still sick and reading
Jul. 13th, 2006 12:45![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhastill sick. still reading like there's no tomorrow.
the moon's shadow by catherine asaro. so sad, very bad. and i was looking forward to this one, being as it deals with jaibriol III's rule as emperor of the eubian concord. this could have been something, being as he's hiding being a telepath in a society where those are the lowest of the low, slaves. but it's all a waste. i didn't buy him getting away with it for a minute. he stumbles from one crisis to the next, he doesn't adapt whatsoever, and it's completely unrealistic that he's not caught out on the many occasions where he loses it due to telepathic pressure. i am peeved, because this was a great setup that totally tanked due to bad characterization.
booklist says "Asaro's vast, splendid Skolian Empire saga continues to successfully combine space opera, hard science, and romance." say what? space opera, yes. hard science? there is no hard science. oh wait, were they talking about the appendix in which asaro talks about the sizes of the moons? none of that has any bearing on the book. and the romance is of that asinine kind, the "strange attraction at first glance, impossible to resist" kind. *blech*. parts of the book read like it's cobbled together from notes of the other 7 books, and there are still rip marks at the edges where other books continue. no, all the nubile submissive slave girls with silver nipple rings couldn't save this one for me.
one small saving grace is tarquine iqhar, the finance minister who becomes jaibriol's empress, and who at least presents some interesting character choices -- tough, smart, duplicitous, ruthless with just a touch of compassion. i don't buy their romance just like i don't buy jai getting away with conning all of aristo society, but it could have worked. and no, i am not against it because she's 100-something years old and he's 17, though i admit that's stretching things, and i would have needed some extra intellectual interaction between the two to get over it. but not only am i not getting that, there is really nothing here about why those people would fall in love. just that irresistable attraction -- *feh*.
it's good that i don't rate books. this would probably go negative.
skyfall by catherine asaro. ok, so i had this already, otherwise i wouldn't have bought it, because the above mess turned me off permanently; i'm not buying another skolian empire book. the saga started out strong, but has been going downhill steadily. after the previous disaster i am probably viewing this as better than it deserves, but it was something of a relief.
this is the 9th book in the series, but on the timeline it's the first (so far). it fills out some backstory, on how roca and eldrin met. i think asaro has settled pretty firmly in the category of "romance with futuristic elements" instead of "science fiction with romance elements" now. which is a pity, because me, i'm tired of romance tropes. this novel uses a particularly egregious one -- woman gets abducted and falls in love with her kidnapper. of course she can't help it because she's a rhon, and he's a rhon and their pheromones make it nearly impossible to resist (asaro has never thought that one through, or we'd have a lot more incest in these books). nevermind that she was headed towards an assembly meeting to cast her vote for avoiding a war in which millions will die, which she will now miss -- eldrin is just a wonderful guy underneath his audacious behaviour, and so we frolic with the lavender ponies (with crystalline hooves and horns!) in the bubble grass.
i guess i am glad i found out the backstory, but i am really not happy about the execution. there's so much here that i could have done without, and the amazing dysfunction of the ruby dynasty people just boggles my mind -- they act worse than normal people without any telepathic powers. one might think they could act a little better, what with those amazing mindmelds and all.
so skyfall is better than the moon's shadow, but i don't think i'd be recommending it to anyone.
one thing that stands out about both is the prose, the purple prose! the attention to the amazing physique, the cascading hip-length hair, shimmering black with diamond glitter, or burgundy-wine with golden metallic highlights (actual metal, but oh-so-soft to the touch)! the golden skin! the striking green eyes! or red ones (colour-coordinated with the shimmering black hair, dont'cha know). or lavender. nobody who's anybody in these books has ordinary eyes or hair. i was laughing my ass off at imagining her and laurell k. hamilton co-writing something. it'd have to come wrapped in long, silken locks.
because these two books were so *bleh*, i decided to reward myself with spin, being as robert charles wilson is one of my "pick up on sight" authors. OMG -- wonderful. but review later; headache wants me to go back to bed.
