Remaining February Books, before I forget
Mar. 26th, 2006 07:53 pmTim Powers, Last Call
I didn't like this as much as I've liked most of Powers' work; the interweaving of different myths felt clumsy, it was all ugly and grungy, the poker didn't interest me, and I didn't like the characters much, though there were some interesting grotesques.
Tad Williams, Shadowmarch
Typical Tad Williams; richly detailed setting, the characters keep getting lost, and it isn't by any stretch of the imagination a stand-alone, ending on at least three different cliffhangers. The idea of Faerie, long driven out of mortal lands, coming back for one last desperate war, is intriguing. There's something a bit funny about the tech levels, with a god-king living in ancient-Egyptian splendour, and muskets.
Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist
Vintage fantasy, set in a small republic that's cut off imports of addictive fairy fruit from neighbouring fairyland. I did find myself wondering if it could be read as a parable about Prohibition. It had an interestingly stylized feel, as if all the images had outlines around them; in that sense the cover art was appropriate, though it seems to show a castle and there aren't any in the story.
Patricia McKillip, Solstice Wood
I enjoyed this, but I'm not sure McKillip was playing to her strengths by branching into contemporary fantasy; it felt a lot less original than most of her work. There were some charming touches, like ( minor spoilers. ) The ending was ... different, and rather sweet, but a bit anticlimactic.
Simon Winchester, The River at the Center of the World
Fascinating saga of a trip up the Yangtze, from the delta to Tibet, the mid-1990's. Lovely vignettes, interesting snippets of history. I'm glad I read the basic history of China first, but this put a lot more flesh on the bones.
In other news, we've been having 90-degree weather, I'm running the a.c. right now, and I just turned off L&O:CI because I was completely failing to follow it.
I didn't like this as much as I've liked most of Powers' work; the interweaving of different myths felt clumsy, it was all ugly and grungy, the poker didn't interest me, and I didn't like the characters much, though there were some interesting grotesques.
Tad Williams, Shadowmarch
Typical Tad Williams; richly detailed setting, the characters keep getting lost, and it isn't by any stretch of the imagination a stand-alone, ending on at least three different cliffhangers. The idea of Faerie, long driven out of mortal lands, coming back for one last desperate war, is intriguing. There's something a bit funny about the tech levels, with a god-king living in ancient-Egyptian splendour, and muskets.
Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist
Vintage fantasy, set in a small republic that's cut off imports of addictive fairy fruit from neighbouring fairyland. I did find myself wondering if it could be read as a parable about Prohibition. It had an interestingly stylized feel, as if all the images had outlines around them; in that sense the cover art was appropriate, though it seems to show a castle and there aren't any in the story.
Patricia McKillip, Solstice Wood
I enjoyed this, but I'm not sure McKillip was playing to her strengths by branching into contemporary fantasy; it felt a lot less original than most of her work. There were some charming touches, like ( minor spoilers. ) The ending was ... different, and rather sweet, but a bit anticlimactic.
Simon Winchester, The River at the Center of the World
Fascinating saga of a trip up the Yangtze, from the delta to Tibet, the mid-1990's. Lovely vignettes, interesting snippets of history. I'm glad I read the basic history of China first, but this put a lot more flesh on the bones.
In other news, we've been having 90-degree weather, I'm running the a.c. right now, and I just turned off L&O:CI because I was completely failing to follow it.
