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Book reviews and state of the telophase (and the telophase's computer)
After waking up at 4:17 AM and not getting back to sleep again due to gut rumbling and brain whirring, I finally crashed at...12:30? 1:30? I don't know; I didn't check. Awake again at 5:30 PM. I could have slept longer, but I'd just wake up again at some wee hour of the morning whether I needed to or not so I'm trying to stay awake until closer to a reasonable bedtime.
The good part is that I got two books and a short story read! I've only been meaning to sit down and read actual books instead of the intartubes or something else since November. :/ But they were all good!
At any rate:
1. Tuesdays at the Castle
by Jessica Day George. (Generic Western European-inspired fantasy)
Celie is the youngest daughter of a king who reigns from a constantly-shifting castle, which is always adding rooms or taking them away. She has a special connection to it. When her parents and oldest brother are missing, feared dead, she and her remaining brother and sister have to fight palace intrigue with the aid of the castle, which has its own ideas about who is and is not king.
I thoroughly enjoyed this children's book - it's one step down from a YA, pretty much - and had the unexpectedly pleasant sensation of also wanting to read it in an adult book format. I'm not sure why. I guess it's that I would enjoy spending more time in this world and with these characters in a more complex story, even though I enjoyed the simpler one?
2. Pig, Crane, Fox (Lóng City)
Short story in ebook format by Beth Bernobich. (East Asian-inspired fantasy)
I've had the sample for the book mentioned below lurking on my Kindle for quite some time, but couldn't bring myself to buy the full book because although there was no mention of a prequel, the book read as if there were a whole story that had happened previously to it, and I really hate the feeling that I've missed the first book in a series. Well, there was a reason for that: this short story was the story that happened previously to it. I bought it, read it, then immediately bought the novel.
Kai is the son of a magician and the leader of a small street gang in a tiny East Asian-inspired city-state, set within a world whose advanced technology runs via magic. I'm not quite sure how to describe the combo of modern technology and fairy tale-level culture except by referencing the Borderlands series: think of it that way. Modern tech like phones exists, runs on magic, somewhat glitchy, also coexists with ghost dragons and personal spirits (somewhat like Pullman's daimons).
At any rate, the king of the city-state sets a test for princes: fulfill three impossible tasks and receive a large sum of money and the hand of his daughter in marriage. Kai gets a brainstorm to pass himself off as a Prince with the help of his friends and see if he can win the money (He doesn't want the daughter).
Entertaining, well worth $ .99. And leads directly into...
3. Fox and Phoenix
by Beth Bernobich (East Asian-inspired fantasy)
One year after the events of the short story, Kai's gang is drifting apart in the aftermath of the events. Court intrigue has resulted in the king's falling deathly ill. Nobody can contact his daughter, and so the king of the ghost dragons, which has deep ties to the monarchy, sends Kai packing off to the neighboring Empire to go fetch her.
OKAY I'M GONNA SAY IT: I kept idly wondering throughout the whole story if it had its genesis in Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. I am also wondering if I am falling victim to a preconception that anything now written based in an East Asian* sort of world must have ties to it, as I know in this post-Avatar world, that sort of connection is bound to happen (much like the nimrods who accuse Pratchett of ripping off Rowling for having a school of magic in his work). AT ANY RATE, I do not care what its origins are! I enjoyed the hell out of it, with a few minor niggles, and would love to see more set in this world.
* She mentions China specifically in the afterward, but as I detect one or two Tibetan influences in one of the cultures, I'm not going to call it 100% Chinese.
Kai's impulsiveness and self-absorption allow him to succeed in the short story, but dig him in deeper in the novel. Any success he gains is in spite of these characteristics and due to his friends, who have changed over the previous year since the events of the short story in ways that he doesn't quite understand. The reader will spot elements that Kai misses or glosses over fairly early on, so it doesn't read as deus ex machina.
Niggle 1: During the year between the story and the novel, Kai seemed to age very little while his former companions aged several years. I haven't gone back to check if the ages were stated, but I got the vague feeling they were all between the ages of 12 and 15 in the story, while Kai stayed about the level of 12 or 13 and his companions matured by 4 or 5 years. Didn't affect my enjoyment too badly, though.
Niggle 2: I felt that Kai's mother's disappearance seemed to be forgotten by him shortly into his adventure, to be picked up near the end. At least, it didn't have as big an emotional impact on him during the action as I felt it needed to have.
Niggle 3: I wish the differing cultures of the city-kingdoms were slightly more distinct. It felt like Lóng City was the small-town version of the Empire, and I only clued in near the end, when there's a quick stopover in another city-state and a couple of Tibetan-feeling foodstuffs were mentioned (butter tea and ... something I forget), that perhaps Lóng City was also supposed to be more culturally distinct.
Niggle 4: I also wished for a pronunciation guide somewhere: if you're going to use diacritics, let me know how they change the pronunciation I'm used to! I felt like I was mispronouncing everything the whole way through. I don't want to have to interrupt my reading to go look something up in another book to pronounce the names of the characters and locations.
All those niggles aside: go read it! And I'll go there again, even if the author or friends of the author show up in the comments to protest: if you're jonesing for Avatar: Legend of Korra, pick up the story and the book to tide you over.
