A star-crossed lover story after the lovers have been together, and opening with the birth of their child. Members of warring races, they must esca...more2.5
A star-crossed lover story after the lovers have been together, and opening with the birth of their child. Members of warring races, they must escape those who pursue them and their child. (It's left unanswered why they haven't found some safe-haven prior to the birth and are trying to find one now.)
(And speaking of birth, Alanna's awful spry after just giving birth. But I suppose running for your life will do that.)
Anyway, the story, overall, is pretty standard. The good parts are the things that fill the world - a rocket ship that grows like a tree, ghosts who wear their death wounds, weird Robot things with TV faces and human bodies, the creepy spider lady, and the nice blending of science and magic (which isn't nearly as new a thing as some reviews suggest, but is handled well enough, regardless.) There's definitely some imagination eye-candy going on, I just wish the story was more substantial.
I'm not exactly wowed by this opening installment, but it does have some potential. I mostly look forward to learning more about the child, Hazel, who narrates the story as a sort of memoir. I'm interested in watching her grow up, so I'll probably at least check out the next in the series.
ETA: Since it's a graphic novel I should mention I did like the art, for the most part. Realistic without crossing into that weird hyper-real look some series do, though also a little too cartoony in places. Good for the most part, though. (less)
This is a book which, for me, may have suffered a bit from heightened expectations. I rather enjoyed the first book, despite its flaws, and was t...more3 1/2
This is a book which, for me, may have suffered a bit from heightened expectations. I rather enjoyed the first book, despite its flaws, and was told from a few people that the second one was even better, so I sort of expected to be blown away. However, even though the second is also a good book, I didn't really feel that there was a marked improvement from the first, so I ended up feeling a little let down, overall.
As I said, there are some good things that happen in the book. I particularly enjoyed the character growth and the little moments that happens between some of them. Also, the humor continued to please and I chuckled out loud more than a few times.
But I never really got into the story, as a whole. In some ways I felt like Malvery sitting there and thinking to myself "Really? Is this what we're doing? Ok then... "
***
One of the points that I was told improved from the first to the second was the pacing. The first suffered in places because the action was put on hold to fill in some back story.
While I agree that the first book did get a bit ponderous in places, at least those lag times were interesting because it did fill in some background or important character bit.
But while overall I would agree that Wooding integrated story and character moments better on this go 'round, I still felt that parts were draggy - but, this time, those slow parts didn't have the benefit of at least having interesting tidbits thrown in. They were just draggy with nothing really redeeming about them. Well, I suppose there were still some character moments in those bits but I found them less interesting or something.
Again, maybe it's because I just never really got on board with the overarching story, but I felt like it could've been at least 100 pages or so shorter. There were repetitious descriptions (Did you know Trinica has black eyes? No, really, she does. I mean, honestly. They're contacts. They're not her real eye color. 'Cause Frey know she has green eyes. But here they are, all black and spooky. Did you know? Are you sure you knew? I mean, really, really sure?), and stretches where we're kind of sitting around waiting for things to happen... and, just, overall while I did enjoy it I just didn't get that it was much of an improvement on the first book.
***
It was still a good book, though, and I do like where the series is going. All of the characters are a bit more likable this go around, except maybe Pinn, but the ones I'm invested in the most are still Crake and Jez. And Silo a bit, 'cause he's just cool.
And, as I said, there was a lot to like about the book... I just, I dunno, expected something more, I guess.
On one hand, I continue to feel that Lila is a relatable and likable character, and there were real moments of pathos...more3.5
I'm sort of torn on this book.
On one hand, I continue to feel that Lila is a relatable and likable character, and there were real moments of pathos and complexity going on. But, on the other, her constant self recriminations and doubts and everything else seem to bog down the story because despite everything that happens it seems like it's the same notes that get played over and over again. (I never felt bored, per se, but there were a few times where I did think we could move along already.)
And then when things did move along they moved along very quickly, and I sometimes had a hard time following what was going on. Part of this is because there's been a 2 1/2 year gap since I read the last book and I'd forgotten a lot of the details. While Robson does a good job and slipping in little reminders of things that happened, I still felt like I was missing a lot of what I was supposed to know.
