reviews from a box

[sienamystic]

Have been reading my way through the box o' books apis_mellifera.

Changes by Jim Butcher - some people have to act slightly out of character to make the plot go, but it's another installation in a series of books I end up devouring rapidly. And it's a reasonably bold move for an author to turn over the chess board in such a big way.

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. If you like Kay's sort of thing, you'll like this book. I quite love his sort of thing, but this one is a trifle more self-indulgent in writing style -not the way the Fionovar Tapestry was indulgent, but like he took the Sarantine Mosaic and turned up the volume a few ticks. Still, it's a book I could fall into and let unfold leisurely, like I was listening to a story rather than reading it.

Yet to read: 100 Thousand Kingdoms, A Local Habitation (I started this but haven't finished it, and am not sure how I feel about it just yet...maybe I need to read the first one), and two Robin Hobbs I am eying dubiously. Cloven Hooves messed me up when I read it a very long time ago, and I never got deeply into the Farseer books. I think I may not click with her writing.

Bemo and I took advantage of the nice evening and walked across the street to the very nice little coffeehouse that sells the locally-roasted, super-eco-friendly, very tasty coffee. We both had iced mochas and split an orange cupcake, sitting outside and enjoying the wind rustling the ivy. We shouldn't have spent the money, but I needed to get us both out of the apartment and so I'm counting it as dollars spent to maintain good mental health.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm reading Changes now myself, and keep quasi-stalling for the same reason I put off reading it for 2 months: I'm decidedly Not Fond of the plot type (and while it's handling it much better than usual, bits of the attitude I didn't want to read seep through), and I like Susan, and can see where this is going. (Which isn't to say I'm not still enjoying it, I just keep running up against the Tropes I Am Not Fond Of wall and I know this fandom and Susan, and so non-spoiler reactions are still kinda spoilers.)

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

Yes, unfortunately Susan falls squarely into a weird sort of place in the fandom - it's almost like any female character from Supernatural, except most of the fangirls aren't protecting a slash relationship (except for the Harry/Marcone people, who didn't seem to be active on the board I was reading.) They want Harry/Murphy or an eventual Harry/Molly and there's a lot of really crappy stuff said about Susan. Thankfully, she does have her defenders, but eesh.

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

I adored all the wee little details in Under Heaven, the way all the characters were important and their lives meant something--even the most minor characters. It felt like even the prose was influenced by the poetry from the period (which is a total assumption on my part, since I'm not very well versed in Chinese poetry at all).

Re: the Hobb books--I wasn't sure about them myself, because I've never really enjoyed anything else she's written, but I did rather enjoy these two. There are cranky, difficult people and impossible choices and DRAGONS.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Kay is so good at letting minor characters live and breathe. I was also wondering if I had my textbook from the Chinese history and culture class I took freshman year of college, but I don't think I've got it any more.

I'll give the Hobb books a go and see if the cranky makes me happy :g: