Have any chaps higher up the list read the things they intended to read? At the moment this thread's all high hopes, and possibly I should start another one for the tears and tantrums, but I've read three of my five...
Predator's Gold was fun and well-written, but not as enjoyable for me as Mortal Engines, possibly because the initial concept (traction cities, municipal Darwinism) was so breathtaking; this volume was about exploring the concept further rather than adding significantly. It's set in the future, as was Engines but had many more cheeky puns based on 20th century jargon. Some were splendid: the group of aristocrats who plot the course of one huge traction city are the Steering Committee (badum - tching!). But others felt smug.
Abhorsen - again, I liked the first volume in this trilogy best. It's a brilliant little alternative world, but maybe I like the first glimpse. Possibly the baddy in the second two volumes was a bit too abstract and not personable enough. Still good enough to make me tearful.
I seem to have finished the teen fiction and skipped the gender theory. Wonder how that happened.
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure finally turned up in a padded envelope from the Bodliean, with death threats inscribed in a crabbed hand if I removed it from my institution's library. So I took good care to scrape most of the jam off after reading it in the bath.
It's worth reading if you've liked Allison's other fiction - autobiographical themes keep returning and it's interesting to see how she transforms them. This one is about her real life - in as far as it can be, as she suggests that telling stories is never neutral. She's included photographs which tie the text to physical people at specific points in time - but there's also a note saying that some of the characters are composite, and some have had their names changed. An interesting wander around the idea of autobiography and reality.
Anyone else been busy? |
