I spent the first week of the new year revisiting Ariadne's Labyrinth, my NaNoWriMo novel. Revising the first couple chapters after two months was a very different experience than writing them in the first place. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the experience I had hoped. While I was writing, I thought it had a lot of promise. No matter which way you look at it, it's probably the best thing I've written. But, while revisiting it, I noticed it had a lot more problems than I originally thought. Part of it is that the parts I really like are in the middle, and part of it is that I've misrepresented to myself how promising it is.
The plot has some promise. They spend too much time getting locked up, kidnapped, and stuff like that. I need more inventive things to go wrong. The novel is still a little cooler than I wanted, emotionally. The conflicts are too physical, and too constant. One of my beta readers said the whole thing read like everything was going wrong. To a point, this was intended: I was following the Jim Butcher school of narrative conflict. However, they're all the same sorts of conflict. More varied conflict might give some relief on one axis while pressuring the other, making the novel feel more believable and less "everything's going wrong."
The ending is weak. More accurately, the ending isn't earned by the novel. I had the ending in mind since I started, but some of the key conflicts that were supposed to be resolved weren't brought into enough light to make it worth it. Because they weren't set up, the ending feels like a bit of a cop out for me.
I also had some weaknesses in characterization and physical description. I didn't paint a good picture of my characters. My narrator was pretty consistent, but my secondary characters weren't. Christy started out really bubbly and fun, but she mellowed out later. This wouldn't be a problem if it was gradual/intentional, but it was kinda abrupt. I had chosen some descriptors for Ariadne but not my other characters, and because Ariadne was the narrator, and because of the mode the story was being told through, there wasn't a good way to include some of them. Maybe it doesn't matter, but something worth thinking about.
The mode fo the storytelling didn't come through as clear as I wanted either. The whole thing is written as part of a diary series that Ariadne, the MC, is writing to her (dead) mother. THere are some small hints of it, but it's not clear and sometimes I don't like how it comes out ont he page. It's always kind of awkward to address the reader, even if the reader is dressed up in another character.
I'm sure there's more things I can improve on, but these are just hte ones I've noticed recently. Now, onto my reading analysis.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Almost everyone I know has heard of the book by now. The re-mastering of Jane Austin's famous work with the addition of the zombie hordes. Now I haven't read the original, but I'm fairly familiar with the story through various movies (see: Bride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice (2005 w/ Kiera Knightly, and Lost in Austin), but the pacing in a movie is always very different than in the book. I could see the skeleton of Austin's plot beneath the zombies and I remember thinking that I hadn't realized how slowly the whole thing moved. The zombies spiced up the interaction, but I kept wanting the romance to shoot forward. In a way though, this was more honest and more believable than many storybook romances. Some of the new additions also made me laugh out loud during the reading. Calling the Zombies "Unmentionables" was a chuckle about every time. And then there were several "ball" jokes, and the description of trousers clinging to a man's "most English parts". A bit childish, to be sure, but every once in a while the timing would be impeccable and I would laugh. It almost makes me want to read the original.
Counterfeit Magic
This is the latest novella in the Otherworld series, by Kelley Armstrong. I love her witches, possibly because I'm a magic whore. This novella is about a Supernatural Fight club, being investigated by Paige and her ward Savannah. Apparently Savannah's been growing up fast, it's such a difference seeing her in her early 20's instead of when she first shows up on the scene. This novella suffered from the same problem I had with Waking the Witch, which is also a Svannah-centric story: The ending feels like it's not over. Waking hte Witch was specificially supposed to be a cliffhanger, but I'm not sure this one was supposed to be. The main conflict was dealt with, but some of the other things weren't tied up. While I love the plot, I feel like this isn't my favorite work of hers.
Patriot Witch
This was a premeditated random choice. I know that sounds weird, but bear with me. I don't know how I stumbled across it, and if it wasn't about Witches, I probably would have left it on the shelf. The first in a series by C. C. Finlay, it's a historical fantasy, based around witches in the Revolutionary war. I'm not much of a history buff. I think the opening conflict was one of the first shots fired in the war, which helps draw the MC into the conflict a little more thoroughly. The conflict at the farm was pretty interesting, but I was getting lost by the time they left and started operating in the greater War setting. The ending was a bit confusing, though it might be because I was rushing it a bit.
