Oooo, definitely one of my favorite serises as well!
But first.....Ugh, nothing worse than THE WRONG NARRATOR. Lemony Snicket reading his own books was brilliant. The other reader....wtf? It's totally unfair to pit someone against Snicket's narration! Whoever did the original Vorkosigan books was just totally, utterly, wrong - and I didn't even have a previous narrator I bonded to in the past! A friend of mine wanted very much to have those books on audio....and I was so offended by the WRONGNESS of the narrator, I recorded Cordelia's Honor for her myself :D Along with Komarr, A Civil Campaign, Diplomatic Immunity....and then all of the ADS-verse I could manage :P
Similarly, if I ever replace my paper books (and I read them to pieces, so every few years I have to), I'll look long and hard for the same printing, cause having the words in a different place on the page, or in the wrong font, or the wrong weight of paper....um....I'm a very kinesthetic person. Things have to be in the space/time I expect them to be! Or I feel like the world is completely off kilter!
But, back to the thing!
For the times these books work, I'm willing to forgive world building with enormous holes all over the magical theory and some seriously forced retconning of "we saw some imagery a couple of books ago, better give it a call-back!"
I adore The Dark is Rising and The Gray King with huge passionate adoration. They both capture a very constant sense of atmosphere - setting, people, time and the feel of the magic. When Will wakes up, goes to the window seat and sees the snowy woods change while hearing the fleeting music.....I have that moment imprinted on my brain. Same with the time spent with Bran, Will and Cafall. The places are very real to the author (places she knew well since childhood), and it shows - they seemed to give her a jumping off point for a wholeness in both sensory and narrative feel.
Greenwitch has a lot of power and she nailed the sheer sense of strangeness of a pagan entity, but I felt like the hugeness of the got short shrift. I felt like there was more there. Over Sea and Under Stone is, as remarked above, some relaxing lark for Merriman. It just completely lacks weight. ....and as long as I can discard the last couple of pages, Silver on the Tree makes me happy because we get Bran & Will together (plus Wales) again.
BUT THE LAST COUPLE OF PAGES NEVER HAPPENED. CAUSE I SAY SO.
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momijizukamori and
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Date: 2012-03-27 03:51 am (UTC)But first.....Ugh, nothing worse than THE WRONG NARRATOR. Lemony Snicket reading his own books was brilliant. The other reader....wtf? It's totally unfair to pit someone against Snicket's narration! Whoever did the original Vorkosigan books was just totally, utterly, wrong - and I didn't even have a previous narrator I bonded to in the past! A friend of mine wanted very much to have those books on audio....and I was so offended by the WRONGNESS of the narrator, I recorded Cordelia's Honor for her myself :D Along with Komarr, A Civil Campaign, Diplomatic Immunity....and then all of the ADS-verse I could manage :P
Similarly, if I ever replace my paper books (and I read them to pieces, so every few years I have to), I'll look long and hard for the same printing, cause having the words in a different place on the page, or in the wrong font, or the wrong weight of paper....um....I'm a very kinesthetic person. Things have to be in the space/time I expect them to be! Or I feel like the world is completely off kilter!
But, back to the thing!
For the times these books work, I'm willing to forgive world building with enormous holes all over the magical theory and some seriously forced retconning of "we saw some imagery a couple of books ago, better give it a call-back!"
I adore The Dark is Rising and The Gray King with huge passionate adoration. They both capture a very constant sense of atmosphere - setting, people, time and the feel of the magic. When Will wakes up, goes to the window seat and sees the snowy woods change while hearing the fleeting music.....I have that moment imprinted on my brain. Same with the time spent with Bran, Will and Cafall. The places are very real to the author (places she knew well since childhood), and it shows - they seemed to give her a jumping off point for a wholeness in both sensory and narrative feel.
Greenwitch has a lot of power and she nailed the sheer sense of strangeness of a pagan entity, but I felt like the hugeness of the got short shrift. I felt like there was more there. Over Sea and Under Stone is, as remarked above, some relaxing lark for Merriman. It just completely lacks weight. ....and as long as I can discard the last couple of pages, Silver on the Tree makes me happy because we get Bran & Will together (plus Wales) again.
BUT THE LAST COUPLE OF PAGES NEVER HAPPENED. CAUSE I SAY SO.