Books I Have Read Recently!
Jun. 4th, 2008 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonsheenSo, one of the things I resolved to do these last few months is Read or Reread as much Young Adult Fantasy as I can possibly get my paws on. If asked by people whose respect I act socially awkward and desperate for, I say that it is for research purposes in my grand goal of becoming 'published and rich like that Harry Potter Lady'. If asked by people who I actually know, I just say: because I'm mostly a whore for Young Adult Fantasy.
Anyway, stuff of note:
Sabriel, by Garth Nix: ...this book is GORGEOUS! Visually, I mean. I'm not kidding, the whole world is presented in such cinematic fashion you really can't not picture it in all of its colorful, charter-marked glory. On the flip side its just one of those fantasies where its the world that grabs you first and foremost and carries you the whole way through. The plot is pretty basic but one I've always been a sucker for. It's essentially an adventure/Save The Princess (in this case, the heroine's father) and Coincidently the Kingdom/Magical Inheritence type cycle. While it's fairly simplistic in this regard, that actually works in its favor, as it keeps the plot uncluttered, sleek and overall just really, really sexy. No really, the aesthetic of this book is what takes what could've been a very generic high fantasy world (something I don't normally care much for) and gives it this beautiful-but-vaguely-unsettling feel to it. THIS BOOK IS THE GOTH GIRL I WANNA DO EVEN IF SHE'LL PROBABLY MAKE ME WANT TO KILL MYSELF. I'm actually amazed no one's made a movie about this!
...except that main character is a tough young necromancer who's rather constantly beset by various forms of undead horrors!
Maaaybe not the best kid's movie fare.
So from theeere I went...
Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix -- I'm lumping these two together, because they were one book. No, seriously. They were. Lirael is a whole book of long, long, loooong set-up that ends in the middle of the action and Abhorsen sort of starts in the middle of said action and then really rushes itself to the finish. It really reads like Garth Nix took too long with his sequel, his editor said 'Look. Cough it up.' and he chopped off the part that was Lirael, sent it to press, and dashed off Abhorsen last minute while seriously hitting either the booze or the caffeine pills.
Which is maybe a little unfair. It's not a bad sequel. You can see how a lot of it is Nix trying to stretch himself out more as a writer. The trouble is coming right off of Sabriel, which delivered so well on a spooky, understated world... everything seems far too overexplained and...well. Generic this go around. I think we're told TOO much about The Old Kingdom. Everything is explained to us, while on the other hand it doesn't feel like anything really, truly NEW is added to the world. I think the trouble is that the Old Kingdom is just better approached by a character utterly unfamiliar with the place, while in Lirael/Abhorsen all the main characters pretty much just know whats what from the start.
It does have a more complicated plot, though! The trouble is that plot is... basically every single high fantasy plot ever. Again, I sort of feel like Nix wanted to test the waters a little, but didn't want to go too deep. Sabriel was 'girl sets out to save her father, inherits mad necromancy skills, learns lesson about the nature of life and death'. Lirael/Abhorsen is "AN ANCIENT EVIL HAS AWAKENED AND THREATENS TO DESTROY THE WORLD. CANFRODO LIRAEL AND SAM MAKE IT TO MOUNT DOOM THE LAKE IN TIME?!?!' There is a bit of a difference, here.
I also can't help but feel a little resentful on Lirael, in particular. (the book, not the character. more on this in a second) for the simple fact that the whole premise hinges on a concept that is both a gigantic ridiculous retcon and also just cheapens the emotional impact of the first book's climax. Basically, in order to get past that strong feeling of 'crowbarring in a sequel for the masses at the expense of the original work' is to sort of just IGNORE THIS PARTICULAR PLOTPOINT. Which is DIFFICULT because, uh, unfortunately the whole book kinda hinges on it!
Basically what saved it was the cast. They're definately much more fleshed out than in Sabriel where the main characters, while interesting and likeable, were by no means particularly complicated. Here, they're more well-rounded, more well-established, more relateable. Lirael is a pretty dang good depiction of an insecure, depressed isolated teenager with a GIGANTIC SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER. I JUST WANTED THINGS TO BE OKAY FOR HER. SHE ALMOST MADE ME CRY. And then there was Nicholas Sayre
...
