Finally, someone else who takes joy in semi-colons! While the rewriting of the Napoleonic Wars with dragons delights me, because dragons! Napoleonic W...moreFinally, someone else who takes joy in semi-colons! While the rewriting of the Napoleonic Wars with dragons delights me, because dragons! Napoleonic Wars!, I have major suspension of disbelief issues with the female captains. There's just not enough groundwork laid, I felt, for Laurence's acceptance of women in combat, much less how they manage to hide that women are dragon-captains to the general public.
I'm going to have to re-read this much more slowly -- I was so delighted to find it on the shelves at B&N this afternoon that I sat down and read the whole thing in two hours -- because I have the sense that there are pacing problems, and also because dragons! Napoleonic Wars!(less)
This was the only Morris book on the shelf the day I needed some good Arthurian escapism, which is why I own it. Unfortunately, it concentrates on Lan...moreThis was the only Morris book on the shelf the day I needed some good Arthurian escapism, which is why I own it. Unfortunately, it concentrates on Lancelot rather than Gawain, who is my great love in Arthurian legend; Morris has been turning away from Gawain in his last few books, which is a damn shame -- he writes him brilliantly, and his character Terence, Gawain's squuire, is a marvelous creation. The scenes in this in which they appear are the best in the whole novel, not least because they confuse the hell out of everyone else. Morris is less than technically adept as a novelist; if anyone was surprised by "Oh, I have a name. I am called Sir Lancelot" in this, they need to read some books with real live plot twists, because that was telegraphed in letters a foot high.(less)
**spoiler alert** Solid & interesting. The system of magic is pretty awesome, although the fusion between Matthew & the blue electric angels d...more**spoiler alert** Solid & interesting. The system of magic is pretty awesome, although the fusion between Matthew & the blue electric angels did not...make sense to me. I kind of love Oda and her badassery. I'll give the second book in the series a shot, but I don't love this the way I expected to. :((less)
**spoiler alert** ::waggles hand:: I'm feeling a little cranky about Temeraire books right now, although I'm damned if I know why -- I mean, the premi...more**spoiler alert** ::waggles hand:: I'm feeling a little cranky about Temeraire books right now, although I'm damned if I know why -- I mean, the premise still delights me, and I still love Laurence and Temeraire and Harcourt and Riley and Emily and Tharkay and Iskierka with a fierce burning love. But I'm kind of not enjoying reading the books anymore. They feel stretched. (Not padded; for some reason my brain is insisting there is a difference, and apparently it is important. Look, I don't know, I just live here.)
I'm a little creeped out by the Orientalism that I can see lurking 'round the edges here, the constant flinging into "exotic" environments of Our Heroes; that said, omg yay the Iroquois have their dragons! Can we see them yet? How 'bout now? It's hard for me to engage with Temeraire's obsession with the lost egg; I miss Roland and Harcourt desperately (Harcourt's letters and the few glimpses of Emily we get are NOT ENOUGH; I would read an entire book about her, seriously); and I am basically kind of sorry this is going to be a 9-book series. It might work better as a trilogy, in which Novik would have to pay attention to cutting her plot, tightening it.
I dunno. I mean, I'll still buy the next one, probably the day it comes out, so...(less)
....There's a lot of sex in this book. /states the obvious
I have, uh, not read any Carey before. There is a *lot* of sex in this book. A lot more than...more....There's a lot of sex in this book. /states the obvious
I have, uh, not read any Carey before. There is a *lot* of sex in this book. A lot more than I was expecting, I will not lie.
This somehow does not feel padded or over-full of plot and characters -- many writers would try and take this amount of Stuff Happening, and turn it into two or three books. Carey does not, and I am delighted to report that it works really, really well; the pacing is good, and coming to this as a new Carey reader, one does not feel horribly lost. It's very episodic, with pretty clear act-separations, but it works.
