Some Recent Reads
Mar. 2nd, 2008 08:54 pmReaper Man: Another fabulous Discworld book. It was good throughout and the end was better than fabulous. How does Terry Pratchett write books that are funny and clever, then suddenly they are profound and touching and very wise?
Melusine by Sarah Monette: I liked it. It reminds me very much of Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books. Hunky, tortured heroes, lots of action, evil magicians. I've started The Virtu, the second book in the series. My one complaint has to do with the language. The setting is an exotic fantasy one and the author uses lots of made-up words to mean dates and periods of time. The terms are never defined by our standards, which is fine. It was kind of fun to try to figure out what they meant. But Mildmay speaks in a lower-class vernacular, with lots of swearing and that got repetitious after awhile. He uses phrases that seemed jarring to me, "barbecue sauce" and "numbnuts" are two that come to mind. Those are minor things, though, and I especially liked the way the narration went back and forth between the two men. It kept things interesting.
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley: This one really wasn't my thing. Something about the heroine put me off. The book reminded me very much of the movie "The Village" with the same sort of menacing, unseen evil always there, waiting to pounce. It was beautifully written, however, and the main character's voice was unusual and well done.
Melusine by Sarah Monette: I liked it. It reminds me very much of Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books. Hunky, tortured heroes, lots of action, evil magicians. I've started The Virtu, the second book in the series. My one complaint has to do with the language. The setting is an exotic fantasy one and the author uses lots of made-up words to mean dates and periods of time. The terms are never defined by our standards, which is fine. It was kind of fun to try to figure out what they meant. But Mildmay speaks in a lower-class vernacular, with lots of swearing and that got repetitious after awhile. He uses phrases that seemed jarring to me, "barbecue sauce" and "numbnuts" are two that come to mind. Those are minor things, though, and I especially liked the way the narration went back and forth between the two men. It kept things interesting.
The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley: This one really wasn't my thing. Something about the heroine put me off. The book reminded me very much of the movie "The Village" with the same sort of menacing, unseen evil always there, waiting to pounce. It was beautifully written, however, and the main character's voice was unusual and well done.