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What I Just Finished Reading
Clariel – Garth Nix
This is my second favorite Old Kingdom book after Sabriel. The worldbuilding and scene setting, especially in the early chapters, are phenomenal. Having said that, once the main character arrives in the capital city the book flits from one location, supporting cast, and setting to another, never really settling down into a single narrative. It's very slightly disappointing, like watching the pilots of multiple intriguing television series for which no future episodes were filmed. The narrative also falls into the “people traveling up and down the Ratterlin” trap that Nix has revisited in pretty much all of his YA novels since The Ragwitch. Overall, I enjoyed this one, but like the rest of the Old Kingdom offerings aside from Sabriel, I don't think I'll ever reread it.
A Conspiracy of Kings – Megan Whalen Turner
A wonderfully written book. I'm especially fond of the first third of the narrative, in which Sophos basically undergoes a Zen practice period. Like everything Turner writes, it's inventive, tightly plotted, and does not take the easy narrative way out. So good.
Thick as Thieves – Megan Whalen Turner
Page 2: Man, the Mede are an empire of snakes. I don't know how I feel about a book with them as main characters.
Page 15: What a brilliantly realistic psychological portrayal of a man in Kamet's position.
Page 16: MEGAN WHALEN TURNER, I SEE YOU AND I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO.
But here's the thing: having correctly identified the big reveal 266 pages before the characters are clued in in no way diminished the ride. And jesus, what a good ride it was. This is my favorite next to The Thief, hands down. Just. The characterisation. The plotting. The worldbuilding. The pleasure of watching these characters figure things out (and the terror of watching them run headlong into danger because they don't know). So good. So good. This is one of those novels that makes it hard to even consider reading something else once you've turned the last page. So good.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Castle of Llyr – Lloyd Alexander
These books were just so much bigger when I read them as a child, but coming back to them now I still maintain that sense of expansiveness and discovery and wonder.
The Waste Land – T.S. Eliot
I love this poem.
The Bedlam Stacks – Natasha Pulley
Page 19: This thing with the statue is wonderfully creepy.
Page 25: Really creepy.
Page 36: Okay, I need to stop reading this at night.
Page 75: Holy. Shit.
Page 85: NATASHA PULLEY, I SEE YOU AND I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO. The statue. Merrick's mother. Raphael's attitude. But I have a feeling that having figured this out will in no way diminish the ride. Consider me hooked.
The King of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
I seem to be reading the books in reverse chronological order now, just so I can enjoy them all again knowing even more about how things will unfold in the futue. And just, yeah. Costis.
What I'm Reading Next
Probably the rest of the Prydain Chronicles. The one-two punch of awesome that is Turner and Alexander is giving me a yen to revisit Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence.
これで以上です。
Clariel – Garth Nix
This is my second favorite Old Kingdom book after Sabriel. The worldbuilding and scene setting, especially in the early chapters, are phenomenal. Having said that, once the main character arrives in the capital city the book flits from one location, supporting cast, and setting to another, never really settling down into a single narrative. It's very slightly disappointing, like watching the pilots of multiple intriguing television series for which no future episodes were filmed. The narrative also falls into the “people traveling up and down the Ratterlin” trap that Nix has revisited in pretty much all of his YA novels since The Ragwitch. Overall, I enjoyed this one, but like the rest of the Old Kingdom offerings aside from Sabriel, I don't think I'll ever reread it.
A Conspiracy of Kings – Megan Whalen Turner
A wonderfully written book. I'm especially fond of the first third of the narrative, in which Sophos basically undergoes a Zen practice period. Like everything Turner writes, it's inventive, tightly plotted, and does not take the easy narrative way out. So good.
Thick as Thieves – Megan Whalen Turner
Page 2: Man, the Mede are an empire of snakes. I don't know how I feel about a book with them as main characters.
Page 15: What a brilliantly realistic psychological portrayal of a man in Kamet's position.
Page 16: MEGAN WHALEN TURNER, I SEE YOU AND I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO.
But here's the thing: having correctly identified the big reveal 266 pages before the characters are clued in in no way diminished the ride. And jesus, what a good ride it was. This is my favorite next to The Thief, hands down. Just. The characterisation. The plotting. The worldbuilding. The pleasure of watching these characters figure things out (and the terror of watching them run headlong into danger because they don't know). So good. So good. This is one of those novels that makes it hard to even consider reading something else once you've turned the last page. So good.
What I Am Currently Reading
The Castle of Llyr – Lloyd Alexander
These books were just so much bigger when I read them as a child, but coming back to them now I still maintain that sense of expansiveness and discovery and wonder.
The Waste Land – T.S. Eliot
I love this poem.
The Bedlam Stacks – Natasha Pulley
Page 19: This thing with the statue is wonderfully creepy.
Page 25: Really creepy.
Page 36: Okay, I need to stop reading this at night.
Page 75: Holy. Shit.
Page 85: NATASHA PULLEY, I SEE YOU AND I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO. The statue. Merrick's mother. Raphael's attitude. But I have a feeling that having figured this out will in no way diminish the ride. Consider me hooked.
The King of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
I seem to be reading the books in reverse chronological order now, just so I can enjoy them all again knowing even more about how things will unfold in the futue. And just, yeah. Costis.
What I'm Reading Next
Probably the rest of the Prydain Chronicles. The one-two punch of awesome that is Turner and Alexander is giving me a yen to revisit Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence.
これで以上です。
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