imperfectletter | 71, 72 (Reply)

Originally posted October 15, 2006 in

fiveforsilver:

71. *The Door Into Sunset by Diane Duane (382)

Much more "traditional" fantasy than Duane's other books. It's actually the third in her "Door Into" series, but the local libraries (wonderful as they are) didn't have the first two. Only the third. Because that makes sense... Anyway, my point is, there was a lot I didn't understand because I haven't read the first two books. I'll probably have to either read them at the bookstore or maybe buy them in order to read them.

72. *Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb (809)

A lot of people have talked about Hobb, both liking and disliking, and I figured it's time I step out of the YA fiction and into the Adult section (the Duane books are Adult fiction, too, but she's already a loved author).

I mostly liked it. There were some things I had trouble with - for example, it often takes a sentence or two for there to be a clue who each section is talking about (between the 6 or 8 or whatever main characters the book flipped between). As in, it's something like "He walked down the street..." Ok, which he? It could be any of three or four or five male characters, mostly in different cities. It's a little frustrating to have to go back and reread the first sentence(s) of the section to understand what was going on, because it started with "He" instead of the character's name and oh, now I know how it's talking about, so what was that again?

Other than that stylistic quirk, I liked it. I enjoyed most of the storylines, I cared about many of the characters, and I want to know what happens enough to go get the next books out of the library. I was surprised when some of the stories intersected and with some twists (not all - most I saw far in advance - but some).

*New reads (I believe this is my first post only of new reads!)