Also, Moirin's occasional "omg wtf you want me to do *what*? I am *so not the hero you people are looking for*" reactions made me happy; she never felt overly oh noes I am not worthy!, even when I could have done with a little less of the phrase "bedamned destiny".(less)
I am torn between rolling my eyes at how self-conscious this book is and being charmed by its metafictionality. (I fucking love metafiction.) The narr...moreI am torn between rolling my eyes at how self-conscious this book is and being charmed by its metafictionality. (I fucking love metafiction.) The narrator Goldman -- who jesus god I hope does not reflect the actual Goldman, because he is a sexist asshole -- is not nearly as charming as he thinks he is.(less)
Properly two-and-a-half stars, really. Great fun, but with enough technical problems to detract noticeably — I blame Wrede for the tendency toward inf...moreProperly two-and-a-half stars, really. Great fun, but with enough technical problems to detract noticeably — I blame Wrede for the tendency toward infodumps, as many of her books include them; distinguishing between Kate and Cecy & James and Thomas is a lot harder than it needs to be; and there is no way you could understand above half of what is going on without having read Sorcery and Cecelia. Alas.(less)
Any book with this density of Sam Vimes per page is a book that I will enjoy. There is a lot of awesome here: time-travel that actually means somethin...moreAny book with this density of Sam Vimes per page is a book that I will enjoy. There is a lot of awesome here: time-travel that actually means something, choices that matter, ideals that aren't some distant faroff *idea*. I love this and would like to submit it as a contender for one of the best of a very good series.(less)
Ehhhhh. I love Meg Cabot's work a LOT. And god knows that if there were any justice in the world, she would be queen of the paranormal romance. But th...moreEhhhhh. I love Meg Cabot's work a LOT. And god knows that if there were any justice in the world, she would be queen of the paranormal romance. But this is not one of her best works. It feels slight. Rushed. Her trademark epistolary style is markedly missing here, and she doesn't quite seem to know what to do without it. (Meg, seriously, you are the modern-day master of epistolary! It is not a gimmick! Own it!) There's also a marked dearth of her usual pop-culture references, and that is one of the great pleasures of Cabot: that her works take place in our world, a world with Orlando Bloom posters (one of the early Princess Diaries books) and Marc Jacobs shoes (The Medium series) and Urban Decay makeup (Avalon High). Let me put it this way: there was exactly one Twilight joke in this. And two Vampire Diaries references. This is *unacceptable*.
And the romance, of all things, was completely rushed. There was an almost Harlequinesque feel to it: meet handsome stranger! Be wildly attracted to him! Have mind-bending sex! Admit to self that one has been in love with him since moment of first encounter! Travails! Shenanigans! Hijinks! Climactic resolution!
I do not buy Meena and Lucien's relationship. I just don't have anything *to* buy. Usually Cabot rocks at conveying not only why her romantic heroes are so adorable, and also why her heroines are awesome, and for X-hundred-pages-plus, this seriously feels like an outline for the real novel.(less)
There's some solid stuff in here! I continue not to be charmed by The Yiddish Policeman's Union, even in excerpt, and the nonfiction in here is frankl...moreThere's some solid stuff in here! I continue not to be charmed by The Yiddish Policeman's Union, even in excerpt, and the nonfiction in here is frankly crap -- too short and shallow to be worth reading.
Ted Chiang's “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is totally worth the price of admission, with an interesting low-tech approach to time travel and regressive storytelling. Karen Joy Fowler's "Always" is barely sci-fi; it would not be out of place in the New Yorker or Atlantic Monthly's fiction issues, in terms of its genre cred. “Captive Girl," by Jennifer Pelland, is fascinating, terrifying and creepy and clearly owes a debt to Ender's Game and omg there is so much packed in here.(less)
There are some gorgeous ideas in it, and some equally gorgeous language, but they both get clogged up. By the dialo...moreI wish this had been a better book.
