Sakura of DOOM

Alas, a resounding meh for this one.

Jena is the second of five sisters, all of whom sneak off to an otherworldly place on nights of the full moon to dance the night away, or discuss philosophy, depending on which sister it is. She has a mysterious telepathic frog companion named Gogu. Alas, unfortunate things happen, Jena's father gets ill, and her cousin Cezar ends up trying to take over Jena's household, complete with sporky remarks like, "You women must be protected as you clearly have no common sense."

Clearly we are supposed to despise Cezar, and oh, I completely do. But it is in a boring way. There are attempts to give him some depth, but he feels like a Enemy of Feminism Right Here character to me. Not that it makes him any less sporky.

Anyhow, Jena's oldest sister Tati gets involved with Sorrow, one of the mysterious Night People who may or may not suck blood, things continue to go downhill, and Jena continues to confide in her frog.

This felt like Marillier threw it out without that much effort; I have seen all the elements in her other books, only with a different fairy tale window dressing:

• Spunky but plain but not so plain because both the hero and the villain fall for her and say she is beautiful heroine


• Unsung hero who is pushed away by the heroine for assorted reasons


• Evil villain who hates the supernatural and intends to destroy it


• Sister who falls for the Forbidden and ends up leaving for it, though Tru Wuv conquers all


• Otherworldly creatures linked to the environment (save the trees!)


• Supernatural power who has really been manipulating the plot all along

I could probably think of more. One or two, sure. But all these elements in the same book, again? I got bored very quickly, and unfortunately, the characters don't feel different enough to make it stand out. Jena feels like Sorcha feels like Liadan feels like Foxmask girl, Gogu feels like Red feels like Darragh, Tati feels like Niamh and etc.

The thing is, I really love the Seven Swans trilogy. But Marillier's books after that haven't impressed me.

Also, despite my love for manga with its heart on its sleeve, all the mentions of "Tru Wuv conquers all! You must listen to your heart! You must beliiiiieeeeeve!" had me rolling my eyes. Particularly when one of the Tru Wuv couples was one of those stupid love at first sight, our love conquers all societal problems and interspecies boundaries at that, and who cares about family and friends when you have Twu Wuv because if they really love you, they'll get out of your way.

Too many things felt like the characters acting just so the plot would move or there would be angst, particularly Jena's main conflict, which I didn't believe at all.

I hope Marillier's next books are better, and hopefully they'll cover slightly different territory.

Woohoo! I'm home! I'm in the Taipei apartment right now sweating profusely. I always forget how hot and humid Taiwan is. It feels like one is actually wading through the air. Personally, I think air should be one of those things people don't really think about. When I have to think about air, it's almost always a bad thing: asthma attacks, coughing, itchy throats, or profoundly humid air. Yuck.

I've had a great deal of fun with books lately. I finally read parts of Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series (Tomb of Atuan and Farthest Shores) and now must get my hands on Tehanu and Wizard of Earthsea. I loved them very much, although they scared me deeply, especially The Farthest Shores' pondering on death and immortality. And the utter darkness in Tomb of Atuan. I have no idea how I managed to pick up Wizard of Earthsea numerous times back in high school and never finish it!

I also read Douglas Adams' Long Dark Teatime of the Soul because I saw Sarah reading it a while back. And Douglas Adams. Nuff said. And it made me rather sad and vaguely nostalgic, not because of the book, but because I remember giggling with Sarah on the steps of Charter about large orange monsters that hide behind molecules. And I wanted to read certain lines out loud to Sarah or Todd or the boy or Timmy and make them laugh. Sigh.

Then I bought Juliet Marillier's Child of the Prophecy and Diana Wynne Jones' Tales of the Chrestomanci part one, because hey, it's two books in one! How can you go wrong? I got them at Books Inc., a very cute little independent bookstore in Stanford Mall. And while I was sitting there reading League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen (Mina Murray is awesome), I watched these two clerks try to advise this very well-read girl on what fantasy novels she should buy to hold her through her weeklong trip. And I just kept craning my neck over and desperately tried to overhear the conversation to get a load of new book recs. I also desperately wanted to just casually walk over and recommend some things to the girl, but I felt so awkward, like I might have been intruding or something. But I also really just wanted to talk good fantasy. In the end, I wimped out and didn't for fear that everyone would think I was weird for being some complete stranger and wandering in on the conversation. But now I also desperately want to work at that bookstore. Hrm.

