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Dec. 1st, 2004 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
onemuseleftLeena, I'm getting rid of my paperback copies of the first three books in the Wayfarer's Redemption. Before I list them on ebay or something, would you like them? Also, my copy of The Black Jewels Trilogy. You read the Invisible Ring, right? Want to read the rest?
I'm bored. Really bored. I'd do your homework, I'm so bored, even math. Although I don't think anyone out there really wants me trying to do their math homework. God no.
Anyway. The following is all![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sidara and dhanuea's fault. And a little bit kahn's.
And mine, of course. Spoilers for The Black Jewels Trilogy (#2) and The Wayfarer Redemption (#3).
Ten Random Fandom Things:
Fair warning! I express actual opinions here! Feel free to disagree, but hey, they're my opinions.
Number One: Rachel, from Animorphs, is one of my favorite female character in children's literature. Seriously. She's kickass, yet still vulnerable. She has failings, strengths, faults. When she screws up, it's believable and she suffers a price for it. When she gets something right it's because she worked it out and fought for it, not because it was magically handed to her. Some people dislike her because she's described as "beautiful" but the only times Rachel's physical appearance becomes an issue is either to:
1) provide a counter to the sheer grossness of some of what she has to do
2) demonstrate that appearances are deceiving.
She does occasionally use her appearance to get what she wants, but usually in that "Hey, Mr. Guard, I'm really cute, aren't I? Why don't you look the other way while my friends sneak into the building? No? Okay then, I'll just knock you unconscious with my bare hands."
She's tough, capable, a little bit mean and 100% girl.
On a side note, I can't stand Cassie. She started off as a necessary counter to the characters of Rachel and Marco and Ax, a peacemaker to the warmongers, such as it were. But she turned into a hypocrite very early on. After book... 15? The one with the rhino, anyway. In that book she wants someone to die, but can't do it herself, so she asks Jake to kill him for her.
...
Yeah. I honestly cannot stand that character. She's redeemed herself a bit toward the end of the series, but it was too little too late. I don't know if KA tried too hard to make Cassie ever-so-lovable-and-wonderful! and failed, or if she intended to make Cassie so incredibly flawed. From reading interviews, though, I'd say it was the former.
Number Two: This rant was inspired by ascreaming bitch rant conversation I had with sidara last night, which was in turn inspired by dhaunea.
I hate Jaenelle. By extension, I seriously dislike huge portions of the Black Jewels Trilogy and question Anne Bishop's talents. I also question the dedication of her editor.
Shortly put: I think Karla would have made a better Witch - if they needed a Witch at all. Jaenelle was kickass and all powerful, yes. Karla was not. Already I like her better. Karla fought the corruption spreading through her family and society with only one real ally, her cousin, and the power of her NOT BLACK jewel. She was intimidated, threatened, coerced - one of her uncles tried to rape her at one point, or at least tried to pressue her into sex, but she resisted him. Karla was a normal person with a slightly above average level of power who was loyal to the true ways of their society.
Jaenelle? She spends most of the books being all "I'm innocent and pure and ever so awesome!" then ends up "I am so fucked up and damaged, you can't expect me to do anything at all despite me being so kickass, you meanies!" She really only does ONE THING. And that's her "kickassness" at the end of the series. Please note the quotation marks.
Jaenelle accomplishes a few things in this series.
1) She brings them all together! Okay. Yeah... Half the cast was already interconnected long before she came along. Saeten was father to Lucivar and Daemon. Daemon knew Surreal and Tersa. Yes, Jaenelle magically gathered all the other queens and the magical beasts together, but you really mean to tell me that she was the only one who could have done that?
Their society was failing. They were on the brink of social collapse. They were facing a war - or total enslavement to the corruption that was Dorothea SaDiablo's rise to power. You honestly expect me to believe that no one ever would have thought "Gee, maybe we should start gathering some like-minded allies together and preparing to take Dorothea down?"
Anne Bishop does, since apparently no one's bothered to oppose Dorothea since the events of The Invisible Ring.
Daemon already knew half the cast. He gets around, that boy. He could easily have gathered together more allies and rebels to their side. Maybe they needed a woman to trust? (I don't know why since Dorothea's a woman and pretty fucking untrustworthy, but hey) Well, gee! Surreal's a woman, isn't she? By golly! And she's powerful! Woot! There you go.
It would have been harder this way, and taken longer. But I'd be more interesting in a complex struggle for unity than in "Oh my God! Jaenelle's so sweet! You're her friend, too? Then we must be allies! YAY!"
2) She... um... Well, she was a figurehead! She was Witch! She had more power than she knew what to do with - as evidenced by the fact that she rarely, if ever, used it. She was a symbol or purity and power and the way things were really supposed to be!
