Books

[metroid composite]

Once Upon a Time in the North (Philip Pullman)

Probably Lee Scoresby's best appearance.  Set before the Golden Compass timewise, though also contains book 3 spoilers in some of the footnotes, so not the piece to start with.  On the whole, I found Scoresby to be...average among HDK characters, so I also found this book kinda average (well, maybe a bit above as it was his best appearance).

[NotMiki]

ugh ugh ugh.  Elric.  Why does you publishing history make no goddamn sense whatsoever?

Take this little snippet:

"In 2008 Del Rey begin publishing the Elric saga in collected editions with the stories in order they were written - although the text mirrors the 1993 omnibuses rather than the original editions."

What could possibly be the point of publishing them this way?  Those later texts were modified, among other reasons, so that they make sense chronologically.  Am I missing something here?

[Grefter]

You lack the pointless elitism to understand such grand ideals.

[NotMiki]

Oy, we're talking about the publisher, not the artist.  Just 'pointless' will do.

[Grefter]

I was intending that to be a jab at fans actually, because they will only want to consume it in the original format naturally.

[NotMiki]

Original format makes sense to me.  Elric was quite influential when it first came out.  If I read it at all, I want to read it in the version people made such a fuss about, not some later version that's been spitshined and set chronologically and edited for internal consistency.

Alas, it was first published in an old fantasy magazine, so no dice.  Damn shame, really.  It'd be fascinating to compare it to its less influential (or at least less well-remembered) contemporaries.

[Grefter]

Actually I would really be interested in reading it layed out in the serial chapters as well.

[metroid composite]

The Unicorn's Gift - Sarah Lynn Morgan

Obviously I went into this thinking "whee, Unicorns!"  Despite the name, the first four parts (roughly the equivalent length of a novel) have no sign of magic or mysticism whatsoever.  These parts are very well done (at the level of SLM's short stories, most of which I've found excellently written, though too short and numerous to comment on in a "books" topic).  Parts 5-9 brings in the magic and...meh--mind control on the most important character makes it very hard to relate to her; in fact the result is very unsettling.  Parts 10-12...based on the blog comments, these were written, then the hard drive failed so they were rewritten from memory, and...I had a lot of problems with them.  Notably I found myself thinking "wait, I think I remember a scene just like that in Part 9" a few times.  Maybe I needed to reread the earlier chapters, but I was left fairly confused, and the ending had a lot of loose ends.

Don't get me wrong, I adore the author--she's in the running for my favourite internet author, but I kinda wish that she'd written 3 short-stories rather than try to rewrite Parts 10-11-12.

[metroid composite]

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - JKRowling

In a short book, her desire to explain absolutely every term and character like "Muggle" and "Malfoy", is a bit obnoxious...though restricted to footnotes.  The stories themselves are pretty interesting--they largely fit the structure of fairy tales, but don't fit into obvious categorizations (well...no, JKR's Hairy Heart could be pretty easily argued as some variant on Blue Beard.  The hopping pot can probably be labelled with something--I'm wondering if the Juniper Tree fits, but it's been ages since I read that).

The real question in my mind is how much she's actually studied traditional fairy tales (these were apparently "the original runes as translated by hermione granger").  First of all, if you look at Grimm or Perrault, neither of them created most of their stories, rather they were stories passed down through oral tradition transcribed (and modified/censored) by Grimm/Perrault.  The footnotes for some of Beedle's stories made it sound like Beelde singlehandedly popularized some of these stories (or at least Dumbledore's notes on the Hopping Pot and Babbity Rabbity).  Second, somehow the writing style didn't seem fast paced enough to be an original-document fable; though...dunno, Perrault is just about the oldest published fairy tale book and he's not exactly snappy (the fast pace is more found in ones transcribed directly from oral tradition).  The third hint is the disparaging comments that get thrown at "muggle fairy tales" for having damsels in distress--in fact the original versions of fairy tale heroines often were not damsels in distress...rather crafty cutthroat women in fact.  I'd love to say that "this section was written by Dumbledore and maybe he's not that big of an expert on muggle children's literature," but checking the book again, no that particular foreward is actually signed "JKRowling," making it a pretty clear circlejerk "my fairy tales are better."

Overall, can't say I regret reading it (some interesting background on the universe; fairy tales fascinate me as a field of study) but I also can't objectively call it good.