The Unusual Suspects
Book 2 of the Sister's Grimm, by Michael Buckley. This one has the kids finally going to school, only to find out everything's going wrong. We also find out more about who has kidnapped the kids' parents, which is seeding the next book. How they'll drag out the conflict over the next five books, I don't know. But it's a nice read, for what it is.
Showing posts with label Kelley Armstrong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kelley Armstrong. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Friday, August 06, 2010
Book Review:
I think It's time for another book review post. I've gotten through a few books in the last few weeks.
Wake
The first book in a trilogy by Lisa McMann was a rather strange book. The premise is pretty interesting, it's about a girl who gets pulled into peoples dreams any time she's near someone sleeping. The dreams themselves are strange, as dreams often are. As usual, there were a couple themes that made me uncomfortable, but all in all it was a decent story. The really strange part was the book was written in present tense. At first I thought it was just for the dreams, and hte rest of hte book would be in the more common past tense, but I was wrong. It made it awkward to read, and gave the whole thing a very surreal feel.
Waking the Witch
Waking the Witch is the latest book in Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series. I think this is the only author I can think of who maintaines my interest in her as much in the latest book as in the first one I read, and this is the 15th book of hers I've read (11th in this series). The ending is a cliffhanger/ huge surprise, which isn't something she usually does in her books. It made me feel like the story wasn't finished, which is very strange, but apparently this is a 2-part story, and I have to wait another year to find out what's happening. Personally, I think it'll be worth the wait.
Jealousy
The third book in Lilith Saintcrow's Strange Angels series. The mythos is really interesting here, and I wish I knew if it was based on something or not. Secrets start worming their way out, and we find out a lot more backstory in this one. She weaves the two stories together well. To me, more of this book felt about the backstory than the current one, whereas the previous two were more tied to the current timeline. But there's still plenty of story to be pursued.
Elantris
I mentioned a little about this book in a previous post, because it made me think of undead. Written by Brandon Sanderson, it's a very political story, which I don't always like. This one, however, made me wonder if there was a sequel. There were times when it was predictable, though it had it's share of surprises. Some of them were because we had no way of knowing some features about the world, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Shamans Crossing
First in the Soldier Son's Trilogy by Robin Hobb, this was another pretty political book. It's set in a colonial-era fantasy world, and centers around a conflict with Civilization vs the more primal wild. There's some strong feminist leanings in there too, but it felt kinda heavy handed at times. This is probably one of the few books that made me actually hate characters that weren't an outright enemy. The characters were cast to be annoying, and I really felt it. I mostly picked up this book because the sequel kept catching my eyes in bookstores, and I never realized it was one. We got a free copy at Comic Con in NYC last year, so I've been trying to read it. I'm unsure of how I feel about it, but I'll probably give another book a chance, it wasn't that awful.
The Purple Emperor
As I mentioned with Faerie Wars, I had read this book a few years ago, but couldnt' remember anything about it. The 2nd in a series by Herbie Brennan, the book picks up pretty much where the previous one left off. I thin the series is a Trilogy, but I'm not sure. Truth is, I'm not sure what else to say about it.
Artemis Fowl
Another series I had read a few years ago is Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. The newest one is about to come out, and I grabbed this to read with Krystal when we were driving around. I'd forgotten much of it, and it ended differently than I remembered. Maybe I was remembering a later book. In this world, Leprecon is actually LEPRecon, so rather than a race it's a group of police officers. The mythos is pretty interesting, and while the 10 yr old supergenius is a bit far fetched, it's still an intriguing tale.
Wake
The first book in a trilogy by Lisa McMann was a rather strange book. The premise is pretty interesting, it's about a girl who gets pulled into peoples dreams any time she's near someone sleeping. The dreams themselves are strange, as dreams often are. As usual, there were a couple themes that made me uncomfortable, but all in all it was a decent story. The really strange part was the book was written in present tense. At first I thought it was just for the dreams, and hte rest of hte book would be in the more common past tense, but I was wrong. It made it awkward to read, and gave the whole thing a very surreal feel.
