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seerofbreadWow I can't believe how long I've been letting these pile up. I meant to have them posted pretty soon after finishing the books, but I didn't? Sigh.
I figure this is as good a way as any to prove my progress on the new years resolution about reading more, so here are the two books I've read for the first time so far. They are Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce and Half Way Home by Hugh Howard, both of which I got for Kindle as Christmas presents. They're both of pretty different genres but I read them in such rapid succession that it would be annoying to make two posts so close together.
Melting Stones is the tenth-ish book in the Emelan-universe series by Tamora Pierce. I could go on a lot about the series on the whole but I'll spare the gory details of that for some other post. (Short version: it's really great diverse fantasy please read it so I can be a fan at you.)
It's surprising because it's in first-person from Evvy's point of view. It's the first book in the series that hasn't felt even a bit like an ensemble cast book. Evvy has the spotlight, and honestly I really enjoy it especially as a sort of character study for her.
If you're looking to be surprised by turns of events, maybe don't be? I mean part of how obvious it is is because it's titled Melting Stones and it's not too hard to figure out what the challenge of the day is, but if you can get over the fact that some characters are more surprised than the reader then it's not like it isn't interesting. It might not be a surprise but it's still a cool challenge to deal with and it's dealt with in the same interesting ways that you come to expect from the series.
The logic of the local characters was pretty great. "Natural hot springs + volcanic rock + directly on a fault line + neighboring islands with volcanic activity = definitely not a volcano, no fucking way." I mean I guess they aren't necessarily experts and I don't know how wide-spread information about volcanoes is in this world at this time but come on guys.
The biggest thing I could complain about is rocks and gender. This whole time I assumed Luvo is only male because he's not an it and doesn't care enough to correct anyone, but now I'm not as sure. But just why do lava spirits have gender? They're so disdainful for meat creatures or w/e and yet here they are, totally capable of differentiating subtle references to it and all this stuff. Maybe it's about not wanting to bring stuff up, maybe it's about editors being pushy. And it's probably for the best because it's not like there's a shortage of non-binary representation through non-humans but I just don't see why it was necessary.
Anyway, I really liked Evvy's character development. It was interesting to see how she was coping with the stuff in Battle Magic. We sort of saw some stuff with Briar, but a lot of it got lost in all the hubbub going on in Will of the Empress. And generally a lot of stuff about her magic reminds me of Tris, and I'm suddenly really curious what would happen if they met--especially after this volcano stuff, since it's the single certain intersection of their magics.
Half Way Home is a shortish novel that apparently was written during NaNoWriMo. It's about some kids born into being colonists on a new planet, and I'd say from there it has a pretty dystopian/post-apocalyptic feel. It reminds me of Divergent a lot, but with more survival themes. (So, basically, exactly what I wanted to read right after I first finished The Hunger Games. I was able to appreciate it now but I still feel slightly cheated that I didn't have it then.) Because of that it shouldn't surprise you to hear that it's intense: people die, the story looks bleak, I for one sort of wanted to stop at a couple points, partially because the narrator was a bit melodramatic at parts but also because things were genuinely awful--not in a literary way, just in a stressful way.
(Quick note about narrators: there are second-person references in the prologue and in the final chapter/epilogue. I know people who get really turned off by second person, but don't worry about it because it doesn't last, and honestly I think it's a fairly good use of it even if you aren't necessarily into it.)
If you don't mind general mood-type spoilers about the ending, I'll tell you this: The ending is actually really hopeful. It gave one of those cool human feelings I like and it was cool and ultimately the best possible word for it is satisfying. I was really glad I stuck through to the end because in some ways it was the best part.
I tried to find a fandom for it but I couldn't find it. I could find signs of the author having fandom for other series, but for once in my life there's something that apparently doesn't have a fandom. But I want Kelvin/Porter/Tarsi leading villages and raising kids, and I want long-term effects of all the stuff beforehand examined. I want crossovers because this is a really cool universe and I want next-generation OCs and I want to see the technology they can develop.
But no. Apparently that's not a thing that I can find. If anyone wants to help me found an anon meme or IDK basically anything please let me know.
I mean, it was a satisfying ending. I'm curious about stuff that happened later, but stories do have to end eventually, for better or for worse, and this was a pretty good one. It was so triumphant and stuff, with the victory-over-the-computer and the destroying-the-samples-because-we-can and basically everything. There's a lot more to a new world than what happened, but it felt so good when everyone made it happen and survived for a year and that it was made even remotely possible. It was like fix-it fic for itself. I'm going to add this to my list of books I read when I'm feeling down, though I might only utilize the last couple chapters.
