Flight into Fantasy

I’m plowing through Anne McCaffrey’s Pegasus in Flight not because I’m enjoying it terribly but because I know I can finish it by the end of the year.

McCaffrey has delivered yet another book that would be gripping if someone else had written it. Which is disappointing because I love reading about people with extrasensory powers.

Also, it was written in 1973, and set in the 1990′s, and she envisioned a future that didn’t happen, so the book’s a little dated in that respect.

*Sigh* I should reread Zenna Henderson for a better take on this topic.

Ursula Le Guin is one of those authors I either really love or find problematic depending on the work. I’ve started the next Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror collection, and have been unable to get my mind past the opening story, which was a lovely piece by her called “Dark Rose”. In it, our hero gives up learning to be a wizard in order to keep the woman he loves. Now that, I think, is true romantic hero greatness. The character is described as being “ruddy and cheerful”, and he’s a musician. And he just melts my heart… And yet, he’s not at all the sort of hero that a conventional romance author would touch.

*Continues to melt*

BTW, it is indeed somewhat hard to think of thelittle walk I took around my neighborhood as a grand adventure instead of a cause for annoyance because no less than three people offered to help me get where I needed to go when I didn’t actually need the help. They were all very nice to offer, and one of the three did walk me home, but it’s hard for me to learn what mistakes I made on that particular journey when someone is making sure I’m doing everything properly and ensuring I *can’t* get lost.

I read this book upon the endorsement of Mrs. Giggles, whose reviews and recaps are extremely amusing. She loved this book, and while I didn’t love it quite so much, it was still a great read.

The story is a historical romance set in the 1890′s. Horatio Thorne has died, and, in an effort to shame one of his relatives, the weak, asthmatic Avery, he gives Mill House, the home Avery has always coveted since he was a child, to suffragist Lillian Bede. Lily must make the house profitable for the next five years, and she’s also responsible for seeing to it that Avery has a monthly allowance. Avery, upon finding out what the terms of his relative’s will are, sets out on what becomes five years of world travel. Lily must, therefore, communicate with him, and they engage in a five year correspondence in which their mutual antagonism turns into grudging respect. Then Avery returns to Mill House and meets Lily for the first time, and they have to deal with each other in the flesh.

For once, the big misunderstandings in this romance novel made actual sense, and the characters weren’t stupid. Avery’s a wonderful hero, and his completely geeky moments totally charmed me. Lily is witty, intelligent and charming, so naturally I like her. The secondary characters are well-drawn, and most of them aren’t caricatures the way they sometimes are in romance novels.

Overall, a very satisfying read! Definitely recommended.

So my friendslist knows everything, which is why I ask.

If I want to read good cyberpunk that consists of more than just nifty gadgets and people blowing stuff up, what books should I read?

This is one of Mercedes Lackey’s rare standalone Valdemar novels, and it’s not a reread.

I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I certainly didn’t think I’d enjoy the book as much as I did. Lavan Chitward, called Lavan Firestarter and then Lavan Firestorm, seemed like a vaguely imperfect Vanyel clone at first, but the kid grew on me. I think this was because he had very evident character flaws, and he didn’t spend too much time whining the way Vanyel did. Also, the fact that he was unfortunate enough to be life-bonded to his companion made him interesting.

The book tells the story of Lavan, who hates the famed city of Haven where he has to move with his family, to advance his parents’ careers. Lavan doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life, so he’s sent to a school for younger sons of merchant and crafter families. The school has a very Lord of the Flies vibe to it, with the older boys beating and humiliating younger students. Lavan manages to avoid their punishments until one day he can’t. He’s taken to be flogged, and then his dormant talent for firestarting wakes in him and he sets the building on fire. Very shortly after that, he’s Chosen by a Companion, which means he’ll get to become one of the honored Heralds of Valdemar, which is a good thing because Valdemar’s about to be at war.

I kind of agree with a review I read of this book. I felt like Lackey could have improved her pace. It’s like, we’re going along happily at a normal pace, through the trials Lavan undergoes before he gets Chosen, then his heraldic training, and then, oops, we have to end the book sometime soon. Let’s send a sixteen-year-old boy to the middle of a war situation.

Also, I really really wasn’t very impressed with Lackey’s adult heralds. I thought that, overall, they didn’t do a very good job of handling someone like Lavan. He was alternately given too much special treatment (the king himself takes a personal interest in him) and yet, they decide they have to send him, basically still untrained, into a war situation near the end of the book. They don’t even bloody tell him he’s life-bonded to his Companion. I don’t know… I think, were I him, that’s a bit of information I would find useful.

Oh, well. Thinking about Lackey’s gaping plot inconsistencies is generally never a good idea. Despite all the said inconsistencies, I’m still a sap, and I cried at the end. Which is all it takes for me to find the book satisfying.

Books: I took a break from Martin (because he must be savored, dammit) and have been immersed in Lackey’s Brightly Burning. She’s done the tortured teenager who is omgspecial before, but Lavan is officially way cooler than Vanyel or Talia because he seems like one of her most well-drawn characters. And I only want to smack him half the time. Which is definitely an improvement over Vanyel, who I wanted to smack throughout his trilogy. That being said, I do want to smack Lavan’s Companion. She’s just… somewhat grating.