Waking the Witch
Waking the Witch is the latest book in Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series. I think this is the only author I can think of who maintaines my interest in her as much in the latest book as in the first one I read, and this is the 15th book of hers I've read (11th in this series). The ending is a cliffhanger/ huge surprise, which isn't something she usually does in her books. It made me feel like the story wasn't finished, which is very strange, but apparently this is a 2-part story, and I have to wait another year to find out what's happening. Personally, I think it'll be worth the wait.
Jealousy
The third book in Lilith Saintcrow's Strange Angels series. The mythos is really interesting here, and I wish I knew if it was based on something or not. Secrets start worming their way out, and we find out a lot more backstory in this one. She weaves the two stories together well. To me, more of this book felt about the backstory than the current one, whereas the previous two were more tied to the current timeline. But there's still plenty of story to be pursued.
Elantris
I mentioned a little about this book in a previous post, because it made me think of undead. Written by Brandon Sanderson, it's a very political story, which I don't always like. This one, however, made me wonder if there was a sequel. There were times when it was predictable, though it had it's share of surprises. Some of them were because we had no way of knowing some features about the world, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Shamans Crossing
First in the Soldier Son's Trilogy by Robin Hobb, this was another pretty political book. It's set in a colonial-era fantasy world, and centers around a conflict with Civilization vs the more primal wild. There's some strong feminist leanings in there too, but it felt kinda heavy handed at times. This is probably one of the few books that made me actually hate characters that weren't an outright enemy. The characters were cast to be annoying, and I really felt it. I mostly picked up this book because the sequel kept catching my eyes in bookstores, and I never realized it was one. We got a free copy at Comic Con in NYC last year, so I've been trying to read it. I'm unsure of how I feel about it, but I'll probably give another book a chance, it wasn't that awful.
The Purple Emperor
As I mentioned with Faerie Wars, I had read this book a few years ago, but couldnt' remember anything about it. The 2nd in a series by Herbie Brennan, the book picks up pretty much where the previous one left off. I thin the series is a Trilogy, but I'm not sure. Truth is, I'm not sure what else to say about it.
Artemis Fowl
Another series I had read a few years ago is Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. The newest one is about to come out, and I grabbed this to read with Krystal when we were driving around. I'd forgotten much of it, and it ended differently than I remembered. Maybe I was remembering a later book. In this world, Leprecon is actually LEPRecon, so rather than a race it's a group of police officers. The mythos is pretty interesting, and while the 10 yr old supergenius is a bit far fetched, it's still an intriguing tale.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Character Modeling (Take 2), Book Review: Lisa Shearin, Jim Butcher, Julie Kagawa, Dan Brown, Kelley Armstrong
It's been a while since I've done a book review, so I have plenty to talk about.
Blood Rites
Book #6 in the Dresden Files pu the hero in a quite unusual situation. At the risk of a spoiler, I'm just going to say that he's investigating murders in a rather unusual setting. There were PLENTY of LOL moments, many of which came up because of the situation. We also find out more about Thomas and the White Court Vampires, which is pretty cool as well.
Dead Beat
Book #7 in the Dresden Files brings Necromancy into the fold of things that go bump in the night. We get to meet more Wardens as well, which is something I had been looking forward to the entire series. Some fallout from an earlier book is also explored in great deapth, and this is the first time we see Harry truely outside his magical league. Refreshing.
Proven Guilty
Book #8 in the Dresden Files brings the character who's fast becoming a favorite into greater light. Harry goes to a horror convention, and sees his friends daughter all growed up. This would be so much easier if I was allowing myself spoilers, but I did really enjoy this book :)
White Night
For the last Dresden Files book this week, we see book #9. Here there's someone killing women, and they leave messages for Harry..messages that only he can see. His first love comes back, and adds to the complicatedness of the situation.
