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grimorieI don't post as frequently as I used to. It's not that I lack time (although, that's an issue but not all the time) and I always think of posting but somehow... I never get to it. I mean, I have time to join ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh (the most time consuming thing on the net next to TV Tropes, OMG!) but my posting frequency has gone down. I don't mean to but days would pass and I'd realize I haven't posted in a week/s.
I've consumed a lot of media since the start of August and I hope to write-up my impressions on the books, shows I've read/watched.
Let's start with the most recent.
Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
I started reading the books because I stumbled intolizbee's rec post on the Attolia trilogy. It's a bit spoilery but I think if I hadn't read the spoilery bits I would have continued to put the books in the back burner rather than go on a one woman book hunt for MWT's books.
(Sidenote: For some reason or other I always mistake Queen of Attolia for one of Tamora Pierce's books. I also plan to read TP's books one of these days.)
As a nice change of pace from all the fantasy series I've read, the Attolia books are set in the Mediterraneans, or something close to it since MWT's world is not our own. Actually, the only other book I know set in a similar are Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantium duology.
Kay and MWT even share a similar way of handling the fantastic in their books. There's no outright magic but you know the fantastic and the mythic could occur in the stories.
Thief follows the adventures of Gen, a young and talented but seemingly foolish thief who goes out of his way to boast about his latest accomplishment-- stealing from the king of Sounis.
The book starts with Gen languishing in prison for his misdeed and his recruitment to a quest. It's a light and breezy story that hints of the complexity that would later on be fleshed out on Queen of Attolia. I really have nothing much to say about this book except that MWT's very good with playing with the unreliable narrator POV and the twist was surprising although looking back I realized MWT foreshadowed it very well.
I do have to admit that I read through it in a rush because I wanted to read the second book. I'll re-read it again as soon as I'm done with the third book.
Queen of Attolia
This, this was the reason why I wanted to start in the first place. I readlizbee's description of the Queen and sort of... fell in love. Apparently I really do have a place in my heart for ruthless rulers.
(Okay, okay, my first thought was: ZOMG, It's like Azula as a main protagonist! Only maybe not so evil! They're really nothing alike but it was the impression I had when I read Attolia's description and like I mentioned, it was the main reason why I went around bookstores to get copies. So, yay?)
The book cover I bought was spoilery (although I have been spoiled by the rec post which was okay) but I guess other people who wouldn't want to be spoiled might be a bit annoyed by the cover. I checked the previous covers and there was one I particularly liked, where we can see Attolia's whole body including her head.
In Turner's world the ruling monarchs are called by the name of their countries (i.e. The king of Sounis is called Sounis, the Queens of Eddis and Attolia are called Eddis and Attolia respectively).
QoA follows a few years after Thief, Gen, or as he's really called, Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis is once again caught between a rock and a hard place except he is a much more dire straits than when he was simply locked up in prison for stealing from Sounis. As the book opens we learn since the first book Gen has repeatedly breached Attolia's castle and this time Attolia is determined to have him captured for repeatedly humiliating her.
And as we soon learn, anything Attolia puts her mind to, she accomplishes.
Attolia is a far worse captor than Sounis and in one of the scenes that left gasping and wondering how this book could still be classified under 'Young Adult', not only does Attolia threaten to hang Eugenides, in the next chapter she cuts off his hand.
Yes. Cuts off his hand.
Seriously, that's one of the most disturbing things I've ever read from a so-called 'Young Adult' fantasy novel.
Attolia returns Eugenides to his country and to Queen Eddis (his cousin and his queen) wounded in both body and spirit and as he sinks to despair I thought Gen would continue to spiral downwards but MWT breaks from the mold because she doesn't let Gen wallow through the whole book. No, what happens is the gods of Eddis finally answer Gen and it was more in the mold of 'stop whining'. I think I laughed at that point but I thought there would be more chapters of brooding except we learn that while Gen was healing Eddis and Attolia had gone to war.
