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charameiIt's snowing! It's snowing and I don't have to worry about getting into work until tomorrow and the flakes are really big and it's only three inches but that's an inch more than it was when I got up thirty minutes ago it's SNOWING, WINTER IS HERE, IT'S OFFICIAL - oh, wait. Sorry, Mr Scalzi, I'll stop upsetting November now.
No more am I confined by endless NaNo research to reading historical textbooks! I can get back to reading fiction, which is good, because I miss it.
I have a confession to make. I'm lazy and should have reviewed this four months ago, and as a result, I don't remember it too well now.
But I do recall that it's one of the good ones. It wasn't blow-your-brains-out brilliant, but there were no massive plotholes, some very well-designed villains, and at least one moment that stuck in my mind as being absolutely perfect. It didn't talk down or hand-hold and it had a very good take on how a young civilisation would react to an apocalyptic event. Also, sentient otters and Martha not being treated like crap by the Doctor.
I really shouldn't wait four months to review things.
Fortunately, I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms last night! So I'm not a completely hopeless case.
The first and most important thing that struck me when I opened this book is: it was written with love.
More than usual, I mean. All good authors, and plenty of bad ones, love what they're doing. Why else would they be doing it? But Jemisin's love for what she's doing dances out of the pages, palpable from the very first word to the very last entry in the glossary. As well as this, or perhaps because of it, it's very tightly-written: there's not a word out of place anywhere, let alone a line or a paragraph. The glossary was completely unnecessary, because Jemisin lays her world on the page so artfully that I never once had to stop and refresh my memory.
The characters live: Yeine in particular comes alive in every line of prose, as should the protagonist of a first-person story. I will admit to finding Kurue, the goddess of wisdom singularly unwise, but equally I was never in doubt that it was intentional on Jemisin's part. (I can see Kurue's point of view: I just don't find it the wisest course of action. But, you know.) The gods are at once alien and recognisably human; many of the humans I found to be rather one-sidedly evil, but even so, recognisably evil. Under different circumstances, I could see them turning out differently, which means that somewhere under the one-sidedness there was some excellent characterisation showing through.
A keeper, and highly recommended.
OMG BLIZZARD THE SNOW IS GOING ALMOST HORIZONTAL I'm going to have so much trouble getting into work tomorrow but SNOW.
No more am I confined by endless NaNo research to reading historical textbooks! I can get back to reading fiction, which is good, because I miss it.
Doctor Who: Wetworld (Tenth Doctor Adventures, Mark Michalowski)
I have a confession to make. I'm lazy and should have reviewed this four months ago, and as a result, I don't remember it too well now.
But I do recall that it's one of the good ones. It wasn't blow-your-brains-out brilliant, but there were no massive plotholes, some very well-designed villains, and at least one moment that stuck in my mind as being absolutely perfect. It didn't talk down or hand-hold and it had a very good take on how a young civilisation would react to an apocalyptic event. Also, sentient otters and Martha not being treated like crap by the Doctor.
I really shouldn't wait four months to review things.
Fortunately, I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms last night! So I'm not a completely hopeless case.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: N. K. Jemisin
The first and most important thing that struck me when I opened this book is: it was written with love.
More than usual, I mean. All good authors, and plenty of bad ones, love what they're doing. Why else would they be doing it? But Jemisin's love for what she's doing dances out of the pages, palpable from the very first word to the very last entry in the glossary. As well as this, or perhaps because of it, it's very tightly-written: there's not a word out of place anywhere, let alone a line or a paragraph. The glossary was completely unnecessary, because Jemisin lays her world on the page so artfully that I never once had to stop and refresh my memory.
The characters live: Yeine in particular comes alive in every line of prose, as should the protagonist of a first-person story. I will admit to finding Kurue, the goddess of wisdom singularly unwise, but equally I was never in doubt that it was intentional on Jemisin's part. (I can see Kurue's point of view: I just don't find it the wisest course of action. But, you know.) The gods are at once alien and recognisably human; many of the humans I found to be rather one-sidedly evil, but even so, recognisably evil. Under different circumstances, I could see them turning out differently, which means that somewhere under the one-sidedness there was some excellent characterisation showing through.
A keeper, and highly recommended.
OMG BLIZZARD THE SNOW IS GOING ALMOST HORIZONTAL I'm going to have so much trouble getting into work tomorrow but SNOW.
