Book review redux
May. 15th, 2006 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaRead Throne of Jade yesterday, which distracted me serviceably from my hunger haha no I was able to scrounge together an eggdrop/shrimp/bok choy soup with white rice for lunch, although all I had by way of broth material was tom-yum paste and bonito flakes so it wasn't very delicious, and when the family wasn't back by 9PM I assumed (correctly) that they'd stayed for the gala recital and went to pick up a pizza. They only got home past midnight, i.e. were still wandering around the house at 1AM, and that with the five hours the book swallowed up combined to mess with my sense of time thoroughly. I still have the vague impression that I lost Sunday behind the couch.
I actually like the second book better than the first, which considering my raging sequelitis [1] and the myriad ways in which a storyline like this could theoretically screw up before the Chinese-enabled is astonishing. Of course there is much less necessary exposition, and I happen to like ships. XD
More precisely I went through a ship period, in my tweens I think? Memory is nebulous. I mean the age at which I would draw pictures of them constantly in colour pencil, like princesses on unicorns. My sister is still in her ship period, which at its height encompassed model building. One day I will buy her a ship-inna-bottle. Sailing ships, of course, mostly British - Mark Twain fandom notwithstanding the aesthetic didn't extend to Mississippi tramp steamers - although my favorite was the American schooner [2]. I'm naturally weak in the sort of spatial-mechanical imagination involved, though, so at my best I could draw an accurate clipper or man o' war at full sail but never really understood how the rigging moved until much later. Could not visualize the terminology in the boy's own adventure stories I was reading very well, and never learnt to tie knots at all. :P (I'm sorry to say I grok Joseph's rope tricks in JoJo part 2 barely better than King Crimson....... you know, that is probably why his stand is AN EFFING VINE.)
If the question must be asked, I don't know why I'm not a Patrick O'Brian fan. XD My sister is a huge Patrick O'Brian fan. Maybe I should make another run at the books. IIRC I wasn't really in the mental space for 19th-century prose, when I tried the first time around.
Dragon-enabled China: this... really doesn't suck. Granted my general sense of Chinese history (facts and mores both) derives from fifteen-minute snippets of state television dramas, but cursorily it's as accurate as dragon-enabled England, which is almost more than one can hope for. (I seem to have very low expectations re: perspectives on t3h Orient in fantasy literature, even the alt.history branch thereof, and never realised this until they were exceeded. XD) Despite the anachronistic semi!pinyin [3] it's been whatever the Chinese equivalent of Brit-picked is, the onomastics and the way terms are dropped are v. smooth. I like how for dragons the generational character stands for breed, that sort of thing. More authors should pay attention. Like this is maybe the least of Laurell K. Hamilton's problems but when I read Anita Blake novels I'm always like, "Argh, lady, you have obviously never heard a real French person speak ever so please not to be pretending you have any idea what you're doing?" ...Actually no, I can't say it's the least of Laurell K. Hamilton's problems, at least not for me. Bad French probably does more to "throw me out" than any other single issue regarding her books, and my suspension of disbelief reading LKH is hard-earned to begin with.
I should really work on the low expectations thing. Or stop reading LKH, that would likely help. XD
I'm also cheered that Naomi Novik thought through the economic implications of her AU. That is she couldn't get quite a lot of it into the book so stuck some as end notes, for which I have complete sympathy. XD But obviously the demand for pasture/livestock would've influenced historical Han China's relations with the Northern and Western tribes and... yeah.
These books would make splendid movies, wouldn't they? Full of special effects. XD
Yongxing is quite an interesting character (due in no small part to his relationship with Lian) although this derives from a necessary opacity, the story being told from Laurence's limited POV. No point-by-point exposition by the villain on behalf of the captured heroes or any such nonsense, but there is a niggling sense of lack of catharsis, somehow. Then again many of the Chinese characters are ciphers, including the dragons, but it's easy to map their reserve onto that of historical drama characters (once again), so you sort of know what they're thinking regardless. Just that Kristin is right and probably Yongxing and Lian deserve fic the most, comparatively speaking. [4]
Only have to wait less than a month for the third book to be out in paperback, so timing is good at least. XD
[1] come to think of it this is not how 'sequelitis' is commonly used. What I mean is something more like "immune reaction toward sequels occasioned by exposure to the effects of sequelitis." Like shingles.
[2] I prefer gaff rigs visually, is this a Chinese thing lolz.
[3] With an itty-bitty bit of Wade-Giles in concession (I think) to English speakers, which is okay by me although the actual changes were a bit baffling. I mean what stands more of a chance of mental mispronunciation by yr avg non-Sinophone, the vowel sound in 'long' or the consonant sound in 'xiang'? ('Lian' would be mispronounced as a matter of course.) I'm selfishly glad she didn't go the historically accurate route, though, since I can't parse WG as effortlessly as pinyin. I stumble over the apostrophes.
[4] Though what I would most like to see is the story of Queen Bess's serving maid.
