What are you reading Wednesday

[jazzfish]

What are you reading?

Godslayer by Jacqueline Carey, because it was a gift from semilocal J--. Second in a duology. I've also (still) got a bookmark in N.K. Jemisin's The Shadowed Sun where I stalled out.

What did you recently finish reading?

Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey, first in the duology. I am not a huge fan of these books; they read like the author wanted to rewrite Lord of the Rings with the mythic gravitas of the Silmarillion, only from Sauron/Morgoth's point of view. Which is an interesting enough idea if the author can pull it off, but without decades of worldbuilding and a grounding in the epics that epic fantasy comes from, I don't think it's doable. Carey is no Tolkien, nor even Guy "ghostwrote the Silmarillion" Kay. On the other hand I am genuinely curious how far she'll carry the genre-twisting "bad guy's perspective" thing, and the characters are decent.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Good question. Probably not Tolkien. Likely either Princes of the Air by JMF, or something off the To Be Read shelf. Perhaps the Jemisin.

Comments

[shanaqui]

I think it really is meant to be a direct response to Tolkien, rather than something-in-the-same-mold-as. At least, I see it that way. In my Tolkien module, nobody believed me that someone could at all believably make 'Sauron' sympathetic. (Although for me it was mostly about Tanaros and Ushashin.) I'm not sure if I like those books as such or find them interesting, if the distinction makes any sense?

[jazzfish]

Hm, I would believe that. And yeah, it is all about Tanaros and Ushahin (though I'm also grooving on the bits & pieces we get of Meara).

That distinction makes perfect sense! Although I don't often reread books that are more 'interesting' than 'good.'

[shanaqui]

I think with my academic work, my definition of 'entertaining' has shifted to include 'interesting' as well as 'likeable' to a greater extent than for a lot of people. *grin*