Cool. That's nice. But dude, Karla? Surreal? Even Marian - all women with their own special talents. You wanted a Queen to set up as a symbol for the people to unite behind? I'd follow Karla - who fought through the death of the man she loved (her cousin, not her lover, but I think she probably cared about him more than anyone else, anyway) while suffering a near-miscarriage, fought being crippled and near-death and still came out on top - over Jaenelle who was ohsofuckingtorturedanddamaged!
As a figurehead, Jaenelle was special only because she was prophesised. And I'll admit the prophecy was a powerful one - although apparently half their society didn't believe it, but hey. But without that prophecy all you really needed was a powerful Queen willing to kick butt and take names.
3) I'm so not even touching her "redemption" of Daemon. how she healed him with the glory of love and was healed herself by the magical healing power of his "spear." Okay? We're not going there. There are no words.
4) She wiped out teh ev0l corruption! OMG! Yes. She did. She really, really, really did. She killed hundreds of people, and good for her. Half the people in these books were scum anyway and I didn't miss them. But it was a grandiose fix and a hell of an anti-climax. You know what I found a lot more interesting than Jaenelle's attempts at genocide? Daemon going into Dorothea's territory to rescue his father, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. So much more compelling, so much more interesting. I'm not saying that didn't have it's own plot holes (really, you'd think Lucivar would know Daemon a little better than that after how many centuries?) but at least there was some element of suspense.
I guess what it comes down to is:
Which would you rather read? Three books about a little girl being neato then rapedanddamaged then finally damagedandinlovesothereforkickass? Or three books about a cast of characters who realize that their society is falling apart and act to save it? Five or six fairly powerful (but not quite to the ridiculous extreme that Jaenelle was) individuals who start an underground rebellion and actually PLOT to wipe out this corruption?
Number Three: The Wayfarer's Redemption, while extremely cool, suffers from "What the hell was that?! OMGWTF?" syndrome. My own response was to call Leena, who had also read it, and wail "What the hell kind of an ending was that?" at her over the phone. I hold out in the hope that Sara Douglass plans to write another trilogy in which she wraps up the loose ends. I think Faraday and Drago are going to become demons!
Number Four: The new Ninja Turtles cartoon is very cool. Yes, I'm a huge geek. No, I don't care that you think I'm a huge geek. It's still cool. And Donatello is my geek God. So there. :P This could lead into a whole discussion about cartoons and children's literature and why we're turning children into idiots with the attention spans of gnats, but I think I'll leave it at this.
Number Five: Slash, Gen, Het. S'all good. Me? I like all of it. I have a not-so-secret fondness for slash, but if it's well written then I don't care what you write. Hell, write Yukina/Genkai non-con for all I care, just do it well.
*watches Sonnet's head explode*
I think a lot of fan fictions would be better if they forgot about sex entirely. Genfic quite often - by no means always, but often - seems to be better written, and I think that's because the author spends more time working on the plot then worrying about whether to use the word "cock" or "thrusting manhood."
Just use "cock." Okay? Please. And if the sex is distracting you from the story, then maybe you should be questioning the need for sex in the first place.
Okay, that was only five, but I'm distracted by my shiny book now. I'll post the other five later.
I know you all can't wait. ^_^ Oh yes. With bated breath, no less.
I'm bored. Really bored. I'd do your homework, I'm so bored, even math. Although I don't think anyone out there really wants me trying to do their math homework. God no.
Anyway. The following is all
sidara and dhanuea's fault. And a little bit kahn's. And mine, of course. Spoilers for The Black Jewels Trilogy (#2) and The Wayfarer Redemption (#3).
Ten Random Fandom Things:
Fair warning! I express actual opinions here! Feel free to disagree, but hey, they're my opinions.
Number One: Rachel, from Animorphs, is one of my favorite female character in children's literature. Seriously. She's kickass, yet still vulnerable. She has failings, strengths, faults. When she screws up, it's believable and she suffers a price for it. When she gets something right it's because she worked it out and fought for it, not because it was magically handed to her. Some people dislike her because she's described as "beautiful" but the only times Rachel's physical appearance becomes an issue is either to:
1) provide a counter to the sheer grossness of some of what she has to do
2) demonstrate that appearances are deceiving.
She does occasionally use her appearance to get what she wants, but usually in that "Hey, Mr. Guard, I'm really cute, aren't I? Why don't you look the other way while my friends sneak into the building? No? Okay then, I'll just knock you unconscious with my bare hands."
She's tough, capable, a little bit mean and 100% girl.
On a side note, I can't stand Cassie. She started off as a necessary counter to the characters of Rachel and Marco and Ax, a peacemaker to the warmongers, such as it were. But she turned into a hypocrite very early on. After book... 15? The one with the rhino, anyway. In that book she wants someone to die, but can't do it herself, so she asks Jake to kill him for her.
...
Yeah. I honestly cannot stand that character. She's redeemed herself a bit toward the end of the series, but it was too little too late. I don't know if KA tried too hard to make Cassie ever-so-lovable-and-wonderful! and failed, or if she intended to make Cassie so incredibly flawed. From reading interviews, though, I'd say it was the former.
