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Book Reviews: Infidel, Hurley; The Madman's Daughter, Shephard; The Magicians, Grossman
Title: Infidel (Bel Dame Apocrypha Book 2)
Author: Kameron Hurley
Published: Night Shade Books, 2011
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 360
Total Page Count: 235,055
Text Number: 749
Read Because: continuing the series as per this recommendation, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Six years after the first book, Nyx becomes embroiled in rogue Bel Dame conspiracies against the monarchy. This is better paced and plotted than the more rambling God's War, which makes it possible to sit back and enjoy the strengths of this series--enjoy isn't the right word in such an inhospitable world with such a thorny cast, but these brutal women, Nyx and especially the returning Inaya, are a liberation: unapologetically flawed, difficult women with significant character arcs. There are too many reoccurring characters, and it's only that so many people died in the first book that it doesn't feel implausible; that, combined with the emphasis on reuniting/dispersing the band, especially the delineated denouement/resolution, makes for the weakest part of the book: hokey, predictable pacing. The craft here remains rough around the edges, but there's intrinsic value in this world and it's easier to appreciate here than in the first book; it's worth reading for those that have started the series.
Title: The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter Book 1)
Author: Megan Shepherd
Narrator: Lucy Rayner
Published: Balzer + Bray, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 405
Total Page Count: 235,460
Text Number: 750
Read Because: reading more from the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Juliet Moreau, destitute after the scandal that led to her father's disappearance, discovers that he's alive and practicing science on a remote island. The Island of Dr. Moreau is an interesting pick for adaptation; it's part of the public consciousness, but details like PoV and supporting characters are not, which make them unremarkable fodder for commentary. But the themes benefit from room to expand, and they're not more complex but are forefronted and humanized. This also delights in the source material's gothic/action-adventure elements, and feels a bit like a younger sibling to Penny Dreadful, a similar aesthetic excess, perhaps more indulgent than successful (with some exceptions, like the dream of the iron dress). But this is a YA novel, with a love triangle that is not just obligatory but oppressive, interrupting plot and overshadowing the suspense. It made me find swathes of this book unbearably tedious, and as it's a predominant aspect of the sequels I have no desire to read them. An interesting effort, a fun combination of influences, but so hamstrung by genre conventions that I can't recommend it.
Title: The Magicians (The Magicians Book 1)
Author: Lev Grossman
Published: Plume Books, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 465
Total Page Count: 235,925
Text Number: 751
Read Because: co-read with Teja, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An over-performing college applicant discovers that magic is real and he's invited to attend a school for magicians. A school with pedagogy that's somehow even worse than Harry Potter, but which does invoke a sense of longing. It has tendencies towards The Secret History, which would justify its pretentiousness, but misses the mark: characters and their relationships are insufficiently engaging. The book's final third is its most challenging and least successful, with uneven pacing and a truly awful end.
Whether this book works may hinge on its commentary of portal fantasies. It engages some tropes and images which are close to my heart, and there's room to age up the trope; but I don't know that this succeeds. For one, it overlooks the ways in which Narnia in particular is already a complex narrative, possessing sincere character growth and magic. For another: Quentin. He's is an intentional, contentious choice for protagonist, and the conflict between his search for something greater and his self-imposed misery makes for a confrontational reader stand-in as well as a foil to portal fantasies. The idea has merit, but the truth is that he's insufferable and I would rather any other PoV; he controverts the imagery, the tone, the magic, with insufficient character growth to justify it. I found myself in constant dialog--often argument--with The Magicians; I care about what it cares about, and it certainly kept me engaged. But I wouldn't call it successful, and I'm ambivalent about reading the sequels.
(As of writing, Teja hasn't finished this. He's sensitive to this variety of over-achieving miserable failure of a manchild character type, and so many never finish it, we will see. I did yell at him about it, as memorialized on Tumblr; I think we have pretty consistent feelings, except I'm less invested in Quentin's worth/narrative function and more invested in what exactly Grossman is trying? failing? to say about magical schools and portal fantasies and the link between fantasy and character growth. A weird buddy read—most of my reactions to his picks are "dudes, god, why," and this is extra bonus doubled-down on the "god, why dudes," but with a level of intent, however misguided, that means I was actually more engaged than normal, albeit not always with any particular joy.)
these are things I yelled at Missy upon completing Lev Grossman's The Magicians, vaguely edited into sentences:
I have this contrary streak inside me where every time I pinpoint an awful trope/narrative device, I want to find the exception to the rule that would make it justified or, better, amazing (see: what Big Windup does for miscommunication as a plot device)
so on paper "PoV of chronically miserable, insufferable dude" almost has merit because I'm like, yeah, how would grinding banality foil grand magical circumstances? I dislike grimdark styling but not motivations; I think suffering/misery has a lot of potential narrative depth! I think aging up tropes does, too.
so I buy The Magicians in theory
in practice, I want to raze Quentin and salt the earth from which he sprang. he's so tedious! he makes some of my favorite tropes tedious! how is that even possible! (I am profoundly invested in white stag hunts; this is the only boring one I've ever witnessed.)