And then more things kept getting added to the pile of things to keep straight. New characters and philosophies and revelations, oh my. (And there was some of that whole "it would all make so much more sense if the people who generally knew what was going on would actually explain in instead of playing all coy and mysterious", which I generally hate as a plot device, but I let some of it slide in the whole "well, it's in the nature of things elven and faerie to be mysterious bastards", but, still... )
And then everything sort of happened at once and while I was ultimately satisfied with the conclusion (though I thought the epilogue was a bit hokey), I didn't feel as connected to the characters and the story as I did in the beginning.
So it's like on one hand I'm walking away feeling a bit disappointed by the whole thing but, on the other hand, I kind of actually enjoyed it.
Like I said - torn.
One thing is for certain - I definitely want to read this whole series, back to front, at some point in the future. It'll probably be a few years or so before I get to it, but I do think it'll help me not feel so lost half the damn time and I think that could make the experience infinitely more enjoyable. (less)
I keep bouncing back and forth on whether to give this one or two stars - though I'm pretty much sticking with the 1.5 either way. My dilemma is th...more1.5
I keep bouncing back and forth on whether to give this one or two stars - though I'm pretty much sticking with the 1.5 either way. My dilemma is that while I didn't really like it, per se, I didn't actively dislike it, which is what I usually use 1-stars for, but I didn't like it, either.
I guess, for the most part, it was "ok", and I was going to give it a 2-stars for most of the book, but the ending left me feeling kinda "wtf?", which is why I was thinking of dropping it down. But it did have some things going for it... and also 'cause I feel like maybe I wasn't reading it in the right frame of mind... thus the consideration of keeping it at 2.
What I mean about being in the right frame of mind is that, for one of my status messages, I'd said that it would be better having been written as a comedy because of the absurdity of the situations the bumbling Dower kept getting himself in, and it crosses that threshold of believability after one thing after another after another after another keeps getting piled on top of the idiot.
The 'feeling bad' part comes in because, reading the afterword, is mentions the humor and the absurdity as being purposeful, as a sort of homage to the over-the-top Victorian adventure stories.
So I'm thinking that, maybe, if I'd read it in that light, maybe I would've found it more enjoyable and less annoying?
Though I can't say my expectations were skewed going in 'cause, honestly, I didn't really know what to expect, and I usually try and let the style of writing and the seeming mood of the book come across in the writing. So I'm not going to take blame, or anything, if I wasn't in the right frame of mind because I would say the writing, in the beginning, lead me to believe it was going for a more serious tone - so if it's meant to be more humorous in an absurd kind of way, then I would say the author failed to convey that intention via the tone.
So there.
Anyway -
That's a whole lot of semi-ranting without touching that much on the book, yet, aside from the fact that it seemed like it wanted to be serious, but ended up being absurd, which I found more stupid and irritating than amusing or endearing.
So a bit about the book and some of the good things:
This book first came onto my radar when I was involved in a sort of genre debate about steampunk, and I discovered that Jeter coined the term. Being a fan of the genre - or, at least, the idea of the genre - I wanted to read some of the proto- works and this seemed like an interesting place to start.
Of course, while I've often argued that steampunk is a form of sci-fi, generally, Jeter, himself, coined it in reference to "Victorian fantasies", and the science in this is very, well, fantastical. With few exceptions, there doesn't seem to be any attempt to stick within the confines of possible, or even plausible, science, what with the fishmen type things interbreeding with humans, and clockwork automaton working on principles of a metaphysical sort of resonance...
That aspect of it, actually, made me think a bit of Perdido Street Station, but whereas China Miéville's work - though wordy and overly dense in place - had flashes of brilliance and awe-inspiring profundity for me, this book's attempt at metaphysical philosophies came across as mostly waffle.
But, really, my biggest complaints were as I said before - Dower is one of those protagonists who is never pro-active, who constantly gets buffeted this way and that, and never really comes into his own at any point, and the sheer level of stuff that gets thrown at him from every angle is just beyond the pale.
I never really connected with any of the characters - though I did enjoy Creff and Abel - and the various twists and surprise reveals at the end were just... *smh*
I guess it makes a kind of sense, if it's meant to be an absurdist kind of tale, but, for me, it just came across as kind of asinine and I was thankful when it was done because I could say it was done...
