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[telophase]

...as revealed in the comments of an otf_wank report.

http://snipurl.com/15fl6

Semi-worksafe.

Also, much wank over Eragon. (Is it bad that now I want to read it just to see how much it exactly fits Star Wars?)

Comments

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

The movie was miserable.

I went because a friend very much wanted to see it, and my wife and I hadn't hung out with him in ages.

c.f. This entry of mine, and the delicious responses (http://benchilada.livejournal.com/317995.html).

[telophase.livejournal.com]

*reads* Snerk. XD

I used to love dragons, then I got burnt out on them when I was, say, fifteen or so. I probably would have loved Eragon at that age, but then again, I loved Piers Anthony and Mercedes Lackey at that age, too. I got better.

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

WE DON'T SAY HER NAME. *hiss*

Okay, not really. I just feel guilty for having been into Lackey a bit later than fifteen. ^_^;; But I got better!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Her earliest stuff has a certain grip to it - it's awkward and Mary-Sueish and there's no moral ambiguity, and teh class division of Nobles=Bad and Commoners=Good bugs the fuck out of me, but it's full of the sheer teenage angst of I AM SPESUL and WHY DON'T YOU APPRECIATE ME and SEE THESE REALLY COOL PEOPLE WANNA BE MY FRIENDS, and manages to grab the reader and pull them along, kicking and screaming all the way.

And then they stopped editing her, I think, and she stopped bothering to put plot or conflict in, and the SPESHUL PEOPLE and I GET TO HANG OUT WITH THE COOL KIDS stuff took over, and they becaome bang-againt-the-wall fodder. I do read them occasionally, fomr the library because I'm not going to giver her any of my money for stuff I don't like, but not because I think they[re good. It's because they inspire me greatly, because I spend the entire time rewriting the story in my head, cataloging all the bits I can't stand, and going "My God, *I* could write better than this!"

Never let it be said that bad literature doesn't have its uses. Like critiquing bad art, it helps me figure out where things go wrong and how to fix them.

I don't think she started publishing until I was 16, actually. *looks innocent*

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

I have to say, Last Herald-Mage was a revelation when I was fifteen-sixteen. And yeah, her early books were particularly inspiring to me as a budding writer because I thought, shit, I can do at least as well.

What was your breaking point? Mine was the "Mage Winds" trilogy, because I really couldn't stand Elspeth, and the sheer Mary Sue gratuitousness of the whole thing became too big a pill for me to swallow. Needless to say, I find it hysterical that Lackey's finally written herself into Velgarth via the Alberich books.

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

*randomly joins in* ^_^

Mage Winds was where it died for me, too. Actually, I think I stumbled through that trilogy, but then the Mage Storms and suddenly the priest of the sun god was becoming a herald and uh... um... yeah. >.>

Vanyel still manages to break my heart, for about ten pages. And then I want to beat him over the head with a bloody cluephone.

I think Kris was my favourite, but of course he got spoiler for the sake of angst. >.> The only ones I really enjoyed were Tarma and Kethry. ^_^

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got through Mage Winds out of sheer cussedness, but stopped after that. Every so often I'll dip my toe back in -- I enjoyed the Skif book, f'rex.

And yes, Tarma and Kethry were great! Those books are still among my favorites.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly -- I have to agree with every word of this comment to the point that if I hadn't seen it first I'd be saying almost exactly the same thing -- except the last sentence because I haven't been following anything of hers for years and don't know what's up.

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

Great minds! ;)

I do look at the newer stuff every now and then, just to see what's up. She had a novel focusing on Skif (Take a Thief) that I really enjoyed, so I was feeling hopeful when the Alberich books came out, because he was another side character I liked. But then a friend told me about "Herald-Chronicler Myste" and I threw my hands up.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I actually sort of liked Take a Thief, except for the one segment, 3/4 of the way through the book, when the viewpoint switched from Skif to another character, because SKif was unconscious. That bugs the hell out of me: if you're going to switch POV, then start from the beginning, so we know what sort of book it is, or figure out a way to rewrite the damn scene so that it's the POV character telling it - there's nothing wrong with "[X] was unconscious at the time, but this was how events played out, as near as he could figure out later. [blah]"

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Mine was ... er, whatever book it was where the cat-girl showed up. I know the exact scene, too: when her father shows up, and is described as being covered with fur, except for his crotch where "his maleness was proudly displayed," ISTR, and the image that conjured in my mind was so fucking funny that there was no way I'd ever be able to take him seriously as an antagonist, and I threw the book across the room - literally - and stopped reading her except as described above. :D

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

That's the Mage Winds trilogy. XD Although I couldn't tell you which specific book. Sounds like that was the breaking point for a lot of people, one way or the other.

[chisotahn]

*sheepish* I still like Mercedes Lackey. She's my literary cotton candy. I know damn well there's no substance to it whatsoever and it's not good for me, but every so often I need a little fluff in my life. ;)

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

Hey, I read paranormal chick-lit, so god knows I have no room to bag on anybody else's need for fluff. ;)

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

::pokes:: Did you read Obsidian Trilogy? And if so did you hate the ending?

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

So do I. I liked the Valdemar books okayish when I was teenish and angstyish, but I really prefer her urban fantasy. I was plotting something terrible with the Elemental Masters books for a while, and I don't know whether to be glad or not that I didn't actually accomplish anything on it.

Besides, that first book with the racecar-driving elves had the first mention of anime I'd ever seen outside of the intarwebs and my geeky friends. >.>;;;

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I burned out on urban fantasy a long time ago, and also burned out on fantasy where elves are nothing more than magic-using humans with pointy ears and attitudes. The old faerie* lore where these creatures were fundamentally alien is much more to my taste.