RPGs: I had this awesome meta-y thread idea that I started playing with on Saturday, and now the idea has spawned three distinct and different threads. Two of them are full of angst and great plot and character torture. But one of the players involved decided to introduce Legolas. Yes, that Legolas. And so I decided that I would keep introducing characters stolen liberally from deleterius who would keep popping up inconveniently and then getting killed. Only the serious writer and I are trying to figure out how we’re going to separate our serious story from Legolas because Legolas really isn’t fitting our grand plans. That being said, I still like the comic plot development of the random Mary Sues. The first one we killed was a half-elf, half-fairy. I’m thinking the second might be a modern-day girl who was bound for Middle Earth but wound up in that thread instead. I also have plans to introduce Saphira Potter-Snape, (the really bad crossover Sue) and the daughter of Lord Voldemort and Sauron (the even worse crossover Sue that involves mpreg.) There should also be an anime-inspired sue, but someone else will have to write that post up for me I’d actually really take any suggestions for that thread.

I had more to say, but I think it’ll wait until morning.

Class so did not happen today. Tomorrow I have to go, if only to assuage my guilty conscience, and they say Friday the high is supposed to be somewhere above freezing, which is a very good thing. Because then I may freeze to death, but it’ll take longer.

In the meantime, I dipped back into A Storm of Swords because I just couldn’t leave those books alone.
This book is going to be sort of hard to get through because I’ve been spoiled a little, and even if I weren’t, well… You don’t have to be a genius to realize that Martin is fixing to push Tyrion, one of my favorite characters in the series, to an extremely large fall from grace. And one of my favorite things about A Clash of Kings was watching Tyrion put the smackdown on his horrible bitchy sister.

And in completely irrelevant ASOIAF news, I want someone to write me some Jon Snow/Samwell Tarly fanfic. That is all.

I swear this book is the longest, most self-indulgent bit of tripe that ever won a Nebula Award.
I’m a bit past page 140, and the urge to strangle the author for continually avoiding any but passing mentions of the plot in favor of her Mary Sue main character navel-gazing is growing.

The Healer’s War which is the book I’m currently reading, and which is set in Vietnam, would be a much more compelling read if one Captain Hawkeye Pierce made an appearance.

Yes, yes, I know, wrong war.

And now I wonder if there is M*A*S*H fanfiction out there. Because the slash potential of all those men and only one major female character is pretty boundless. Or maybe I just need sleep.

In other news, I really really do need to see if I can get A Feast for Crows ordered in audio format from the public library. Because I’ve been putting off truly diving into A Storm of Swords until I know I’m not going to finish the book and then be left hanging.

Damn me and my getting hooked on ongoing series.

That being the case, I most emphatically do not need to reread Anne McCaffrey’s Talent books. I know those will stand up even less well to my rereads than the Valdemar books have. So I won’t even consider the idea. *shakes head firmly*

I started the second Legends anthology. Robin Hobb just got a lot higher up there on the list of authors I have to read immediately. I’m not sure where the novella she sent to the anthology fits in the grand scheme of things, but it’s brilliant. Interesting, creepy setting, engaging plot, characters who start out flawed but grow as the story progresses. Mmmm… All these are good things.

Wow. This book totally owned my soul. Even though I got spoiled pretty heavily before I’d finished.

It’s nice to see that this book was a little more lighthearted than some of the previous books in the series. And Professor Slughorn was a really, really cool character. Snape? I haven’t quite made up my mind. He still seems pretty ambiguous as a character.

I could really have done without the romance bits in the books. A lot of them felt a little superfluous, though the bits that involved Harry were sweet and cute.

Overall, an excellent read–for the other three of you out there who have not read these books.

There’ll be more book review-y goodness tomorrow, or maybe later tonight, because I’m nearly done with the latest Harry Potter book.

But I have to get this off my chest.

I’ve always loved Ron. He’s always been one of my favorite characters in the whole series, but in this book the love is definitely waning. The word “git” is a perfect adjective to describe Ron at sixteen. He’s a bully, he’s immature, and he doesn’t really have any charming moments in HBP.

In other news, I really have a lot of pity for Dobby the house-elf. Not so much for Kreacher, but Dobby always does seem to try to do the right thing. Even if he sometimes fails spectacularly, and, really, he just wants to be loved. And for that he gets my pity.

I’ve also noticed about Harry Potter fans that most casual readers find Hagrid bumbling but fun. however, he’s virtually ignored in online fandom communities.

Me? I love Hagrid. Not really enough to write fanfic about him, but he’s a gentle giant, and I have a soft spot for that particular archetype.

There. Mmore thoughts than I meant to put down, but oh well. Back to the book.

So, for once, when I’m making an entry about a book I will avoid the snark.

This collection of short stories was, for the most part, very well-put-together. All of the stories were at least interesting, and while there were a couple that I didn’t like as much, overall the collection really does contain good work Connie Willis has written.

If you like screwball comedies and science fiction (and they go together way better than you’d think) you’ll enjoy this book. Willis is also a wonderful social satire writer. Even though the book was written nearly fifteen years ago, most of the issues she discusses are relevant.

My favorites in the collection were “Even the Queen”, which deals with an issue faced by all women, “Spice Pogrom”, which is a seriously, seriously screwball story about aliens and miscommunication which actually portrays cute little girls as bratty, “Time Out”, which deals with motherhood and midlife crises and the chicken pox, “Chance”, which is about regrets and how one little event can change a person’s life forever, and “At the Rialto”, which I’d read before but which was just as funny the second time around.