It's time for books read recently!

[salinea]

Yeap! I've been reading books again! yay! Sadly my fanfics reading suffered from it *looks sadly at the fanfic pile TBR* *cough* so


Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
Recced to me by ontogenesis it's a trilogy of what's called "paranormal romance" centering around the character Mercy, a mechanic half-native girl who happens to be a Walker - she can changes into a coyote - her Werewolf adoptive family, her friend the vampire, her former boss the fae - and the supernatural crime stories she finds herself involved into. Okay, I made this sound extremely cheesy, it's actually very decently written in tone, style and characterization, and the plots are quite clever as well (except for the first novel which did have a clever plot but the resolution of which was silly and very artificial). It is, however, awfully cookie cutter in terms of world building and suffers too much of WoD-ism (I mean, in three books and you get werewolves, vampires, nuwisha walkers, fae, ghosts and demons. No mummies or prometheans yet, maybe that's for te next book :p oh, and apparently finding humans is a hard task in this small town despite the fact that turning people into the various critters isn't very easy to do). While - like in the Anita Blake books - I liked the fact that some of the supernatural creatures were "out" in the eye of the public, I found there were sadly too little made of that. The lack of original world building is made up by the solid craftsmanship of the writing, and by the fact the character are well rounded and sympathetic. I especially liked how the main character is hardly very powerful, she has a few tricks, and thinking how to use these tricks smartly was the good way to solve the intrigues. I liked that the third book lampshaded, if not subverted, the exploitative nature of the main character's native identity which is used as an excuse for her powers but not much else. The romance subplot I could take or leave it - someday I need to figure out how come I can devour shoujo manga and fanfics and love shipping in other books and whereas books mean as romance leave me perfectly cold... Hitting on the wrong kinks I guess.


I, Claudius by Robert Graves
I'd seen the title come up quite a few time as Historical novel worth reading, and since I wanted to read more historical books I jumped on the occasion at my latest book store visit. When I picked it up I couldn't really put it down until the end. The life of Claudius, grandson of Augustus, nephew of Tiberius, uncle of Caligula and finally emperor himself, through a very troubled time of the Roman empire which he survives to mainly because he's the stammering, crippled boy everyone takes for a fool. The writing is delightful and very fluid, the events told are fascinating, baroque, intricate and often grimly amusing. The voice of Claudius in particular is excellent, although oddly not very likeable. I found myself often suspicious of how reliable a narrator he is, which actually works extremely well with the framing device when another style would have broken my suspension of disbelief. My main gripe right now is I don't have the sequel in my hand yet.


Acacia by David Anthony Durham
Acacia has been the ruling Empire of all the Known World for countless year. However, the northern people of the Mien have decided to strike a decisive blow against them. The current King plans, for their protection, to send his four children away in hiding. But do not the Mien rebel for some good reasons?
Acacia's a pretty good story, in fact by the point I reached the last page, I'm ready to say it's a really good story. Sadly, I didn't find the way it was told to my liking. Mainly it suffered for much too much "tell don't show". I'm not one to usually complain about this, I think sometimes telling rather than showing is the adequate style for the story, but in this case all too often I found it was robbing me of the dramatic or emotional moments that were being set up and that I was looking forward to see - very frustrating. Chapters cut right before those moments and when the action shifted back to it the moment was long past. The free indirect speech was overused. Characterization was told through short snippets of unlikely self-clarity instead of felt through the people's actions and inner narrative. Important turning points happened off-screen. Arguably that was necessary to fit all of the story in one volume which at almost 700 pages is already pretty big, and which after all is only the first of a series. Then again, I also felt the whole first part (9 years from the second) could have worked as a prologue; and there are many asides and rambles which could have been trimmed to focus on more important things.
I'm being negative, but, as I said, the story is actually very good. Loved the sense of melancholy and the theme of idealism vs realpolitik complexities of the story. in many ways it reminded me of Guy Gavriel Kay's stories (Tigana in particular shares many themes with Acacia) but with a less annoying style (although Durham did use a "later he would look back to this moment" turn of phrases a few times too many :)). I really liked most of the characters, who are very nuanced and obviously well designed even if I didn't like how their characterization was felt through. It's not all that easy to make royal kids interesting and I thought it was a success. Thaddeus was also pretty interesting and so were the two Mien characters. Otherwise, most characters were too little developed IMO, and the fact the only significant female characters were the two royal sisters was also oddly felt. In this line also, while I really loved Corinn and found her the most interesting of the character, I still find myself troubled by the gender dynamic around her characters and am somewhat afraid about how that'll turn up in the rest of the series. I occasionally found the world building a bit odd, in the sense that I did not know if this was a world with little magic or a work of high fantasy, and some of the most magical elements really didn't work for me, didn't feel inherent to the settings despite the heavy part they played in the intrigue. It felt like they were out of another novel, there just to provide the necessary deus ex machina.
In conclusion a great story, with some annoying idiosyncrasies. I'll definitely keep on reading, but I'm quite wary as well.