Blech.
So - 1 or 2 stars? I still can't decide...
ETA: I forgot to mention all the type-setting issues. There were quite a few of them and they were pretty distracting at times.
What I mean is things like missing quotation marks, missing periods at ends of sentences, and random periods in the middle of sentences. Since things like punctuation can alter the meaning of sentences, or how you read them, I often had to go back and reread bits 'cause I was thrown by their random placement.(less)
I enjoyed this one a bit more than the first - there was more humor, in general, and Myrtle was less annoying. And I quite liked the addition of Mrs. Mumby.
The story is good, the illustrations are nice additions, and I generally enjoyed it. I can't quite put my finger on what it is that holds this back from being a solid 4 stars, but, whatever it is, it's there. Not very helpful, I know, but ah well...
Still, if you're in the mood for a fun little adventure story, without any actual scientific fact or anything getting in the way, then you could do far worse than this series.(less)
I should really write my reviews before I post in groups where we're discussing books, because once I do out my post for the group I never want to wri...moreI should really write my reviews before I post in groups where we're discussing books, because once I do out my post for the group I never want to write a proper review. So - here's a copy of the post.
3.75 (Yes, I'm being that finicky.)
I finished this last night and generally I would say I really liked it. I'm not sure it's entirely what I expected, but, then, I'm not entirely sure what I expected, either.
I will say that I know this book gets called Steampunk a lot, but I'm not sure that I'd say it is. But, then, I'm horribly anal about such things, much beyond the level of normalcy or healthfulness. It's just, for me, the defining characteristic of Steampunk is anachronistic tech and it's hard to define something as anachronistic in a secondary world, which is why I prefer my Steampunk to be more alt-history.
Which isn't to say that that in any way hampers the story - I guess it points more to my particular insanity than anything else.
That said - funny little anecdote. I was reading this on the train yesterday morning and I listen to my iPod while I read on the train, and as I was getting towards the end, with the seen when Frey was (view spoiler)[going to be executed, but then the Knights show up and start killing the militia (hide spoiler)] and everything was all actiony and whatnot, the song Uprising by Muse started playing, and I thought it went quite well with the scene and ended up being rather awesome, actually. Heh.
Anyway:
Discussion Questions 1. Prior to reading the book, what did you think the book was about?
I didn't know much about it other than the notion of sky pirates and, as I said above, I was expecting something more alt-history-ish.
2. Did you feel that the book fulfilled your expectations? Were you disappointed?
I wasn't disappointed, no.
3. Did you enjoy the book? Why? Why not?
Yes, I did. I was caught up it in rather quickly, even though I had the issue I mentioned before of comparing it to other books and movies, but once I got past that I got into it more.
I thought it was just a fun book. It wasn't perfect, and it was a bit repetitive in places, but overall I enjoyed it.
5. The plot? Did it pull you in; or did you feel you had to force yourself to read the book?
It pulled me in and I thought it was fairly well paced, though it got a little bit ponderous in places when they were filling in back story. (I liked, generally, how the back story stuff was handled, though.)
7. How realistic was the characterization? Would you want to meet any of the characters? Did you like them? Hate them?
I thought the characterizations were good. They're not really in-depth characters, except for the development of Frey, but I liked that they were all quirky and weird. I mean they were definitely "characters", but I thought they were handled well without becoming caricatures, and they weren't insanely stereotypical, which was nice.
As for meeting them - yeah, I think I wouldn't mind meeting some of them, especially towards the end of the book, not so much in the beginning.
8. Did the actions of the characters seem plausible? Why? Why not?
Yes, things generally made sense within their personalities and context of the story.
9. How does the setting figure into the book? Is the setting a character? Does it come to life? Did you feel you were experiencing the time and place in which the book was set?
This is one of the things I felt was lacking. For me there was enough setting to get the sense of things, but it didn't really 'come to life'. That said, while I like to feel immersed in a world or a time or place I don't like a lot of narration for world-building, so I was ok that he didn't go into tedious detail building the world. I would've liked for it to have more of a particular feel to it, though.
10. What are some of the book's themes? How important were they?
Friendship, loyalty, responsibility. I would say they were very important to the development of the story, especially Frey's character arc which really is the main part of the story, it seems.
