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Furies of Calderon, an addendum
Apr. 21st, 2006 11:48 pmOkay, so a couple of posts back I was talking about Jim Butcher's Furies of Calderon and how I liked it enough that I want to read the next in the series, even though I feel Furies might have had a few irritating flaws.
I think I figured out why I both like it/find it good reading and am irritated by it. Something, by the way, that's been puzzling me.
It's written like a thriller.
No, wait. It is.
Set aside the (really good) worldbuilding, and you have a book with a large cast of rather shallowly (though one or two hint at further depths) sketched characters, flung headlong into some seriously threatening events. And the threat builds and builds and builds, faster and faster and faster. Because of the (almost breathless) pacing, you* can forgive shallow (though mostly sympathetic) characterisation, because you're caught up in the pace of events, so it stays enjoyable even though you never get deeper than a surface-level view of anything.
(This is also why I was annoyed at the sections from the antag's POV, because they slowed things down. Basically they seemed to be there for the sake of expositing (although it wasn't bad expositing), rather than because the story needed them.
Also, fundamentally? The antag(s) really don't seem that interesting or complicated. So. Those sections are boring already.)
That's what a thriller is. So Furies of Calderon is a bit of a fantasy thriller.
Thoughts, anyone? I'd be interested to here if anyone else who's read it has had similar (or different) thoughts.
------
*For you, read 'I' here, okay?
I think I figured out why I both like it/find it good reading and am irritated by it. Something, by the way, that's been puzzling me.
It's written like a thriller.
No, wait. It is.
Set aside the (really good) worldbuilding, and you have a book with a large cast of rather shallowly (though one or two hint at further depths) sketched characters, flung headlong into some seriously threatening events. And the threat builds and builds and builds, faster and faster and faster. Because of the (almost breathless) pacing, you* can forgive shallow (though mostly sympathetic) characterisation, because you're caught up in the pace of events, so it stays enjoyable even though you never get deeper than a surface-level view of anything.
(This is also why I was annoyed at the sections from the antag's POV, because they slowed things down. Basically they seemed to be there for the sake of expositing (although it wasn't bad expositing), rather than because the story needed them.
Also, fundamentally? The antag(s) really don't seem that interesting or complicated. So. Those sections are boring already.)
That's what a thriller is. So Furies of Calderon is a bit of a fantasy thriller.
Thoughts, anyone? I'd be interested to here if anyone else who's read it has had similar (or different) thoughts.
------
*For you, read 'I' here, okay?
