maybe this'll get me posting
Oct. 21st, 2013 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydia_petzeActually having a good year for profic over here (OK, one of them was published original slash, but not reading it on a screen feels like pro)
N0S4R2 by Joe Hill. Nasty old vampire(?) kidnaps children, takes them to "Christmasland". Scary as it sounds. Joe can write a yarn just as well as his dad can. And speaking of Dad...
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. Neither his best work nor his worst, but a compelling enough sequel to The Shining. Danny Torrance is all grown up, he's gotten sober (well, wouldn't YOU drink if you Saw Dead People?) and a new kid with the shining badly needs his help. Nothing all that new here, but I enjoyed it.
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. This one will probably give you nightmares. A woman writes a series of letters to her absent husband about their son, Kevin. Kevin is your basic walking evil personified, who decided one day to massacre a bunch of kids at his school. Eva is unsure whether Kevin's nature is her own fault, or natural born. The reader is never quite sure because we never get another viewpoint. I sympathised with Eva, *hard*, because of her ambivalence about having a kid at all in the first place, but I couldn't fault her for trying her best with the little shit.
Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. These were actually re-reads, but it had been so long they were more or less new. Yes, the *balls-out awesomeness* of Hannibal was what prompted the re-read. I found RD much more compelling than TSOTL, although whether that was because of my close familiarity with the TSOTL movie (watched umpty-teen times) or actual quality, I'm not sure. I did like all the Will Graham stuff in RD, though. Will is fun. (Won't somebody please help him)
The Ocean At the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Absiolutely exquisite, even for GNeil. A take on the triple goddess myth, done as only Neil can. Polished like a gem, finish it in one sitting if you can.
Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik. What can I say? More Laurence and Temeraire goodness. moved along at a decent clip, and I did find it hilarious that Temeraire thinks Iskierka is a dud root (to put it in Australian terms.)
Captive Prince by S. U. Pacat. oh, dear lord. This is original slash gone pro, and although master/slave dynamics are ones I tend to avoid HARD, this is the one work that, I don't know. Rises above? It's NOT what it looks like, let's just say. If you like patiently written, sloooooooow building relationships, this one's for you. (Warning - volume 3 isn't out yet). Volume 1 is all right, but Volume 2 knocked my fucking socks off, so if you're like me and find Volume 1 a little less than compelling, stay with it. Trust me :)
N0S4R2 by Joe Hill. Nasty old vampire(?) kidnaps children, takes them to "Christmasland". Scary as it sounds. Joe can write a yarn just as well as his dad can. And speaking of Dad...
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King. Neither his best work nor his worst, but a compelling enough sequel to The Shining. Danny Torrance is all grown up, he's gotten sober (well, wouldn't YOU drink if you Saw Dead People?) and a new kid with the shining badly needs his help. Nothing all that new here, but I enjoyed it.
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. This one will probably give you nightmares. A woman writes a series of letters to her absent husband about their son, Kevin. Kevin is your basic walking evil personified, who decided one day to massacre a bunch of kids at his school. Eva is unsure whether Kevin's nature is her own fault, or natural born. The reader is never quite sure because we never get another viewpoint. I sympathised with Eva, *hard*, because of her ambivalence about having a kid at all in the first place, but I couldn't fault her for trying her best with the little shit.
Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. These were actually re-reads, but it had been so long they were more or less new. Yes, the *balls-out awesomeness* of Hannibal was what prompted the re-read. I found RD much more compelling than TSOTL, although whether that was because of my close familiarity with the TSOTL movie (watched umpty-teen times) or actual quality, I'm not sure. I did like all the Will Graham stuff in RD, though. Will is fun. (Won't somebody please help him)
The Ocean At the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Absiolutely exquisite, even for GNeil. A take on the triple goddess myth, done as only Neil can. Polished like a gem, finish it in one sitting if you can.
Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik. What can I say? More Laurence and Temeraire goodness. moved along at a decent clip, and I did find it hilarious that Temeraire thinks Iskierka is a dud root (to put it in Australian terms.)
Captive Prince by S. U. Pacat. oh, dear lord. This is original slash gone pro, and although master/slave dynamics are ones I tend to avoid HARD, this is the one work that, I don't know. Rises above? It's NOT what it looks like, let's just say. If you like patiently written, sloooooooow building relationships, this one's for you. (Warning - volume 3 isn't out yet). Volume 1 is all right, but Volume 2 knocked my fucking socks off, so if you're like me and find Volume 1 a little less than compelling, stay with it. Trust me :)
no subject
Date: 2013-10-23 12:16 pm (UTC)Captive Prince, IKR????!. The first twenty or so chapters I found a little tough going the first time, because it's hard to trust an author with these tropes, but once they go out on campain -- and especially their little undercover jaunt in the town -- I was HOOKED. I am absolutely floored by the way the writer is always writing with two or three levels of awareness re: POV characterisation, character motivation, plot, and world-building. I really really enjoyed being surprised so often along with Damen, and I love the romance, and the tension around Damen's real identity is KILLING ME. I found this discusison interesting, btw.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-25 11:09 am (UTC)I read those links on Captive Prince - and honestly, every problem she has with the story are ones I had. The trope is SO problematic. I don't blame her for bailing, but if she could have stuck it out just a LITTLE longer...anyway. It's not for everyone. I'm trying to re-read it now but it's so hard to get through Volume 1 again, except as an intellectual exercise, seeing how she's set it all up, seeing Damen's POV while knowing how unreliable it is, all the little hints about Laurent (who NEVER drinks, so why did he get hammered after he met Damen? I THINK HE KNOWS. He is SO smart, it's a puzzle well within his capabilities).
My next book will be The Republic of Thieves, if it ever bloody arrives.