Taltos is all kinds of wrong.

Pity she let her bombast overwhelm her storytelling in later books. (I'm looking at you, Queen of the Damned.)

I love QotD precisely *for* its crazy bombast and total OTT-ness. Much like Moulin Rouge, actually. It's a big mess of a book that doesn't know what exactly it wants to be, but it will by god be OTT and gorgeous even as it meanders.

And now I'm torn between re-reading QotD or the most recent Skulduggery Pleasant. But I *actually* need to finish the 4th Luxe book, which I *think* is about to take a car-wreck-y (not literally) turn.

I'm trying hard not to reread anything for a while. I have so many books to read, and unless I need a quick comfort hit of A Little Princess or Little Women before bed or something, I'm trying to get through at least some of the TBR stack.

I am going to make an exception for The Hunger Games before the movie comes out, though.

No love for Cry to Heaven? I think it's one of her best written books, deeply researched on a fascinating and strange subject. And it's super OPERATIC and twisted. Plus also the man-love galore.

My Taltos loan ended before I finished rereading. Now I can't recall where it veers into wrongness that stands out even amongest the first two (mostly Lasher) Mayfair books. Clearly I am going to cave and check it out again just so I can know. Because Wikipedia would be too easy.

I loathed Cry to Heaven. It was a strange and fascinating subject that I'd read from another author but her treatment of it just did not work for me.

It was a strange and fascinating subject that I'd read from another author but her treatment of it just did not work for me.

That she seemed really aroused by castrati?

The mass market paperback of Cry to Heaven had a blrb that started

"Join the glittering world of 18th century castrati..."

My BF at the time and I died laughing.

If I read Anne Rice books, I want some sort of paranormal element. So while Cry to Heaven was interesting, there just weren't any vampires or witches in it.

I love QotD precisely *for* its crazy bombast and total OTT-ness. Much like Moulin Rouge, actually. It's a big mess of a book that doesn't know what exactly it wants to be, but it will by god be OTT and gorgeous even as it meanders.

This is very true. And I think QotD is a lot of fun. I just tend to skim a lot of Akasha's philosophical Deep Thoughts. But oh! The story of Daniel and Armand! So much fun angst.

She seems to get really aroused by a lot of weird shit. I don't begrudge her that. I don't begrudge her writing about it. It's just some of her books both bore and annoy me.

And, really, I read Cry to Heaven once whenever I was tearing through her stuff as a 20 y.o. and it is never getting a reread. So I can't even say specifically which parts turned me off as a reader.

At least when I say that her pseudonym'd porn wasn't for me, I know it felt like it lacked plot and the kinks were not kinks I got off reading so it wasn't enjoyable. Cry to Heaven I just am very clear I hated. Don't remember why.

her pseudonym'd porn wasn't for me, I know it felt like it lacked plot and the kinks were not kinks I got off reading so it wasn't enjoyable

God, yes. I read the first one, Sleeping Beauty, I guess, and I was bored and fairly squicked by how clear it seemed that her sexual fantasies/needs were right there on the page.