Creatures of Will and Temper

[Marie-Therese]

I've been dithering over what should be my first book for the new year, but now you've gone and solved my problem, Randolph. Thank you! I shall start this immediately.

[Marie-Therese]

I've just finished the book and was pleasantly surprised by it. Despite not being at all what I expected (I had gone into it presuming it would be darker and more literary), it was a fun read.

I'll say more as others read it.

[Marie-Therese]

Randolph wrote: "I’m only a little bit into it and I’m getting a Pride and Prejudice and Zombies feel about it and that’s not a good thing."

Yes, that's a fairly accurate assessment. It's definitely a light read and strikes me more as urban fantasy in late Victorian drag than any attempt to seriously portray the era. There are lots of anachronisms in language and behaviour. Having just read Valancourt's rather remarkable anthology of Victorian ghost stories, these anachronisms initially put me off the Tanzer book, but once it became apparent that it wasn't a "serious" work in any way, I took it in stride and just settled down for a pleasant adventure featuring lots of fencing and lesbian love (the fencing scenes are done well, I think-it's clear Tanzer did a lot of research on the sport).

[Dan]

I apologize, but am too bogged down in other reading and writing my own book right now. I thought if Tanzer had written a steampunk book, I'd squeeze it in somehow, but I concluded it was more New Wierdish and perhaps too whimsical for my taste. The Running with the Pack werewolf anthology one of her stories appeared in looks extremely inviting though.

[Marie-Therese]

I read the book and really didn't think it was a bad book of its type but can, unequivocally, say that I don't think it's a book most readers here would enjoy. It's essentially historical romance with a bit of occultism thrown in. It is in no way "literary" and it's not especially horrific either. I really don't think it falls within this group's parameters.

Randolph, I suggest you move on to something better and more your style. I don't think you'll get more than continuing frustration from this particular work.

[Paul]

Randolph wrote: "Is anyone else reading this? I hate it. What do the rest of you think? I don’t even know if I’ll finish it. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed so let me know what you think, it just might not be..."
Honestly, it didn't sound like my cop of tea, at all. Nothing else. At least, from those few Tanzer's short stories that I've read in the past, I would've expected a light hearted, not-too-serious work in the first place, so I guess that this not being some sort of "serious" period horror/dark fantasy wouldn't come as too much of a surprise too me, if nothing else. Are you, perhaps, familiar with her story from "The Book of Cthulhu"? Basically, this completely irreverent parody of your stereotypical gothic fiction tropes. What else I've read from her wasn't too far removed from it, tone-wise.

[Dan]

Her book Vermilion looks interesting and is in fact steampunk.

[Suki]

I'm late! My copy finally arrived in the mail yesterday, and I'm starting it tonight. The cover is gorgeous!

[Suki]

I think this book was written as a light-hearted bit of fun, and I enjoyed it on that level. Judging by the title and the cover, I was expecting something more in a Victorian Gothic horror vein and was a bit disappointed that it wasn't.

[Jodi Ann]

I'm a bit late to this as well. Ah, well... I did enjoy the book as a light, fun story. My disappointment was the link to Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" of which I am a big fan. I think I might have enjoyed it more without that connection.

[Suki]

Jodi Ann wrote: "I did enjoy the book as a light, fun story. My disappointment was the link to Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" of which I am a big fan. I think I mig..."

I agree with you about Dorian Gray, Jodi Ann. By sheer coincidence, I was reading The Picture of Dorian Gray with another group when this book arrived, and I hadn't known about the attempted parallels between the stories. It's a neat idea, but it really didn't work for me in this context.