A steampunkish space adventure based on the old Victorian adventure stories, complete with huzzahs! to the glorious Empire - but also those against...more3.5
A steampunkish space adventure based on the old Victorian adventure stories, complete with huzzahs! to the glorious Empire - but also those against the Empire and characters pointing out how not so glorious it is to come about and muck with people quite happy on their own, thanks much.
It's hard to really say whether this is sci-fi or fantasy. One would expect sci-fi since there are aliens and space adventures; however, there's nothing remotely realistic about the science, what with people running around and breathing quite happily on the moon, in space, on Mars, etc. It's also not entirely steampunk, even though it's set in Victoriana, since, while some tech, like automatons, are steam power, the ships themselves are alchemically engineered.
But, whatever - pish tosh and all that.
The story was pretty predictable, but the narration, mostly via the perspective of young Art, but sometimes through the endearingly annoying Myrtle, who does get better as the story progresses.
But, really, space pirates and aliens and alchemy and giant spiders and rip-roaring adventures - what's not to like? Very much a plot driven book, it falters a bit with characterization, though there are funny quirks, like Myrtle worrying about propriety and her dress while trying to stop a rampant machine or after being resuced from a giant Moth.
Not a bad book, but probably the weakest in the series. I just felt like not that much actually happened, nor did we really get any sort of profound c...moreNot a bad book, but probably the weakest in the series. I just felt like not that much actually happened, nor did we really get any sort of profound character development. Even more annoyingly, some of the characters changed in odd and unexplained ways. (For instance, when did Malachi become so unbearingly overprotective? Or maybe I've just forgotten.)
I have two major complaints about the book:
1) It seemed really jumpy. While it did a decent job of helping me fill in my memory blanks of what happened in the series thus far, it was sort of all over the place. I would say this could be due to the perspective changes, but I don't think that's really it. Mostly it was because things would happen, or be said to have happened or be happening, and I kept thinking I'd skipped a page or something. It didn't seem to flow very naturally at all.
2) A lot of action seemed to happen "off-stage". Some of this we are filled in about via dialogue, but other stuff is just left completely unexplained. I imagine that this is going to be redressed in the next book, since it was left very unresolved.
I never really felt attached to the characters or the action like I have in past books, and there was really no tension.
Overall the book felt sort of rushed, haphazard, and very much like filler - just getting the gang back together in order to get to the next part of the story, as opposed to a viable piece of the story in and of itself.
All in all I was disappointed in a book that I'd been anticipating. That said, with all those complaints, it was still more generally enjoyable than a lot of the rest of what I've been reading lately... so it gets bonus points for that.(less)
As abvious from the rating, I didn't like this one that much. As I said in one of my status updates, if I were the sort to abandon books I probably wo...moreAs abvious from the rating, I didn't like this one that much. As I said in one of my status updates, if I were the sort to abandon books I probably would've abandoned this one.
It's not a terrible book. It's got a decent enough story and some cool ideas that can be played around with - though none which are particularly original, as this is hardly the first book to deal with alternate realities.
I think my biggest problem was just with the writing - maybe it was just a little too juvenile. I mean, I know that this is middle-grade fiction, but there seems to be two ways to write for kids: the first way is to write normally, but with simpler words and a straight-forward style, the second is to have to sort of tone some people use who treat kids like kids instead of like people. This book had a little bit of the latter - though it's certainly not the worst example of this I've seen in a kids book.
Also, the characters didn't seem all that real to me. I've commented on other kids books where the parents are horrible, and I don't just mean the ones that are meant to be horrible, but the ones that are just casually neglectful and not around.
This book had the opposite. This book had the most unrealistically perfect family I think I've ever seen. I guess it was a nice change of pace, in a way, but it was also sort of annoyingly saccharine.
Not to mention that the general premise of them having to be kids was pretty ridiculous - but, then, that happens in a lot of these books.
Also, Master George, who seemed pretty cool from the letters, is kind of a dick when you finally meet him. Not in a mean way, just in a annoyingl superior kind of way.
Anyway, all-in-all not a great time. I mostly just didn't care about what happened, and even started skimming a little in places.
I can see some kids definitely liking it, but I don't recommend it for adults at all.(less)
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