(no subject)
Oct. 26th, 2009 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catrionaI've been reading a lot of YA Lit recently. I tore through Cassandra Clare's City of series and loved it to pieces. A few of the plot twists were annoyingly obvious, especially in the first book (hmm, my mom was married to evil guy 16 years ago and I'm about to turn 16, maybe I should think about this? Apparently not!) but the ending was perfectly done.
Next I read Holly Black's Tithe series and loved it just as much. What can I say, I've always enjoyed urban fantasy. That it's young adult urban fantasy and has actual gay characters is just icing on the cake.
After that I tried Eyes like Stars, which ended up not really holding my interest, despite the interesting premise that the main character lives in a magical theater. The magic theater ended up actually getting on my nerves, because I actually do work with stage plays and it takes so much more work than waving your hand to make real stage magic happen. It just didn't end up feeling like it was really about the theater, with only three crew and no actors around (just characters). I wasn't interested in the romance with Ariel, and the issue of her possible departure from the theater didn't feel pressing. In fact, although I liked her a lot, I began to wish it was the story of her getting kicked out and dealing with the world outside the theater. However it's set up for a sequel and if one comes out and I notice it, I'll probably read it.
The next book I picked up was Ash, by Malinda Lo, a retelling of the story of Cinderella. I really loved it. It reminded me of Robin McKinley's Beauty and Rose Daughter, not just because they are also retellings of a fairy tale, but because of the language and the dreamlike quality of the story. And yes, it is a lesbian retelling, but I didn't know that for sure and kept wondering if it was really going to go there and then much to my happiness it did. I liked that same sex couples seemed to be unusual but accepted in the society of the story, but I want to know more, such as what is Ash's status going to be after the book ends? The story is over, it's true, but most fairy tales end with "and they lived happily ever after", meaning they have everyone's blessing and get married, then she moves into his palace and he provides for her for the rest of their days. In this story, I trust everything will be happily ever after, but I still have questions.
Hmm, what else have I read recently? Oh yeah, the Lies of Locke Lamora, because I love mastermind thief stories and heard this was a good one. I liked it okay, but I didn't love it and won't reread it. I'm not even sure why it didn't quite click for me. Not enough masterminding, too much running? Too much death, often gory? Revenge being the whole motive first of the bad guys, then of the good guys in retaliation? That might be it-I find an escalating cycle of killing each other for revenge entirely useless. I hear there's a sequel too, but I doubt I'll read it unless it somehow ends up in my lap.
Right now I'm reading Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby. I haven't read any of his stuff before, but I'm enjoying this. I like Annie and there's a lot of humor in it, although there's some borderline uncomfortable stuff about fans in general that I'm not sure about. I'll have to see how it goes.
Next I read Holly Black's Tithe series and loved it just as much. What can I say, I've always enjoyed urban fantasy. That it's young adult urban fantasy and has actual gay characters is just icing on the cake.
After that I tried Eyes like Stars, which ended up not really holding my interest, despite the interesting premise that the main character lives in a magical theater. The magic theater ended up actually getting on my nerves, because I actually do work with stage plays and it takes so much more work than waving your hand to make real stage magic happen. It just didn't end up feeling like it was really about the theater, with only three crew and no actors around (just characters). I wasn't interested in the romance with Ariel, and the issue of her possible departure from the theater didn't feel pressing. In fact, although I liked her a lot, I began to wish it was the story of her getting kicked out and dealing with the world outside the theater. However it's set up for a sequel and if one comes out and I notice it, I'll probably read it.
The next book I picked up was Ash, by Malinda Lo, a retelling of the story of Cinderella. I really loved it. It reminded me of Robin McKinley's Beauty and Rose Daughter, not just because they are also retellings of a fairy tale, but because of the language and the dreamlike quality of the story. And yes, it is a lesbian retelling, but I didn't know that for sure and kept wondering if it was really going to go there and then much to my happiness it did. I liked that same sex couples seemed to be unusual but accepted in the society of the story, but I want to know more, such as what is Ash's status going to be after the book ends? The story is over, it's true, but most fairy tales end with "and they lived happily ever after", meaning they have everyone's blessing and get married, then she moves into his palace and he provides for her for the rest of their days. In this story, I trust everything will be happily ever after, but I still have questions.
Hmm, what else have I read recently? Oh yeah, the Lies of Locke Lamora, because I love mastermind thief stories and heard this was a good one. I liked it okay, but I didn't love it and won't reread it. I'm not even sure why it didn't quite click for me. Not enough masterminding, too much running? Too much death, often gory? Revenge being the whole motive first of the bad guys, then of the good guys in retaliation? That might be it-I find an escalating cycle of killing each other for revenge entirely useless. I hear there's a sequel too, but I doubt I'll read it unless it somehow ends up in my lap.
Right now I'm reading Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby. I haven't read any of his stuff before, but I'm enjoying this. I like Annie and there's a lot of humor in it, although there's some borderline uncomfortable stuff about fans in general that I'm not sure about. I'll have to see how it goes.