hey Fantasy fiction readers...
Dec. 4th, 2004 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockHas anyone read The Last Dragon Lord by Joanne Bertin? What did you think of it?
I'm on page 8 right now, and I'm already bored. The bookjacket summary sounded interesting, but the writing style just... it just seems bad. In eight pages there hasn't been a single sentence or turn of phrase that stood out as interesting or particularly inventive or clever. And some of the sentences are pulled right out of cliche.
Now, I can't help but compare this to the book I just finished yesterday, Blackgod by J. Gregory Keyes (sequel to The Waterborn). Why it sometimes borrowed from common fantasy ideas and had a few traditional stock character types, all the main characters were well-developed and interesting, and it had some interesting original fantasy ideas as well, particularly with the Native American spiritualism influence in the characterization of the Mang people. But, more importantly, it was well-written and interesting to read from the start. Not my favorite book, but one I was definitely invested in early on and by the end completely absorbed in needing to finally find out what was really going on (the reader and the characters are sort in the same boat with this.)
Then think about the book I finished just before Thanksgiving, Illusion by Paula Volsky. This book was basically a retelling of the combined French and Russian revolutions, set in a fanstasy world, from the perspectives of a young noblewoman ingenue, a young idealistic revolutionary, and a power-hungry revolutionary. It was rich and detail and its characters were all compelling and dynamic. In fact, it read almost more like an exciting sort of historical fiction (not my usual reading genre), but it had definite fantasy elements. And despite the fact that I knew what was going to happen in the nation's future one chapter into the book (thank you high school), it was three times as interesting as the book in front of me right now and had me totally wrapped up in it.
[Poll #397328]
I'm on page 8 right now, and I'm already bored. The bookjacket summary sounded interesting, but the writing style just... it just seems bad. In eight pages there hasn't been a single sentence or turn of phrase that stood out as interesting or particularly inventive or clever. And some of the sentences are pulled right out of cliche.
Now, I can't help but compare this to the book I just finished yesterday, Blackgod by J. Gregory Keyes (sequel to The Waterborn). Why it sometimes borrowed from common fantasy ideas and had a few traditional stock character types, all the main characters were well-developed and interesting, and it had some interesting original fantasy ideas as well, particularly with the Native American spiritualism influence in the characterization of the Mang people. But, more importantly, it was well-written and interesting to read from the start. Not my favorite book, but one I was definitely invested in early on and by the end completely absorbed in needing to finally find out what was really going on (the reader and the characters are sort in the same boat with this.)
Then think about the book I finished just before Thanksgiving, Illusion by Paula Volsky. This book was basically a retelling of the combined French and Russian revolutions, set in a fanstasy world, from the perspectives of a young noblewoman ingenue, a young idealistic revolutionary, and a power-hungry revolutionary. It was rich and detail and its characters were all compelling and dynamic. In fact, it read almost more like an exciting sort of historical fiction (not my usual reading genre), but it had definite fantasy elements. And despite the fact that I knew what was going to happen in the nation's future one chapter into the book (thank you high school), it was three times as interesting as the book in front of me right now and had me totally wrapped up in it.
[Poll #397328]
