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hawkwing_lbBooks 2010: 30-38
30. Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe.
When I was nine, I tried to read this for the first time. I recall it as an exercise in frustration and confusion, with moments of great satisfaction: for instance, anytime Rebecca was on stage. When I was perhaps a little older, I saw one of the old film adaptations. Of which at this point I remember little, save a vicious battle involving a morningstar.
Some books you really do need to wait until you're old enough to appreciate them for what they are. Ivanhoe is a measured read, with a pace that speeds up only a little towards the end, with the burning of Torquilstone. I was surprised to find that the handful of women who appeared as characters in their own right - Rowena, Rebecca, and Ulrica - while primarily characterised in reference to the men around them (Rebecca being something of an exception to this rule) were, in fact, just as much characters as the men around them.
Ivanhoe is nearly two hundred years old at this point. So the glaring racism, sexism, and sectarianism is only to be expected. On the other hand, as a medieval adventure? I bloody wish people could point me to another one as good as this.
Rebecca is still made of win.
31. Laura Bickle, Embers.
I picked this up in the bookshop on a whim. It's excellent urban fantasy, with a solid sense of place - Detroit - good pacing, solid worldbuilding, and a main character, Anya Kalinczyk, who is smart, capable, and unusually for urban fantasy, actually possessed of some sort of sense of self-preservation.
I enjoyed it.
32. Seannan McGuire, A Local Habitation.
Sequel to Rosemary and Rue. Fae, murders, and technology. Fun!
33-38. Yasmine Galenorn, Witchling, Changeling, Darkling, Dragon Wytch, Night Huntress, Demon Mistress.
I can't actually recommend these books. They make very little sense, and the plot is like popcorn. Fluffy and strange. But they entertained me during my stress-crazy days. So there's something to be said for them.
Eventually, the brain grows back. So I'm told.
30. Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe.
When I was nine, I tried to read this for the first time. I recall it as an exercise in frustration and confusion, with moments of great satisfaction: for instance, anytime Rebecca was on stage. When I was perhaps a little older, I saw one of the old film adaptations. Of which at this point I remember little, save a vicious battle involving a morningstar.
Some books you really do need to wait until you're old enough to appreciate them for what they are. Ivanhoe is a measured read, with a pace that speeds up only a little towards the end, with the burning of Torquilstone. I was surprised to find that the handful of women who appeared as characters in their own right - Rowena, Rebecca, and Ulrica - while primarily characterised in reference to the men around them (Rebecca being something of an exception to this rule) were, in fact, just as much characters as the men around them.
Ivanhoe is nearly two hundred years old at this point. So the glaring racism, sexism, and sectarianism is only to be expected. On the other hand, as a medieval adventure? I bloody wish people could point me to another one as good as this.
Rebecca is still made of win.
31. Laura Bickle, Embers.
I picked this up in the bookshop on a whim. It's excellent urban fantasy, with a solid sense of place - Detroit - good pacing, solid worldbuilding, and a main character, Anya Kalinczyk, who is smart, capable, and unusually for urban fantasy, actually possessed of some sort of sense of self-preservation.
I enjoyed it.
32. Seannan McGuire, A Local Habitation.
Sequel to Rosemary and Rue. Fae, murders, and technology. Fun!
33-38. Yasmine Galenorn, Witchling, Changeling, Darkling, Dragon Wytch, Night Huntress, Demon Mistress.
I can't actually recommend these books. They make very little sense, and the plot is like popcorn. Fluffy and strange. But they entertained me during my stress-crazy days. So there's something to be said for them.
Eventually, the brain grows back. So I'm told.
