A Change in State of Mind

[adelynne]

Four (just four, no scores) years ago, when I graduated from college, I spent a good three months applying for lab tech jobs, watching Stargate (SG-1 and Atlantis), and Firefly on my sister's computer, and otherwise emphatically vegging in her house. I think I may have been what is known as "burned out" - I still remember the feeling of being

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

I'm glad to hear you are getting back in the reading/thinking about writing groove! (I can't remember... I think I hadn't written up comments for the last chapter or two of Glamour you posted, though I do think I read them. I should go back and check -- and I do want to know what happens next!)

On the reading, what did you think of Ironside? (I liked it quite a bit, myself). I also finally read AGaTB, and liked it, but have yet to find/read either of the sequels.

[adelynne]

I also liked Ironside a lot. I felt that her writing had gotten much tighter and cleaner, for want of a better term. The story had good pacing, it didn't really drag, but I did see the major plot twists coming a mile away. I did really enjoy the character growth I saw, too.

I think I like TSFT and AGaTB more than Rebel Angels. Though I think its because I figured out the major mystery of RA - who is Circe - way back in AGaTB and curse the characters for being dense. TSFT had much more going for it. It was really the book where they grow up, and I do find the ending appropriate.

You have not, indeed, critiqued the last two chapters I posted way back when. Which is a shame, 'cause I'd just gotten to the good part, too. But I'll make you a deal - you critique and I'll edit the next chapter and upload it. Feedback shall be my cookie. (They're all tagged "faeries and friends" and linked off the sidebar of my LJ.)

[hamsterwoman]

I felt that her writing had gotten much tighter and cleaner, for want of a better term. The story had good pacing, it didn't really drag

Yep, that was my impression, too -- that some of the craft issues which had distracted me in Tithe had gotten a lot better by Ironside. I saw all/most of the plot twists a mile away, too (who Roiben would have to fight, Dave's death, the whole Corny/Luis thing (is that even a plot twist?)), except Kaye's solution to the quest.

I think I like TSFT and AGaTB more than Rebel Angels. Really? I haven't talked to very many folks who've read the trilogy, but the consensus I'd heard so far seemed to be that book 2 was really good and book 3 got really odd (in terms of characterization, maybe? or resolution, or something? I don't remember the details) I do want to read both, though, yeah, Circe's identity is pretty obvious back in AGaTB, and the characters are not particularly bright when it comes to making connections

[adelynne]

Bray does have a tendency - and I see it mostly with Felicity - to come up with a backstory or plot point that a character really should have, and insert it into the second two books with no foreshadow. It's a shame, and at least in RA there's a specific quirk that directly, to me, contradicts something as written in AGaTB. She does it again with TSFT, but she spends more time building it up and it's much more authentic to me. lareinenoire and I were talking about that last night. :)

Kaye's solution bugs me a bit, because the actual quest was "an untruth" not "a lie." But it works, so I let it slide.

Yay notes!

Is there a way to talk to you in real-time, or is it solely an LJ-comment thing?

[lareinenoire]

As I think I mentioned last night, yay! Books are good and writing is good.

[adelynne]

That they are. I'm still afraid to look at Hono(u)r, though. I described it to Doyle as my "Empire Strikes Back" and it's never good when you can't open the file for fear and shame...

[lareinenoire]

No, indeed. Although I have found that having a stiff drink and then forcing yourself to open it does work sometimes.

[adelynne]

It's a plan. I'll give it a shot this weekend.

(From what I recall, the prologue isn't half-bad. Needs to be reworked, but the actual scene is fine. The first chapter isn't horrid, either. It's just that I can't move past that.)