[Captain K.]

Breaking Dawn - finished the Twilight series.  Nothing I can really say that wouldn't be a massive spoiler.  But suffice it to say great series overall, and deserves its hype.

[superaielman]

The man with the iron heart: "Today, we are all Frenchmen." -Harry Turtledove, after the evil Nazis manage to blow up the Effiel Tower.  The book is a very thinly veiled commentary on the Iraqi war. Problems with the book:

-The Sheehan knockoff is much, much less sympatheic and displays less humanity than Reinhard motherfucking Heydrich.
- He makes the Allies about as competent as they were in 1938. Special dishonor goes to the British here.
-*I* voted for Bush in 2004 and directly comparing him to Harry S. Truman like Turtledove does here makes me want to punch him in the face. Iraq is not Nazi Germany and the entire parallel falls apart there.

Some of it (The actual resistance movement, the Russian secret police man) were solid PoV's, but it was not a well done book. By and large the characters were lazy copy and paste jobs from earlier novels. The entire thing felt like a half assed attempt to make a commentary on the Iraq work. It didn't work.

[superaielman]

Mistborn character thoughts- massive spoilers ahead. Do not click unless you've read, mistborn is awesome.



Kelsier: Didn't have the depth of the other mains who were in all three books, but was the both the most fun to read and the most well done. He breaks from the usual Sanderson stereotypes nicely *and* is unusually effective for a main character in a fantasy novel. indentifying strongly with him as a character (Sense of humor+flaws. I don't have god complex. Usually.) also helped. It was pretty clear that escaping his shadow as a christ like figure and leader of the rebellion is something Vin and Eland never do. Probably my favorite of the series.
Marsh: In the house- in a Heartbeat. No really, that's him. Slow buildup but you know something bad is happening. Good PoV character in book 3, and got a fitting bit of revenge on Ruin near the end of the books.
Elend: One comment Dhyer said to be before I started reading books 2-3 was: "I didn't enjoy Elend/Vin as much as a couple because the relationship felt less believable." Mmm. I don't agree with that, but there was something not right with Elend from the start. he's put in the tough position of replacing Kelsier as the series's main character, a role he never fills. The rivalry with Zane was more about Vin than anything else. Eh. The turn into a real king is decent, I just can't put my finger on why I don't like him. He feels like he's a sanderson main, except that Raoden does a far better job of that.  Making him Mistborn in book 3 is probably what doesn't sit right, it completely changes the dynamic of him and Vin's relationship and the character in general.
Reen: Very cool with what Sanderson did with him. I have no objections- double bonus points for killing him offscreen and never reviving him.
Sazed: Very solid character. I have no real strong thoughts here, but I enjoyed his PoVs and his fighting style was unique.
Rashek/Lord Ruler: On one hand, the third book owned so much in large part because you get the full story behind Rashek and what he tried to do. "I was your god, even if you didn't know it.." His messages to Vin and co in his secret vaults were a neat addition to the story and helped add depth to the character. That said, too many problems on a personal level with the retcon job of what was effectively one of the Forsaken into a good guy. The treatment of the Skaa was just too brutal in the first book.  Yes it's understandable why he did what he did and Ruin's impact on his sanity, but god damn that was some rough conditions in the Final Empire.
Vin's Kandra: Up there with Kelsier for best PoV character in the series. If you've read the book you know why.
Vin: Mmm. She's meant to be turned into Lord Ruler vers2 at best for Ruin and at worst the tool used to free him. She got a little silly on the power scale near the end, but what the hell, she was pretty much the strongest natural mistborn in the series.  Just good overall, and I thought she was believable enough in the first book as a young lady. Second and third I have to chew on more, but I liked the way she went out.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Breaking Dawn - finished the Twilight series.  Nothing I can really say that wouldn't be a massive spoiler.  But suffice it to say great series overall, and deserves its hype.

Is this the same "Twilight" series that I'm constantly hearing references about "sparklepires" and "setting the women's movement back 50 years"? With the amount of disparaging comments I hear, I'd like to hear something from someone who I respect who genuinely liked the book (assuming this post isn't sarcastic?). I just feel very uninformed about the series, even though I enjoy the witty parodies made at its expense.... >.>;;

[Captain K.]

I have no idea what "sparklepire" means, but see page 8 of this topic.  Basically, if you like classic romances, give it a try.

