Recent books.
May. 11th, 2012 09:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snarpNorstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith
I think Yukito Kishiro and Cordwainer Smith might have been twins separated at birth. I'm not sure which is the evil one.
This is a positive review, if that's not clear! (I really like Yukito Kishiro, you know.) I'm just sort of at a loss to describe this book. It has the peculiar distinction of being a melancholy book made up of an almost unbroken sequence of manic comedic scenes.
Midnight Never Come, by Marie Brennan
You know when you watch a sci-fi movie where they've put a lot of money and work into this CGI monster, but they haven't really matched it very well to the scenery and actors, and the incongruity somehow renders it weightless and powerless? This book's like that.
It's set half in the court of Queen Elizabeth, and half in the court of her secret fairy counterpart, Queen Invidiana, and the main characters are minor courtiers - a human man and a fairy woman - attempting to navigate the social and financial perils of each. The author has clearly done a decent amount of research into how stuff worked in Elizabeth's court, and she's put some thought into the whole fairy court thing, too. So there should be a sense of risk surrounding the actions that the protagonists take - the guy's decision to take out loans to buy himself new clothes to please the Queen, the woman's to sneak out of the palace to pay a visit. I mean, Dorothy Dunnett can make this sort of stuff terrifying.
But there's no feeling of danger, because stuff somehow seems to happen at random, regardless of how carefully or recklessly they're behaving. The girl makes a lot of risky decisions - the sneaking out of the palace thing, and hoarding a kind of bread that confers special powers - which she often worries might get her in serious trouble. Spoilers - they don't! They never matter at all, in either direction. When she gets thrown in prison, it's because of some random decision made by somebody else offscreen. And then she gets released the same way. Here's another metaphor for the book - it's sort of a novelization of one of those lab tests where they arbitrarily punish and reward a rat until it goes catatonic.
I think Yukito Kishiro and Cordwainer Smith might have been twins separated at birth. I'm not sure which is the evil one.
This is a positive review, if that's not clear! (I really like Yukito Kishiro, you know.) I'm just sort of at a loss to describe this book. It has the peculiar distinction of being a melancholy book made up of an almost unbroken sequence of manic comedic scenes.
Midnight Never Come, by Marie Brennan
You know when you watch a sci-fi movie where they've put a lot of money and work into this CGI monster, but they haven't really matched it very well to the scenery and actors, and the incongruity somehow renders it weightless and powerless? This book's like that.
It's set half in the court of Queen Elizabeth, and half in the court of her secret fairy counterpart, Queen Invidiana, and the main characters are minor courtiers - a human man and a fairy woman - attempting to navigate the social and financial perils of each. The author has clearly done a decent amount of research into how stuff worked in Elizabeth's court, and she's put some thought into the whole fairy court thing, too. So there should be a sense of risk surrounding the actions that the protagonists take - the guy's decision to take out loans to buy himself new clothes to please the Queen, the woman's to sneak out of the palace to pay a visit. I mean, Dorothy Dunnett can make this sort of stuff terrifying.
But there's no feeling of danger, because stuff somehow seems to happen at random, regardless of how carefully or recklessly they're behaving. The girl makes a lot of risky decisions - the sneaking out of the palace thing, and hoarding a kind of bread that confers special powers - which she often worries might get her in serious trouble. Spoilers - they don't! They never matter at all, in either direction. When she gets thrown in prison, it's because of some random decision made by somebody else offscreen. And then she gets released the same way. Here's another metaphor for the book - it's sort of a novelization of one of those lab tests where they arbitrarily punish and reward a rat until it goes catatonic.
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Date: 2012-05-12 02:42 am (UTC)I'm very fond of Norstrilia! I should re-read it sometime. Have you read any of his short stories? Some of them are utter crack like you wouldn't believe (except you've just read Norstrilia, so ... ). My favorite scene in the novel is when Ron is in disguise and being questioned by the police after the encounter with Tostig Amaral. I'm also fond of the visit to the underpeople cafe.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-13 06:08 am (UTC)