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More short reviews
Oct. 12th, 2015 08:40 pmLegacies by L.E.Modesitt Jr. Rating: 3. Has anyone else noticed that all of L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s books are basically the same book? It's a satisfying formula, I'll admit. Hypercompetent Chosen One wants a simple life. But because s/he's so darn competent, s/he is forced by others' jealousy into laying waste to everyone around them while deploring violence and always trying to figure out what exactly is going on. Despite always being just a little too innocent of the situation, the hypercompetent Chosen One is just hypercompetent enough to succeed despite superiors' wish for them to fail and thus proves hypercompetence, while decrying the nature of power. In this one, the hypercompetence is color-coding.
Darknesses by L.E.Modesitt Jr. Rating: 3. Continuing saga of the Hypercompetent Chosen One, now with pteranodons.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Rating: 3.5. I've been on a serious Tudor kick lately. It's fascinating seeing how different historians and fiction writers portray the same people and events. In other news, if you want to last as queen, you probably don't want to make your crowning achievement proving it's possible to depose queens without unseating the king, and also being a bitch. Also, if you make your bid for the throne based on your predecessor only producing one daughter, you'd better not then only produce a single daughter yourself. Cough, Anne, cough. Great character portraits, but I still find the writing overly precious.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. Rating: 5. In some ways, the previous book is a much bigger story, with the fate of the multiverse and magic itself hanging in the balance. This one only risks Fillory. But it's deeply satisfying. Many of the loose ends are tied up. More importantly, Quentin finally grows up. This series has always been about the quest for adulthood by the overly precocious; here, the overgrown children finally start finding their places in life. It's bittersweet, but leans more to the sweet. It may be a bit of a betrayal of optimism; after the incredibly dark and traumatic events of previous books, things are wrapped up the way you'd want them to be, which is never ever how things have gone in this world. But it's also a bit about growing past trauma and not letting your past define you even though you let it inform you. But mostly, just, I liked it. Quentin finally does things for the right reasons and so it feels like he earns his happy ending.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. Rating: 5. Nightmare fodder. Brilliant, incredibly creepy stuff. A highly unreliable narrator is part of a team exploring the mysterious Area X, in which weird things happen and which has swallowed a number of exploratory teams before. Everything they've been told may be a lie and none of their senses can be trusted. This is a book that contains almost no answers, and doesn't really need them. You know how horror movies are always scarier before you see the monster? Here, it's possible no one will ever see the monster, but it's still coming for you. It may be you.
Darknesses by L.E.Modesitt Jr. Rating: 3. Continuing saga of the Hypercompetent Chosen One, now with pteranodons.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Rating: 3.5. I've been on a serious Tudor kick lately. It's fascinating seeing how different historians and fiction writers portray the same people and events. In other news, if you want to last as queen, you probably don't want to make your crowning achievement proving it's possible to depose queens without unseating the king, and also being a bitch. Also, if you make your bid for the throne based on your predecessor only producing one daughter, you'd better not then only produce a single daughter yourself. Cough, Anne, cough. Great character portraits, but I still find the writing overly precious.
The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman. Rating: 5. In some ways, the previous book is a much bigger story, with the fate of the multiverse and magic itself hanging in the balance. This one only risks Fillory. But it's deeply satisfying. Many of the loose ends are tied up. More importantly, Quentin finally grows up. This series has always been about the quest for adulthood by the overly precocious; here, the overgrown children finally start finding their places in life. It's bittersweet, but leans more to the sweet. It may be a bit of a betrayal of optimism; after the incredibly dark and traumatic events of previous books, things are wrapped up the way you'd want them to be, which is never ever how things have gone in this world. But it's also a bit about growing past trauma and not letting your past define you even though you let it inform you. But mostly, just, I liked it. Quentin finally does things for the right reasons and so it feels like he earns his happy ending.
Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. Rating: 5. Nightmare fodder. Brilliant, incredibly creepy stuff. A highly unreliable narrator is part of a team exploring the mysterious Area X, in which weird things happen and which has swallowed a number of exploratory teams before. Everything they've been told may be a lie and none of their senses can be trusted. This is a book that contains almost no answers, and doesn't really need them. You know how horror movies are always scarier before you see the monster? Here, it's possible no one will ever see the monster, but it's still coming for you. It may be you.