-------
Anyway, my power supply is on its last legs. We replaced it, but the replacement turned out to have a fault, so it got shipped back today and the old one put back in until the next one shows up. I don't want to overstress the current one too much, so I'll be scarce online from anything other than my iPhone or Toby's iPad until it gets here and gets installed. If you want to talk about the above books, or recommend me ones that you think I'd like, I'll be checking comments via phone. :)
The good part is that I got two books and a short story read! I've only been meaning to sit down and read actual books instead of the intartubes or something else since November. :/ But they were all good!
At any rate:
1. Tuesdays at the Castle
by Jessica Day George. (Generic Western European-inspired fantasy)Celie is the youngest daughter of a king who reigns from a constantly-shifting castle, which is always adding rooms or taking them away. She has a special connection to it. When her parents and oldest brother are missing, feared dead, she and her remaining brother and sister have to fight palace intrigue with the aid of the castle, which has its own ideas about who is and is not king.
I thoroughly enjoyed this children's book - it's one step down from a YA, pretty much - and had the unexpectedly pleasant sensation of also wanting to read it in an adult book format. I'm not sure why. I guess it's that I would enjoy spending more time in this world and with these characters in a more complex story, even though I enjoyed the simpler one?
2. Pig, Crane, Fox (Lóng City)
Short story in ebook format by Beth Bernobich. (East Asian-inspired fantasy)I've had the sample for the book mentioned below lurking on my Kindle for quite some time, but couldn't bring myself to buy the full book because although there was no mention of a prequel, the book read as if there were a whole story that had happened previously to it, and I really hate the feeling that I've missed the first book in a series. Well, there was a reason for that: this short story was the story that happened previously to it. I bought it, read it, then immediately bought the novel.
Kai is the son of a magician and the leader of a small street gang in a tiny East Asian-inspired city-state, set within a world whose advanced technology runs via magic. I'm not quite sure how to describe the combo of modern technology and fairy tale-level culture except by referencing the Borderlands series: think of it that way. Modern tech like phones exists, runs on magic, somewhat glitchy, also coexists with ghost dragons and personal spirits (somewhat like Pullman's daimons).
At any rate, the king of the city-state sets a test for princes: fulfill three impossible tasks and receive a large sum of money and the hand of his daughter in marriage. Kai gets a brainstorm to pass himself off as a Prince with the help of his friends and see if he can win the money (He doesn't want the daughter).
Entertaining, well worth $ .99. And leads directly into...
3. Fox and Phoenix
by Beth Bernobich (East Asian-inspired fantasy)One year after the events of the short story, Kai's gang is drifting apart in the aftermath of the events. Court intrigue has resulted in the king's falling deathly ill. Nobody can contact his daughter, and so the king of the ghost dragons, which has deep ties to the monarchy, sends Kai packing off to the neighboring Empire to go fetch her.
OKAY I'M GONNA SAY IT: I kept idly wondering throughout the whole story if it had its genesis in Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic. I am also wondering if I am falling victim to a preconception that anything now written based in an East Asian* sort of world must have ties to it, as I know in this post-Avatar world, that sort of connection is bound to happen (much like the nimrods who accuse Pratchett of ripping off Rowling for having a school of magic in his work). AT ANY RATE, I do not care what its origins are! I enjoyed the hell out of it, with a few minor niggles, and would love to see more set in this world.
* She mentions China specifically in the afterward, but as I detect one or two Tibetan influences in one of the cultures, I'm not going to call it 100% Chinese.
Kai's impulsiveness and self-absorption allow him to succeed in the short story, but dig him in deeper in the novel. Any success he gains is in spite of these characteristics and due to his friends, who have changed over the previous year since the events of the short story in ways that he doesn't quite understand. The reader will spot elements that Kai misses or glosses over fairly early on, so it doesn't read as deus ex machina.
Niggle 1: During the year between the story and the novel, Kai seemed to age very little while his former companions aged several years. I haven't gone back to check if the ages were stated, but I got the vague feeling they were all between the ages of 12 and 15 in the story, while Kai stayed about the level of 12 or 13 and his companions matured by 4 or 5 years. Didn't affect my enjoyment too badly, though.
Niggle 2: I felt that Kai's mother's disappearance seemed to be forgotten by him shortly into his adventure, to be picked up near the end. At least, it didn't have as big an emotional impact on him during the action as I felt it needed to have.
Niggle 3: I wish the differing cultures of the city-kingdoms were slightly more distinct. It felt like Lóng City was the small-town version of the Empire, and I only clued in near the end, when there's a quick stopover in another city-state and a couple of Tibetan-feeling foodstuffs were mentioned (butter tea and ... something I forget), that perhaps Lóng City was also supposed to be more culturally distinct.
Niggle 4: I also wished for a pronunciation guide somewhere: if you're going to use diacritics, let me know how they change the pronunciation I'm used to! I felt like I was mispronouncing everything the whole way through. I don't want to have to interrupt my reading to go look something up in another book to pronounce the names of the characters and locations.
All those niggles aside: go read it! And I'll go there again, even if the author or friends of the author show up in the comments to protest: if you're jonesing for Avatar: Legend of Korra, pick up the story and the book to tide you over.
-------
Anyway, my power supply is on its last legs. We replaced it, but the replacement turned out to have a fault, so it got shipped back today and the old one put back in until the next one shows up. I don't want to overstress the current one too much, so I'll be scarce online from anything other than my iPhone or Toby's iPad until it gets here and gets installed. If you want to talk about the above books, or recommend me ones that you think I'd like, I'll be checking comments via phone. :)