reading reading reading

[seldear]

I read the novelisation of Batman: No Man's Land - the story arc in the Batman comic book series where Gotham is cut off from the USA and becomes a free-for-all.

It's quite good. Oh, I imagine there are all kinds of issues with the backstory and the forestory and characterisation and retconning. This is comics after all. But I enjoyed the novel. Plus, Barbara Gordon POV!

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saramund has gotten me into Nora Roberts/JD Robb. At least she's prolific, although the books are, if not quite mind-candy, certainly not much above cookieness - sweet and quite filling and a nice break from seriousness. The JD Robb novels are intriguing for the murder-mystery angle, and I'm curious to see how she manages the steady relationship from book to book.

PTB around the world, please note: it is possible to handle consisted character and relationship development in a serial format - one just has to be a little more careful of detail.

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While I've been down in Nowra, I've read Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness series. I think it's classified Young Adults - I'd put the focus age around 9-10 years: then again, I was reading Lloyd Alexander's Black Cauldron series around 10, so...

As sharim points out, it was her first series, and her writing has probably matured. But Alanna, neat as she is, felt a little too Mary Sue for me, and written from the perspective of the old "I am woman, hear me roar" feminism. They're not bad, but not as meaty as I like my stories.

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I never thought it would be so difficult to get hold of a Phillip Pullman novel. I mean, the Dark Materials trilogy has a movie being made of it later this year, right?

You know how the law of libraries is such that they always have the 2nd and 3rd novels in a series, but never the first. Or, if they have the first book, it's out on loan, missing, or temporarily assigned to another library. ARGH.

Then I started looking in the bookshops for the first novel: Northern Lights. (I know, it's called The Golden Compass in the movies, but the name of the book in Australia is The Northern Lights - maybe it's a Philosopher's Stone thing for the Yanks again, who knows?) Trying to find a non-movie-related cover? Next to impossible. I finally found one in a bookstore that sells second-hand, or book seconds today. Read through to the end of section one. Trying to resist the urge to read on.

Comments

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I can't explain it, really. Alanna felt too simplistic - like drawing a straight line from current position to goal. I don't know. It was an intriguing read, but I felt that too many things weren't sufficiently explained.

sharim thinks I'll like the Trickster series because it's a lot more political - and I do like political.

Hm. Thanks for the tidbit about Pullman. I've heard about the books for ages, but just never got around to actually reading them.

[loriel-eris.livejournal.com]

I've just read Tamora Pierce's entire Tortall series (with the exception of the newest one) in the past 2/3 weeks. All 18 of them. And obviously enjoyed them. On the advice of a friend, I read them slightly out of order (Immortals, Lioness, Protector of the Small, Trickster - it should be Lioness then Immortals). I wish I hadn't read them out of order (I hate being spoiled for what happens, even a little bit!), but in hindsight, I may not have been as keen to keep reading if I'd read Lioness first. I'd definitely agree with sharim - you can see the difference in writing between Lioness and Immortals (the next series she wrote).

I think that you'd like the Immortals series and recommend that you give it a go. I'm not sure if you'd like the Protector of the Small series, it was similar to the Lioness series, but I don't think it had the same issues that you disliked in Lioness, or at least not to the same extent. As for the Trickster series - it's very different from her other series and I think you'd enjoy it. It's very different (plot-/storyline-wise) from her other Tortall books, but still very enjoyable.

The rest of her Tortall books are still 'children's books' but none of them seem to be aimed quite as young as the Lioness series, if that's any help.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll give Immortals a go, then! :)

I started on Trickster, but didn't get beyond a couple of pages before I realised there was all this other backstory that I hadn't yet read.

And, also, I was a bit put off by Lioness. But if you say it's worth plunging on...

Thanks!

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I can do with 8 books to read. :)

I sorta haven't been reading very much these last few years, and all of a sudden I'm getting back into it again. It's rather odd.

random squee about the book!love. :)

[elaran.livejournal.com]

Noa Roberts = LOVE. She's my trashy novel sekrit author WHO I ADORE. Not so much the stuff she wrote as JD Robb though.

Alanna series = LOVE too.

Phillip Pullman = PURE AWESOME AND HOMG THE MOVIE IS GOING TO BE AWESOME *FLAILS*

Re: random squee about the book!love. :)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Okay, finished the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Is it just me, or did he start losing it in the 3rd book? I couldn't put the first book down, it was...powerful and dramatic and painful. He lost some momentum in the 2nd, but I figured it was a Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back kind of thing - a connective piece that got all the players in place. But the 3rd was...disappointing. Took me about 5 days to actually read, because I had no drive to finish it.

But, yes, the first movie looks like it will be amazing, just from the clips I've seen.

Re: random squee about the book!love. :)

[elaran.livejournal.com]

Nope, that's the general consensus about the series I'd say. Everyone's in awe about the first one but they end up a tad disappointed after they've finished it. :)

[seawench.livejournal.com]

Pierce started writing the Lioness books when she was a teenager. They originally ended with book three and Alanna running off with Jonathan. Thankfully, she grew up and out of that ending. Lioness Rampant was written after the original trilogy.

The Immortals quartet is certainly a little more meaty, but the Trickster books are the best so far. Protector of the Small is similar to the Alanna books in that both are a girl's journey to knighthood, but Kel and her friends are much more rounded characters than the original set, with flaws and failings and stubborn pride that rings true. Squire and Lady Knight are particularly good.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Well, that goes a long way to explaining the tone of the Lioness Quartet. I might try reading the others while on the RTW and see what comes of it. :)