I enjoyed it too, and I don't read modern fantasy anymore. If I had known it was magic university, I never would have picked it up, but I am glad I did...
And why do you love China Mieville so much? To me he reads like he is trying to be Howard with a certain level of brevity, but comes out rather confusing due to all the made up fucking words he uses.
Perdido Street Station, especially the first time I read it, felt overly dense with too much purple prose. But The Scar and Iron Council really came around for me and corrected those problems.
...especially intriguing for me was the seemingly huge contrast between the classic fantasy vibe of the main story and the "dark fantasy" of the frame story.
Well, your obvious enthusiasm certainly made me want to read this. Even as I type this, amazon's salesmonkeys are scurrying about on my behalf. Thanks for the tip.
Re: Liked and Devoured but didn't LovekribblerMay 19 2009, 11:30:08 UTC
Even so, something that evokes that kind of emotion has to have something worth reading inside it.
There's plenty of books that, while hardly great, have won a special place in my heart with some silly detail or scene that lodges in my brain. I'm willing to take a few risks for the chance of more of that sort of thing.
I found I kept getting frustrated with the main character not getting the guts to actually speak to his love interest and so put it down in disgust.
It occurs to me that in a lot of fiction, people not talking to each other, and so creating problems that could have easily been solved had they only talked to each other is a commonly used trope, though, so whatever.
One of the things I really liked about Kim Wilkins's The Autumn Castle is that it doesn't fall into this trap. One character hears a Dark Secret about another. She actually goes to him and asks him about it, and they talk. Amazing.
Another thing I liked is that while it is very much a modern fairy tale and does not wallow in muck and grime (something I think overdone -- ooh, lookey, we're realIStic, not like that Tolkien fellow! Smell that mud and piss! Note how nasty all the characters are, except the ones who get abused!), Wilkins is well aware that money is important. The house of artists that's such a cliche works because we find out where the money's coming from.
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And why do you love China Mieville so much? To me he reads like he is trying to be Howard with a certain level of brevity, but comes out rather confusing due to all the made up fucking words he uses.
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...especially intriguing for me was the seemingly huge contrast between the classic fantasy vibe of the main story and the "dark fantasy" of the frame story.
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I believe my comment on finishing the book was, "Awesome, but needs more swordfights." I hope the next book will deliver. :)
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I did like it and devoured it but did not LOVE it.
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There's plenty of books that, while hardly great, have won a special place in my heart with some silly detail or scene that lodges in my brain. I'm willing to take a few risks for the chance of more of that sort of thing.
But thank you for the warning anyway.
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It occurs to me that in a lot of fiction, people not talking to each other, and so creating problems that could have easily been solved had they only talked to each other is a commonly used trope, though, so whatever.
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Another thing I liked is that while it is very much a modern fairy tale and does not wallow in muck and grime (something I think overdone -- ooh, lookey, we're realIStic, not like that Tolkien fellow! Smell that mud and piss! Note how nasty all the characters are, except the ones who get abused!), Wilkins is well aware that money is important. The house of artists that's such a cliche works because we find out where the money's coming from.
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