Book thoughts...
Aug. 12th, 2008 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieBecause I was so exhausted, I didn't read as much as I wanted so I finished Keeping It Real by Justina Robson only today (5 days. Usually it would take me one. Ouch).
Anyway, totally loved it. I am very picky with my fantasy, as most things in the genre don't appeal to me. This was excellent though. Also, apparently, it's part 1 of a trilogy, and part 2 is out as well, so I am off to a bookstore later in the day.
Wheeeee for world-building! It was neat, different, and present enough to keep me interested but not so much that it would overwhelm any story and make the book 800 pages long. No, I do not need to know the process for making buttons on shirts in Alfheim. Thank you, Ms. Robson, for understanding that. But I also don't want to see Elves (or Demons or Elementals) as humans with cooler hair or weirder shapes. Thank you for that too.
Lila. I loved that the heroine was so fleshed out. Capable (incredibly so) but not perfect or Mary Suish. Strong (physically and armaments-wise, perhaps the strongest of the bunch) but not best at everything. Not ashamed or reticent about her capabilities, but also trapped in disliking her changed body, on a level, and wanting a fully human one back. But no false modesty about her new abilities. Basically, she was awesome. And thank you so much for 'allowing' the heroine to have sex with more than one person in the book, and without some sort of 'well, they both were true or otherwise loves' or 'one of them meant nothing and a weakness' or any other stupid excuses. She is single, she is adult, why not?
I loved all the awesome Lila/Zal shippiness. I also loved that since this wasn't a romance, this wasn't the main point of the book. I can't wait to read more about them though.
Secondary chracters of awesomeness.
Surprises make me happy. So learning that the reason the Lady and her Elves were after Zal was not because he was polluting Elf culture by slumming it and being a singer, but because he was (a) a former, super-high-ranking secret agent who went totally rogue; (b) worse, went rogue-native in Demotopia which is about the most antithetical realm to the Elves and became half Demon which is super-anathema to Lady's ideology; (c) is a member of rebellion against her regime; and (d) that music sutff is sort of a cover for overthrowing the Government? Made me happy. Plus, Lila and Zal can now swap stories of people they regret killing. Fun bed talk.
Hurt/comfort. I approve.
So sum total? Loved it.
Anyway, totally loved it. I am very picky with my fantasy, as most things in the genre don't appeal to me. This was excellent though. Also, apparently, it's part 1 of a trilogy, and part 2 is out as well, so I am off to a bookstore later in the day.
Wheeeee for world-building! It was neat, different, and present enough to keep me interested but not so much that it would overwhelm any story and make the book 800 pages long. No, I do not need to know the process for making buttons on shirts in Alfheim. Thank you, Ms. Robson, for understanding that. But I also don't want to see Elves (or Demons or Elementals) as humans with cooler hair or weirder shapes. Thank you for that too.
Lila. I loved that the heroine was so fleshed out. Capable (incredibly so) but not perfect or Mary Suish. Strong (physically and armaments-wise, perhaps the strongest of the bunch) but not best at everything. Not ashamed or reticent about her capabilities, but also trapped in disliking her changed body, on a level, and wanting a fully human one back. But no false modesty about her new abilities. Basically, she was awesome. And thank you so much for 'allowing' the heroine to have sex with more than one person in the book, and without some sort of 'well, they both were true or otherwise loves' or 'one of them meant nothing and a weakness' or any other stupid excuses. She is single, she is adult, why not?
I loved all the awesome Lila/Zal shippiness. I also loved that since this wasn't a romance, this wasn't the main point of the book. I can't wait to read more about them though.
Secondary chracters of awesomeness.
Surprises make me happy. So learning that the reason the Lady and her Elves were after Zal was not because he was polluting Elf culture by slumming it and being a singer, but because he was (a) a former, super-high-ranking secret agent who went totally rogue; (b) worse, went rogue-native in Demotopia which is about the most antithetical realm to the Elves and became half Demon which is super-anathema to Lady's ideology; (c) is a member of rebellion against her regime; and (d) that music sutff is sort of a cover for overthrowing the Government? Made me happy. Plus, Lila and Zal can now swap stories of people they regret killing. Fun bed talk.
Hurt/comfort. I approve.
So sum total? Loved it.