(I also don't care about the interpersonal aspects almost at all, which is sad again because on paper there's sincere The Secret History vibes & I am all about weird intimacy/elitism/broken intimacy within elite groups)
but mostly it reminds me of the problem with Torchwood vs. Doctor Who: Torchwood is all "I'm the grown up version! where people have sex and swear! I'm examining GROWN UP THINGS which are HARD HITTING and COMPLEX!" but the truth is that grimdark adult swearing sex is not an indication of depth and, in fact, Dr Who is already grown up; themes and character arcs are nuanced and complex and challenging, but they're also engaging, and sometimes fun, and the show doesn't make me feel sort of grimy
similarly, Narnia is hella grown up, it has consequences. for one: the fucking stone table? Narnia is super dark. for another: Edmund, Edmund's entire fucking arc, and the complex conversation about the boundaries of his guilt vs. the extent of the consequences and social vs. metaphysical censure/forgiveness. and what about the problem of Susan? especially as a stand-in for Lewis's own arc?
the fact that Lucy has magical cordial doesn't somehow make the narrative frivolous, and that Quentin doesn't doesn't make The Magicians profound
ex: the ENTIRE FUCKING DAWN TREADER-EQUIVALENT fuck you Grossman for that in particular; it's shit b/c the protagonist is shit—really stubbornly, eventually counter-productively, shit
so I want a grown-up Narnia and a more challenging portal fantasy in general, but not at the cost of "lol Narnia so quaint amirite" and not at the cost of an unlikable protagonist with no active character growth
I am, to be fair, team giving up; I think there's productive narratives about characters backsliding or characters who are unable to grow—I would hope so, as failure is my literal life story
but this is not the place for that narrative, not in any productive way, because this isn't protagonist coming to terms with personal limitations, this is protagonist self-pity dudebro wank problems that begins in intentional conflict with its premise and ends up by energetically contradicting any sense of value or beauty
miss me with that
#I have almost never been so consistently engaged--I'm so invested in many of its tropes! #but what began as a dialog with the book morphed into an argument; a shouting argument wherein I increasingly lost patience #(also sidenote I watched like half a season of Torchwood and am hugely behind in Dr Who: these arguments are generalizations #not in-depth readings of Dr Who narratives)
Author: Kameron Hurley
Published: Night Shade Books, 2011
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 360
Total Page Count: 235,055
Text Number: 749
Read Because: continuing the series as per this recommendation, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Six years after the first book, Nyx becomes embroiled in rogue Bel Dame conspiracies against the monarchy. This is better paced and plotted than the more rambling God's War, which makes it possible to sit back and enjoy the strengths of this series--enjoy isn't the right word in such an inhospitable world with such a thorny cast, but these brutal women, Nyx and especially the returning Inaya, are a liberation: unapologetically flawed, difficult women with significant character arcs. There are too many reoccurring characters, and it's only that so many people died in the first book that it doesn't feel implausible; that, combined with the emphasis on reuniting/dispersing the band, especially the delineated denouement/resolution, makes for the weakest part of the book: hokey, predictable pacing. The craft here remains rough around the edges, but there's intrinsic value in this world and it's easier to appreciate here than in the first book; it's worth reading for those that have started the series.
Title: The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter Book 1)
Author: Megan Shepherd
Narrator: Lucy Rayner
Published: Balzer + Bray, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 405
Total Page Count: 235,460
Text Number: 750
Read Because: reading more from the author, audiobook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Juliet Moreau, destitute after the scandal that led to her father's disappearance, discovers that he's alive and practicing science on a remote island. The Island of Dr. Moreau is an interesting pick for adaptation; it's part of the public consciousness, but details like PoV and supporting characters are not, which make them unremarkable fodder for commentary. But the themes benefit from room to expand, and they're not more complex but are forefronted and humanized. This also delights in the source material's gothic/action-adventure elements, and feels a bit like a younger sibling to Penny Dreadful, a similar aesthetic excess, perhaps more indulgent than successful (with some exceptions, like the dream of the iron dress). But this is a YA novel, with a love triangle that is not just obligatory but oppressive, interrupting plot and overshadowing the suspense. It made me find swathes of this book unbearably tedious, and as it's a predominant aspect of the sequels I have no desire to read them. An interesting effort, a fun combination of influences, but so hamstrung by genre conventions that I can't recommend it.
