queensthief | Intro., and a question

ladyofastolat.livejournal.com posting in

Since intro. posts seem to be fairly common around here, here goes. I'm a children's librarian living on a curious little island floating just off the bottom of England. My hobbies are all ones the media like to label "sad": traditional folk songs, role-playing games, sf and fantasy, Morris dancing, historical re-enactment, writing, board games and computer games etc. (While I am not ashamed of these hobbies, the fact that the media labels them all as sad is something I rant about quite a bit.)

I read mostly fantasy and historical novels, and mediaeval and early modern history. I read The Thief 7 or 8 ago, and loved it. QoA I was less fond of, but when I read KoA last year, I fell madly in love all over again (and now like QoA a whole lot more.) As for other books, childhood favourites, all of which I still reread, included Swallows and Amazons, Rosemary Sutcliff, Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, and Tolkien. Favourite authors nowadays include Diana Wynne Jones, George RR Martin and Dorothy Dunnett.

Anyway, as if that wasn't far more introduction than anyone could ever have wanted, I also have a question. When you recommend The Thief to others, how much do you reveal?

I don't seem to have had much success in getting friends to read The Thief. With most books, I find it fairly easy to tell people why I love them, and explain the basic plot set-up without giving things away, but I find this next to impossible to do with his series. I'm so scared of giving away spoilers, that I end up saying hardly anything, and completely failing to convey my enthusiasm.

The "twist" at the end of The Thief is, in my opinion, a vital part of the genius of the novel, but I feel I can't tell any new reader this, because it's a spoiler. Even saying something vague about it constitutes a spoiler. "Just wait until you get to the surprise twist at the ending!" is tantamount to telling people the twist, since it makes them alert for it, and actively seeking out clues.

There are some books and films that would be pretty mediocre were it not for the gimmick of a twist at the end. I do not think that The Thief is one of those. Even if Gen had proved to be no more than he appeared to be, it would have been a well-written book set in an interesting and well-realised world. However, without the twist, I think it would just be a pretty good story. With the twist, it is – in my opinion - a book to fall head over heels in love with for ever more.

I can't remember what it was that "sold" the series to me, so that's no help. I read something about it on a children's book newsgroup, but the book didn't seem to be available over here. I mentioned it to an American friend, in case she'd read it, but she hadn't. She must have noted the title down, though, since she bought it for me for my birthday months later. However, by then, I couldn't remember what I'd read about the book, so I came to the book with no preconceptions at all.

So how do I "sell" a book when I feel I can't mention the main thing I love about it? I can tell people, straight-faced, that it's about a common thief plucked from prison to go on a dangerous quest, but that feels a little like lying, and also makes it sound like a fairly cliched set-up. I can wimp out completely, and tell people about the setting, but that feels rather unemotional and cold. Or I can hint at the twist, convey my enthusiasm... but spoil the ending as I do so.

However, everyone else here seems to be able to inspire their friends to read the book, so I'm clearly doing something wrong. (Probably agonising too much about it.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

dannybailey.livejournal.com

Welcome! I totally hear with the twist ending. That was what really made me love the book. I was taken completely by surprise, which I think was important. I doubt I would have loved it as much if I'd known the ending. With that in mind, I say try to convince your friends without spoilers. Maybe make a bet with them, and if you win they have to read one chapter? After that, I'm sure they'll want to keep going. (This is how I got my brother to read Holes when we were kids. ^_^)

Also, my mandatory plug for newbs: If you like fanfiction (or if you've never read it, but have a gut feeling that you might like it) please check out our affiliate community dedicated to fanfiction based on MWT's books: Queensthief_Fic (http://community.livejournal.com/queensthief_fic/profile")

From:

ladyofastolat.livejournal.com

I started lurking on the fanfic community at the same time as I started lurking on this one. I do like fanfic - both to read and write - although I have unpopular tastes, and lots of self-made rules and restrictions. I'm far more cautious about book-based fanfic than TV series fanfic. It seems to be a much bigger thing to play with one author's creation who features in a single plot arc, than the creation of a group of people who feature in episodic incidents. That said, I'm certainly written some fanfic based on some of my favourite books, and it is altogether possible that I might one day be inspired to write within Gen's world, too...

From:

keestone.livejournal.com

And yet we with the "sad" habits usually seem so much happier than those with "cool" habits. I totally would have gotten into Morris Dancing if I didn't have a bum knee. :)

I usually try to tailor my book recs to whichever friend I'm reccing to. It varies from things like "You'll like the pantheon in this one" (to the best friend who likes mythology) to "It's on the top of the list now. Read it" (to the beloved, who's not going to argue). I try never to give too much plot detail out no matter what the book, but I'll describe the setting a bit. (This is probably mostly because I hate summarizing things.)

From:

ladyofastolat.livejournal.com

Tailored recs. sound like a good idea. I really need to get more clever and more pushy with my book recommendations. At the moment, I'm actually rather loathe to do a personal recommendation. I then feel personally responsible if the person ends up disliking the book. I tend to put generalised recommendations on my LJ or in comments, in a "take them or leave them" sort of way. If people do start questioning me, I start hedging my bets, saying, "Oh, well, of course I liked it, but tastes vary, so you might not." I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to getting people to share my book loves. When I was 11, I even hid my favourite book in the school library, since I couldn't bear the thought of anyone else reading it and not loving it the way I did.

and Gen

Intro., and a question

Links

Page Summary

Expand Cut Tags