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lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2012-07-06 09:19 pm
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Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It has long been a subject of suspicion in certain quarters that I do not have a soul. (I rub elbows with politicians, guys, it’s protective coloration). Allow me to add some evidence to the case by informing you that my response to this book, like all of Cashore’s other work, was “…eh, that’s nice, I guess.”

It’s nice! It’s all about a kingdom recovering from the mass trauma of violent dictatorship, and the teenaged queen coming into her power, and her first stumbling romance, and the aftermath of lies, even the kind, protective ones. Honestly, I should be all over this thing. And it’s nice! I can appreciate that on an esthetic level, and go on about how marvelous it is that the teenaged cross-class romance isn’t intended to be the love of anyone’s life at eighteen, it’s just a sweet, complicated, warm coming of age. With birth control! Young adult fantasy with birth control! But really, I dropped it halfway through to go read something else without a flicker, and had a hard time remembering what was what when I came back a week later.

Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me that I found this only minimally engaging?




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cahn: (Default)

[personal profile] cahn 2012-07-16 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I AM SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT!! And so glad to find another SGU fan! (I haven't yet watched SG-1 or SG-A, but even so, I feel a little protective of SGU, the little black sheep of the family.)

Would you care to continue this discussion elsewhere? Because I have SO MUCH to say about this fic! (I mean, Light, if you'd like to continue to host us, then awesome, but since it's not really your fandom, I don't want to impose...) I just put up a rec post on my fic journal -- with a couple of other recs as well that you might find of interest. (And, okay, yeah, I wrote a couple SGU's myself since there is not enough fic in this fandom! But short ones. I can't do long-form.)

I too have THINKY THOUGHTS about Light's service topic that I have not yet figured out how to articulate!
lightreads: a partial image of a etymology tree for the Indo-European word 'leuk done in white neon on black'; in the lower left is (Default)

[personal profile] lightreads 2012-07-17 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
Suit yourselves -- I have no objection to being the random fandoms cafe.
ecaterin: Miles's face from Warrior's Apprentice. Text: We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement. (Default)

[personal profile] ecaterin 2012-07-17 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
You're a dear :D
ecaterin: Miles's face from Warrior's Apprentice. Text: We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement. (Default)

[personal profile] ecaterin 2012-07-17 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
I'd be happy take it over to your LJ cause....um....I can be rather verbose - no need to subject Light to our SGU gushing (gracious offer not withstanding) :D

I'd never gotten into SG1 or SGA (despite many fan-friends who were really into them). I'm an arc-is-all person - gimme Farscape, BSG, Babylon 5 & DS9, yk? But after falling in love with SGU, we've (my sweetie is almost as big of a scifi geek as I am :P) gone back and watched SG1 and really enjoyed it for what it is. We've watched the "arc-only" episodes and that's kept us from getting frustrated by the large number of stand alones. (they did do a good job of touching on the arc within almost every ep though)

okay....see ya over on your rec thread :D
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