![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Recent reading
Oct. 26th, 2015 10:31 amUprooted by Naomi Novik
For my fannish book club; it was the first book that all four members of the book club loved. I found it immensely readable, and the descriptions of magic were very enjoyable, both of which I expected, since I was halfway spoiled for the book beforehand. On the issues which divide people: I thought the romance was okay, though I'm generally not a fan of teacher/student romances or M/F romances where the man is older/more powerful. Like, I could've done with or without it, but in any case it's not the heart of the book, only a small subplot. And I did like how they're definitely not joined at the hip at the end. Agnieszka coming into her power is very compelling reading, and that's what I was in it for at the beginning. Then the plot accelerates, and I felt like the book just kept throwing high-body-count plot at me, possibly too much, though it was very page-turney. I liked Agnieszka and Kasia's friendship, but the heart of the book for me was the end, which made me go YESSSSS, entirely predictably, given how I love stories about the relationship between humans and nature.
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan (#2 in the Memoirs of Lady Trent)
Oh, how delightful! I enjoyed the first book in this series, and the second one even more so. I loved Isabella's adventures and her commitment to the study of dragons and natural history, and the connections she makes to people along the way. I wonder why the alternate world, though? Like, why is it a lightly-disguised 19th century world, instead of the actual 19th century world (with added dragons)?
For my fannish book club; it was the first book that all four members of the book club loved. I found it immensely readable, and the descriptions of magic were very enjoyable, both of which I expected, since I was halfway spoiled for the book beforehand. On the issues which divide people: I thought the romance was okay, though I'm generally not a fan of teacher/student romances or M/F romances where the man is older/more powerful. Like, I could've done with or without it, but in any case it's not the heart of the book, only a small subplot. And I did like how they're definitely not joined at the hip at the end. Agnieszka coming into her power is very compelling reading, and that's what I was in it for at the beginning. Then the plot accelerates, and I felt like the book just kept throwing high-body-count plot at me, possibly too much, though it was very page-turney. I liked Agnieszka and Kasia's friendship, but the heart of the book for me was the end, which made me go YESSSSS, entirely predictably, given how I love stories about the relationship between humans and nature.
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan (#2 in the Memoirs of Lady Trent)
Oh, how delightful! I enjoyed the first book in this series, and the second one even more so. I loved Isabella's adventures and her commitment to the study of dragons and natural history, and the connections she makes to people along the way. I wonder why the alternate world, though? Like, why is it a lightly-disguised 19th century world, instead of the actual 19th century world (with added dragons)?