The Iron King
Written by Julie Kagawa, this book was actually suggested by Rai, even though she hadn't read it. A girl finds herself thrown into the world of Faeries, accompanied by the now-infamous Puck (yes...THE Puck). We see both the courts of Winter and Summer, which are lead by their typical leaders, Mab and Titania (incidently, Dresden uses them too, but even some non-Mab queens of the winter court are identified as the Queen of Air and Darkness. I think there's something here, but I've not the knowledge to chase it down). Still, we even see hte rise of a new threat, and the sequels still have room for a few big twists.
The Reckoning
The last book in the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong(Site #2. Chloe and the others are starting to learn more about their abilities, and what that entails for them. This book marked the end of their original arc, but she's seeded the next arc, and they will eventually meet up again. She does that a lot. I also got to meet her on Wednesday, which was a boatload of fun. She read the first chapter from her new book, and it sounds like it'll be a fun read.
The Lost Symbol
I know there are people out there who will loose any respect for me since I've read this book, but it was an entertaining read. Like many of Dan Brown's books, there are many huge infodumps, some cleverly disguised, some not. The plot was twisty but confusing. The portrayal of the masonic brotherhood was interesting, though not very flattering to that same brotherhood. It's given me the idea to try and work with some secret society things for my Mage game, but more on that later.
Trouble with Demons
The last book I finished (just yesterday in fact), was the third book in Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series. The cover/title was for this book was what got me to pick up the series in the first place. The Demonology professor who got elaborated on in this book is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I hope she comes back. I've been on a Demon kick recently, and this helped with that. It also got me thinking about some more details for my magic system in my own novel, but that's for another post.
Character Model
So last time didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I did a few things that were, in retrospect, pretty obviously wrong. I've told some of you, but what I basically did was start over, and try a new method. There's still work to be done, but it's a much better start than last time.
Blood Rites
Book #6 in the Dresden Files pu the hero in a quite unusual situation. At the risk of a spoiler, I'm just going to say that he's investigating murders in a rather unusual setting. There were PLENTY of LOL moments, many of which came up because of the situation. We also find out more about Thomas and the White Court Vampires, which is pretty cool as well.
Dead Beat
Book #7 in the Dresden Files brings Necromancy into the fold of things that go bump in the night. We get to meet more Wardens as well, which is something I had been looking forward to the entire series. Some fallout from an earlier book is also explored in great deapth, and this is the first time we see Harry truely outside his magical league. Refreshing.
Proven Guilty
Book #8 in the Dresden Files brings the character who's fast becoming a favorite into greater light. Harry goes to a horror convention, and sees his friends daughter all growed up. This would be so much easier if I was allowing myself spoilers, but I did really enjoy this book :)
White Night
For the last Dresden Files book this week, we see book #9. Here there's someone killing women, and they leave messages for Harry..messages that only he can see. His first love comes back, and adds to the complicatedness of the situation.
The Iron King
Written by Julie Kagawa, this book was actually suggested by Rai, even though she hadn't read it. A girl finds herself thrown into the world of Faeries, accompanied by the now-infamous Puck (yes...THE Puck). We see both the courts of Winter and Summer, which are lead by their typical leaders, Mab and Titania (incidently, Dresden uses them too, but even some non-Mab queens of the winter court are identified as the Queen of Air and Darkness. I think there's something here, but I've not the knowledge to chase it down). Still, we even see hte rise of a new threat, and the sequels still have room for a few big twists.
The Reckoning
The last book in the Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong(Site #2. Chloe and the others are starting to learn more about their abilities, and what that entails for them. This book marked the end of their original arc, but she's seeded the next arc, and they will eventually meet up again. She does that a lot. I also got to meet her on Wednesday, which was a boatload of fun. She read the first chapter from her new book, and it sounds like it'll be a fun read.
The Lost Symbol
I know there are people out there who will loose any respect for me since I've read this book, but it was an entertaining read. Like many of Dan Brown's books, there are many huge infodumps, some cleverly disguised, some not. The plot was twisty but confusing. The portrayal of the masonic brotherhood was interesting, though not very flattering to that same brotherhood. It's given me the idea to try and work with some secret society things for my Mage game, but more on that later.