I think a lot of backlash is due to it being popular, just like it's fun to hate on Harry Potter.

And if having a strong female lead is setting the women's movement back, what the hell does the women's movement want?

[Shale]

"Sparklepire" refers to the fact that Twilight vampires don't burn up in sunlight, they just turn FABULOUS.

[Captain K.]

Well there you go.  FABULOUS!!!

[Grefter]

It isn't fun to hate on Harry Potter.  It is fun to hate adults that consider it the most important piece of literature ever written.

Edit - Not to knock the impact it has for child readers of course, but I am kind of adverse to saying it is more important even in that bracket than something like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

[superaielman]

The Pirate King- Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. Salvatore's done much better books of late in his Drizzt series. I don't give a flying fuck about Luskan or the story here. The actual setup of it (Olbould's one or two scenes) were excellent but the rest feels like mostly filler. Lacked too many of the characters and stories that made his lack several books so compelling to read.

The stupid pirate hunter book in the last arc was filler as well.

[Sierra]

It isn't fun to hate on Harry Potter.  It is fun to hate adults that consider it the most important piece of literature ever written.

Edit - Not to knock the impact it has for child readers of course, but I am kind of adverse to saying it is more important even in that bracket than something like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

Judy Blume >>> Rowling? I think I'm down with that sentiment, yes.

[Cotigo]

It isn't fun to hate on Harry Potter.  It is fun to hate adults that consider it the most important piece of literature ever written.

Edit - Not to knock the impact it has for child readers of course, but I am kind of adverse to saying it is more important even in that bracket than something like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

Judy Blume >>> Rowling? I think I'm down with that sentiment, yes.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Oh yeah, I've been reading again.

spoilers be in this post

Path of Daggers - Well, there's a reason a lot of people dropped the series around here. Crown of Swords is one of the weaker books in the series, and this is weaker still, and not only do they go downhill, but they generally refuse to resolve things (well okay Sammael dies in random fashion). The biggest plot thread of CoS (the Bowl of the Winds) is unnecessarily pushed into tPoD, and to be fair, that arc is the best part of the book. The worst? That would be Rand's battle against the Seanchan. In fact, that is indisputably, to my mind, the worst-written arc in the series. First of all, I think fantasy battles generally suck. But even beyond my bias... there's just a total lack of interesting characters there, besides Rand, it's confusingly written, and is a wholly worthless story arc in general. Egwene's arc isn't exactly stellar itself - the material is interesting, yet for some reason it doesn't really grip me, and usually the Salidar stuff does. Perrin's arc isn't impressive either. Just not a strong book, although of course, there's worse out there. The best chapter, oddly, is probably that little side chapter that deals with the unmasking of the Tower Black Ajah, and the capture of Toveine and company by Logain's faction. It's interesting, Jordan does an excellent job with the minor Aes Sedai PoVs there, and shit happens.


Winter's Heart - This, on the other hand? Rules. I'm about 500 pages in, and really, everything is engrossing. The book picks up with the Seaine/Toveine PoVs again which I just mentioned, which is a strong start, and then quickly brings us along to strong arcs for everyone else. Mat's Ebou Dar stuff is good, Elayne's are wonderful, Rand/Min stuff continues to develop strongly. Perrin/Faile chapters are limited which is probably good, since that's a weaker arc, but by tightening it up, it does improve immensely. I'm also surprised by how well-written the minor PoVs are (well, refrain from the previous, but...), particularly Egeanin's little chapter. Needs more Egwene, is my only complaint.

Not really in the mood for longer rants.

[Grefter]

Wow, I honestly expected you to say the best part of Path of Daggers was the fact that it didn't have Mat in it at all.  Then they bring Mat back and you even call that good.   Interesting.

[Hunter Sopko]

Grefter told me to come here and hype some books. I don't remember what though. I can read?

[Grefter]

[Dark Holy Elf]

PoD not having Mat would be a point in its favour as far as my own personal tastes go, except the chapters of extra screentime that other characters get are largely not used well.

WH on the other hand Jordan is just on the ball. Sometimes Mat does interesting stuff and gets involved in interesting storylines, he himself I just find unsympathetic (though not badly written; I have said it before, one of the great strengths of the series is that ALL the main characters are at least worth reading).

In other words, while Rand >>> Mat, well-written Mat chapters >>>> Rand's Seanchan battle chapters.