Some Recent Reads

[checkers65477]

Reaper 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.

Comments

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

*snuggles signed copy of Reaper man* That mix of funny and insightful is what I like about Pratchett too.

Hurrah! I just ordered Melusine! Is the swearing real or is it made up too? When people run around saying poot (for example) it is funny rather than jarring :)

I didn't get on with The folk keeper either. I felt like I should have liked it but kept forgetting to read it.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Ack! How sad. I love Folk Keeper. I love the voice and how Corinna tells you one thing but you can see that the subtext is the opposite. Also I found it riveting. Not perfect, maybe, but I loved it.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

*hearts Reaper Man*

lol. *must remember to say barbecue sauce in chatzy from now on*

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Terry Pratchett in a nutshell, ladies and...more ladies. :-b I heart him so much. I need to read one of his books this break.

Hm, Nightrunner? I'll have to check that one out. I enjoyed Melusine and Virtu too, aside from some very large, glaring plotholes. And my overall hatred of Felix. Hate hate hate hate. ...HATE.

The other book sounds kinda interesting, ish. And re: Philia--I like pseudo-settings! I want to write a story set in one like that. Where it doesn't really matter where it is, it's just got a society kinda like *insert place* without really being *insert place* but if you know *insert place* then you'll be able to catch on pretty quick. (Yes, I am lazy. But if I could do it well...)

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Where do I start with Terry Prachett? I know there was a discussion about it in Chatzy awhile back, but I wouldn't know where/how to look for it... suggestions?