To add to the reading list
Aug. 7th, 2004 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperAugust:
Club Dead - Just finished this one off today. It's the third by Charlaine Harris in her "Southern Vampire" series, but I'm not sure if the charm of the concept is holding up for me. This plot was more soap-opera-y than the previous two, and the heroine's main love interest seemed to turn into a pretty much cardboard cutout version of himself. There were several places all throughout the book where it felt like I was reading an early Anita Blake novel, except most of the characters were talking with Southern accents in my head--it had all the violence of the early Anita Blakes, and hints of the sex, too. There were, most tellingly, repeated hints that our heroine was being outrun by her own libido when it came to two other gents besides her ostensible boyfriend--which was very reminiscent of Anita. Sigh. And though I finished off the book, I wasn't exactly satisfied--very much a feeling of "okay, why do I care what just happened to these people?" coming out of this book. Which is disappointing, because I did like the first two pretty well.
And once, just once, I'd like to see Elvis jokes made that don't involve the inevitable "thank you very much". Note to self: make sure that line doesn't appear in Faerie Blood. ;P
Witching Moon - The third of Rebecca York's werewolf novels. I don't think I liked this one nearly as much as the others, and I wasn't too terribly thrilled with those, either. This one, I think, had the disadvantage of the least-interesting hero--Adam Marshall, younger brother of Ross Marshall, didn't really stand out enough from his brother for me to be a character on his own. He was mostly defined for me as "the younger brother of the werewolf in the first novel"--and hells bells, some of the earliest paragraphs in this book, describing the first time Adam changed to wolf form, read almost word for word exactly like the paragraphs used to describe Ross changing. Plus, I've got to agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
agrimony that her choice of words when describing certain actions on the parts of her bad guys (or girls) when they're trying to be 'sexy' is really off-putting--she has this way of using cruder language when it's actions by the bad guys (or girls), and less crude language when she's talking about her hero and heroine, but still. That's the thing--she's only "less crude" when dealing with her hero and heroine trying to be sexy. There still isn't any particular grace or music in her language. I can see the point of wanting to use language that actual people would use--and yeah, thinking about it, I'll grant that many people in life are in fact crude. Doesn't mean I want to read about them.
The only time this book got at all remotely interesting to me was the cameo of older brother Ross--when he and Adam started making the tentative overtures to get past werewolf "all males are alpha males" instincts and actually deal with one another. That made the characters start seeming like people to me, and was a faint echo of one of the things I really like about the Elizabeth Lowell's novels about the Donovans--the sense of family between all of them.
And oh yeah--the witch clan who were the bad guys in this story? All about the "witchcraft equals bad" stereotype. Bah.
Out of the Ruins - This more or less counts as an August read, since I finished it off while I was recovering from the surgery this past Wednesday. This is the fourth in Patricia Wright's Ben Reese mystery series, and I liked it well enough, though I'm not sure I was really in a proper frame of mind to enjoy what I was reading to the fullest extent. Her style is very literary, and it makes me think of Eddie Izzard's joking description of British acting--all the drama subsumed, or some such. It's also been a while since I read the first three of these novels, so I had sort of lost connection to the character's previous activities. That said... a pleasant enough read, and it's still intriguingly odd to read a period piece set in the 60's.
I had a hard time keeping track of many of the lesser characters--but I think this had as much to do with being on morphine as it did with any fault of the book.
July:
Edge of the Moon - Book #2 of Rebecca York's werewolf books, and this one was kind of weird in that the hero of the story was not actually one of her werewolf family. She's only got two men in the family serving as love interests in the trilogy--which meant she had to have a normal guy be the hero of the second book. I found this a bit of a letdown--perhaps again because of being used to Lowell's Donovans series, in which every single adult male of romancing age you meet winds up getting his own novel eventually, and perhaps also in spite of this. I think I was disappointed that there was very little werewolf mileage at all in the second book, barring what assistance is given by Ross Marshall, the hero from the first book. Jack, the hero of this book, did have a bit of a time being interesting to me despite being a "normal" guy--yet, he was more interesting to me than Adam, perhaps because he had a better developed character and an actual family life and motivations and suchlike.
And I did like that there was some continuity with the first book and the relationship set up between Jack and Ross. And I liked that Ross did actually contribute in significant ways to the plot. So, a better read than Witching Moon.
Killing Moon - And the first of Rebecca York's werewolf books. This was, hands down, the best of the three--best of the three heroes, and I think the best of the three heroines as well, even though I thought that Megan's background story was cursory at best. And it was disappointing that it didn't get any on-camera resolution that I could see.
Still, though, even in this book I had issues with the language--see above commentary on the two latter books. And there were definite bits that I wish we would have been shown on camera rather than just had told to us, such as Megan's argument with her sister about money and whether or not Megan actually abandoned her.
