Tarr, Judith - Alamut

I honestly am not sure what to think of this book. There were parts of it I liked very much, and then, sometimes on the very same page, a part in which I would feel like beating my head against a wall or something.

I initially picked it up even though I knew nothing about the author because the back said something about immortal female assassin (OOOO! I go). Plus, Thomas Canty artwork on the cover. Pretty. The book is set in the Middle Ages during the Crusades (I think... my knowledge of that time period sucks). The hero, Aidan (one of the immortal beings), has had several relatives (not an immortal being) assassinated by said female assassin, Morgiana. Vengeance quests ensue, along with attempts to keep another potential victim safe.

I very much like having the historical fantasy; it's sometimes a nice change from the imaginary world fantasies, and I enjoyed the time period, which I don't know much about. Also, it was a really nice change from the medieval period feeling of romance novels.

My main problem was that the characters were too opaque, I think. I still can't get a feel for Aidan or Morgiana or Joanna's personalities (Joanna is the non-immortal woman Aidan falls in love with) -- the main impression in my mind of the immortals is that they are uncannily beautiful. While interesting to hear about, oh maybe the first time, it is unfortunately not enough to sustain me through a fairly fat books. Someone should tell Anne Rice this as well. Actually, I think Lestat has ten times more personality. Hrm.

Anyhow. There was that, and then Aidan goes and falls in love with Joanna for no reason that I can possibly discern! Then he goes on and on about loving her stubbornness or something or the other, and I am left there, scratching my head, thinking, where did this come from? Joanna of course loves him back, but it mostly just seems like his not-human beauty has left her in some sort of stunned shock. And then, Morgiana falls in love with him (I'm sure we could all see that coming from a mile away, even if we didn't read the back cover about her discovering "secret places in his heart" like me). Fine, I can accept that, mutual feeling for someone of her kind, lonely assassin girl. But then after meeting him oh maybe two time (I stretch "meeting" here to mean "makes eye contact") she is suddenly convinced they are soulmates or something. ( Spoilers amidst the rant )

So there were many points in which I wanted to shake Aidan and tell him that love affairs with those not of your kind is never a good idea, as substantiated by multiple Jossverse examples. Then I wanted to take a stick and hit Morgiana with it to make her be assassin-like instead of being a love-sick idiot. Also, there was a sex scene in which one character said something resembling, "How can you even walk around like that, you are so well hung!" re: Aidan's equipment.

Things that were interesting included the inversion of some standard romance genre tropes, along with the entire setting ... I always cheer for non-Medieval-Europe-esque fantasies. And it wasn't bad, per se, because she resolved most of the plot lines and character interactions to my satisfaction, and she had me rather swept along with some of it before I stopped and realized that it made no sense. It was just a very frustrating middle to get through.

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Currently very irked because I was shopping for suits. Apparently there are no good suits to be found when one needs them. I feel this is the First Law of shopping -- things that you actually need now (as opposed to: will be practical eventually) can never be found. This holds true even if said thing should be something easy to find, like black pants.

Actually, it's not that I couldn't find any. It's that I couldn't find any that fit! Grrr. Much less find anything on sale... There'd be a suit jacket my size, but no bottom, or the perfect bottom, but a jacket cut that was totally wrong, and after going to three different stores, I was about to tear my hair out.

Shopping is only fun when done in leisure, during sales so one can pick up stuff for later in the season. This is why I buy my winter coats at the end of January and summer stuff during late August. Plus, suits are really boring. I kept wanting to drift off to look at happy bright summer colored clothes with all sorts of frills and whatnot. They look like such cheerful clothes!

Also, despite my Dress for Success rant, I find I am drawn more to skirt suits because it is absolutely impossible to find pants that fit. The waist is too big and the hips are too small, it makes my butt look big, it makes my thighs look big, they assume my waist is somewhere where it is not naturally located, they assume my legs are a lot longer than they actually are, etc. Impossible. At least with skirts, if the hips and waist fit, you're about ready to go.

ETA: also insanely jealous of everyone going to WisCon. Argh! It looks so interesting!