Micklem, Sarah - Firethorn

Unfortunately for me, this is one of those books in which everything is rather competently executed, and yet, it never quite clicks.

Firethorn, orginally named Luck, takes on her name when she eats the berries of the poisonous firethorn plant and survives. She credits her survival to the will of the god Ardor. And then she goes off and becomes the sheath (sort of like a groupie for knights) of Sire Galan as he and a whole bunch of other people gallop off to war.

One of my main problems with the book was that while the world was interesting, in the end, it didn't feel like it was driving toward anything. There is a conclusion, but if you asked me, I still couldn't quite tell you what the book was about. Not just theme-wise, but plot-wise! Firethorn just sort of follows Galan around and he gets into various bits of trouble. I'm even more confused because apparently this is the first book of a trilogy, and I have no idea what the second two books will be about.

I did like the world-building, and the depiction of the life of a drudge or a sheath amidst a whole crowd of not-too-nice knights. And I was especially interested in the system of gods, in which each god has three aspects. I kept getting Hazard and Ardor mixed up though, for some reason. And while I liked the god scheme, I was a little confused as to why Firethorn is supposedly the chosen of Ardor. There is a little sense of destiny and fate in this book, which Firethorn muses on, but it's never quite at the forefront, which I am used to re: god's avatars.

I also had a problem because I couldn't find anyone in the book I liked, or even found remotely interesting. Firethorn as a character isn't too bad, but she's in love with (or something with) Sire Galan, and for the life of me, I can't understand why. True, he's got a reckless streak that could be portrayed as charismatic and appealing, but in the book, he mostly just comes off as not too bright and incredibly rash. It's also strange because this is via Firethorn's POV (the book is first-person-POV), and I still don't understand why she sticks around him. So my estimation of her character goes down a little. And everyone else in the camp is really quite distasteful, and not even in the way that makes me react with a combination of fascination and disgust. I'm mostly just put off.

Anyhow, the book just never quite clicked with me... would be interested to see what other people thought.

(no subject)

']=====on

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That's what happens when my rats venture on the laptop keyboard while I sit on the couch.

I am currently knitting. I have gotten a copy of Stitch 'N Bitch from Amazon, bought new needles and yarn, and I have started my Really Ugly Scarf (TM). Truly, it is ugly. But who cares? I'm having fun knitting anyway. I miss doing things with my hands sometimes... usually I spend so much time watching TV and reading and doing LJ that I forget I like crafty things as well (alas, my paper model of the Taj Mahal languishes in dust), and it's nice to have that sort of productive feeling. The best part is knitting rows and then stopping and looking at how long the scarf has gotten.

My cousin's grandmother (unrelated to me) taught me how to knit back when we first moved to Taiwan (I was around eight), and every so often, I knit a little bit of something or the other. I've never finished anything except a five inch long scarf for my toys, but it's nice watching something take shape in your hand. So, I can knit and purl. It sort of amused me, reading the beginning chapters of Stitch 'N Bitch, because I know half of the things she's talking about, and the other half I had to figure out all on my lonesome, just dickering around with the needles and yarn. I don't even know how to cast off properly. And it was funny reading how some people don't like the purl stitch when I've been doing that since I was eight, and how other skills and tools and knowledge that are very basic are completely foreign to me. I mean, there's an actual method to start new balls of yarn? I just tied a knot and let it stick out. Well, I never claimed to knit pretty.

My sister picked up a little off the internet last year, and she brought her very salmon-pink scarf back to Taiwan to work on during vacation. While we were on the train to Hualien, I watched her and started itching to do it myself, so we ended up trading rows. It was fun, and I was rather amazed by the fact that my hands somehow still remember to do it. Then several people on my FL started picking it up, most notably chi_zu, whose psots make me wish I could do the things she did, and thus the latent urge became... less latent. And now, I have a few inches of Really Ugly Scarf.

Speaking of which (or not), I mentioned it to my boss today on the commute home, and she said there's actually a knitting convention around here that she went to last year! And lo and behold, Google has confirmed this! Stitches 2005, coming to the Santa Clara Convention Center Feb. 10-13! I'm rather tempted to just drop by and check out the yarn market even though I'm a total dabbler. The yarns at Jo-Ann were really boring and all acrylic and there was no variety at all, and I'm not even anything resembling a serious knitter. So, I know there aren't many people around Bay Area on LJ that I know, but I was wondering if anyone may be going to this con. And if you are, let me know!