Pearl Cove - A re-read, just because I felt like it, and because I was in the mood for one of the aforementioned Donovans. Big, dark, handsome former mercenary type and the widow of his half-brother--who he just happens to have carried a torch for for the past ten years--go on a hunt across three continents for the insanely valuable Black Trinity pearl necklace. Fun. And what I pick up a romantic suspense novel for. ;)
Club Dead - Just finished this one off today. It's the third by Charlaine Harris in her "Southern Vampire" series, but I'm not sure if the charm of the concept is holding up for me. This plot was more soap-opera-y than the previous two, and the heroine's main love interest seemed to turn into a pretty much cardboard cutout version of himself. There were several places all throughout the book where it felt like I was reading an early Anita Blake novel, except most of the characters were talking with Southern accents in my head--it had all the violence of the early Anita Blakes, and hints of the sex, too. There were, most tellingly, repeated hints that our heroine was being outrun by her own libido when it came to two other gents besides her ostensible boyfriend--which was very reminiscent of Anita. Sigh. And though I finished off the book, I wasn't exactly satisfied--very much a feeling of "okay, why do I care what just happened to these people?" coming out of this book. Which is disappointing, because I did like the first two pretty well.
And once, just once, I'd like to see Elvis jokes made that don't involve the inevitable "thank you very much". Note to self: make sure that line doesn't appear in Faerie Blood. ;P
Witching Moon - The third of Rebecca York's werewolf novels. I don't think I liked this one nearly as much as the others, and I wasn't too terribly thrilled with those, either. This one, I think, had the disadvantage of the least-interesting hero--Adam Marshall, younger brother of Ross Marshall, didn't really stand out enough from his brother for me to be a character on his own. He was mostly defined for me as "the younger brother of the werewolf in the first novel"--and hells bells, some of the earliest paragraphs in this book, describing the first time Adam changed to wolf form, read almost word for word exactly like the paragraphs used to describe Ross changing. Plus, I've got to agree with
agrimony that her choice of words when describing certain actions on the parts of her bad guys (or girls) when they're trying to be 'sexy' is really off-putting--she has this way of using cruder language when it's actions by the bad guys (or girls), and less crude language when she's talking about her hero and heroine, but still. That's the thing--she's only "less crude" when dealing with her hero and heroine trying to be sexy. There still isn't any particular grace or music in her language. I can see the point of wanting to use language that actual people would use--and yeah, thinking about it, I'll grant that many people in life are in fact crude. Doesn't mean I want to read about them.The only time this book got at all remotely interesting to me was the cameo of older brother Ross--when he and Adam started making the tentative overtures to get past werewolf "all males are alpha males" instincts and actually deal with one another. That made the characters start seeming like people to me, and was a faint echo of one of the things I really like about the Elizabeth Lowell's novels about the Donovans--the sense of family between all of them.
And oh yeah--the witch clan who were the bad guys in this story? All about the "witchcraft equals bad" stereotype. Bah.
Out of the Ruins - This more or less counts as an August read, since I finished it off while I was recovering from the surgery this past Wednesday. This is the fourth in Patricia Wright's Ben Reese mystery series, and I liked it well enough, though I'm not sure I was really in a proper frame of mind to enjoy what I was reading to the fullest extent. Her style is very literary, and it makes me think of Eddie Izzard's joking description of British acting--all the drama subsumed, or some such. It's also been a while since I read the first three of these novels, so I had sort of lost connection to the character's previous activities. That said... a pleasant enough read, and it's still intriguingly odd to read a period piece set in the 60's.
I had a hard time keeping track of many of the lesser characters--but I think this had as much to do with being on morphine as it did with any fault of the book.
July:
Edge of the Moon - Book #2 of Rebecca York's werewolf books, and this one was kind of weird in that the hero of the story was not actually one of her werewolf family. She's only got two men in the family serving as love interests in the trilogy--which meant she had to have a normal guy be the hero of the second book. I found this a bit of a letdown--perhaps again because of being used to Lowell's Donovans series, in which every single adult male of romancing age you meet winds up getting his own novel eventually, and perhaps also in spite of this. I think I was disappointed that there was very little werewolf mileage at all in the second book, barring what assistance is given by Ross Marshall, the hero from the first book. Jack, the hero of this book, did have a bit of a time being interesting to me despite being a "normal" guy--yet, he was more interesting to me than Adam, perhaps because he had a better developed character and an actual family life and motivations and suchlike.
And I did like that there was some continuity with the first book and the relationship set up between Jack and Ross. And I liked that Ross did actually contribute in significant ways to the plot. So, a better read than Witching Moon.
Killing Moon - And the first of Rebecca York's werewolf books. This was, hands down, the best of the three--best of the three heroes, and I think the best of the three heroines as well, even though I thought that Megan's background story was cursory at best. And it was disappointing that it didn't get any on-camera resolution that I could see.
Still, though, even in this book I had issues with the language--see above commentary on the two latter books. And there were definite bits that I wish we would have been shown on camera rather than just had told to us, such as Megan's argument with her sister about money and whether or not Megan actually abandoned her.
Pearl Cove - A re-read, just because I felt like it, and because I was in the mood for one of the aforementioned Donovans. Big, dark, handsome former mercenary type and the widow of his half-brother--who he just happens to have carried a torch for for the past ten years--go on a hunt across three continents for the insanely valuable Black Trinity pearl necklace. Fun. And what I pick up a romantic suspense novel for. ;)
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Date: 2004-08-07 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-08 11:54 am (UTC)