... you really, really, REALLY want things to be okay for Nick.
also yanno i might sort of love him desperatelyum
Which leads me too...
Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case-- ...YEAH OKAY, THIS IS MORE LIKE IT MR. NIX. After the real let-down that was the big climax of Abhorsen, it was really, really a pleasant surprise to see how genuinely well-paced, engaging, and AWESOME this novella was! Again, I think The Old Kingdom stuff really is best when taken from the perspective of the Ancelterrians, (also, when narrowed down to a smaller cast) and this one goes back to that with stride. It helps that. Well. Once again. I FRIGGIN' LOVE NICHOLAS SAYRE. He is just the right mix of well-intentioned if slightly off-the-mark/snotty entitled rich kid to make him REALLY GOOD at carrying a story.
It also helps that as far as villains with interesting motivations go, Dorrance REALLY kicked Hedge's ass. I'm sorry, god, CHLORR SHOULD'VE BEEN THE MAIN VILLAIN OF ABHORSEN. WHY WAS SHE NOT THE MAIN VILLAIN? (also, loose end much? UGH SO MUCH ABOUT THE PACING THERE BOTHERED ME. But she's getting her own book, isn't she?) Hedge was...just kinda generically powerhungry and desperate for immortality? Oh, he could deliver the spooks well enough... why, exactly? Oh, wait? That's it? No really, if you're going to have your villain yearn for the DESTRUCTION OF ALL CREATION you'd better either give him a damn good reason for it or make him a convincing sociopath (hiiii kerrigorrrrr). Dorrance you could almost sympathize with! In a 'wow you're a really creepy creep you poor creepy bastard' way!
All and all it's some good, quick action-y fun with a lot more of the mysterious spookery that inhabited Sabriel. Sort of the best of all three books finally boiled down to a slimmer form.
Also, the ending might've given me warm fuzzies. Er. But I'm also a giant girl.
Anyway, stuff of note:
Sabriel, by Garth Nix: ...this book is GORGEOUS! Visually, I mean. I'm not kidding, the whole world is presented in such cinematic fashion you really can't not picture it in all of its colorful, charter-marked glory. On the flip side its just one of those fantasies where its the world that grabs you first and foremost and carries you the whole way through. The plot is pretty basic but one I've always been a sucker for. It's essentially an adventure/Save The Princess (in this case, the heroine's father) and Coincidently the Kingdom/Magical Inheritence type cycle. While it's fairly simplistic in this regard, that actually works in its favor, as it keeps the plot uncluttered, sleek and overall just really, really sexy. No really, the aesthetic of this book is what takes what could've been a very generic high fantasy world (something I don't normally care much for) and gives it this beautiful-but-vaguely-unsettling feel to it. THIS BOOK IS THE GOTH GIRL I WANNA DO EVEN IF SHE'LL PROBABLY MAKE ME WANT TO KILL MYSELF. I'm actually amazed no one's made a movie about this!
...except that main character is a tough young necromancer who's rather constantly beset by various forms of undead horrors!
Maaaybe not the best kid's movie fare.
So from theeere I went...
Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix -- I'm lumping these two together, because they were one book. No, seriously. They were. Lirael is a whole book of long, long, loooong set-up that ends in the middle of the action and Abhorsen sort of starts in the middle of said action and then really rushes itself to the finish. It really reads like Garth Nix took too long with his sequel, his editor said 'Look. Cough it up.' and he chopped off the part that was Lirael, sent it to press, and dashed off Abhorsen last minute while seriously hitting either the booze or the caffeine pills.
Which is maybe a little unfair. It's not a bad sequel. You can see how a lot of it is Nix trying to stretch himself out more as a writer. The trouble is coming right off of Sabriel, which delivered so well on a spooky, understated world... everything seems far too overexplained and...well. Generic this go around. I think we're told TOO much about The Old Kingdom. Everything is explained to us, while on the other hand it doesn't feel like anything really, truly NEW is added to the world. I think the trouble is that the Old Kingdom is just better approached by a character utterly unfamiliar with the place, while in Lirael/Abhorsen all the main characters pretty much just know whats what from the start.
