Recent reading
Apr. 16th, 2015 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luzulaCoot Club by Arthur Ransome
I read and loved several of these books as a kid, but never had access to all of them. And now I thought I'd read one of those I hadn't read before, and see how it stood up. And oh, it does. ♥ It's such a very cosy adventure. Lovely setting, too--makes me want to go sailing. Although they do keep giving chocolate to the dog, and it makes me wince every time. (According to the afterword, apparently Ransome was married to Trotsky's secretary? \random fact)
Inda by Sherwood Smith
Recced byskygiants. It's been a while since I read epic brick fantasy--I've become very picky when it comes to that sort of thing. But this was very enjoyable, and kept me awake past my bedtime to finish. Engaging characters (especially the female ones) and great worldbuilding. Although the main character is sort of id-ficcy (he is a teenager who is super-good at everything! he hides his true identity but his skills shine through!) but whatever, I can enjoy that sort of thing. There's a bit too much cheerful and problem-free prostitution (male and female) in the book for me, but OTOH there's that brief aside about sexual violence having been bred out of the human species by magic?? Indeed, there's plenty of war and violence but no rape in the book. I thought the marriages among the nobility were interesting--it seems to be almost solely a family alliance, and it's expected that both the wife and husband will have lovers if they don't want to sleep with each other. Also, some great queer characters!
Anyway. It's a dense book in the sense that it's plotty and there are lots of characters, who all have titles and various ties to each other, but the language is not dense at all--it serves the story well, but offers no resistance when reading and is not something I enjoy in its own right. This strikes me after reading Hild, which is dense in both senses. I guess I've committed to a whole long series now...good thing I have part two lying around, because I want to know what happens! *orders parts three and four as well*
I read and loved several of these books as a kid, but never had access to all of them. And now I thought I'd read one of those I hadn't read before, and see how it stood up. And oh, it does. ♥ It's such a very cosy adventure. Lovely setting, too--makes me want to go sailing. Although they do keep giving chocolate to the dog, and it makes me wince every time. (According to the afterword, apparently Ransome was married to Trotsky's secretary? \random fact)
Inda by Sherwood Smith
Recced by
skygiants. It's been a while since I read epic brick fantasy--I've become very picky when it comes to that sort of thing. But this was very enjoyable, and kept me awake past my bedtime to finish. Engaging characters (especially the female ones) and great worldbuilding. Although the main character is sort of id-ficcy (he is a teenager who is super-good at everything! he hides his true identity but his skills shine through!) but whatever, I can enjoy that sort of thing. There's a bit too much cheerful and problem-free prostitution (male and female) in the book for me, but OTOH there's that brief aside about sexual violence having been bred out of the human species by magic?? Indeed, there's plenty of war and violence but no rape in the book. I thought the marriages among the nobility were interesting--it seems to be almost solely a family alliance, and it's expected that both the wife and husband will have lovers if they don't want to sleep with each other. Also, some great queer characters! Anyway. It's a dense book in the sense that it's plotty and there are lots of characters, who all have titles and various ties to each other, but the language is not dense at all--it serves the story well, but offers no resistance when reading and is not something I enjoy in its own right. This strikes me after reading Hild, which is dense in both senses. I guess I've committed to a whole long series now...good thing I have part two lying around, because I want to know what happens! *orders parts three and four as well*
