A few quick links

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

The lovely Ambassador of Communication and Lady of the Links, dh684, found these comments about our favorite books.

More from Justine Larbalstier on doobalackies and mwt's "fabulous Attolia trilogy," with a link to Sounis!

Remember the reviewer who was sporked by reading The Thief?  More recent thoughts, plus, a link to a respondent's review of KoA, with comments from sdn and Holly Black.

An interesting comment from Romancing the Blog (scroll 3/4 way down the page; I don't know how to do those cut things).

rowana spotted mwt's blurb (grr - click on "back cover") on the back of Diana Wynne Jones's new book, The Game.  How cool would it be to write a blurb about DWJ's latest book?

Comments

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

Yay for publicity!

I don't remember that sporked thing--and my immediate reaction was like "whoa, nitpick much?" I guess I can understand the guns thing...maybe...but I could get how the narrator doesn't work for some people. Oh, well.

I LOVED that comment from Romancing the Blog. Hawt.

That blurb made me laugh--I mean, Neil Gaimen, Robin McKinley, and MWT on the same book jacket? What else could you need to convince you to pick up a book?

*has a new goal in life: to get a book jacket like that. Granted, they will all probably be dead by the time this happens. but anyway*

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Write faster! :P

[avian-xj.livejournal.com]

yay links!

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine also soured forever on the books based on the guns and watches. It seemed to me it was a simple matter of not reading the author's note FIRST, and I'm not sure why the note was printed in the back instead of the front of the book.
However, this friend drives me slightly insane because I think she needs to get over her moment of cognitive dissonance and read the other books, which she would love.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I read Queen first, and I remember seeing the guns quite early in the book and thinking, "Whoa, this isn't ancient Greece at ALL." I think it made it easier for me, and I'll bet Megan did that intentionally, so we'd know right away that it was a fantasy setting.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I dunno...I don't think I ever thought it was ancient Greece. Granted, I read Queen first too, but I always imagined it a more medieval (and, after reading the author's not, closer to Renaissance or whatever the equivalent was in Byzantium--I just realized there's a large gap in my education concerning what happened there after, oh, Justinian) setting. Probably because of the "palace"--palaces don't crop up until closer to the Reniassance era, anyway.

wait, do they call the king's expanded megaron in The Thief a palace? *would look it up, but is too lazy* Because that right away would give you a clue. Unless the development of castles vs. palaces was different in the more Eastern parts of Europe.

someone help me out, please? XD

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Yes, but you'd have to know something about castles/palaces, which not everyone does.

I read Thief first, and the big thing I fell in love with (besides Gen) was exactly what my friend didn't like -- that the setting was not of our world at all, but more like a "what if" world. But I think I did read the author's note first, because I tend to do that, if there is one, even if it's at the end.

[cherryblosomjen.livejournal.com]

I also never felt like the story was in any way trying to be historical fiction. The very names of the countries involved made me assume that we were dealing with a fictional, fantasy universe...

I can't imagine not like a book because of a superficial detail or historical inaccuracy. Maybe if I was a historian I might feel more inclined to look for those things, but am glad there are those of us who can enjoy the series for what it is -- fictional genius.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

mwt's blurb on the back of Diana Wynne Jones's new book, The Game.

As always, MWT perfectly distills the essence with a few well chosen words.

I'm a bit ambivalent about DWJ but MWT's comments make me want to go and read more ... after I finish Keturah, which is wonderful.

checkers and dh - Thanks for the links!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Darn. I can't find Keturah anywhere.

[cherryblosomjen.livejournal.com]

Are you talking about "Keturah and the Lord Death"?

The moment I saw the cover, I new I had to grab it. Sadly, I found the story a bit of a dissapointment. Lord Death was by far the most interesting character and I felt like he was hardly in the story. But the ending was somewhat redeaming to me.

You may not even be talking about the same story, but I won't say anymore just in case.

Keturah

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Yes,Keturah and Lord Death.

I just finished it. I thought it was very good, and read like a story being told to a circle a listeners.

I didn't think the story was as tight as, say, MWT's are, but I think it is a different sort of tale, and had a different set of expectations. I loved the rhythm and the flow, and it was as if I was listening to an oral tale while reading it.

Keturah makes me think of Jade, even more so when I think about us sitting around in the Conspiracy Room listening to her tell us a story :)

And I love the word "Keturah"!

Re: Keturah

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Peggy, what did you think of the frame of the story? Emma and I both found it sort of confusing, given the first person narration and the (not to give anything away here) ending.

Re: Keturah

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

You know, I had no problem with it at all. I had read yours and Emma's comments about it prior to reading the book, so I considered the question once or twice, but it didn't bother me nor did I get confused.

I don't read critically, and I don't read as a writer, so that may have had something to do with it.

Really though, I just suspended judgment and flowed with the story as if I were listening to a storyteller.

Re: Keturah

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

What a lovely way to read a book. I'll bet you don't take notes, either. :)

Re: Keturah

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Yes, that sounds like the best way to enjoy it. I did like the book, and enjoyed the echoes of other works it brought to mind --- such as Savitri.

[crazyviolin.livejournal.com]

OK, so that's what the hairpin scene was about?! I never got that! I just assumed they were, you know, dancing. No, no, surely not, that person must have got it wrong!

I thought The Thief was set in the right time for rudimentary guns. Well, I wasn't surprised by their appearance anyway.