bookshelves: currently-reading, fairytales
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Kasia wrote:
"Dave wrote: "Weight, length, or diameter?" Distance, Dave. Distance. " |
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I like what you're saying, Natalya
;D ]]>
Thunderbunny - for Bunny, that's the only one I can think of right now. ]]>
bookshelves: urban-fantasy, young-adult
I found it very Twilight like but without the vampires and with much much more romance. All the snuggling and cuddling and kissing and neck sniffling and embracing and gazing and spooning and hand holing and... Annoyed yet? Because it was really getting on my nerves. It felt like a Harlequin novel for kids - much more PG than the regular romantic stuff, but a Harlequin nonetheless. Sure, the narrative flowed smoothly, the descriptions were breezy and fresh, the dialogue made me chuckle quite often, and in all fairness there were some elements action and some werewolves involved, but it all drowned under the sheer weight of the love story.
As for the technical aspects of the writing, the chopped first person narrative that kept switching between the characters got me wound up enough to voice my grievance here. Despite the fact that there was always clearly labeled, with either "Sam" or "Grace" put in bold letters before each section, I would still loose track of whom I'm dealing with at the moment. I blame my short attention span, but it would be nice of Maggie Stiefvater to take my disability under advisement and maybe write it all in 3rd person next time. Pretty please?!
And don't get me wrong, it's a good enough book, a book that would make plenty of teenage girls ecstatic. And overall a pleasant read. I'm just not in the right place to appreciate it, maybe I'm getting too old, maybe too cynical, possibly both. Regardless I should stick with novels that offer more adventure and less romance. But you go ahead. ]]>
bookshelves: fantasy
I was ready to love this book, it's supposed to be Harry Potter like but more gritty, more realistic, more substantial, and I guess it is and I still like the idea of it. And yet this book did not work for me. I was really patient with it, I downplayed the initial irritation of incorporating the entire Potter premise. It's one thing to borrow bits and pieces, it's another to rip off a whole concept leaving out a few bits here and there and dressing up the rest. But since I'm a sucker for fantasy, so I was willing to let that go. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery, right? Mimic all you want, just make the story interesting and magical.
But the story... Meh.
The story lacked in optimism, was devoid of magic and the main character? I tried to like him, I understood him, I did not hate him, but I never really warmed up to him or to any of the other characters either. And what Grossman was trying to get across was a bit of a downer, outwardly depressing at times. It felt like he was striving to make the book something more than a mere fantasy novel, striving to grasp a deeper truth, striving to incorporate some existentialism into the story. Whatever. It might have strived but in the end it failed. At least it failed me. I would have liked it better if Grossman got in peace with the thought that you're writing a fantasy novel, and left it at that. There's nothing wrong with fantasy, not everything has to be high lit. So Mr. Grossman if you like me for your fan, don't take yourself that seriously, throw me a bone next time and put in some magic and a few optimistic thoughts into the story. Because you had the potions and the spells and all that shit, but in the end, it did not feel magical, not to me. ]]>