Recent literary consumption.
Jan. 13th, 2012 03:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matt_doyleMina de Malfois volumes 2 & 3. Re-read. The first time I read these, I found them witty, and I adored the constant pop culture references. On a re-read, I appreciate the plot and character arc all the more, and am ever more aware of the discreet scenes just off camera that tease but never reveal just what happened (both a flaw and a feature, I think). I'm also not sure how seriously to take some claims made by my favorite character -- if I take them seriously, this is a fantasy series. But then, the character may just be waxing poetical, or screwing with the narrator's head.
Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams. A dark, nuanced young adult mystery novel that is very adult in its themes and consequences. I like this series, but despite the lushness of the anxiety in this volume, I liked the previous one better -- here, the climax and denouement seem so rushed they almost come off as artificial. Still, I'm going to keep reading.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice and A Monstrous Regiment Of Women by Laurie R. King. A retired Sherlock Holmes gets a teenaged girl as an apprentice -- and not, like Watson, a sidekick. Very cool. The Beekeeper's Apprentice seemed a touch gratuitous in places, but delightful overall. Monstrous Regiment, which focused more on the heroine and less on Holmes (with notable exceptions) was a brilliant period mystery, but it felt to me like it left some loose ends unexplained. Still, the way it touches on religion and feminism both are fascinating, and the series has me hooked -- the slight uneven bits are very much made up for by the original and spot-on Holmesian schemes, deductions, and so forth.
Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams. A dark, nuanced young adult mystery novel that is very adult in its themes and consequences. I like this series, but despite the lushness of the anxiety in this volume, I liked the previous one better -- here, the climax and denouement seem so rushed they almost come off as artificial. Still, I'm going to keep reading.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice and A Monstrous Regiment Of Women by Laurie R. King. A retired Sherlock Holmes gets a teenaged girl as an apprentice -- and not, like Watson, a sidekick. Very cool. The Beekeeper's Apprentice seemed a touch gratuitous in places, but delightful overall. Monstrous Regiment, which focused more on the heroine and less on Holmes (with notable exceptions) was a brilliant period mystery, but it felt to me like it left some loose ends unexplained. Still, the way it touches on religion and feminism both are fascinating, and the series has me hooked -- the slight uneven bits are very much made up for by the original and spot-on Holmesian schemes, deductions, and so forth.
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Date: 2012-01-13 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-13 07:28 pm (UTC)