I actually like the second book better than the first, which considering my raging sequelitis [1] and the myriad ways in which a storyline like this could theoretically screw up before the Chinese-enabled is astonishing. Of course there is much less necessary exposition, and I happen to like ships. XD
More precisely I went through a ship period, in my tweens I think? Memory is nebulous. I mean the age at which I would draw pictures of them constantly in colour pencil, like princesses on unicorns. My sister is still in her ship period, which at its height encompassed model building. One day I will buy her a ship-inna-bottle. Sailing ships, of course, mostly British - Mark Twain fandom notwithstanding the aesthetic didn't extend to Mississippi tramp steamers - although my favorite was the American schooner [2]. I'm naturally weak in the sort of spatial-mechanical imagination involved, though, so at my best I could draw an accurate clipper or man o' war at full sail but never really understood how the rigging moved until much later. Could not visualize the terminology in the boy's own adventure stories I was reading very well, and never learnt to tie knots at all. :P (I'm sorry to say I grok Joseph's rope tricks in JoJo part 2 barely better than King Crimson....... you know, that is probably why his stand is AN EFFING VINE.)
If the question must be asked, I don't know why I'm not a Patrick O'Brian fan. XD My sister is a huge Patrick O'Brian fan. Maybe I should make another run at the books. IIRC I wasn't really in the mental space for 19th-century prose, when I tried the first time around.
Dragon-enabled China: this... really doesn't suck. Granted my general sense of Chinese history (facts and mores both) derives from fifteen-minute snippets of state television dramas, but cursorily it's as accurate as dragon-enabled England, which is almost more than one can hope for. (I seem to have very low expectations re: perspectives on t3h Orient in fantasy literature, even the alt.history branch thereof, and never realised this until they were exceeded. XD) Despite the anachronistic semi!pinyin [3] it's been whatever the Chinese equivalent of Brit-picked is, the onomastics and the way terms are dropped are v. smooth. I like how for dragons the generational character stands for breed, that sort of thing. More authors should pay attention. Like this is maybe the least of Laurell K. Hamilton's problems but when I read Anita Blake novels I'm always like, "Argh, lady, you have obviously never heard a real French person speak ever so please not to be pretending you have any idea what you're doing?" ...Actually no, I can't say it's the least of Laurell K. Hamilton's problems, at least not for me. Bad French probably does more to "throw me out" than any other single issue regarding her books, and my suspension of disbelief reading LKH is hard-earned to begin with.
I should really work on the low expectations thing. Or stop reading LKH, that would likely help. XD
I'm also cheered that Naomi Novik thought through the economic implications of her AU. That is she couldn't get quite a lot of it into the book so stuck some as end notes, for which I have complete sympathy. XD But obviously the demand for pasture/livestock would've influenced historical Han China's relations with the Northern and Western tribes and... yeah.
These books would make splendid movies, wouldn't they? Full of special effects. XD
Yongxing is quite an interesting character (due in no small part to his relationship with Lian) although this derives from a necessary opacity, the story being told from Laurence's limited POV. No point-by-point exposition by the villain on behalf of the captured heroes or any such nonsense, but there is a niggling sense of lack of catharsis, somehow. Then again many of the Chinese characters are ciphers, including the dragons, but it's easy to map their reserve onto that of historical drama characters (once again), so you sort of know what they're thinking regardless. Just that Kristin is right and probably Yongxing and Lian deserve fic the most, comparatively speaking. [4]
Only have to wait less than a month for the third book to be out in paperback, so timing is good at least. XD
[1] come to think of it this is not how 'sequelitis' is commonly used. What I mean is something more like "immune reaction toward sequels occasioned by exposure to the effects of sequelitis." Like shingles.
[2] I prefer gaff rigs visually, is this a Chinese thing lolz.
[3] With an itty-bitty bit of Wade-Giles in concession (I think) to English speakers, which is okay by me although the actual changes were a bit baffling. I mean what stands more of a chance of mental mispronunciation by yr avg non-Sinophone, the vowel sound in 'long' or the consonant sound in 'xiang'? ('Lian' would be mispronounced as a matter of course.) I'm selfishly glad she didn't go the historically accurate route, though, since I can't parse WG as effortlessly as pinyin. I stumble over the apostrophes.
[4] Though what I would most like to see is the story of Queen Bess's serving maid.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 11:02 pm (UTC)The other thing I was thinking is, by Chinese standards Laurence is not only an unlettered barbarian, he's also a cradle robber ahaha
dragon shota.no subject
Date: 2006-05-17 02:21 am (UTC)Ahahaha that guide dude who was all Not to TARGET ANYONE PRESENT but if you ravish away the dragonet when he's YOUNG AND IMPRESSIONABLE the poor thing could hardly help forming AN UNSUITABLE ATTACHMENT, and Laurence is all >:0
no subject
Date: 2006-05-15 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-17 02:37 am (UTC)i'm not looking at your review, yet
Date: 2006-05-17 01:30 am (UTC)so you like this book better than the first one, huh. must finish asap (i'm stuck on page 70 due to stupid work and stupid federal budget taking over my life *kicks stephen harper*) so i can play with you guys.
ps. dude, april cut is The Cutest Haircut in the World! SOCUTE!!!!! is it easy to style on your hair? also, omg you were right, it totally looks like rukia's cut. heee heee heee.
*bookmarks*
Re: i'm not looking at your review, yet
Date: 2006-05-17 02:27 am (UTC)