At least the most emotionally-wrenching, I'd say. There is no detachment, no cynical edge, to protect us from what the vulnerable young protagonist is feeling.
Although I don't suppose that side of the book is what you were referring to.
I finished The Drowning Eyes novella by Emily Foster this afternoon.
As an intro to Foster's writing, I thought this novella worked very well. As a story in its own right, perhaps not so much.
The writing in this is good. It flows well, and the characters are painted vibrantly (if perhaps not terribly rounded). OTOH, the plotting had some problems. For one thing, important parts of the first third of the story had me rolling my eyes at the similarity to The Fifth Season -- specifically, the story depends on the existence of people born with powers who are feared by the general populace, separated from them into an isolated school as children, brainwashed/taught to believe that their lives are subservient to "the good of the many", and surgically manipulated to help control their powers. In this case, the powers just happen to apply to air rather than earth.
So the rest of the book started off at a deficit for me. Fortunately, the rest is not Fifth Seasonish at all -- but still, it was somewhat lacking. For example, there is no good reason why the five gifts our MC is given (I won't spoiler them) just happen to manage to be exactly the gifts she needs at every crisis along the way; for another example, we
never actually see her retrieving the artifact that was the whole point of the story
. OTOH, there is some good character conflict between the MC, who knows that
her eyes will be removed and actively wants that to happen
, and the second MC, who can't stand the thought of that happening and keeps trying to talk her out of it.
So -- ehh. Not a bad read over all, but you can sure see how a full novel could do better, and how Foster may do better with more practice.
As for narration -- this is narrated by Robin Miles, who is an outstanding narrator. Unfortunately, Miles also narrated The Fifth Season, which exacerbates the apparent similarities between the two.
At least the most emotionally-wrenching, I'd say. There is no detachment, no cynical edge, to protect us from what the vulnerable young protagonist is feeling.
Although I don't suppose that side of the book is what you were referring to.
I wasn't referring to any aspect of it. I just love the whole thing. Twenty five years ago I wrote an article about it and other books on the topic of love. I ought to try to re-find that article... It was published in Vector, I think. Or maybe Matrix.
The first was The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson, a stand-alone story set in the Elantris Universe. Shai is an expert Forger who is imprisoned with a death sentence, but given a last chance of freedom if she can recreate the dying Emperor's soul. What follows is a masterful display of writing to create an excellent tale of deception, an imaginative magic system and great characterization, all in 175 pages. The interaction between Shai and councilor Gaotona and their use of subterfuge on each other kept me guessing right to the end. It's well-worthy of the Hugo it won. 5/5
A completely different type of book was Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente. It's written from an AI's point of view of it's relationship to a human's mind - and the author has written it this way - but a result many of the passages are hard to follow. The writing is very good, some amazing imagery is put forward, but overall I thought it was too non-linear and so I couldn't relate enough to enjoy the story. 2.5/5
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette
Wasn't planning to reread this, but the mood struck and I followed it. Merging the antiquarian horror of M. R. James and H. P. Lovecraft, Monette adds a more contemporary sensibility that includes looking at "otherness" from perspectives other than the supernatural, a wry sense of humor, attention to characterization and at least in one story a variation on the English country house murder mystery. These are so much fun I hope she collects a further volume of them soon.
Finished Dark Matter- by Blake Crouch. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I won't say a word about it because giving away any part of the plot could ruin the fun. Red Rising Trilogy - All three books by Piece Brown. I swallowed them up and loved them. Waiting on the new book to come out. Shadow Ops Series - by Myke Cole. Military/Urban Fantasy series that I enjoyed. Read the first three books in the series.
Currently Reading The Wolf of the North - by Duncan M. Hamilton - typical coming-of-age hero fantasy. Good so far, free on Kindle Unlimited. A couple of my favorite authors recommended it on Goodreads. Hyperion - by Dan Simmons. Listening to this on Audiobook format while walking, riding bike, showering.
Just started listening to Kings of the Wyld but it does not have whisper sync with its ebook version which is a small PITA as I like to read the book when I can sit at home and then listen when I am out in the car where i can't read and drive at the same time ( though when I was young I did to seem to have any problems using a paper map) (The gave out great maps for free at the service stations back then ) so i will try reading to the chapter breaks before I listen on the iPhone in the car. Not quite as convenient and a bit surprising with a recently released book like this one.
) so i will try reading to the chapter breaks before I listen on the iPhone in the car. Not quite as convenient and a bit surprising with a recently released book like this one.
