Deirdre > Recent Status Updates

I'm not too far into this one yet, but so far it seems promising. I find the main character to be very relatable right off the bat, so that seems like a good sign.

Andy Davidson's prose here is as lovely as in the Boatman's Daughter, but the characterization and plotting are a definite step up from his previous effort. I love to see a writer improve at their craft. While the plot may be a slow burn, I don't mind that as long as I am entertained and so far I am very entertained.

Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but typically when fantasy authors try to invent new ways of cursing in a book, the results tend to turn out more laughable than impressive.

Miles Vorkosigan...sometimes I relate to him so hard and sometimes I just wanna throttle that hyper little bullshit artist.

So far fairly enjoyable, though bog-standard fantasy fare.

Love how scathing and effective a critique this is of capitalism "In a sense, [Azadian society] even recognizes the "sanctity" of the body..but only to violate it. It all boils down to ownership, possession; about taking and having." (pg. 266)

So far I'm really digging the writing. While I don't necessarily consider the garnering of literary awards the indicator of a good book, I can definitely see why so many people liked this one.

Right now I'm kinda stalled on this one. I will be getting around to finish my re-read of it and the third book eventually, but for now I'm tabling it.

While the cover makes this book look like some schmaltzy Mercedes Lackey clone, nothing could be further from the truth, my friends. In fact, this novel could be seen as an antidote Lackey's relentless tweeness.

Okay, now the plot is really gearing up and I will be very interested to see where this goes.

This is really good. So nice to have an old woman as the protagonist. Ofelia rules.

Okay, now it's starting to pick up a bit. I would have to say that the Culture drones are the stars of the piece so far to me. I haven't really read a ton of books with sentient AI in them so maybe that's why I find them so fascinating.

So far this is not grabbing me the way Consider Phlebas did. Maybe it's because Gurgeh is a bit of a pompous windbag, and not even a very entertaining one at that.

This is quite good so far. It's a shame this series is not better known.

So far this is every bit as good as I remember it being.

So far this is every bit as good as I remember it being, and then some.

So cool, it looks like this book explores the Culture a bit more from an insider's perspective rather than an outsider's. Looking forward to reading it during my vacation this week.

Okay, I'm more of the way into the re-read and yeah, this book is definitely pushing the "white savior" narrative pretty hard, and it's enough to make me lower my opinion of the book. There are still parts I like and enjoy reading (I appreciate the good parts of the book), but the whole white savior is a huge flaw in a book I once really liked as a teenager but didn't notice at the time.

I can some narrative and pacing flaws in this book, but honestly I am too blown away by the world-building and the characterization to care. Plus it doesn't hurt that the author was a leftie politically and this informs his book nicely. The Culture seems a bit like the "ambiguous utopia" Annares was in LeGuin's The Dispossessed, only with vastly more material resources.

Read this a few years back and adored it. I am re-reading it again because a) I want to re-read a book I am pretty certain will not disappoint me like many of the books I have been re-reading lately and b) so I can hopefully write a more comprehensive review of how much it rocks. :)

It's so nice to read a book where being fat doesn't constitute a character defect. The MC describes her body as being "well-padded", and when she ribs her overweight parole officer/lawyer for weight, he counters by saying something to the effect of "yeah I could change my appearance if i wanted to, but I don't want to." Refreshing to see.

I think some judicious skimming may be in order to avoid the excessive hand-wringing and not very well-written existential angst from these characters. It's not like I'm afraid I'll miss out on anything, given that it's my second time reading this book and I pretty much know how it goes.

I am unironically loving the adjudication of farming disputes scene here, if only because it keeps the characters from wallowing in their angst for a few paragraphs/pages at least. Man, I forgot how much Lackey loves angst.

The narrative picks up quite a bit once our duo leaves Haven, I am happy to report, <spoiler> though with Talia's wards crumbling, I am sensing more patented Mercedes Lackey melodrama ahead </spoiler>. Also like any self-respecting fantasy Mary-Sue, Talia is an Empath, which is like, the most emo smol bean fantasy superpower ever.

I like how Mara is actually being self-reflective about how she treats people below her station. That said, it irks me that this self-reflection comes about because some "Enlightened" White Dude from generic Euro-fantasy world says "hey Mara, has anyone ever told you your caste-based society is kind unfair, mmkay?" This white savior trope is too common in fantasy, but I think kinda belabored that already.

I am really perversely entranced by this book. Sure it's gross and weird, but I like gross and weird. The author's description of the Mind's information capacity did almost make my tiny little mind explode.

I'm going to interrupt my stream of complaints to say that the chirras are very adorable and a good addition to the story. Also, the dialogue is lot less banter-y now that Talia and Kris have hit the road, and that is all to the good.