This stuns Gen more than anything because its exactly the opposite of what he wished to happen and as the war continues Sounis joins in on the war. But I love how, I expected Gen to go on brooding despite the god's telling him to stop whining only to have him in the next chapter sinking an entire navy and stealing the King of Sounis' trusted adviser, the Magus.
And then he proceeds to do a lot more crazier things. *loves Gen*
I love the way war and the politics are depicted in the book, nothing is easy and no one is purely evil, especially Attolia.
But, you say, didn't she cut off the heroes hand? How can she not be evil?!
And, yes, I thought so too but MWT shows us Attolia's POV too... she is considered cold and cruel and implacable in her anger. But we also see or we infer that Attolia is suffering the emotional fallout from having committed that act and we gradually learn of Attolia's history. How she ascended the throne of Attolia amidst the squabbling barons and secured and held her throne successfully but to do so Attolia had to commit ruthless actions.
Despite my initial impression that Attolia was very similar to Azula, Attolia isn't Azula, for one Attolia isn't as bloodthirsty and we never get the impression Attolia derives pleasure from her actions. Everything she does is calculated, everything has a reason and nothing she does is to satisfy her whims.
More, I love her back story I love learning that before her ascension to the crown she was the second child of the king of Attolia and someone of no consequence because she had an elder brother who was the crown prince. I like how Attolia changed from someone who could melt into the background and become one the most powerful and formidable monarchs in Turner's world. As a girl people underestimated her and thought she was nothing more but a path to the throne and worse, her loathsome fiancee and future father-in-law planned her father's death in front of her as if she were just a piece of furniture.
But beneath the mousy looks was a sharp mind and she used people's perception of her to her advantage and unknown to the scheming barons in a span of a few days during her supposed wedding Attolia poisons her murderous fiance and then has the next scheming, smug fiance killed in front of the whole court. Since then Atttoli's been holding the country through her cunning, strength of will and willingness to use ruthless means to solidify her hold on her throne. By the time the book starts we slowly realize the mask she forced herself to wear is beginning to take its toll on the queen.
It's this complexity and acknowledgment of consequences that has me astonished that the QoA was classified as a fiction for kids.
Just as she did in the Thief, MWT is great with POVs shifting from one character to another in a way I thought is a no-no for writers but she manages to do pretty well. It's all about unreliable narrators because despite being privy to the character's thoughts you really determine what the character's plans or feelings are until MWT reveals it and when she does, it never ever feels like she pulled it out of thin air.
The main example I can give is Attolia and her opinions on the oily Mede Ambassador, Nahuseresh, we know the Medes Empire is a threat, that it's been expanding and conquering and soon the Empire would turn its attention to Sounis, Eddis and Attolia and once that happens the three countries will be destroyed.
Somehow the Mede ambassador manages to get into Attolia's court and causes trouble left and right even (somehow) instigating the three way war between the nations. And from what the court sees, Attolia seems to like Nahuseresh even though we know (suspect, hope) that she doesn't and isn't falling for Nahuseresh but the readers can't outright state that she doesn't really dislike him.
It's not until the seventh hour do we get confirmation about Attolia's true feelings towards Nahuseresh and the moment we learn this? It is Attolia's crowning moment of awesome and shows once and for all why she IS the Queen.
Another thing I love is how MWT fleshes out the Queen of Eddis and her relationship with Gen, which was completely platonic and yet one of the best relationships in the book and I appreciate that in a book targeted for young adults one of the strongest relationships portrayed is not a romance.
I also love how Attolia and Eddis finally comes to an accord, I love how it isn't forced and how it's a tentative friendship between two equally strong and competent women.
The love story between Attolia and Gen is something that affected me, I'm a sap and really, I'm easily sold on romances and Gen revealing that he was in love with Attolia all along? And despite his fear of her and his hand? I was affected liek whoa but at the same time I really don't know what to think about the relationship. I think its too early to tell but from what I've gleaned from reviews about King of Attolia MWT really sells the relationship between Attolia and Gen could really work and I'm eager to find out how she accomplishes this.
