Reviews and book fails
Mar. 11th, 2012 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearReviews seem to be more of a weekly run-down kind of a thing, rather than an as-I-finish-stuff kind of a thing these days.
Plus, I realised I'm skewing my statistics by not reviewing the books I've given up on part way through - which is a worryingly large percentage so far this year.
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour:
A brilliant show, where five people put on a 40s style radio show in full evening wear, creating all the sound effects from props on stage and carrying on a clearly deep-seated rivalry amongst themselves, flicking each other with water and generally getting in each other's way, whilst still maintaining a completely professional presentation into the microphones.
The stories they performed had names like "Nazi Firemen in Westminster" and "It Came From the Black Abyss" - excellent stuff!
Buffy Season 8:
Or "The One Where Everything Is Even More Over The Top Than Usual Since Graphic Novels Don't Have Budget Restrictions".
It was good to be reading new Buffy stories set after the end of the TV show, and they were mostly well written with excellent dialogue and character consistency. The writers obviously had fun with the fact that they could do absolutely anything without having to worry about special effects quality or budget constraints - there was much in the way of weird and wonderful stuff.
The usual Joss Whedon problem of senseless killing off of nice characters reared its ugly head again, though (at least, for once, I was actually prepared) - and it got utterly ridiculous in terms of plot towards the end. Even the people who ended up happy seemed to be happy with the wrong thing, to my mind, so while it was excellent in places, it was ultimately very unsatisfying.
Temeraire:
A new discovery - the Napoleonic Wars with DRAGONS!! Seven whole books in the series by Naomi Novik, and I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest, if the first one is anything to go by.
It's a fairly standard concept for me - man bonds with fantastical sentient creature and forms a daring team who fight for their country - so far, so Mercedes Lackey. I really liked the combination of actual historical situations with the fantasy element, though. The set-up of the dragon corps is well drawn, and the distinction between that and the regular armed forces is nicely observed by the main character, who starts out as a naval officer and then becomes a dragon captain.
Laurence makes for a very likeable and admirable hero - he has enough humility and enough faults not to be insufferable, and his affection for Temeraire and consummate care of him is affecting without being saccharine.
I did find it difficult to conceptualise the combat - crews strapped onto the dragons while they fight seemed logistically unlikely to me - I don't see how they could withstand the aerial manoeuvres required and how they could survive collisions without being crushed. However, I was willing to just go with it, since it was so much fun!
Mairelon the Magician:
Standard narrative fantasy from one of the authors of The Enchanted Chocolate Pot - Patricia C Wrede. I was quite excited to read this, since I loved the Chocolate Pot series. It had a fairly standard set-up, but instantly engaging characters and enough intrigue to get be interested. I flagged a bit towards the end, though, because it was all just too silly - much farcical goings on with multiple different groups of people all trying to find the same stolen magical artefact. I would have liked a bit more character depth.
Unfinished so far this year:
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock - too confusing and not engaging enough in terms of characters
The Eustace Diamons by Anthony Trollope - too repetitive and very unsympathetic protagonist
Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth - too much fawning by the narrator over a not very likeable Wilde
Plus, I realised I'm skewing my statistics by not reviewing the books I've given up on part way through - which is a worryingly large percentage so far this year.
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour:
A brilliant show, where five people put on a 40s style radio show in full evening wear, creating all the sound effects from props on stage and carrying on a clearly deep-seated rivalry amongst themselves, flicking each other with water and generally getting in each other's way, whilst still maintaining a completely professional presentation into the microphones.
The stories they performed had names like "Nazi Firemen in Westminster" and "It Came From the Black Abyss" - excellent stuff!
Buffy Season 8:
Or "The One Where Everything Is Even More Over The Top Than Usual Since Graphic Novels Don't Have Budget Restrictions".
It was good to be reading new Buffy stories set after the end of the TV show, and they were mostly well written with excellent dialogue and character consistency. The writers obviously had fun with the fact that they could do absolutely anything without having to worry about special effects quality or budget constraints - there was much in the way of weird and wonderful stuff.
The usual Joss Whedon problem of senseless killing off of nice characters reared its ugly head again, though (at least, for once, I was actually prepared) - and it got utterly ridiculous in terms of plot towards the end. Even the people who ended up happy seemed to be happy with the wrong thing, to my mind, so while it was excellent in places, it was ultimately very unsatisfying.
Temeraire:
A new discovery - the Napoleonic Wars with DRAGONS!! Seven whole books in the series by Naomi Novik, and I'm very much looking forward to reading the rest, if the first one is anything to go by.
It's a fairly standard concept for me - man bonds with fantastical sentient creature and forms a daring team who fight for their country - so far, so Mercedes Lackey. I really liked the combination of actual historical situations with the fantasy element, though. The set-up of the dragon corps is well drawn, and the distinction between that and the regular armed forces is nicely observed by the main character, who starts out as a naval officer and then becomes a dragon captain.
Laurence makes for a very likeable and admirable hero - he has enough humility and enough faults not to be insufferable, and his affection for Temeraire and consummate care of him is affecting without being saccharine.
I did find it difficult to conceptualise the combat - crews strapped onto the dragons while they fight seemed logistically unlikely to me - I don't see how they could withstand the aerial manoeuvres required and how they could survive collisions without being crushed. However, I was willing to just go with it, since it was so much fun!
Mairelon the Magician:
Standard narrative fantasy from one of the authors of The Enchanted Chocolate Pot - Patricia C Wrede. I was quite excited to read this, since I loved the Chocolate Pot series. It had a fairly standard set-up, but instantly engaging characters and enough intrigue to get be interested. I flagged a bit towards the end, though, because it was all just too silly - much farcical goings on with multiple different groups of people all trying to find the same stolen magical artefact. I would have liked a bit more character depth.
Unfinished so far this year:
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock - too confusing and not engaging enough in terms of characters
The Eustace Diamons by Anthony Trollope - too repetitive and very unsympathetic protagonist
Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders by Gyles Brandreth - too much fawning by the narrator over a not very likeable Wilde
