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Reading, Regenesis, Princess Ben, tithe and the Stepsister Scheme

samvara: Photo of Modesty Blaise with text "All this and brains as well" (Default)
Friday, September 25th, 2009 04:50 pm
Reading opportunities have been, well, lacking really.
  • Regenesis by CJ Cherryh. I've been waiting for this book for, oh, 20 years and I enjoyed it a lot. I don't think I can talk about it well though, I loved the way it talks about sweeping socio-political relationships and the way it maps intimate psychological moments. I love the language, the ambivalent morality, the complex slave culture, the way Cyteen society is so evolved in some ways and so brutal in others. I love Justin and Grant, the azi team Caitlin and Florian and the tensions arising from psychologically cloning generations of twisted relationships.
  • Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdoch. Princess! Witch! Dragon! Sort of! Benevolence uses her magic and wits to survive the tragic loss of her parents, drudgery as a slave in an enemy army camp and the vagaries of her own youth.
  • tithe by Holly Black. Teen supernatural romance, Kaye discovers her faerie roots just in time to become aware of her future as a potential sacrifice, clearly an elven knight and some homicidal encounters will make this relationship one to remember. I question the choice to hook a 16 year old up with some old elvish guy, but I recognise the genre is hypnotically compelling for some.
  • The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines. A bit on the silly side, Cindarella's husband has been stolen away, who will help her? The angry, violent and talented Sleeping Beauty and the magical Snow White (who work for Cindarella's mother-in-law) take her on the adventure of a lifetime. I like the weaving of the different myths.
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The Curse of Chalion, Cassandra, Pride and Prejudice, Parable of the Sower, Kushiel's Dart

samvara: Photo of Modesty Blaise with text "All this and brains as well" (Default)
Monday, February 12th, 2007 06:22 pm
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. Complex and fabulous character development. Oh Cazaril. I have a girl!crush on Bujold and will cheerfully buy anything she writes. This was engaging, intriguing and romantic in turns. It’s a great piece of fantasy with a unique take on our relationship with our gods. Please ignore the typo *gasp* in the blurb on the back and go read it.

Cassandra by C.J. Cherryh. Re-reading because it’s really good. A short story about a lass who spends her entire life being ‘mad’ because she can see the fires of the future burning all around her.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Re-reading because every time is as funny and interesting as the last.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Post apocalyptic story about a girl with ‘hyperempathy’ – the ability to feel other’s pain as well as her own. I have a bunch of prejudices about this so it was interesting to read Butler’s take on it. Not a style of writing I take to well; in a first person diary format.

Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey. I’m not going to be able to read book three, I’m having too much trouble with book two. I want to like this far more than I do. I usually have a lot of time for girl_with_gifts_ against_the_world stories but the starting premise in this kinda squicks me. Phèdre is a lass ‘gifted’ with the ability to really enjoy pain and there just seems to be far too much BDSM type literature on my horizon right now for me to be comfortable. We can talk about fantasies not being the same as real life and so on but I’m overdosed and creeped out and the ‘erotica’ section in Elizabeth’s seems to be largely composed of women with cuffs, vinyl and crops. [hides]
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The Tristan Series by C J Cherryh

samvara: Cartoon picture of a dog in plate mail (SirHorace)
Thursday, June 9th, 2005 07:57 am
Have been partly re-reading and partly finally getting book four which I was slack about buying. I have kind of mixed feelings about this series; I still had the 'can't put it down' problem but was also reluctant to start. The series itself is about Tristan who comes into being as the innocent, feckless ward of the wizard Mauryl who has Summoned him for purposes somewhat undefined but probably having to do with Battling Evil. Tristan must find his way through wizardry, sorcery and magic (not to mention friendship and vast amounts of politics) to who he really is - or who he chooses to be.

Titanic battles!
Vile sorcery!
Enigmatic old wizards!

Fortress in the Eye of Time
Fortress of Eagles
Fortress of Owls
Fortress of Dragons
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Forge of Heaven by C.J. Cherryh

samvara: Photo of Modesty Blaise with text "All this and brains as well" (Default)
Sunday, March 13th, 2005 10:56 pm
I had trouble putting it down and keep sneaking off to read. Started slow, built, developed, then rushed to an ending.

Oh love love love.

Sequel to Hammerfall and just up my alley. Concord Station is the one place where different humans and aliens co-exist; but the balance is delicate; they hover together over a proscribed world scarred by vicious nanotechnology waiting to see if it can be redeemed.
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Hammerfall by C. J. Cherryh

samvara: Photo of Modesty Blaise with text "All this and brains as well" (Default)
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2005 08:57 am
Mmm fan. I love the way she always writes in such a way that you have to figure it out as you go along.. have to go buy sequel now.

A desert tale set in the far future on an alien world. Marak is a bandit’s son who is given over to the immortal Ila when he is no longer able to hide his ‘madness’. The Ila offers him a chance to redeem himself and his family in return for seeking the source of the visions he and so many others are subject to.

( Utterly spoiling the plot )
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