I'm back from Alaska, and I had a wonderful time. Highs were in the 60s and lows were in the 40s. Mom and I drove out to Girdwood, Alaska and looked at the beautiful snow capped mountains. I also ate my weight in halibut salmon, and moose (not the chocolate kind). I'm now back in Austin and it's a balmy 104. Sigh.
However, I did get a lot of reading done. So, on we go.
A Storm of Swords
George R. R. Martin's third installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is solid and wonderful. Clocking in at over 1100 pages, it's also a bit of a challenge. I am a huge fan of epic fantasy, and Martin's books are some of the best in recent years. His writing style lends to a lot of repetition, a necessary evil, keeping track of the characters is a bit of a challenge. The biggest issue I face with these books is that it's a lot of build up for ten chapters of payoff. I feel like these books can use the heavy hand of an editor to make them more accessible. Part why people are driven away from series like this is due to it's astonishing length. When all is said and done the series will be about 11,000 pages. The average person looks at that, calculates the time it would take to read them, and walks away. Epic fantasy is really it's own worst enemy.
Fallen
Lauren Kate's book would not have been possible without the Twilight series. In a way, it's a stripped down version of that series. Young girl meets a Fantasy Monster and falls in love. The rest of the story is predictable and dull. Fallen does have some laughable moments though. Apparently the fantasy monster in this book meets the heroine every 17 years. She dies and then he gets over it. So, armed with this bit of knowledge where does Mr. Fantasy Monster hang out? A high school. Why? If falling in love and watching her die is so massively painful why go where 17 year old girls are? There are plenty of places on this planet where 17 year old girls are not allowed to go. Find one. Hang out there. Problem solved. Second issue, why do Fantasy Monsters hang out in high school in the first place? They are, as the books go, immortal. If I was suddenly granted immortality high school is the absolute last place on Earth I would go.
Maybe I just don't get this genera. Oh well, I bought the book when I was drunk. To prevent this from happening in the future I'm going to create a wish list and simply buy books on that.
Matched
Ally Condie's book is riding the Hunger Games wave. Suddenly publishers have realized that young people like distopian novels. Every ten to fifteen years the cycle starts again. The long list starts with Brave New World, rounds out with A Wrinkle in Time, and then was thrust forward again with the Hunger Games series. Condie's book, adds a lot to the genera. It's a quick read, I got though it in a day, but here characters are wonderful and memorable. The big issue I have is that it seems to be following the Hunger Games template. As much as this is a distopian novel, it also includes a love triangle. I could do with much less of that and much more of the female character figuring things out for herself. What made the Hunger Games books work for me was they didn't linger on it as much. Katiness is very much her own woman. Where Matched falls apart for me is Cassia is a bit too dependent on her partners. It's still a good book, I've put myself on preorder for the second installment that is coming out in November. As of right now, I'm in a holding pattern. I'm going to have to wait and see how Cassia works in the second novel. She could become stronger, and that would make for a much better series.
Embassytown
I made a massive mistake trying to read China Mieville's book on my flights home. I was exhausted, dealing with a crying baby, and uncomfortable. As I finished it last night, I realized I needed to give this book another shot. It was far too complex for me to have skimmed the way that I did. Honestly, I feel like any kind of write up that I'd do on this book at this point would be massively unfair. I'm going to revisit it at a later date when I'm not fending off a drink cart. Seeing as his novel The City & The City was simply amazing, I'd expect nothing less from this novel.
So, there we go. One terrible book, two good books, and one I have to reread. That's how I spent my summer vacation. As of right now I've started The Name of the Wind. My husband has been pushing me to read this for months, so it's finally time that I pick it up.
However, I did get a lot of reading done. So, on we go.
A Storm of Swords
George R. R. Martin's third installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is solid and wonderful. Clocking in at over 1100 pages, it's also a bit of a challenge. I am a huge fan of epic fantasy, and Martin's books are some of the best in recent years. His writing style lends to a lot of repetition, a necessary evil, keeping track of the characters is a bit of a challenge. The biggest issue I face with these books is that it's a lot of build up for ten chapters of payoff. I feel like these books can use the heavy hand of an editor to make them more accessible. Part why people are driven away from series like this is due to it's astonishing length. When all is said and done the series will be about 11,000 pages. The average person looks at that, calculates the time it would take to read them, and walks away. Epic fantasy is really it's own worst enemy.
Fallen
Lauren Kate's book would not have been possible without the Twilight series. In a way, it's a stripped down version of that series. Young girl meets a Fantasy Monster and falls in love. The rest of the story is predictable and dull. Fallen does have some laughable moments though. Apparently the fantasy monster in this book meets the heroine every 17 years. She dies and then he gets over it. So, armed with this bit of knowledge where does Mr. Fantasy Monster hang out? A high school. Why? If falling in love and watching her die is so massively painful why go where 17 year old girls are? There are plenty of places on this planet where 17 year old girls are not allowed to go. Find one. Hang out there. Problem solved. Second issue, why do Fantasy Monsters hang out in high school in the first place? They are, as the books go, immortal. If I was suddenly granted immortality high school is the absolute last place on Earth I would go.
Maybe I just don't get this genera. Oh well, I bought the book when I was drunk. To prevent this from happening in the future I'm going to create a wish list and simply buy books on that.
Matched
Ally Condie's book is riding the Hunger Games wave. Suddenly publishers have realized that young people like distopian novels. Every ten to fifteen years the cycle starts again. The long list starts with Brave New World, rounds out with A Wrinkle in Time, and then was thrust forward again with the Hunger Games series. Condie's book, adds a lot to the genera. It's a quick read, I got though it in a day, but here characters are wonderful and memorable. The big issue I have is that it seems to be following the Hunger Games template. As much as this is a distopian novel, it also includes a love triangle. I could do with much less of that and much more of the female character figuring things out for herself. What made the Hunger Games books work for me was they didn't linger on it as much. Katiness is very much her own woman. Where Matched falls apart for me is Cassia is a bit too dependent on her partners. It's still a good book, I've put myself on preorder for the second installment that is coming out in November. As of right now, I'm in a holding pattern. I'm going to have to wait and see how Cassia works in the second novel. She could become stronger, and that would make for a much better series.
Embassytown
I made a massive mistake trying to read China Mieville's book on my flights home. I was exhausted, dealing with a crying baby, and uncomfortable. As I finished it last night, I realized I needed to give this book another shot. It was far too complex for me to have skimmed the way that I did. Honestly, I feel like any kind of write up that I'd do on this book at this point would be massively unfair. I'm going to revisit it at a later date when I'm not fending off a drink cart. Seeing as his novel The City & The City was simply amazing, I'd expect nothing less from this novel.
So, there we go. One terrible book, two good books, and one I have to reread. That's how I spent my summer vacation. As of right now I've started The Name of the Wind. My husband has been pushing me to read this for months, so it's finally time that I pick it up.
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I totally agree with you re: Fallen. Vampires, I love. Werewolves, sure. Zombies, I guess...but angels? Seriously? Angels? The closest I can come to getting behind the angel thing is Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters. They're the offspring of angels and humans, but at least that all happened, you know, millennia ago. She doesn't make you watch the angels and humans getting it on. BECAUSE THEY ARE ANGELS.
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