![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A bit of a backlog of reviews.
St Peter's Fair (Ellis Peters)
Another lovely historical mystery, blending the two nicely, and bringing in political and religious concerns, with a light touch. I can't understand the handful of reviews I've read that think the Brother Cadfael books are too heavy, the prose too dense. It's nice light reading, as far as I'm concerned. But then, I read actual medieval texts for fun, so a modern historical novel is unlikely to faze me...
The thing that bothers me, slightly, four books in, is that every book pairs up the female characters. Granted, most women would've married, and it's not a though the characters become less awesome for being paired up, but it's starting to become very predictable.
Still, I quite liked the characters, this time round, and was glad to see more of Hugh and Aline.
Santa Olivia (Jacqueline Carey)
I didn't even know about Santa Olivia until I saw someone else mention it a month or so ago. Maybe that's a good thing, because I was in just the right mood to read Santa Olivia right now. It's not high fantasy, like the Kushiel books: it's speculative fiction, with a bit of flu pandemic apocalypse and an oppressive government. And Loup isn't like Phèdre.
Loup is the daughter of a genetically modified man. She's something like a female Wolverine, if you know your superheroes. She's stronger and faster, and she doesn't know how to feel fear. Her brother gets killed in a boxing accident, after somebody cheats, and she's determined to fight back, and she trains to be a boxer herself. I thought I'd find that aspect boring, but the other characters surrounding her, their motivations and how they begin to change, make even that interesting.
She's also in a relationship with another woman. The attitude toward love isn't like in Kushiel -- "love as thou wilt" -- but thankfully the point isn't belaboured either. It feels closer to realistic than the Kushiel books without hammering home that hey, people aren't comfortable with lesbian relationships. I was worried that this would be brushed off at the end of the book, that the love story aspect would just peter out, but it stays present right to the end, so yay.
Looking forward to seeing more of it, I think. It isn't as amazing as Kushiel, as far as I'm concerned, but I want to see more of the characters.
Jamaica Inn (Daphne du Maurier)
I saw a lot of this book coming. The romance between Jem and Mary, such as it was; the evil albino stereotype; Jem's actions... The atmosphere itself is quite good: the damp chill of it came across well, and the oppressive feeling, and the horror of it... in fact, it rarely shed that atmosphere, even in the brighter moments. And the character of the landlord and his wife are, though still stereotypical, still reasonably well done. I could believe in Patience's cringing servility, and in the landlord's rages.
Still, beyond that, I didn't get very deeply involved in it. I wouldn't pick it up again, riveted by the story. The love story between Jem and Mary isn't very believable, partially because of the oppressive atmosphere and because of Jem and Mary's personalities. Mary doesn't seem like the kind of girl to fall in love with a rough and untender man like Jem, or to go running after him if she did. And she doesn't fight it, either.
Despite the atmosphere, which worked, I didn't really believe in Mary's feelings at all, actually. I didn't really feel her fear or loathing or desperation or love.
Wild Orchid (Cameron Dokey)
This series of fairytale retellings caught my eye as something that might be fun and quick to read. It was both. This story is a sweet little romance, with a strong female character at the centre, and it's not one of the typical Western fairytales either, though most of the rest of the series is.
While I enjoyed it, and read it very quickly, I wouldn't give it three stars because it is in no way historically accurate or culturally plausible. There's tiny hints at research into Chinese customs, but it doesn't come alive for me -- not in the way that, say, Cindy Pon's [book:Silver Phoenix|5577995] does. And while there's more depth to it than in a fairytale, it doesn't really manage to give it depth, or strength, or the great sweetness that could be in it. There are some lovely passages, actually, but most of the time it's prosaic, the first person narration isn't very distinctive, and the story could be set anywhere, with any characters.
Which is not to say that it's not fun to sit with it on a quiet evening, and it's reasonably absorbing -- I did read it all in one go, after all -- but it doesn't have the depth and life that I hoped for.