Trouble with Demons
The last book I finished (just yesterday in fact), was the third book in Lisa Shearin's Raine Benares series. The cover/title was for this book was what got me to pick up the series in the first place. The Demonology professor who got elaborated on in this book is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I hope she comes back. I've been on a Demon kick recently, and this helped with that. It also got me thinking about some more details for my magic system in my own novel, but that's for another post.
Character Model
So last time didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I did a few things that were, in retrospect, pretty obviously wrong. I've told some of you, but what I basically did was start over, and try a new method. There's still work to be done, but it's a much better start than last time.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Book Reviews
I've recently finished two books.
The Magicians
The first one is The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The basic premise is Harry Potter meets Narnia. The protag is one of those pompus smart kids (Whether I am one as well or not is up for debate) who has this "I'm fed up with life" attitude. He's constantly looking for an escape. It starts off with escaping in reading, and then a harry-potter like school of sorcery.
The premise is pretty interesting, and well executed. The characters attitude and hedonism got to me a couple of times, but it brings up an interesting question: If magic lets you do anything, what do you do to keep yourself occupied? After graduating from school, there's another instance of world-hopping, which kind of threw me for a loop. One alternate / hidden reality is one thing, but two is pushing it for me.
The other interesting thing about the plot is the pacing. The antagonist is very absent throughout the story. The conflict in the novel is very much focused on the character and his search for the right escape. At first I thought it was an interesting pacing choice, but it yielded one of those "I am villain, hear me roar" speeches that seemed out of place.
Angelic
The second book was Angelic by Kelley Armstrong. I'm a huge fan of Armstrong's work, she manages to hit all the right buttons to make me enjoy a book. This work was a novella, from my favorite narrator, the Half-Demon/Witch Eve.
I love the character, even though SOMEONE (*coughcoughsushicough*) said she sounded like a Mary Sue. The plot's pretty simple on this one, a bag & tag for the Fates. Despite being novella-sized, however, there's some nice twists to keep you guessing. Dropping the dime on Jeremy kinda threw me for a loop, I didn't remember that in her other books, but it might have been in the Anthology I missed. Still great story, as always. Finding her outlining course online was a big win, thank's to Tez Miller for pointing that out to me. That will be given it's own post in a few days.
The Magicians
The first one is The Magicians by Lev Grossman. The basic premise is Harry Potter meets Narnia. The protag is one of those pompus smart kids (Whether I am one as well or not is up for debate) who has this "I'm fed up with life" attitude. He's constantly looking for an escape. It starts off with escaping in reading, and then a harry-potter like school of sorcery.
The premise is pretty interesting, and well executed. The characters attitude and hedonism got to me a couple of times, but it brings up an interesting question: If magic lets you do anything, what do you do to keep yourself occupied? After graduating from school, there's another instance of world-hopping, which kind of threw me for a loop. One alternate / hidden reality is one thing, but two is pushing it for me.
The other interesting thing about the plot is the pacing. The antagonist is very absent throughout the story. The conflict in the novel is very much focused on the character and his search for the right escape. At first I thought it was an interesting pacing choice, but it yielded one of those "I am villain, hear me roar" speeches that seemed out of place.
Angelic
The second book was Angelic by Kelley Armstrong. I'm a huge fan of Armstrong's work, she manages to hit all the right buttons to make me enjoy a book. This work was a novella, from my favorite narrator, the Half-Demon/Witch Eve.
I love the character, even though SOMEONE (*coughcoughsushicough*) said she sounded like a Mary Sue. The plot's pretty simple on this one, a bag & tag for the Fates. Despite being novella-sized, however, there's some nice twists to keep you guessing. Dropping the dime on Jeremy kinda threw me for a loop, I didn't remember that in her other books, but it might have been in the Anthology I missed. Still great story, as always. Finding her outlining course online was a big win, thank's to Tez Miller for pointing that out to me. That will be given it's own post in a few days.
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