Title: DustAuthor: Elizabeth Bear
Publisher: Spectra
ISBN: 9780553904420
Rating: 3 baseball bats
Favorite thing: Lesbian and genderqueer characters
Least favorite thing: I didn't care about the lesbian and genderqueer characters
On the zombie how-to shelf?: Nu-uh
I got about half way through this book before I realized I actually couldn't care less about the characters. I pondered why, because I found the book interesting and it was filled with queerness, which I love in my sci-fi, and the court intrigue was convoluted, as it should be... but as our heroines found themselves in danger I had no sense of urgency. I just felt ho-hum.
So, as I finished the last bit of the book I tried to decipher why I felt like that. I finally decided that the book is not visceral enough for me. Everything, even our experience of the characters' own emotions seem filtered through the intellect. The language was formal as well, which served to distance me from Rien, Perceval and the rest.
I had been thinking that I wouldn't bother with the rest of the series. I read to live a fantasy life and this book just didn't have an emotional pull, so I was going to move on to something else. Then the last 15 pages or so happened. I couldn't even tell you what it was that changed, but I suddenly found myself considering that I might like to know how this turns out. Those last few pages drew me in, felt urgent, and I'd wished there were a few more to read.
So I probably will read the second book in the series. I can only hope that Bear relaxes into her character and her world a little more.
So, as I finished the last bit of the book I tried to decipher why I felt like that. I finally decided that the book is not visceral enough for me. Everything, even our experience of the characters' own emotions seem filtered through the intellect. The language was formal as well, which served to distance me from Rien, Perceval and the rest.
I had been thinking that I wouldn't bother with the rest of the series. I read to live a fantasy life and this book just didn't have an emotional pull, so I was going to move on to something else. Then the last 15 pages or so happened. I couldn't even tell you what it was that changed, but I suddenly found myself considering that I might like to know how this turns out. Those last few pages drew me in, felt urgent, and I'd wished there were a few more to read.
So I probably will read the second book in the series. I can only hope that Bear relaxes into her character and her world a little more.
1 comments:
I recall her sort of aloofness when I tried another book of hers -- I think she's just a v at-arms-length writer. And, you know, I'm still bitter about New Amsterdam.
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