I really liked The Big Over Easy, though it took me a while to get a feel for the world, if you know what I mean.
Wash ,'War Stories'
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."
I tracked down a copy of Ramsey Campbell's Ancient Images due to word-of-mouth about John Carpenter's similarly themed "Cigarette Burns" entry in the Masters of Horror series. Good read, and it's been so long since I first read it that I've essentially forgotten most of the story.
I really liked The Big Over Easy, though it took me a while to get a feel for the world, if you know what I mean.
This is good to know since I got this for xmas.
I'm trying to read J. Carey's "Banewreaker" (bought it cause it's in paperback now) but finding it something of a slog--does it get better? I vaguely recall when it first came out y'all had mixed reviews.
No. It's AWFUL. And I really like Carey's other stuff.
I was badly disappointed.
I'm such a loser/determined person, I actually slogged through the second book, Godslayer, as well, looking for some resolution. Well, I got some. On an analytical level, I appreciate some of the things she was shooting for, but, it sure wasn't enjoyable in any way. The Kushiel stuff had parts that were rough, but she paid off in style, and you had to shake your head sometimes at how skillful she is. Banewreaker/Godslayer seemed like a big step backwards for her as a writer, like an earlier work that got pulled out of a footlocker. Cruder and more manipulative somehow.
JohnSweden! How the hell are ya?
More Melusine books coming!!
I thought Banewreaker couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Parts of the world were original and interesting, and the rest was the gimmick of LOTR from the bad guy's view.
Hi Megan! I'm doing fine, thanks. How are things down your way?
The board just ate this long spleen-venting post I wrote on Banewreaker, but I am unbowed. Yeah, Raq, she does this allusion-y to LoTR thing through both books, holding parts up to the light, shining it through a different lens, blah blah. I appreciated the craft of it, but reading the books just made me feel impatient and cranky. Perhaps someone out in the internets liked it and has a perspective on it that would help me like it more. The thing about linking your sympathy (or at least, your attention) to these monumentally horrible people, then hitching you to their inevitable doom spiral totally bugged, eventually. I wanted to see some way serious elvish ass-rendage, but she bailed on me. The smuggest people win. Bah.