defectivewookie

My birthday is coming up in less than a month.  I've already received a good number of my gifts, mostly because people have been taking me shipping.  My in-laws were here a week ago, and we went and bought new work (interview) clothes and books.  Then I was out with my wife for dinner last weekend and she decided we should go to the bookstore.  "Maybe you could pick out something for your birthday..."  Seven books later, she's pretty much done shopping. 

She asked me if it was okay to get only books for my birthday.  Would the Cookie Monster be offended to merely get cookies for any reason?  Not so much. 

One of the books my mother-in-law got me (that I picked out, possibly with a manic gleam in my eye) got me to actually slow down, which is odd.  My reading pace does vary, but usually when I like something it speeds up.  This book I did not just like.  It impressed me. 

Books read in 2010 #16:  Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.

The prologue to R and R floored me.  I put the book down, sat there for a moment, and then literally said "wow" out loud.  From reading her live journal I know that this is Seanan's debut novel.  That's the only way I would have known.  From the get-go, the world of R and R just hits, and hits hard.  In just twelve pages we learn that October "Toby" Daye is a changeling (half faerie), she works as a detective for a local pure blood, she's engaged and she has a daughter.  The world of the fae is magical, wicked and terrible; Toby is a knight and the job she stars the book doing involves tracking a kidnapper and rescuing the wife and child of her lord.  McGuire describes the magic in a fresh and organic way; it never feels like magic is there just to solve problems.  More the opposite, really.

At the end of the twelve page prologue, when we have been shown danger, and Toby's love for her fiance and daughter, felt her fear and determination about finding the lost child by confronting a much more powerful immortal pure blood, she gets turned into a coy.

That's right.  Our protagonist is a fish for the fourteen years between the prologue and the main story.

This is why I put the book down, because that is just awesome.  First off, it is a completely wicked thing for the faeries Toby is after to do to her.  It ruins her life, punishes her, and gets her off their trail in one fell swoop.  It's just the kind of thing that happens to interlopers in a fairy tale, but it also displays that the author is going to have consequences for her creations that are really terrible.  And they so, so are. 

In that short span of about 3000 words, I felt like the world I was reading about had become real, and also that I knew Toby a little.  I was along for the ride, and I knew it would be bumpy.  It made the rest of the novel that much more tense, because I just never knew what was next.  I mean, if the protagonist can get turned into a fish, what else might happen?  There aren't a lot of options that are off the table at that point.

The rest of the novel built on that impression, giving one of the most fleshed out and fully realized worlds I've encountered in Urban Fantasy.  Read it.  Now. 

In writing this, I was also thinking about something from jimhines, a question about reviews.  I am, essentially, a random person on the internet who enjoys writing about books.  Do I think about the authors when I write up my thoughts?  Do I wonder (or even care) if said authors will read what I have to say?

First off, yes, I do think about the authors.  I know some of the time I harp on nitpicky details, and I often seem to look for what is wrong with a book.  As I write those things, I do sometimes look at it and wince, knowing that I may be spoiling someone's internet afternoon.  The process of writing these has a lot to do with my own journey of writing discovery, so I do try and frame my critique that way.  Hopefully that's apparent.  Maybe not. 

As to wondering or caring if the authors may read this... yeah.  I know sometimes that's going to happen, given that I'm lj friends with the very people I'm writing about.  But you know what?  In a lot of instances that lj relationship is why I bought the book in the first place.  It definitely was for Rosemary and Rue, where I caught a link to Seanan's blog from someone else (I think catvalente ).  If I were in the position of the author (if only!) I would be curious about the impression I made. 

I try and be honest.  I try and give the kind of feedback I would to a friend in a face to face discussion.  Sometimes I'm not very nice, and my opinions come across a little strong (or dick-ish... I try to live by Wheaton's Law, but I fail sometimes). 

In all likelihood I will expand on this idea when I write about my thoughts for Goblin Quest.  Maybe one of these days I'll get an author to respond to my thoughts, which would be cool.  Maybe I should learn to add other bits, like "Thanks Seanan, I really enjoyed the hell out of your book".  Because I did, as I have with so many others before it.