* Not used to be pretentious, but to separate the old folklore from "fairy" with its connotations of fluffy Victorian flower fairies.

[blades-of-ice.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who loves Lackey and have three of her books that I borrowed waiting to be read. Should I not bother?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Which books? If it's the Tarma and Kethry books, read them. If it's the Arrows of the Queen trilogy, they're pretty good, if a bit Mary Sueish and strong on the I AM SPESHUL, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT? If it's the Last Herald-Mage trilogy ... it depends on how much you can stand the main character moping around being all emo because he's Speshul and Nobody Understands Him, and all his friends who spend quite a lot of time explaining that it's OK he's gay! See! He's gay! And it's OK! And we're all tolerant! And love him for it! And he's gay! And it's OK! and not enough time actually showing that they accept him. Any others ... I'd think twice about reading them. Unless it's the trilogy about dragonriders - those are interesting primarily because Lackey and her husband are falconers and do wildlife rescue and know a lot about birds of prey, and she based the dragons' lifestyle and training around birds of prey, which is actually quite interesting. And she resisted the temptation to make the dragons intelligent and telepathic! The characters and plot are otherwise forgettable.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

The only Lackey I've ever read is the stuff based on ballet.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Actually I liked the Obsidian Trilogy, but it is because I am a hopeless Unicorn fangirl and I thought the dragon was a little boring.

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

(You don't know me, but I just wanted to say that post had me snorfling hysterically at work for a good fifteen minutes. Thank you!)

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was quite happy with it, and the responses were so much more clever than I could have hoped for.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I'm actually sad about Eragon. I haven't read the books, being warned they weren't anything great, so I assumed the movie could work with it and cut out the boring parts. Too bad I hear it is choppy and not "as good" as the books. It's too bad because I thought the Dragon looked neat.

[kintail.livejournal.com]

Eeee, boob-kitten! And I'm not even much of a boob fan.

[nekonexus.livejournal.com]

*dies of kitten love* ^__^ That so needs to be an icon! Hee!

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I read the books. Anyone who's read fairly deeply in western fantasy over the past 20 years will recognize all the bits and pieces as they arise -- LOTR and Star Wars but also Pern and Riddlemaster of Hed and so on. For what it is, a book written by a teenager, it's not bad, and there are some interesting bits in it. But it's mostly derivative.

Thinking of The Riddlemaster of Hed makes me want to reread it. And it's a much better choice than Eragon.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of the Riddlemaster of Hed, but the Amazon review sounds promising. Especially the part about the princess.
"Also, the man who solves the Riddle will also get to marry a princess, Raederle, the second-most beautiful woman in the world. (She is also the star of book two)." Can you tell me a little about how her character is treated? I usually end up bored with books that only have male leads, but if I know book 2 has a cool lady I would be more then willing to pick it up.

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

She's a very cool lady. In fact, it's difficult to figure out how much to say about her and not have major spoilers. The premise of the second book is that the main character of the first book has disappeared, and she, as well as his little sister and another girl, decide to search for him. In the process, she becomes aware of her own powers and needs to come to terms with what they mean for herself, for her family history and for her lover.

[rayechu.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I was a bit afraid to go poking around the internet for fear of really bad spoilers, but I'll see if work has a copy of those books.

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

I am seriously thinking about buying a copy of Eragon, just so I can do a chapter-by-chapter snark. I read the book at the urging of a boy I've babysat for since he was a baby, and the only nice thing I could say about it when I returned it to him was, "I understand why you like it."

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

That's what libraries are for. Borrow the book when you feel like snarking, return it, then when you feel like another dose of snark borrow it again. XD

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I currently owe the public library too much money for overdue books. :D

I could always ILL it through the library I work at, but that's probably too much effort. :)

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

*snerk* Now see, that's where the advantage of working at the public library comes in. Staff doesn't get charged overdues, and since I'm ILL librarian, if I ask for something from another library I can request renewals or (if the library is part of our statewide system) just renew myself.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I don't owe my library overdue fines, either, although we have significantly fewer "fun" books. :D And I can at least ask the ILL ladies nicely if they'll renew a book for me, and they will if they can. But it's far more hassle than you have to go through. :)

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I used to work in a jr college library. Not so much on the fun, but interesting stuff if you like nonfics. :)

*occasionally takes advantage of the little perks of the job XD*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

* I did realize you weren't talking to me after I posted my answer. :D

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

Yes, but then I can't write sarcastic comments in the margins. (I am also trying to talk my brother into going to see the movie with me, just to make fun of it.)

[asteres.livejournal.com]

Is it bad that now I want to read it just to see how much it exactly fits Star Wars?

Nope. In fact, Star Wars is so much like other stories, you may as well take it back to its origins. Check out Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces. It's the formula for every epic saga you've ever read - the hero's journey.

The Jedi, the Prime (Optimus, Magnus, Rodimus, etc.), the Kwisatz Haderach, The One - they're all the same character. Not having read the novel, I'm going to venture a guess and say the same of the Dragon Rider.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Apparently, it's not just the Hero's Journey, it's a blow-by-blow rewriting of Star Wars Ep IV, down to swords that glow with different colors to indicate whether it's a good guy or a bad guy who's got it. To the point where a reviewer warned the main character to beware when kissing the princess, because she was probably his sister.

[tprjones.livejournal.com]

MMMMmmmm ... geeky boob-warmer ....