Smith, Jeff, and Charles Vess - Rose

[oyceter]

I picked this up because it's apparently the prequel to Smith's Bone, which a coworker at the store recommends. Unfortunately, it has rather put me off picking up Bone.

It was a rather tedious medieval fantasy bit, with origin story and origin of evil enemy story, combined with the brave princess (Rose) who Does Something. I could also guess who the enemy was and what the ultimate sacrifice was from about the second page into the story. Lots of fantasy anvils.

I mean, honestly. Two sisters, named Briar and Rose. Rose is talented at "dreaming" or whatever it's called; she's vivacious and out-going and unproperly feisty. Briar is resentful that Rose has "the Dreaming Eye." I feel that is all I need to say. I think Smith could have made it interesting and focused on Briar and her feeling of inadequacy and made something out of that, but instead, she goes evil, blah blah, Rose is forced to have to kill her sister, blah blah. The only thing that surprised me was when Rose killed her dog instead of her sister.

They have a Gaiman quote in the back, touting the book as "a beautifully painted meditation on magic, on the mistakes of youth and the little personal tragedies that grow to decide the fate of nations." I personally think it's rather hackneyed and uses cliches in no way new to the fantasy world.

Maybe it takes on added depth if one has read Bone first.

Comments

[thewildmole.livejournal.com]

I forget, but have you read any deLint? I'd be interested in your POV because while I love his earlier stuff, his latter works...euw. Similar to the feelings you had on this book.

[buffyannotater.livejournal.com]

I read The Little Country years ago and adored it. It remains one of my very favorite books of all time. But although there were a few others of his I enjoyed, I never found another deLint Book that I loved nearly as much, which I found very disappointing, since the moment I finished that book, I raced to read as much more by him as I could.

[thewildmole.livejournal.com]

*nods* I had the same reaction to Jack of Kinrowan. There are about three others of his (many, many, and did I mention many?) books that I also really liked. After that, however, not so much with the like.

IMO, he's really been coasting in the last few years with the release of his back catalogue. The point where I finally gave up on him was The Onion Girl. To quote Thom Filicia: "Harrrrrrrible!". It was the most diatribe-filled, tell-not-show, look-aren't-I-wonderful-for-confronting-social-issues, Mary Sue'd piece of claptrap I'd ever read.

*looks back up* Huh...guess I still feel a little strongly about it :P. And I haven't even mentioned the completely unbelievable conclusion. *facepalm* Oy. The sheer depth of my hatred for that book made me write a rant about it and his characters in general.

It's a bummer, though, because there aren't many urban fantasy writers that I find believeable and enjoyable.

[oyceter]

Hee hee hee ^_^. I think I remember you ranting about this, which is one reason I haven't picked up de Lint yet, despite his gorgeous covers.

[oyceter]

I've been sort of avoiding de Lint because I've heard various LJ people (you included) talk about some of his faults -- something like theme repetition and characters that are just too... that Mary Sue quality? At least that's what I've sort of gathered.

Anything you'd recommend?

[thewildmole.livejournal.com]

If anything, I would recommend a few of his earlier books and that's it. Like I mentioned to buffyannotater above, his later books come across as more the product of Charles believing in his own rep.

Jack of Kinrowan (a duology), Mulengro and Trader probably brought about the strongest personal response from me. Mulengro had its iffy moments since he is writing about the Rom from a non-Rom POV. Many of his other books - especially the short story collections he's releasing/re-releasing nowadays - verge on the completely precious.

[oyceter]

Gotcha. Thanks! I probably won't notice the Rom-POV problem, given that I know absolutely nothing about them...

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I also thought ROSE was predictable and dull. Pretty pictures, though. I've never read BONE, but lots of people think it's brilliant-- hopefully not the same ones who thik ROSE is brilliant.

[oyceter]

Yeah, I like Vess... though I liked his art for Stardust more.

Bone keeps getting good reviews... I dunno. Maybe I'll check it out of the library sometime and see. But, argh, Rose had quotes from Gaiman and all these other people I like too! Disappointing.

[barbary-coast.livejournal.com]

I really liked Bone, though I thought it fell apart a bit at the end. I thought that Rose was overly mannered and dull -- but pretty. Go figure.

As for the blurbs... never trust them, particularly when the person writing the blurb is friends with the author in question.

[oyceter]

Ok, good. So... er, where does one start on Bone?

I generally tend to disregard most author blurbs (I listen to Booklist and Publisher's Weekly), but it was Gaiman! Sigh. Just can't trust anyone these days ;).

[barbary-coast.livejournal.com]

Bone is very much one of those, 'start at the beginning' stories. It is an intricate and detailed narrative, in which characters who are introduced early on may reappear later in the story in unexpected ways. It's been collected in several volumes. I'd recommend that you just find the first collection and go from there. If you randomly jump into the story, it's likely that you would 'get' the immediate story but miss the big picture.

As for Gaiman's blurb... perhaps he meant it. Likely, he did mean it. He and Charlie Vess are friends and I know for a fact that he genuinely likes Vess' work. In the end though, his opinion isn't any more or less valid than yours or mine.

[oyceter]

Thanks ^_^. I think I'll start hunting Bone down at the library.