying my dad with books from our ample library.

Crossword puzzles--my mom and dad with the daily newspaper crossword every day together. I was never interested, but when I was in college and would come home on the weekends, my then-boyfriend would join us for Sunday breakfast and do the puzzle with my parents. By default, I participated, and kept doing it with them whenever I was home to visit. My mom died 3 years ago and my dad stopped doing the puzzles completely. I had started doing just the Sunday puzzle by myself a few years prior to that, so I continued to do the Sunday puzzle in my dad's paper when I was visiting him. About 1 1/2 years ago, he asked if we could do it together. I got a little teary... and so whenever I am visiting him (about 1 week every month), we do the daily & Sunday puzzles. And I still do only the Sunday puzzles by myself when I'm at home.

Last one--jigsaw puzzles. We often did these in the winter at home growing up. I started doing them again as an adult shortly after getting married. I find them to be very calming and relaxing.

I only read part of the lengthy discussion on Brust's blog site after reading the Gaiman blog and the Miss Manners Q&A, but I have a couple comments.

I realize that authors, even well-estabished ones, don't necessarily make a lot of money. Brust, however, admits to very poor money-management skills. It seems to be that is the main issue that needs to be addressed. Why would a reader want to "donate" or give to an author's "tip jar" if he/she is experiencing financial distress because of his/her own poor choices and financial mismanagement?

I also agree that "donate" connotates giving to a charitable cause. So if one is going to solicit money as personal income, I think a different term would be better and more accurate.

Oh, no danger of me quitting. First of all, I've gotten too many recs for Brust to quit this early and secondly, I rarely quit a book. A wee bit OCD about finishing a book...

I'm a few chapters in and can't quite decide if I like Brust's style or not...

Finished this recently. In a 5 star system like Goodreads, I gave it a 5 but I feel more like it's a 4.75. But here's my review (short, I know): http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76812...

Peregrine wrote: "Could you see Discworld's Death as a player? Every time anyone else lost a life, he'd gain one. "

What a great idea! In fact, assorted characters at Damage games would be great fan fiction scenarios...

Thank you all so much!

Will one of you post the reading order for the Vlad series? Maybe publication order and then story timeline order? I was so grateful when that was shared for our Miles books--my poor brain didn't have to try to figure it out, LOL!
Thanks!