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book reviews: travelin' 'round
Dec. 4th, 2012 02:28 pmThe Cloud Roads by Martha Wells and sequel The Serpent Sea are very much fantasy books in the classic "tourism" genre, as in, protagonist visits a series of interesting/scenic places, has adventures there, moves on. The places here are *superb* - inventive, memorable, vividly described - and the adventures are worthy of them. I also really liked that the people living in all these different places are very different too - this is not generic Euro-human fantasy-kingdom, this is "let's really take advantage of this being a fantasy novel and have a world with a zillion different more-or-less-humanoid alien races". (None of which are humans, including our protagonist.) Did I mention that the author is clearing having fun messing with gender roles/expectations? And sneaking in some interesting musings about biology vs culture? The third of the trilogy, The Siren Depths, just came out recently, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Recommended!
Viva Jacquelina! on the other hand was sadly disappointing. This was book ten in the Jacky Faber books by L.A. Meyer, and I had my hopes up for this one, having really loved books one, four, and seven, but, alas, the pattern has broken. The Jacky Faber books have also been a "tourism" series for awhile now, this time in our world, Napoleonic-era - this one was Spain and we duly checked off our items on the Spain ticky and then reset everyone for the next go-round somewhere else. It just felt very superficial - it didn't feel like Jacky had any important choices to make, or that any of her actions had consequences (and I don't mean that just in the parental euphemism-for-punishment, she-gets-away-with-everything way, but in the causal, did-she-at-any-point-do-anything-that-affects-anything-we-care-about way). These books have become episodic to the extent that only characters introduced just for the present episode ever see their plots advance or resolve, and Jacky meanwhile experiences no doubt, no introspection, no crisis of confidence, no being torn between conflicting goals, no growth as a character, nothing except being carried around by the plot as a cardboard cutout to hold up in front of various bits of costume-drama.
Viva Jacquelina! on the other hand was sadly disappointing. This was book ten in the Jacky Faber books by L.A. Meyer, and I had my hopes up for this one, having really loved books one, four, and seven, but, alas, the pattern has broken. The Jacky Faber books have also been a "tourism" series for awhile now, this time in our world, Napoleonic-era - this one was Spain and we duly checked off our items on the Spain ticky and then reset everyone for the next go-round somewhere else. It just felt very superficial - it didn't feel like Jacky had any important choices to make, or that any of her actions had consequences (and I don't mean that just in the parental euphemism-for-punishment, she-gets-away-with-everything way, but in the causal, did-she-at-any-point-do-anything-that-affects-anything-we-care-about way). These books have become episodic to the extent that only characters introduced just for the present episode ever see their plots advance or resolve, and Jacky meanwhile experiences no doubt, no introspection, no crisis of confidence, no being torn between conflicting goals, no growth as a character, nothing except being carried around by the plot as a cardboard cutout to hold up in front of various bits of costume-drama.