Title: The Magicians (The Magicians Book 1)
Author: Lev Grossman
Published: Plume Books, 2009
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 465
Total Page Count: 235,925
Text Number: 751
Read Because: co-read with Teja, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: An over-performing college applicant discovers that magic is real and he's invited to attend a school for magicians. A school with pedagogy that's somehow even worse than Harry Potter, but which does invoke a sense of longing. It has tendencies towards The Secret History, which would justify its pretentiousness, but misses the mark: characters and their relationships are insufficiently engaging. The book's final third is its most challenging and least successful, with uneven pacing and a truly awful end.
Whether this book works may hinge on its commentary of portal fantasies. It engages some tropes and images which are close to my heart, and there's room to age up the trope; but I don't know that this succeeds. For one, it overlooks the ways in which Narnia in particular is already a complex narrative, possessing sincere character growth and magic. For another: Quentin. He's is an intentional, contentious choice for protagonist, and the conflict between his search for something greater and his self-imposed misery makes for a confrontational reader stand-in as well as a foil to portal fantasies. The idea has merit, but the truth is that he's insufferable and I would rather any other PoV; he controverts the imagery, the tone, the magic, with insufficient character growth to justify it. I found myself in constant dialog--often argument--with The Magicians; I care about what it cares about, and it certainly kept me engaged. But I wouldn't call it successful, and I'm ambivalent about reading the sequels.
(As of writing, Teja hasn't finished this. He's sensitive to this variety of over-achieving miserable failure of a manchild character type, and so many never finish it, we will see. I did yell at him about it, as memorialized on Tumblr; I think we have pretty consistent feelings, except I'm less invested in Quentin's worth/narrative function and more invested in what exactly Grossman is trying? failing? to say about magical schools and portal fantasies and the link between fantasy and character growth. A weird buddy read—most of my reactions to his picks are "dudes, god, why," and this is extra bonus doubled-down on the "god, why dudes," but with a level of intent, however misguided, that means I was actually more engaged than normal, albeit not always with any particular joy.)
these are things I yelled at Missy upon completing Lev Grossman's The Magicians, vaguely edited into sentences:
I have this contrary streak inside me where every time I pinpoint an awful trope/narrative device, I want to find the exception to the rule that would make it justified or, better, amazing (see: what Big Windup does for miscommunication as a plot device)
so on paper "PoV of chronically miserable, insufferable dude" almost has merit because I'm like, yeah, how would grinding banality foil grand magical circumstances? I dislike grimdark styling but not motivations; I think suffering/misery has a lot of potential narrative depth! I think aging up tropes does, too.
so I buy The Magicians in theory
in practice, I want to raze Quentin and salt the earth from which he sprang. he's so tedious! he makes some of my favorite tropes tedious! how is that even possible! (I am profoundly invested in white stag hunts; this is the only boring one I've ever witnessed.)
(I also don't care about the interpersonal aspects almost at all, which is sad again because on paper there's sincere The Secret History vibes & I am all about weird intimacy/elitism/broken intimacy within elite groups)
but mostly it reminds me of the problem with Torchwood vs. Doctor Who: Torchwood is all "I'm the grown up version! where people have sex and swear! I'm examining GROWN UP THINGS which are HARD HITTING and COMPLEX!" but the truth is that grimdark adult swearing sex is not an indication of depth and, in fact, Dr Who is already grown up; themes and character arcs are nuanced and complex and challenging, but they're also engaging, and sometimes fun, and the show doesn't make me feel sort of grimy
similarly, Narnia is hella grown up, it has consequences. for one: the fucking stone table? Narnia is super dark. for another: Edmund, Edmund's entire fucking arc, and the complex conversation about the boundaries of his guilt vs. the extent of the consequences and social vs. metaphysical censure/forgiveness. and what about the problem of Susan? especially as a stand-in for Lewis's own arc?
the fact that Lucy has magical cordial doesn't somehow make the narrative frivolous, and that Quentin doesn't doesn't make The Magicians profound
ex: the ENTIRE FUCKING DAWN TREADER-EQUIVALENT fuck you Grossman for that in particular; it's shit b/c the protagonist is shit—really stubbornly, eventually counter-productively, shit
so I want a grown-up Narnia and a more challenging portal fantasy in general, but not at the cost of "lol Narnia so quaint amirite" and not at the cost of an unlikable protagonist with no active character growth
I am, to be fair, team giving up; I think there's productive narratives about characters backsliding or characters who are unable to grow—I would hope so, as failure is my literal life story
but this is not the place for that narrative, not in any productive way, because this isn't protagonist coming to terms with personal limitations, this is protagonist self-pity dudebro wank problems that begins in intentional conflict with its premise and ends up by energetically contradicting any sense of value or beauty
miss me with that
#I have almost never been so consistently engaged--I'm so invested in many of its tropes! #but what began as a dialog with the book morphed into an argument; a shouting argument wherein I increasingly lost patience #(also sidenote I watched like half a season of Torchwood and am hugely behind in Dr Who: these arguments are generalizations #not in-depth readings of Dr Who narratives)