Comments

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

I, Claudius is amazing--I'm sure it's full of inaccuracies and biases, given its nature, but I remember picking it up as a teenager and being surprised at how fun it was to read. Definitely good for knocking someone out of the "history is so booooring" mindset. And I still fangirl over Livia for being so brilliant and unashamedly manipulative.

Is the Patricia Briggs series the one with the rape subplot in the third book? I think I remember being intrigued by the books, but held off buying them after someone on LJ gave the third one a scathing review because of that problem.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

hehe, i never got the history is boring mindset, but I always had a big prejudice against Romans. Which, of course, is confirmed by the book. Romans were crazy crazy people. But entertainingly crazy.

Yes, the Patricia Briggs series is that one. I thought the rape was relatively well handled. I mean there's a rape, but I've seen this used as a plot device in infinitely worse ways. I don't think having a rape subplot is a problem as such? Unless it's a squick/trigger/peeve.

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Rape subplots in theory aren't a problem for me, but at this point I've seen them done so badly and so often that I get nervous whenever one crops up anywhere. It didn't helps that the review I read pointed out a FAQ on Briggs's site (though it seems to be gone now) which mentioned that it was a contractual requirement that the protagonist had to have a 'complicated love life'. That made it seem possible that she'd needed to throw a wrench into the works and just latched on to rape as a plot point, which rarely turns out well.

But if you think it was well-handled, I might give them a try! Though I'll probably grab them from the library for a trial run first.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Hum, I don't think the rape had much to do with complicated love life. Really.

Do you have a link to the review still?

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

*digs around* Ah, here it is.

The reviewer liked the first two books a lot, though, which perhaps is why she reacted so strongly to a subplot she really hated showing up in the third? It's always more annoying when a series you really liked goes off the rails for you, as opposed to one that you were just "meh" about.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, thanks, interesting. Looks like it has a lot to do with the fact that's a plot device that's overused in those kinds of novels. Since I don't read much paranormal romance/cookie cutter urban fantasy I wasn't really aware of that, I understand how that could make it very annoying.

[strangerface.livejournal.com]

I read Acacia last year and had the same problems with it that you did. I never really got close to the characters. I felt like the author was still in the way.

... You didn't like Tigana?

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I loved Tigana! The first time I read it. And the second and third. Like most Guy Gavriel Kay books. He used to be my favourite fantasy writer. Then... well, I don't know. Between the Sarantine Mosaic and Last Light of the Sun I got annoyed with his writing style. I still love his characters in general, but now I find his writing very flawed and some of his writing gimmicks very annoying. I reread Tigana and Song for Arbonne not very long ago, and felt very saddened by how much less I can appreciate those books.

See what hamsterwoman said here.

[strangerface.livejournal.com]

Oh I've only read it once and it was my first GGK book so maybe that's why I have more fond memories of it. I remember not caring about Alessan. But I really liked Dianora.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so did I.

[strangerface.livejournal.com]

I was more interested in Brandin and Dianora than I was in what was more the "main" plotline. I wanted to ship them but GGK doesn't like fanfic either. Woez.

[scriva.livejournal.com]

It's been a while since I have read I, Claudius, because I only got it from the Library and my current Municipal Library doesn't have it, but I really liked that book. First person POV can be very intriguing if it is well done.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's definitly a brillant first person PoV. Which is a PoV I often like actually :)

[werthead.livejournal.com]

I, Claudius has been on my to-buy list forever. Silly really, as I can get classics editions of it very cheaply. Acacia came out here just after I realised I needed to cut back on my spending and buy only really major books (like Erikson's new one) until I get a new job, but that'll be one I pick up as soon as I have money again :-)

Still getting through The Yiddish Policemen's Union, which is great except I need to stop every other page to look up Jewish terminology and slang on teh Internet (only to find some of it is the author's own invention). Good book though, but not sure if it deserves winning both the Nebula and the Locus.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's hard cutting book buying expenses :(

The Yiddish Policemen's Union is definitly on my to buy list, but now you make me scared with the Jewish terminology. Well, Yiddish at least. I know no Yiddish. I don't even think my Ashkenasi Grandparents talked Yiddish... >_>; then again, can it be worse than River of Gods (which I highly rec in case you haven't read it)? Which did have lexicon though.

