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dancingsingingSo after posting about how sad I was not to be at Wiscon, I tried to think of some small thing I could do to feel better. While driving to munchkin's school, I thought about the wonderful Wiscon dealers' room and decided that the local Barnes & Noble would be a horrible substitute, but much better than nothing. Since I had about fifteen extra minutes, I went to the bookstore to check whether they had _Redwood and Wildfire_ in stock. Of course they didn't. So I wandered the "new" section of the sff section. There I saw a book with a blurb from N.K. Jemisin on the front cover. I took this as a sign and went and found the first book of the series in the not-new section.
IIRC, Jemisin's quote was something about how well Kate Griffin did urban magic. I found that to be spot-on with this book. Definitely the way she renders the magic is the most lively and enjoyable part. There are some parts of the book where she goes on and on with descriptions about non-magical London that I found dull. Also, the protagonist is this weird hybrid of person/other being that made it kind of hard to relate. Especially since gradually revealing the nature of the hybrid and the other being was kind of what she used to propel the book forward. I like character-driven stories, so it was a little annoying to not really know the dang protagonist until the end. She did pull off a nice satisfying ending and did a good job of character development/reveal at the end, so that was good. I would have felt quite cheated if she hadn't.
I'll probably read the next book in the series, unless I don't get around to ordering it or maybe decide to stop wasting so much time enjoying myself and instead do all the responsible family stuff (scrubbing down the house to prep for a home birth, playing with older munchkin/taking her places, buying little baby suits, setting up the baby environment, prepping to move in August). In general, I recommend this book in a mind-candy-plus-vitamins kind of way.
IIRC, Jemisin's quote was something about how well Kate Griffin did urban magic. I found that to be spot-on with this book. Definitely the way she renders the magic is the most lively and enjoyable part. There are some parts of the book where she goes on and on with descriptions about non-magical London that I found dull. Also, the protagonist is this weird hybrid of person/other being that made it kind of hard to relate. Especially since gradually revealing the nature of the hybrid and the other being was kind of what she used to propel the book forward. I like character-driven stories, so it was a little annoying to not really know the dang protagonist until the end. She did pull off a nice satisfying ending and did a good job of character development/reveal at the end, so that was good. I would have felt quite cheated if she hadn't.
I'll probably read the next book in the series, unless I don't get around to ordering it or maybe decide to stop wasting so much time enjoying myself and instead do all the responsible family stuff (scrubbing down the house to prep for a home birth, playing with older munchkin/taking her places, buying little baby suits, setting up the baby environment, prepping to move in August). In general, I recommend this book in a mind-candy-plus-vitamins kind of way.
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Date: 2012-06-02 05:05 am (UTC)However, reading a good book is not "wasting your time enjoying yourself."
And I am absolutely stealing "mind candy plus vitamins."
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Date: 2012-06-02 06:37 am (UTC)I got driven crazy by reading DW entries along the lines of "OMG Debbie's speech changed my life, you know?" and not knowing what you said! I don't suppose you posted it anywhere?
I hope you're super enjoying vacation!
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Date: 2012-06-06 03:48 am (UTC)I am planning to order this year's Wiscon Chronicles to make myself feel better about the whole thing.
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Date: 2012-06-06 07:38 pm (UTC)