I read it years ago, ita, and liked it a lot, but it certainly is a big sprawling story. If I remember correctly, you're past a lot of the setup now, so you should get some more forward motion.
I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good.
Xander ,'Beneath You'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Katie M - Nov 27, 2005 7:50:46 pm PST #9587 of 10002
I was charmed (albeit somewhat perplexed) by the fannish sensibility of many of the music choices -- it's like the director was trying to vid Canada. --loligo on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Anne W. - Nov 28, 2005 1:47:53 am PST #9588 of 10002
The lost sheep grow teeth, forsake their lambs, and lie with the lions.
I really enjoyed the series, ita. I agree that Williams did play things a little too close to the vest early on, but the revelations come thick and fast from book 2 on.
§ ita § - Nov 28, 2005 4:13:58 am PST #9589 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Thanks guys. Does it end after four?
Nutty - Nov 28, 2005 4:54:05 am PST #9590 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
I didn't feel the novel was about how bad Hitler was
No, me neither. But I would have cut both prologue and afterword, and lectured the author nastily about them.
The point really was about the small grace moments when people reached out to one another, risking their lives and their families, to do the right thing.
I could see that that was the intention; but the execution came across very pedestrian and obvious and -- repetitive of all the other WWII epic novels I've read, and not new. I think it was a tactical mistake to kill people off, near the beginning, in subordinate clauses of sentences; if I'd been able to care about the characters as characters, I might have been willing to buy into the story for their sake. Instead, I was distanced from the start, and when I realized that the author really didn't have anything new up her sleeve, I was pretty annoyed.
I just finished the first book in Tad Williams's Otherland series. I found it irritatingly dense and vague for the first 2/3, and then when it started to pick up, ended
That's about what I recall. I read and enjoyed #2; #3 made me laugh but was too long and I forgot who was who and didn't finish it. Williams does tend to suffer from logorrhea, although some of the imaginary worlds he put together were awesome.
I think it does end after 4.
Katie M - Nov 28, 2005 7:52:25 am PST #9591 of 10002
I was charmed (albeit somewhat perplexed) by the fannish sensibility of many of the music choices -- it's like the director was trying to vid Canada. --loligo on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies
Yeah, it does.
§ ita § - Nov 28, 2005 7:54:44 am PST #9592 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Okay, if it ends, I can try. After Norrell/Strange, and perhaps after Adrian Mole And The Weapons Of Mass Destruction which I also started, but am creeped out by a bit. We've always been around the same age, but it's much less cute now.
Steph L. - Nov 28, 2005 11:05:16 am PST #9593 of 10002
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
There's another Adrian Mole book?!?
Wait. Maybe I already knew that, and forgot.
meara - Nov 28, 2005 3:29:35 pm PST #9594 of 10002
Over the weekend I ended up with a cheapo copy of Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander". Enjoyed it, mostly--the other books are ginormous, man--are they worth it? It seems like the kind of thing that could easily get overwrought and ridiculous in, y'know, four more 800 page books, or whatever.
Amy - Nov 28, 2005 4:11:21 pm PST #9595 of 10002
Because books.
Enjoyed it, mostly--the other books are ginormous, man--are they worth it?
The next two, in my opinion, were worth every page -- that's Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager -- but I lost interest a little bit after that. The beginning of Voyager is so, so, soooo wonderful.
Yet, I adore Claire and Jamie, and I actually borrowed by mom's copy of Drums of Autumn (the fourth book) over the weekend to try again.
meara - Nov 28, 2005 4:17:21 pm PST #9596 of 10002
Excellent, thanks AmyLiz! I'm flying to Denver tomorrow, so I'll stop by the B&N and pick up the next one to read on the plane. (If it was crappy, I'd probably wait until I could hit the used bookstore, and see if I wanted to pick it up)