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impersonaFor lack of brainpower to write anything else, here are two more books I finished.
Book: Fire and Hemlock
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 280
Plot in ten words or less: Modern-day retelling of Tam Lin, except the protagonist is 10 D:
Why I Picked It: It's the Tam Lin myth, and it's Diana Wynne Jones! What could go wrong with that?
Review: Ugh. I actually flat-out hated this book. I've fared pretty well so far this year when it comes to good and great books, and I'm surprised that this one is the first stinker. I mean, I love Howl's, and I can't wait to get into her other fantasy series, and I thought this would be much of the same. I think the very clear problem with this book was that she wasn't sure whether she should be catering to a children's audience or an adult audience, and if she went full-hog one way or another, this books would have been appropriate. I did like the characters involved, especially Thomas Lynn and his quartet, and Seth as well. Polly was neat as well, and I understood where she was coming from. However, she was a ten year old forging a deep bond of friendship with a 25-30 year old man. I felt like Pedobear was reading over my shoulder with me.
Also, I seem to have the same problem with DWJ as I have with Robin McKinley - namely, I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out what the fuck is happening in the climatic chapters of their books. I reread those chapters, but I feel like something about the execution is convaluted and incomprehendable. Perhaps it's just a sudden shift between the really easy-to-read, smooth narratives in the body of the books and the endings of ACTION and MAGIC. I don't know but I don't get it. There has to be easier ways to resolve these books, really.
Book: Men At Arms
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy, humor
Pages: 367
Plot in ten words or less: Sorta like if the Three Stooges thwarted the Kennedy assassination.
Why I Picked It: BECAUSE I HAVE A LADY-BONER FOR VIMES.
Review: LOVED IT.
LOVED IT.
I needed something light-hearted and easy-to-read after Fire and Hemlock (and Einstein wasn't cutting it, sorry), so I grabbed this book, which I had stolen from Kol. LOVED IT. I felt like a lot of the elements was an improvement from Guards! Guards!, like he just picked up from the momentum of that book and kept on running with it. I liked how the murder mystery aspect of it was more mysterious this time, and not nearly as easy to guess as in G!G! (in fact, I guessed the killer totally wrong this time).
The only thing I might have liked was a little bit more on Vimes' POV, but hell we got more Carrot, and it is STAGGERING how he has evolved since the last book. I loved the point they kept on making about him being simple but not stupid, and the way Pratchett eases the reader into understanding Carrot's charismatic effect is wonderful. His encounter with the Patrician at the very end was my favorite scene (other than Demitrus's discovery of calculus). I thought the bit about the Dog's Guild was a little tacked-on, and that there could have been some more importance tied to the side-adventures there. Demitrus and Cuddy is my new Legolas and Gimli bromance of epic. Angua, I hope you get more screentime in a future book or something!
Next is The Secret of the Pink Carnation, I think. I am wondering whether I should hold off on buying new video games until I hit my 50 book mark, cause I'm worried that I'd completely forget to read (and do anything else, really) if I had a shiny new Pokemon game at my fingertips. I think my Wii is doomed to stay unused for a while still, and I got it back in November XD
I've been writing stuff, on and off, but a lot of it is utter crap. I feel really bad about it, but I know that I'm tired and stressed out, and I've been a weird mood lately too. All of the stuff I have been writing has been sappy shit, so nobody's missing anything.
Gotta get sewing soon T_T Taiki adorableness won't craft itself. Also, I will have a hoard of new DOLLS coming with me to Fanime. BE PREPARED!
Book: Fire and Hemlock
Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 280
Plot in ten words or less: Modern-day retelling of Tam Lin, except the protagonist is 10 D:
Why I Picked It: It's the Tam Lin myth, and it's Diana Wynne Jones! What could go wrong with that?
Review: Ugh. I actually flat-out hated this book. I've fared pretty well so far this year when it comes to good and great books, and I'm surprised that this one is the first stinker. I mean, I love Howl's, and I can't wait to get into her other fantasy series, and I thought this would be much of the same. I think the very clear problem with this book was that she wasn't sure whether she should be catering to a children's audience or an adult audience, and if she went full-hog one way or another, this books would have been appropriate. I did like the characters involved, especially Thomas Lynn and his quartet, and Seth as well. Polly was neat as well, and I understood where she was coming from. However, she was a ten year old forging a deep bond of friendship with a 25-30 year old man. I felt like Pedobear was reading over my shoulder with me.
Also, I seem to have the same problem with DWJ as I have with Robin McKinley - namely, I cannot for the LIFE of me figure out what the fuck is happening in the climatic chapters of their books. I reread those chapters, but I feel like something about the execution is convaluted and incomprehendable. Perhaps it's just a sudden shift between the really easy-to-read, smooth narratives in the body of the books and the endings of ACTION and MAGIC. I don't know but I don't get it. There has to be easier ways to resolve these books, really.
Book: Men At Arms
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy, humor
Pages: 367
Plot in ten words or less: Sorta like if the Three Stooges thwarted the Kennedy assassination.
Why I Picked It: BECAUSE I HAVE A LADY-BONER FOR VIMES.
Review: LOVED IT.
LOVED IT.
I needed something light-hearted and easy-to-read after Fire and Hemlock (and Einstein wasn't cutting it, sorry), so I grabbed this book, which I had stolen from Kol. LOVED IT. I felt like a lot of the elements was an improvement from Guards! Guards!, like he just picked up from the momentum of that book and kept on running with it. I liked how the murder mystery aspect of it was more mysterious this time, and not nearly as easy to guess as in G!G! (in fact, I guessed the killer totally wrong this time).
The only thing I might have liked was a little bit more on Vimes' POV, but hell we got more Carrot, and it is STAGGERING how he has evolved since the last book. I loved the point they kept on making about him being simple but not stupid, and the way Pratchett eases the reader into understanding Carrot's charismatic effect is wonderful. His encounter with the Patrician at the very end was my favorite scene (other than Demitrus's discovery of calculus). I thought the bit about the Dog's Guild was a little tacked-on, and that there could have been some more importance tied to the side-adventures there. Demitrus and Cuddy is my new Legolas and Gimli bromance of epic. Angua, I hope you get more screentime in a future book or something!
Next is The Secret of the Pink Carnation, I think. I am wondering whether I should hold off on buying new video games until I hit my 50 book mark, cause I'm worried that I'd completely forget to read (and do anything else, really) if I had a shiny new Pokemon game at my fingertips. I think my Wii is doomed to stay unused for a while still, and I got it back in November XD
I've been writing stuff, on and off, but a lot of it is utter crap. I feel really bad about it, but I know that I'm tired and stressed out, and I've been a weird mood lately too. All of the stuff I have been writing has been sappy shit, so nobody's missing anything.
Gotta get sewing soon T_T Taiki adorableness won't craft itself. Also, I will have a hoard of new DOLLS coming with me to Fanime. BE PREPARED!
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Date: 2010-05-05 02:55 am (UTC)pyschofamily.