[hamsterwoman]

I tried and tried and tried to get into The Yiddish Policemen's Union but found it really hard going -- yeah, the terminology was a bit thick, and that made it more difficult, though there are some really nice moments even in the couple of chapters I managed to get through. So I quit (for the time being at least) and instead read Gentlemen of the Road (aka "Jews with Swords") which went down a lot more easily. :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

Gentleman of the road? Noted! I think I want to try the yiddish policemen's union anyway, but i'll wait for paperback.

[catrionamacnair.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing :)

*puts I, Claudius on reading pile*

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

hope you enjoy it ^^

[wingblossom.livejournal.com]

Whoo, everybody's singing the praises of I, Claudius, so I might as well rec Goodbye to All That, the Robert Graves autobiography. :D

It's excellent, and very cleverly written to boot.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

*takes note of rec*

[ontogenesis.livejournal.com]

I especially liked how the main character is hardly very powerful, she has a few tricks, and thinking how to use these tricks smartly was the good way to solve the intrigues.

That's what I like too. I'm glad you gave it a shot. And I don't quite care for the romance either (except for the gay couple, actually. ^^;; ).

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I was glad to give the genre another chance, since Charlene Harris and the Dresden series had left utterly cold, and the Anita Blake, yeah, well.

Hmm, I think I could take or leave the gay couple as well. I mean, they were good characters as such, but there was nothing particularly interesting in their romance and they kinda highlighted the fact Merry had no female friends because girls have cooties and stuff :(

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

I so hear you about GGK - I loved the first ones I read, but both me getting older and his stylist quirks getting more pronounced, I do find his writing to be so annoying.

and quote me as agreeing totally about the Patricia Briggs series ( also a recent read), nice but somehow, dunno, perhaps the best way to compare it would be to clothes trends. For some reason the "urban fantasy" which is really popular like now, seems to have this set of rules up to romantic involvement, and the Mercy Thompson series seems very much a part of that trend. And it´s been so trendy it´s now tiring, a bit like my reaction to "pregnant" smock tops which keep showing in shops, just stop and put waists where they should be!

Graves´Claudius books I read on my own at a probably very inappropriate age (10 or so), I wanted more Roman books and those were around in a attic. Even at that age ( and I missed a lot of the details, incest and all), I loved those, so full of history and stories at the same time. I tried reading other books of his, but nothing really clicked for me. And after Graves, if you not already, you got to try Mary Renault of course :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I'm more and more disenchanted with GGK yeah. Is sad. Have you read the dicussion over at hamsterwoman? she's a cool person btw, very good taste in books.

hahaha, yeah it is awfully trendy and her books were very formulaic. Well made, so they still read with pleasure, but it's disapointing to see so very little originality.

Mary Renault is a name I keep seeing, yes. I looked for it at my local bookstore but they told me they didn't buy it anymore, too difficult to sell :( I need to order for specific titles. Any book in particular you would advice me?

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

I feel disgustingly a little bit smug about not being the crazy lonely one seeing flaws in GGK´s novels ( I felt like a renegade being chased sometimes), but that is just a tiny bit, I feel much more sympathy for the sadness of finding books you love ( and I sort of loved GGK also) more hollow than you remembered. I am collecting some childhood love books I read from the library and so never owned, but I am afraid to reread them just in case. OTOH I still enjoyed the books, Sarantium for example. Though not Last Light of the Sun, I quit his books at that one!

I am going to check hamsterwoman´s opinion now!

About Mary Renault, not sell, oh honestly! Makes you want to cry, thinking of all those historical books "for women" with pretty pretty covers (I got to reconcile feminism with my feelings for most of these books which seem directed at women). Her most famous books are probably the Alexander Trilogy : Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy and Funeral Games; I think you would truly like those. My personal favorite ( and I still got a few to read, luckily) is probably Last of the Wine.

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

Oh, forgot to say, and an important point - if I seem to have grown out of GGK, to his writing no longer quite fit what I wanted to read, at least I seem to have grown into authors I did not like before. So while it is sad that I no longer get the same magic out of GGK, somehow somewhere I started to really love Patricia McKillip, not a bad swap. ( and I started loving Wodehouse and a few more which I never *got* when I was much younger)