the moon's shadow by catherine asaro. so sad, very bad. and i was looking forward to this one, being as it deals with jaibriol III's rule as emperor of the eubian concord. this could have been something, being as he's hiding being a telepath in a society where those are the lowest of the low, slaves. but it's all a waste. i didn't buy him getting away with it for a minute. he stumbles from one crisis to the next, he doesn't adapt whatsoever, and it's completely unrealistic that he's not caught out on the many occasions where he loses it due to telepathic pressure. i am peeved, because this was a great setup that totally tanked due to bad characterization.
booklist says "Asaro's vast, splendid Skolian Empire saga continues to successfully combine space opera, hard science, and romance." say what? space opera, yes. hard science? there is no hard science. oh wait, were they talking about the appendix in which asaro talks about the sizes of the moons? none of that has any bearing on the book. and the romance is of that asinine kind, the "strange attraction at first glance, impossible to resist" kind. *blech*. parts of the book read like it's cobbled together from notes of the other 7 books, and there are still rip marks at the edges where other books continue. no, all the nubile submissive slave girls with silver nipple rings couldn't save this one for me.
one small saving grace is tarquine iqhar, the finance minister who becomes jaibriol's empress, and who at least presents some interesting character choices -- tough, smart, duplicitous, ruthless with just a touch of compassion. i don't buy their romance just like i don't buy jai getting away with conning all of aristo society, but it could have worked. and no, i am not against it because she's 100-something years old and he's 17, though i admit that's stretching things, and i would have needed some extra intellectual interaction between the two to get over it. but not only am i not getting that, there is really nothing here about why those people would fall in love. just that irresistable attraction -- *feh*.
it's good that i don't rate books. this would probably go negative.
skyfall by catherine asaro. ok, so i had this already, otherwise i wouldn't have bought it, because the above mess turned me off permanently; i'm not buying another skolian empire book. the saga started out strong, but has been going downhill steadily. after the previous disaster i am probably viewing this as better than it deserves, but it was something of a relief.
this is the 9th book in the series, but on the timeline it's the first (so far). it fills out some backstory, on how roca and eldrin met. i think asaro has settled pretty firmly in the category of "romance with futuristic elements" instead of "science fiction with romance elements" now. which is a pity, because me, i'm tired of romance tropes. this novel uses a particularly egregious one -- woman gets abducted and falls in love with her kidnapper. of course she can't help it because she's a rhon, and he's a rhon and their pheromones make it nearly impossible to resist (asaro has never thought that one through, or we'd have a lot more incest in these books). nevermind that she was headed towards an assembly meeting to cast her vote for avoiding a war in which millions will die, which she will now miss -- eldrin is just a wonderful guy underneath his audacious behaviour, and so we frolic with the lavender ponies (with crystalline hooves and horns!) in the bubble grass.
i guess i am glad i found out the backstory, but i am really not happy about the execution. there's so much here that i could have done without, and the amazing dysfunction of the ruby dynasty people just boggles my mind -- they act worse than normal people without any telepathic powers. one might think they could act a little better, what with those amazing mindmelds and all.
so skyfall is better than the moon's shadow, but i don't think i'd be recommending it to anyone.
one thing that stands out about both is the prose, the purple prose! the attention to the amazing physique, the cascading hip-length hair, shimmering black with diamond glitter, or burgundy-wine with golden metallic highlights (actual metal, but oh-so-soft to the touch)! the golden skin! the striking green eyes! or red ones (colour-coordinated with the shimmering black hair, dont'cha know). or lavender. nobody who's anybody in these books has ordinary eyes or hair. i was laughing my ass off at imagining her and laurell k. hamilton co-writing something. it'd have to come wrapped in long, silken locks.
because these two books were so *bleh*, i decided to reward myself with spin, being as robert charles wilson is one of my "pick up on sight" authors. OMG -- wonderful. but review later; headache wants me to go back to bed.