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a_reader_is_me2009-06-06 11:38 pm
potted_music) wrote in a_reader_is_me2009-06-06 11:38 pm
47-49/150
Title: Achter de spiegel: film en fictie [Russian translation]
Author: Anton Haakman
Genre: non-fiction; essays on movies
Book Number/Goal: 47/150
Title: The Demon's Lexicon
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: YA fantasy
Book Number/Goal: 48/150
This is the book I've been looking forward to for the last year, which might have been a mistake, as for me, it didn't hold up to the expectations.
SRB does a great job of interweaving the mundane problems with the magical ones (the first sentence totally had me hooked: The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink - I mean, how awesome is that?), and her humour is something I never doubted. Her characterization of morally complex characters was great too.
But the plot seemed too cliched for my liking. There was not one plot twist I had not guessed well in advance, which might be saying smth good about SRB's mastery of foreshadowing, but looked like just copying cliches verbatim to me. (And those were the cliches that make me headdesk to boot :( )
Title: Fatal Shadows [Adrien English Mysteries, volume 1]
Author: Josh Lanyon
Genre: mystery
Book Number/Goal: 49/150
Most other books with glbt characters I've read were love stories with the fetishization of homosexual relationships piled high (a trend I'm becoming growingly uncomfortable with).
Fatal Shadows, to the contrary, has a strong murder-mystery plot that kept me on the edge of my seat till 4 AM, when I finished the book; the (awesome) love lives of the characters only become important when they forward the plot in some way.
I also liked the style, which is very simple yet elegant, with quirky unexpected metaphors thrown in from time to time.
As a bonus, it's very much a bibliophile's wish fulfillment story, as the protag is a bookshop owner & a writer.
Loved this book to pieces.
Author: Anton Haakman
Genre: non-fiction; essays on movies
Book Number/Goal: 47/150
Title: The Demon's Lexicon
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: YA fantasy
Book Number/Goal: 48/150
This is the book I've been looking forward to for the last year, which might have been a mistake, as for me, it didn't hold up to the expectations.
SRB does a great job of interweaving the mundane problems with the magical ones (the first sentence totally had me hooked: The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink - I mean, how awesome is that?), and her humour is something I never doubted. Her characterization of morally complex characters was great too.
But the plot seemed too cliched for my liking. There was not one plot twist I had not guessed well in advance, which might be saying smth good about SRB's mastery of foreshadowing, but looked like just copying cliches verbatim to me. (And those were the cliches that make me headdesk to boot :( )
Title: Fatal Shadows [Adrien English Mysteries, volume 1]
Author: Josh Lanyon
Genre: mystery
Book Number/Goal: 49/150
Most other books with glbt characters I've read were love stories with the fetishization of homosexual relationships piled high (a trend I'm becoming growingly uncomfortable with).
Fatal Shadows, to the contrary, has a strong murder-mystery plot that kept me on the edge of my seat till 4 AM, when I finished the book; the (awesome) love lives of the characters only become important when they forward the plot in some way.
I also liked the style, which is very simple yet elegant, with quirky unexpected metaphors thrown in from time to time.
As a bonus, it's very much a bibliophile's wish fulfillment story, as the protag is a bookshop owner & a writer.
Loved this book to pieces.