(And those are just the books I read for the first time since the new year. I can't believe how much reading I did over winter break, at least compared to how much reading I'd done in 2013.)
I figure this is as good a way as any to prove my progress on the new years resolution about reading more, so here are the two books I've read for the first time so far. They are Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce and Half Way Home by Hugh Howard, both of which I got for Kindle as Christmas presents. They're both of pretty different genres but I read them in such rapid succession that it would be annoying to make two posts so close together.
Melting Stones is the tenth-ish book in the Emelan-universe series by Tamora Pierce. I could go on a lot about the series on the whole but I'll spare the gory details of that for some other post. (Short version: it's really great diverse fantasy please read it so I can be a fan at you.)
It's surprising because it's in first-person from Evvy's point of view. It's the first book in the series that hasn't felt even a bit like an ensemble cast book. Evvy has the spotlight, and honestly I really enjoy it especially as a sort of character study for her.
If you're looking to be surprised by turns of events, maybe don't be? I mean part of how obvious it is is because it's titled Melting Stones and it's not too hard to figure out what the challenge of the day is, but if you can get over the fact that some characters are more surprised than the reader then it's not like it isn't interesting. It might not be a surprise but it's still a cool challenge to deal with and it's dealt with in the same interesting ways that you come to expect from the series.
The logic of the local characters was pretty great. "Natural hot springs + volcanic rock + directly on a fault line + neighboring islands with volcanic activity = definitely not a volcano, no fucking way." I mean I guess they aren't necessarily experts and I don't know how wide-spread information about volcanoes is in this world at this time but come on guys.
The biggest thing I could complain about is rocks and gender. This whole time I assumed Luvo is only male because he's not an it and doesn't care enough to correct anyone, but now I'm not as sure. But just why do lava spirits have gender? They're so disdainful for meat creatures or w/e and yet here they are, totally capable of differentiating subtle references to it and all this stuff. Maybe it's about not wanting to bring stuff up, maybe it's about editors being pushy. And it's probably for the best because it's not like there's a shortage of non-binary representation through non-humans but I just don't see why it was necessary.
Anyway, I really liked Evvy's character development. It was interesting to see how she was coping with the stuff in Battle Magic. We sort of saw some stuff with Briar, but a lot of it got lost in all the hubbub going on in Will of the Empress. And generally a lot of stuff about her magic reminds me of Tris, and I'm suddenly really curious what would happen if they met--especially after this volcano stuff, since it's the single certain intersection of their magics.
Half Way Home is a shortish novel that apparently was written during NaNoWriMo. It's about some kids born into being colonists on a new planet, and I'd say from there it has a pretty dystopian/post-apocalyptic feel. It reminds me of Divergent a lot, but with more survival themes. (So, basically, exactly what I wanted to read right after I first finished The Hunger Games. I was able to appreciate it now but I still feel slightly cheated that I didn't have it then.) Because of that it shouldn't surprise you to hear that it's intense: people die, the story looks bleak, I for one sort of wanted to stop at a couple points, partially because the narrator was a bit melodramatic at parts but also because things were genuinely awful--not in a literary way, just in a stressful way.
(Quick note about narrators: there are second-person references in the prologue and in the final chapter/epilogue. I know people who get really turned off by second person, but don't worry about it because it doesn't last, and honestly I think it's a fairly good use of it even if you aren't necessarily into it.)
If you don't mind general mood-type spoilers about the ending, I'll tell you this: The ending is actually really hopeful. It gave one of those cool human feelings I like and it was cool and ultimately the best possible word for it is satisfying. I was really glad I stuck through to the end because in some ways it was the best part.
I tried to find a fandom for it but I couldn't find it. I could find signs of the author having fandom for other series, but for once in my life there's something that apparently doesn't have a fandom. But I want Kelvin/Porter/Tarsi leading villages and raising kids, and I want long-term effects of all the stuff beforehand examined. I want crossovers because this is a really cool universe and I want next-generation OCs and I want to see the technology they can develop.
But no. Apparently that's not a thing that I can find. If anyone wants to help me found an anon meme or IDK basically anything please let me know.
I mean, it was a satisfying ending. I'm curious about stuff that happened later, but stories do have to end eventually, for better or for worse, and this was a pretty good one. It was so triumphant and stuff, with the victory-over-the-computer and the destroying-the-samples-because-we-can and basically everything. There's a lot more to a new world than what happened, but it felt so good when everyone made it happen and survived for a year and that it was made even remotely possible. It was like fix-it fic for itself. I'm going to add this to my list of books I read when I'm feeling down, though I might only utilize the last couple chapters.
(And those are just the books I read for the first time since the new year. I can't believe how much reading I did over winter break, at least compared to how much reading I'd done in 2013.)