It does have a more complicated plot, though! The trouble is that plot is... basically every single high fantasy plot ever. Again, I sort of feel like Nix wanted to test the waters a little, but didn't want to go too deep. Sabriel was 'girl sets out to save her father, inherits mad necromancy skills, learns lesson about the nature of life and death'. Lirael/Abhorsen is "AN ANCIENT EVIL HAS AWAKENED AND THREATENS TO DESTROY THE WORLD. CAN
I also can't help but feel a little resentful on Lirael, in particular. (the book, not the character. more on this in a second) for the simple fact that the whole premise hinges on a concept that is both a gigantic ridiculous retcon and also just cheapens the emotional impact of the first book's climax. Basically, in order to get past that strong feeling of 'crowbarring in a sequel for the masses at the expense of the original work' is to sort of just IGNORE THIS PARTICULAR PLOTPOINT. Which is DIFFICULT because, uh, unfortunately the whole book kinda hinges on it!
Basically what saved it was the cast. They're definately much more fleshed out than in Sabriel where the main characters, while interesting and likeable, were by no means particularly complicated. Here, they're more well-rounded, more well-established, more relateable. Lirael is a pretty dang good depiction of an insecure, depressed isolated teenager with a GIGANTIC SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER. I JUST WANTED THINGS TO BE OKAY FOR HER. SHE ALMOST MADE ME CRY. And then there was Nicholas Sayre
...
... you really, really, REALLY want things to be okay for Nick.
also yanno i might sort of love him desperatelyum
Which leads me too...
Nicholas Sayre and the Creature in the Case-- ...YEAH OKAY, THIS IS MORE LIKE IT MR. NIX. After the real let-down that was the big climax of Abhorsen, it was really, really a pleasant surprise to see how genuinely well-paced, engaging, and AWESOME this novella was! Again, I think The Old Kingdom stuff really is best when taken from the perspective of the Ancelterrians, (also, when narrowed down to a smaller cast) and this one goes back to that with stride. It helps that. Well. Once again. I FRIGGIN' LOVE NICHOLAS SAYRE. He is just the right mix of well-intentioned if slightly off-the-mark/snotty entitled rich kid to make him REALLY GOOD at carrying a story.
It also helps that as far as villains with interesting motivations go, Dorrance REALLY kicked Hedge's ass. I'm sorry, god, CHLORR SHOULD'VE BEEN THE MAIN VILLAIN OF ABHORSEN. WHY WAS SHE NOT THE MAIN VILLAIN? (also, loose end much? UGH SO MUCH ABOUT THE PACING THERE BOTHERED ME. But she's getting her own book, isn't she?) Hedge was...just kinda generically powerhungry and desperate for immortality? Oh, he could deliver the spooks well enough... why, exactly? Oh, wait? That's it? No really, if you're going to have your villain yearn for the DESTRUCTION OF ALL CREATION you'd better either give him a damn good reason for it or make him a convincing sociopath (hiiii kerrigorrrrr). Dorrance you could almost sympathize with! In a 'wow you're a really creepy creep you poor creepy bastard' way!
All and all it's some good, quick action-y fun with a lot more of the mysterious spookery that inhabited Sabriel. Sort of the best of all three books finally boiled down to a slimmer form.
Also, the ending might've given me warm fuzzies. Er. But I'm also a giant girl.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 02:11 am (UTC)I have not read these but people have been shoving Sabriel at me for years and I ought to pick it up. ALSO YES YOU SELL IT WELL.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 02:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 02:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 02:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 03:13 am (UTC)Someone needs to kick my ass and make me read Castle in the Air, like, yesterday.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 02:52 am (UTC)with Sam.(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 02:57 am (UTC)On the other hand, why not both, really? to be utterly twisted, I was actually kinda disappointed Nix didn't Go There like he pretended to do for a second in Lirael. I mean, if just for the hilarity factor of the big reveal upping by about ten...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 04:28 am (UTC)And I agree with what you said about Chlorr, too, although I think I liked Hedge a little more than you did.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 10:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 06:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-05 10:20 pm (UTC)The really big thing that bothered me about the Too Much Backstory in Abhorsen was that it made the whole Mogget thing really, really messed up--and the author didn't even seem to notice. Even apart from that, though, the worldbuilding I'd made up in my head after reading Sabriel was so much better than the canon version (IMHO) that the third book was really a disappointment.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-23 02:25 am (UTC)