All in all I'm very impressed with the book. I like the way MWT handles her the world building, the myths, the characters and the politics and the relationships.
In some ways the characters (Gen and Attolia particularly) remind me of Francis Crawford but without the (admittedly) lovely angst. They are self-aware of everything and know their actions have consequences.
Like Thief I'm going to re-read the book once I'm done with KoA.
--
I've entered several book stores in a hunt for the Attolia books and I only have one thing to say: I am pretty damned tired of vampires. I really, really am. Every book store I went to had vampire books on prominent display and I got pretty tired of looking at the same thing over and over and over again.
I like vampire stories as much as the next person but dammit, how about some variety, huh?
I blame Twilight for this.
--
NaNoWriMo is fast approaching again and I'm wondering if this is the year I actually get to finish a WriMo. One of my biggest problems aside from the worldbuilding is I don't write in order, I jump from scene to scene, sometimes I write a scene from the middle or sometimes I write the end and most of the time I don't know the plot. I mean, I try to plan for it but even if I do I find myself bogged down with the plotting because I suddenly realize I've plotted myself into a corner and I don't know how to proceed from there.
I have story ideas, lots of them but I don't know if it's enough to materialize into something.
--
BTW, the Endless Eight arc of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finally ended and while I'm pretty patient not all fans are and I really feel like they pushed this repetition arc too far although I suppose I understand why but I think eight is far too many for a repeating arc. I do appreciate the animation studio tried to put different scenes each time but I think there's a problem when even the director has expressed concerns about the number of episodes and was... summarily dismissed.
One thing watching and reading Haruhi Suzumiya taught me is that I can be spoiled for the ending of a story but I can still appreciate and be surprised by the journey towards the outcome maybe because of that I'm now a little more lax with spoilers. I mean, I can know the vague outlines of what will happen as long as I don't know the exact details of how the ending came to be.
fandomhigh (the most time consuming thing on the net next to TV Tropes, OMG!) but my posting frequency has gone down. I don't mean to but days would pass and I'd realize I haven't posted in a week/s.I've consumed a lot of media since the start of August and I hope to write-up my impressions on the books, shows I've read/watched.
Let's start with the most recent.
Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
I started reading the books because I stumbled into
lizbee's rec post on the Attolia trilogy. It's a bit spoilery but I think if I hadn't read the spoilery bits I would have continued to put the books in the back burner rather than go on a one woman book hunt for MWT's books.(Sidenote: For some reason or other I always mistake Queen of Attolia for one of Tamora Pierce's books. I also plan to read TP's books one of these days.)
As a nice change of pace from all the fantasy series I've read, the Attolia books are set in the Mediterraneans, or something close to it since MWT's world is not our own. Actually, the only other book I know set in a similar are Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantium duology.
Kay and MWT even share a similar way of handling the fantastic in their books. There's no outright magic but you know the fantastic and the mythic could occur in the stories.
Thief follows the adventures of Gen, a young and talented but seemingly foolish thief who goes out of his way to boast about his latest accomplishment-- stealing from the king of Sounis.
The book starts with Gen languishing in prison for his misdeed and his recruitment to a quest. It's a light and breezy story that hints of the complexity that would later on be fleshed out on Queen of Attolia. I really have nothing much to say about this book except that MWT's very good with playing with the unreliable narrator POV and the twist was surprising although looking back I realized MWT foreshadowed it very well.
I do have to admit that I read through it in a rush because I wanted to read the second book. I'll re-read it again as soon as I'm done with the third book.
Queen of Attolia
This, this was the reason why I wanted to start in the first place. I read
lizbee's description of the Queen and sort of... fell in love. Apparently I really do have a place in my heart for ruthless rulers. (Okay, okay, my first thought was: ZOMG, It's like Azula as a main protagonist! Only maybe not so evil! They're really nothing alike but it was the impression I had when I read Attolia's description and like I mentioned, it was the main reason why I went around bookstores to get copies. So, yay?)