St Peter's Fair (Ellis Peters)
Another lovely historical mystery, blending the two nicely, and bringing in political and religious concerns, with a light touch. I can't understand the handful of reviews I've read that think the Brother Cadfael books are too heavy, the prose too dense. It's nice light reading, as far as I'm concerned. But then, I read actual medieval texts for fun, so a modern historical novel is unlikely to faze me...
The thing that bothers me, slightly, four books in, is that every book pairs up the female characters. Granted, most women would've married, and it's not a though the characters become less awesome for being paired up, but it's starting to become very predictable.
Still, I quite liked the characters, this time round, and was glad to see more of Hugh and Aline.
Santa Olivia (Jacqueline Carey)
I didn't even know about Santa Olivia until I saw someone else mention it a month or so ago. Maybe that's a good thing, because I was in just the right mood to read Santa Olivia right now. It's not high fantasy, like the Kushiel books: it's speculative fiction, with a bit of flu pandemic apocalypse and an oppressive government. And Loup isn't like Phèdre.
Loup is the daughter of a genetically modified man. She's something like a female Wolverine, if you know your superheroes. She's stronger and faster, and she doesn't know how to feel fear. Her brother gets killed in a boxing accident, after somebody cheats, and she's determined to fight back, and she trains to be a boxer herself. I thought I'd find that aspect boring, but the other characters surrounding her, their motivations and how they begin to change, make even that interesting.
She's also in a relationship with another woman. The attitude toward love isn't like in Kushiel -- "love as thou wilt" -- but thankfully the point isn't belaboured either. It feels closer to realistic than the Kushiel books without hammering home that hey, people aren't comfortable with lesbian relationships. I was worried that this would be brushed off at the end of the book, that the love story aspect would just peter out, but it stays present right to the end, so yay.
Looking forward to seeing more of it, I think. It isn't as amazing as Kushiel, as far as I'm concerned, but I want to see more of the characters.
Jamaica Inn (Daphne du Maurier)
I saw a lot of this book coming. The romance between Jem and Mary, such as it was; the evil albino stereotype; Jem's actions... The atmosphere itself is quite good: the damp chill of it came across well, and the oppressive feeling, and the horror of it... in fact, it rarely shed that atmosphere, even in the brighter moments. And the character of the landlord and his wife are, though still stereotypical, still reasonably well done. I could believe in Patience's cringing servility, and in the landlord's rages.
Still, beyond that, I didn't get very deeply involved in it. I wouldn't pick it up again, riveted by the story. The love story between Jem and Mary isn't very believable, partially because of the oppressive atmosphere and because of Jem and Mary's personalities. Mary doesn't seem like the kind of girl to fall in love with a rough and untender man like Jem, or to go running after him if she did. And she doesn't fight it, either.
Despite the atmosphere, which worked, I didn't really believe in Mary's feelings at all, actually. I didn't really feel her fear or loathing or desperation or love.
Wild Orchid (Cameron Dokey)
This series of fairytale retellings caught my eye as something that might be fun and quick to read. It was both. This story is a sweet little romance, with a strong female character at the centre, and it's not one of the typical Western fairytales either, though most of the rest of the series is.
While I enjoyed it, and read it very quickly, I wouldn't give it three stars because it is in no way historically accurate or culturally plausible. There's tiny hints at research into Chinese customs, but it doesn't come alive for me -- not in the way that, say, Cindy Pon's [book:Silver Phoenix|5577995] does. And while there's more depth to it than in a fairytale, it doesn't really manage to give it depth, or strength, or the great sweetness that could be in it. There are some lovely passages, actually, but most of the time it's prosaic, the first person narration isn't very distinctive, and the story could be set anywhere, with any characters.
Which is not to say that it's not fun to sit with it on a quiet evening, and it's reasonably absorbing -- I did read it all in one go, after all -- but it doesn't have the depth and life that I hoped for.