Spoilers ahead for the above two books:

Read all of Charmed Life and the Lives of Christopher Chant, the books in Tales of the Chrestomanci and absolutely adored them. So now I'm beating myself over the head for not getting the next two books in the series, because now I have to wait for an entire three weeks!! I liked Christopher Chant much better than Charmed Life. I'm not quite sure why. I think maybe Christopher is a much more dynamic character than Cat, who mostly gets acted upon in the book. And there's Christopher's Anywheres and the Goddess. And it was lovely reading it after Charmed Life, because there were very many Aha! moments. My favorite was finding out that Chrestomanci's wife Millie was in fact the Goddess, because that was so absolutely perfect. And I also wanted to run around and make people who like Harry Potter to read these books, because they're awesome.

I reread Child of the Prophecy yesterday, which caused me to promptly get over jet lag and stay up to my usual bedtime of 2 in the morning. Reading books before bed is a horrible idea, especially for me, because I always tell myself that I'll read "just one more chapter," which naturally turns out to be half the book. Then it's, Oh, look, only one more hour and I can finish! And I sleep at another ungodly hour of the morning. Anyway, Child of the Prophecy is the third book in Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy (Daughter of the Forest and Son of the Shadows), and I love them all. But I especially love this one, even though the first two were very very good as well. The first one is an Irish retelling of the Seven Swans fairy tale that brings in the Sidhe/Tuatha de Danan and druids. And the romantic elements are quite strong in all three books, which satisfies the romance reader in me. I love the growing relationship between Sorcha and Hugh in the first book and most of all Darragh and Fainne in the third one. For some reason, Liadan and Bran didn't quite do it for me. I think it was because it felt almost too stereotypically romantic, the good girl rebelling and falling for the misunderstood bad boy and bringing him to the light despite strong family pressure. Hugh and Darragh's quietness worked much better for me, especially Hugh's inability to express emotion well and Marillier's beautiful telling of Hugh and Sorcha's day at the beach and the story of Tobie and the selkie wife. Come to think of it, that story is also echoed in Child of the Prophecy. Anyhow, I seem to be doing very poorly in writing about how these books make me feel. Probably because the romance is blended into the overall plot, I find them much more effective and touching than romances in romance novels. I also love Fainne because unlike Sorcha, who's pretty much good in and out, Fainne has no idea what she's doing, she's horribly misguided at times, and as such, speaks more to me. And Darragh's friendship and the very quiet, very steady nature of how he loves her always gets to me, especially at the very last bits. The ends of Child of the Prophecy and Daughter of the Forest always make me cry actual tears, instead of just tearing up, as I usually do.

Then I found that my sister's friend had borrowed my copy of Rose Daughter (now I have two!) and returned it and a book of Patricia C. Wrede's short stories. And I always seem to forget how much I used to love Patricia C. Wrede. Still do. The Enchanted Forest series is just so much fun, with its mockery of fairy tales. I remember back in high school I kind of got sick of them for a bit because Cimorene is occasionally too Mary Sue-ish -- she always knows what to do, she's eminently practical, beautiful, brave and collected. But after the first book Wrede introduces Mendanbar, who I very much adore. Then Cimorene can't save the day in the third book, and we all wait for Daystar and the fourth book. And I truly love that book. Daystar is so incredibly clueless and absolutely polite. He's not quite as self-conscious as Cimorene and Mendanbar can be, which makes him a great deal more fun to be around. And there's a small exchange between Morwen and Telemain regarding the pointy end of a sword that never fails to crack me up. I was suddently reminded of this because the final story in the anthology is an Enchanted Forest one with these set of characters and the Frying Pan of Doom.

*giggles*

Sorry, just the name Frying Pan of Doom always gets me going. Anyway, everyone should read that story ("Utensile Strengths") because Frying Pan of Doom! How could it not be good?

Now I have to hunt up the Enchanted Forest series and read them all again. I love rereading books. It's like finding old friends again and having a nice, long heart to heart.

I'm also contemplating with great joy how many of my books in Taiwan I can finally transport to California, where hopefully I will not move every year and can thus finally really start building my book collection again. It really sucks having half of them here and half of them in the States. Maybe I will just buy some new copies over Amazon too, since many have not been treated very well by Taiwan humidity. And on that happy thought, I will go catch up more on LJ business. I miss you LJ people so much!