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timepiececlockI read two books this week, both picked up from a rather shameful binge-buy at the Houston airport on Memorial Day (5 books...) I enjoyed both, but I only expect I'll be reading the sequel to the latter.
Dead Until Dark: From the description on the back I expected this to be more cute-vampire-book than mystery-vampire-book. It turned out to be romantic, but not really very cute or funny. The romance itself I was only moderately sold on. I ended up liking the protagonist well-enough, but being pretty much bored with all the male characters, including the main vampire love interest. The protagonist annoyed me too sometimes because she just took too much stuff in stride-- at moments it was almost like self-insertion fanfic (the virgin-turned-sex-kitten thing was the worst.) Nevertheless, the take on telepathy was interesting, and I liked Sookie the most when she was using her powers, rather than when she was interacting with the vampires. I'd give the plot a B, the characters a C, and the overall book a B-. I might read another book in the series at some point if one falls into my lap, but I doubt I'll purchase any more.
His Majesty's Dragon: An entertaining and decently-written novel, though ultimately a quick, coffee-table read. By that I mean that I liked it and will probably read the rest in the series, but that it didn't really melt my brain with its narrative style or make me reconsider my life/world-view. It was good, basic fantasy. I liked the dragons, and I liked the historical fiction, and I liked the ship-talk. I think the basic idea is a fresh take on writing about dragon-riders, something that has a gleam of similarity to Anne McCafferey's books but ultimately is dissimilar enough to stand on its own. I honestly think I'd prefer to have a dragon of Novik's over a dragon of Pern: You still get a lifelong friend who makes intelligent conversation and can fly, but it's much less exhausting than sharing a mental/telepathic co-dependency. I also like the attention given to describing the varieties and breeds. The gender roles of both the dragons and the riders in both series would be an interesting topic to delve into, but I'm about to be kicked off the lounge computer so that will have to wait until another day. I give the plot an A, the characters a B, and the overall story a B+.
Dead Until Dark: From the description on the back I expected this to be more cute-vampire-book than mystery-vampire-book. It turned out to be romantic, but not really very cute or funny. The romance itself I was only moderately sold on. I ended up liking the protagonist well-enough, but being pretty much bored with all the male characters, including the main vampire love interest. The protagonist annoyed me too sometimes because she just took too much stuff in stride-- at moments it was almost like self-insertion fanfic (the virgin-turned-sex-kitten thing was the worst.) Nevertheless, the take on telepathy was interesting, and I liked Sookie the most when she was using her powers, rather than when she was interacting with the vampires. I'd give the plot a B, the characters a C, and the overall book a B-. I might read another book in the series at some point if one falls into my lap, but I doubt I'll purchase any more.
His Majesty's Dragon: An entertaining and decently-written novel, though ultimately a quick, coffee-table read. By that I mean that I liked it and will probably read the rest in the series, but that it didn't really melt my brain with its narrative style or make me reconsider my life/world-view. It was good, basic fantasy. I liked the dragons, and I liked the historical fiction, and I liked the ship-talk. I think the basic idea is a fresh take on writing about dragon-riders, something that has a gleam of similarity to Anne McCafferey's books but ultimately is dissimilar enough to stand on its own. I honestly think I'd prefer to have a dragon of Novik's over a dragon of Pern: You still get a lifelong friend who makes intelligent conversation and can fly, but it's much less exhausting than sharing a mental/telepathic co-dependency. I also like the attention given to describing the varieties and breeds. The gender roles of both the dragons and the riders in both series would be an interesting topic to delve into, but I'm about to be kicked off the lounge computer so that will have to wait until another day. I give the plot an A, the characters a B, and the overall story a B+.
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Date: 2007-06-06 04:27 am (UTC)I haven't read His Majesty's Dragon yet, but you've motivated me to put it on my library queue; thanks!
Hope you're doing well.
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Date: 2007-06-12 02:35 am (UTC)I'm doing well, thank you. And I get my first vacation in two weeks.
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Date: 2007-07-09 03:08 am (UTC)re: Dragon of Pern vs. Dragon of Novik-- I don't know. That teleporting thing the Pern dragons do was pretty cool. And I just, in general, enjoyed that universe. But I don't think I could pick.
:)