The book cover I bought was spoilery (although I have been spoiled by the rec post which was okay) but I guess other people who wouldn't want to be spoiled might be a bit annoyed by the cover. I checked the previous covers and there was one I particularly liked, where we can see Attolia's whole body including her head.
In Turner's world the ruling monarchs are called by the name of their countries (i.e. The king of Sounis is called Sounis, the Queens of Eddis and Attolia are called Eddis and Attolia respectively).
QoA follows a few years after Thief, Gen, or as he's really called, Eugenides, the Thief of Eddis is once again caught between a rock and a hard place except he is a much more dire straits than when he was simply locked up in prison for stealing from Sounis. As the book opens we learn since the first book Gen has repeatedly breached Attolia's castle and this time Attolia is determined to have him captured for repeatedly humiliating her.
And as we soon learn, anything Attolia puts her mind to, she accomplishes.
Attolia is a far worse captor than Sounis and in one of the scenes that left gasping and wondering how this book could still be classified under 'Young Adult', not only does Attolia threaten to hang Eugenides, in the next chapter she cuts off his hand.
Yes. Cuts off his hand.
Seriously, that's one of the most disturbing things I've ever read from a so-called 'Young Adult' fantasy novel.
Attolia returns Eugenides to his country and to Queen Eddis (his cousin and his queen) wounded in both body and spirit and as he sinks to despair I thought Gen would continue to spiral downwards but MWT breaks from the mold because she doesn't let Gen wallow through the whole book. No, what happens is the gods of Eddis finally answer Gen and it was more in the mold of 'stop whining'. I think I laughed at that point but I thought there would be more chapters of brooding except we learn that while Gen was healing Eddis and Attolia had gone to war.
This stuns Gen more than anything because its exactly the opposite of what he wished to happen and as the war continues Sounis joins in on the war. But I love how, I expected Gen to go on brooding despite the god's telling him to stop whining only to have him in the next chapter sinking an entire navy and stealing the King of Sounis' trusted adviser, the Magus.
And then he proceeds to do a lot more crazier things. *loves Gen*
I love the way war and the politics are depicted in the book, nothing is easy and no one is purely evil, especially Attolia.
But, you say, didn't she cut off the heroes hand? How can she not be evil?!
And, yes, I thought so too but MWT shows us Attolia's POV too... she is considered cold and cruel and implacable in her anger. But we also see or we infer that Attolia is suffering the emotional fallout from having committed that act and we gradually learn of Attolia's history. How she ascended the throne of Attolia amidst the squabbling barons and secured and held her throne successfully but to do so Attolia had to commit ruthless actions.
Despite my initial impression that Attolia was very similar to Azula, Attolia isn't Azula, for one Attolia isn't as bloodthirsty and we never get the impression Attolia derives pleasure from her actions. Everything she does is calculated, everything has a reason and nothing she does is to satisfy her whims.
More, I love her back story I love learning that before her ascension to the crown she was the second child of the king of Attolia and someone of no consequence because she had an elder brother who was the crown prince. I like how Attolia changed from someone who could melt into the background and become one the most powerful and formidable monarchs in Turner's world. As a girl people underestimated her and thought she was nothing more but a path to the throne and worse, her loathsome fiancee and future father-in-law planned her father's death in front of her as if she were just a piece of furniture.
But beneath the mousy looks was a sharp mind and she used people's perception of her to her advantage and unknown to the scheming barons in a span of a few days during her supposed wedding Attolia poisons her murderous fiance and then has the next scheming, smug fiance killed in front of the whole court. Since then Atttoli's been holding the country through her cunning, strength of will and willingness to use ruthless means to solidify her hold on her throne. By the time the book starts we slowly realize the mask she forced herself to wear is beginning to take its toll on the queen.