There are some gorgeous ideas in it, and some equally gorgeous language, but they both get clogged up. By the dialogue/dialect, the elliptical quality to it, by the pace of the narrative (seriously, we don't meet Paul, who turns out to be crucial to the denouement, until two-thirds of the way in), by the bafflement of the protagonist (why was I meant to be rooting for Billy again? He displayed very little personality except being confused).(less)
Sam Vimes ilu. I love your urbanity, I love your badassery, I love your self-doubt, I love how much you love your family. (I do not love that every ma...moreSam Vimes ilu. I love your urbanity, I love your badassery, I love your self-doubt, I love how much you love your family. (I do not love that every marriage in this book involves the wife's attempts to "improve" her husband's diet.)
I am not sure that I love this book. I am totally in favor of PTerry taking on racial prejudice, but I am not thrilled by how he did it here: the goblins are worth legal protection/human rights because they are capable of playing beautiful harp music? It's not -- you don't earn rights, they aren't given only to the deserving, okay?(less)
Eh. Possibly should not have read in less than three days, as everything started to blend together. Bordertown: awesome on its own terms, not yours! I...moreEh. Possibly should not have read in less than three days, as everything started to blend together. Bordertown: awesome on its own terms, not yours! I get it.
The best of the lot, for me, was the Kushner-Windling piece -- mostly because it was delightful happymaking story-I-would-like-to-tell -- Emma Bull's "Incunabulum," and Tim Pratt's "Or Stars, Our Selves" (although holy wow, worst title ever). Okay, so there were some good parts, including Charles de Lint's finale, which isn't really about Bordertown at all. Nalo Hopkinsen's Mardi-Gras-inspired piece was interesting and bewildering in roughly equal measure. Cory Doctorow, as always, has Ideas, and then his writing fails them. (I am not what you'd call a fan of Cory D.) That said, he does come the closest to writing truly modern urban fantasy, to capturing the ~*magic*~ of the twenty-first century.(less)
Fantasy set in New York that is in love with New York and has a quest and a non-neurotypical main character who is treated beautifully and omg I ha...more♥♥♥
Fantasy set in New York that is in love with New York and has a quest and a non-neurotypical main character who is treated beautifully and omg I have sparkly hearts in my eyes for this book, the end.(less)
This is a close cousin of Genevieve Valentine's Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti. Something is in the air. I could've done without the romance, frankly, and the ending felt more than a little rushed — I would've liked to have seen Poppet's visions pan out beforehand so Celia's willingness to trust the circus to Bailey has more context, for example — but everything does tie up neatly, without excessive tidiness (a hard note to hit), Celia is pretty awesome, I love Tsukiko a lot, and suddenly I'm wondering if...yeah, this gets four stars. Yeah.(less)
Very very eighties. A transitional novel, I think; Bull testing the limits of what urban fantasy can do and be, and I'm glad that it's urban fantasy s...moreVery very eighties. A transitional novel, I think; Bull testing the limits of what urban fantasy can do and be, and I'm glad that it's urban fantasy set somewhere other than New York, London, or Los Angeles, and the central premise is an excellent one, and Eddi and Carla's friendship is a thing of beauty, and the phouka amuses me far more than he should, but all in all this does not push my buttons the way it pushes Betsy's.(less)
I feel weird marking this as fantasy, as it is, strictly speaking, magical realism. And I am chalking up my struggle with this book to its magical-rea...moreI feel weird marking this as fantasy, as it is, strictly speaking, magical realism. And I am chalking up my struggle with this book to its magical-realism-qualities, as MR is a very hit-or-miss genre for me, and fantasy is a little more reliable. But anyway: magical realism! With some very interesting elements, like the spices and the stylistic quirks of the narrator. I am not sure what I think of those quirks, and I definitely was underwhelmed by the characterization (seriously, Tilo is a not a sympathetic character, in so many ways), and the ending was incredibly predictable, but I'm glad I slogged through this and can now return it to the library.(less)
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