Linkies...

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

I ran across a couple of recent links I thought y'all might be interested in. This one is a review of CoK (and the rest of the series) at the Fantasy Literature site, and this one is a really interesting discussion of theophany in mwt's books. Cool stuff.

Comments

[elle-winters.livejournal.com]

"She also credits her readers with sufficient intelligence to grasp the connections between events without being told repeatedly"

now, what would I do without you guys? ;)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Well, there went MY afternoon on that second link. Excellent article, and great site! Thanks for sharing.

[tiegirl.livejournal.com]

Ok, now this is so funny. I just copied this link and went right here to Sounis to post it because I found it a wonderful article. I am not in the least religious but I loved the article. I'm so glad you posted it, though, because I normally fail big-time at that kind of thing.

[styromgalleries.livejournal.com]

Really enjoyed that second article. If I was going to say what I liked, I'd probably quote all of it back. XD The gods and their interactions with Gen and the other characters have always been some of my favorite aspects of MWT's novels.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I had seen the second link, and also found it an interesting, well thought-out piece. A very nice analysis.

I clicked on the first review link, and got a chuckle out of the pictures of all four books under a title: "The Thief Trilogy". lol.

In the first review, I read this:

It also left me wondering if the depth of the material being covered would be truly understood or appreciated by younger readers. The multi-layered characters and the seriousness of the issues being addressed make this a weightier read than a lot of young adult fantasy I have read, and make me have no qualms about recommending this jewel of a tale to adult readers as well as junior high and older young adult readers.

...and think it's funny how we can both read the book and see that aspect so differently. I did feel that way with both QoA and KoA. But ACoK struck me as a perfect book for 5th grade and up. It reminds me so much of books by authors like Sutcliff, Le Guin, Forrester, etc. Those books can definitely be enjoyed by kids--they might not "get" everything that's going on, and an adult will enjoy the story in a different way, but it is still completely accessible to anyone 10 and up. Just my opinion.

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

Tee hee. Same here. :)

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

:)

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

Ditto.

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

"The Thief Trilogy"

Oops. Looks like someone forgot to proof their blog.

ACoK struck me as a perfect book for 5th grade and up.

I guess it all depends on the kid. Reluctant readers might find the density of aCoK's narrative daunting, preferring instead something the Wimpy Kid series (which I find very funny) or something like Hugo Cabret. But I agree that precocious readers would probably do just fine with it.

[charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

Viz the first review--my eyebrows raised considerably over the whole bringing the series back to its "former brilliance" line. I take this to mean that the author of the review did not like K. of A. as much as the other books....which, since K. of A. is one of the best books ever, rubbed me the wrong way.

[finding-further.livejournal.com]

I know. I loved KoA (perhaps the best of all four books), but the reviewer was not convinced by the romance between Attolia and Eugenides. To each her own.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

These are great links! I loved reading both of them, especially the theophany one. Very interesting.

Re: charlotte's post, one thing I noticed was that the reviewer at Fantasy Literature had some misconceptions about how long they'd been in love.

She said, I just can’t believe that these two people have been secretly in love with each other since childhood. And another line about how Irene started loving Gen in TT yet still cut his hand off in Queen and still loved him afterwards---which I thought was a big misreading.

I wouldn't have believed that if I'd read it that way, either. But in my version of this series (the one that lives in my head), Gen has loved/worshipped-from-afar/creeped on Irene since his grandfather was alive, although I wouldn't say he realized it until he was old enough to know what "love" meant.

But before the queen cut off his hand, it was an entirely one-sided, unrequited relationship. Nowhere does it say that Irene also liked him as a kid. She met him face-to-face for the first time in TT and (at least this is how I read it) didn't start falling in love until thinking he'd died in Ephrata.

Even after she cut off his hand, it just made her feel guilty. Hearing him cry (after the hand-cut, not the prison in TT) opened her up to emotional change, but the love came later. For me, at least.

[sgwordy.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with your interpretation here.

I also love the "creeped on" descriptor! Awesome.

[coyul.livejournal.com]

I got the impression that we were watching her fall in love with him throughout the book but she didn't realize until Ephrata.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading the second one.

[brandy-painter.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading your comments on the second link. The lines and scenes you mentioned have also resonated with my faith in God and experiences I have had.

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I sort of agree. I actually think she says something like that to herself at Ephrata---that she had been a fool to fall in love with someone she'd made into an enemy, and was only just now realizing it.

But the way I see it, it's not love if you don't even know what the emotion feels like. For me, she could only love him after she'd figured out that loving him was possible, which happened at Ephrata. So I think technically I'm doing a little retrospective editing to what she actually thinks, but it's because I think what she was thinking was incorrect. But my interpretation is very idiosyncratic.

[filkferengi]

Cool links; thanks for sharing them!