It's this complexity and acknowledgment of consequences that has me astonished that the QoA was classified as a fiction for kids.
Just as she did in the Thief, MWT is great with POVs shifting from one character to another in a way I thought is a no-no for writers but she manages to do pretty well. It's all about unreliable narrators because despite being privy to the character's thoughts you really determine what the character's plans or feelings are until MWT reveals it and when she does, it never ever feels like she pulled it out of thin air.
The main example I can give is Attolia and her opinions on the oily Mede Ambassador, Nahuseresh, we know the Medes Empire is a threat, that it's been expanding and conquering and soon the Empire would turn its attention to Sounis, Eddis and Attolia and once that happens the three countries will be destroyed.
Somehow the Mede ambassador manages to get into Attolia's court and causes trouble left and right even (somehow) instigating the three way war between the nations. And from what the court sees, Attolia seems to like Nahuseresh even though we know (suspect, hope) that she doesn't and isn't falling for Nahuseresh but the readers can't outright state that she doesn't really dislike him.
It's not until the seventh hour do we get confirmation about Attolia's true feelings towards Nahuseresh and the moment we learn this? It is Attolia's crowning moment of awesome and shows once and for all why she IS the Queen.
Another thing I love is how MWT fleshes out the Queen of Eddis and her relationship with Gen, which was completely platonic and yet one of the best relationships in the book and I appreciate that in a book targeted for young adults one of the strongest relationships portrayed is not a romance.
I also love how Attolia and Eddis finally comes to an accord, I love how it isn't forced and how it's a tentative friendship between two equally strong and competent women.
The love story between Attolia and Gen is something that affected me, I'm a sap and really, I'm easily sold on romances and Gen revealing that he was in love with Attolia all along? And despite his fear of her and his hand? I was affected liek whoa but at the same time I really don't know what to think about the relationship. I think its too early to tell but from what I've gleaned from reviews about King of Attolia MWT really sells the relationship between Attolia and Gen could really work and I'm eager to find out how she accomplishes this.
All in all I'm very impressed with the book. I like the way MWT handles her the world building, the myths, the characters and the politics and the relationships.
In some ways the characters (Gen and Attolia particularly) remind me of Francis Crawford but without the (admittedly) lovely angst. They are self-aware of everything and know their actions have consequences.
Like Thief I'm going to re-read the book once I'm done with KoA.
--
I've entered several book stores in a hunt for the Attolia books and I only have one thing to say: I am pretty damned tired of vampires. I really, really am. Every book store I went to had vampire books on prominent display and I got pretty tired of looking at the same thing over and over and over again.
I like vampire stories as much as the next person but dammit, how about some variety, huh?
I blame Twilight for this.
--
NaNoWriMo is fast approaching again and I'm wondering if this is the year I actually get to finish a WriMo. One of my biggest problems aside from the worldbuilding is I don't write in order, I jump from scene to scene, sometimes I write a scene from the middle or sometimes I write the end and most of the time I don't know the plot. I mean, I try to plan for it but even if I do I find myself bogged down with the plotting because I suddenly realize I've plotted myself into a corner and I don't know how to proceed from there.
I have story ideas, lots of them but I don't know if it's enough to materialize into something.
--
BTW, the Endless Eight arc of Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finally ended and while I'm pretty patient not all fans are and I really feel like they pushed this repetition arc too far although I suppose I understand why but I think eight is far too many for a repeating arc. I do appreciate the animation studio tried to put different scenes each time but I think there's a problem when even the director has expressed concerns about the number of episodes and was... summarily dismissed.
One thing watching and reading Haruhi Suzumiya taught me is that I can be spoiled for the ending of a story but I can still appreciate and be surprised by the journey towards the outcome maybe because of that I'm now a little more lax with spoilers. I mean, I can know the vague outlines of what will happen as long as I don't know the exact details of how the ending came to be.