Number Two: This rant was inspired by a
sidara last night, which was in turn inspired by dhaunea.I hate Jaenelle. By extension, I seriously dislike huge portions of the Black Jewels Trilogy and question Anne Bishop's talents. I also question the dedication of her editor.
Shortly put: I think Karla would have made a better Witch - if they needed a Witch at all. Jaenelle was kickass and all powerful, yes. Karla was not. Already I like her better. Karla fought the corruption spreading through her family and society with only one real ally, her cousin, and the power of her NOT BLACK jewel. She was intimidated, threatened, coerced - one of her uncles tried to rape her at one point, or at least tried to pressue her into sex, but she resisted him. Karla was a normal person with a slightly above average level of power who was loyal to the true ways of their society.
Jaenelle? She spends most of the books being all "I'm innocent and pure and ever so awesome!" then ends up "I am so fucked up and damaged, you can't expect me to do anything at all despite me being so kickass, you meanies!" She really only does ONE THING. And that's her "kickassness" at the end of the series. Please note the quotation marks.
Jaenelle accomplishes a few things in this series.
1) She brings them all together! Okay. Yeah... Half the cast was already interconnected long before she came along. Saeten was father to Lucivar and Daemon. Daemon knew Surreal and Tersa. Yes, Jaenelle magically gathered all the other queens and the magical beasts together, but you really mean to tell me that she was the only one who could have done that?
Their society was failing. They were on the brink of social collapse. They were facing a war - or total enslavement to the corruption that was Dorothea SaDiablo's rise to power. You honestly expect me to believe that no one ever would have thought "Gee, maybe we should start gathering some like-minded allies together and preparing to take Dorothea down?"
Anne Bishop does, since apparently no one's bothered to oppose Dorothea since the events of The Invisible Ring.
Daemon already knew half the cast. He gets around, that boy. He could easily have gathered together more allies and rebels to their side. Maybe they needed a woman to trust? (I don't know why since Dorothea's a woman and pretty fucking untrustworthy, but hey) Well, gee! Surreal's a woman, isn't she? By golly! And she's powerful! Woot! There you go.
It would have been harder this way, and taken longer. But I'd be more interesting in a complex struggle for unity than in "Oh my God! Jaenelle's so sweet! You're her friend, too? Then we must be allies! YAY!"
2) She... um... Well, she was a figurehead! She was Witch! She had more power than she knew what to do with - as evidenced by the fact that she rarely, if ever, used it. She was a symbol or purity and power and the way things were really supposed to be!
Cool. That's nice. But dude, Karla? Surreal? Even Marian - all women with their own special talents. You wanted a Queen to set up as a symbol for the people to unite behind? I'd follow Karla - who fought through the death of the man she loved (her cousin, not her lover, but I think she probably cared about him more than anyone else, anyway) while suffering a near-miscarriage, fought being crippled and near-death and still came out on top - over Jaenelle who was ohsofuckingtorturedanddamaged!
As a figurehead, Jaenelle was special only because she was prophesised. And I'll admit the prophecy was a powerful one - although apparently half their society didn't believe it, but hey. But without that prophecy all you really needed was a powerful Queen willing to kick butt and take names.
3) I'm so not even touching her "redemption" of Daemon. how she healed him with the glory of love and was healed herself by the magical healing power of his "spear." Okay? We're not going there. There are no words.
4) She wiped out teh ev0l corruption! OMG! Yes. She did. She really, really, really did. She killed hundreds of people, and good for her. Half the people in these books were scum anyway and I didn't miss them. But it was a grandiose fix and a hell of an anti-climax. You know what I found a lot more interesting than Jaenelle's attempts at genocide? Daemon going into Dorothea's territory to rescue his father, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. So much more compelling, so much more interesting. I'm not saying that didn't have it's own plot holes (really, you'd think Lucivar would know Daemon a little better than that after how many centuries?) but at least there was some element of suspense.
I guess what it comes down to is:
Which would you rather read? Three books about a little girl being neato then rapedanddamaged then finally damagedandinlovesothereforkickass? Or three books about a cast of characters who realize that their society is falling apart and act to save it? Five or six fairly powerful (but not quite to the ridiculous extreme that Jaenelle was) individuals who start an underground rebellion and actually PLOT to wipe out this corruption?
Number Three: The Wayfarer's Redemption, while extremely cool, suffers from "What the hell was that?! OMGWTF?" syndrome. My own response was to call Leena, who had also read it, and wail "What the hell kind of an ending was that?" at her over the phone. I hold out in the hope that Sara Douglass plans to write another trilogy in which she wraps up the loose ends. I think Faraday and Drago are going to become demons!
Number Four: The new Ninja Turtles cartoon is very cool. Yes, I'm a huge geek. No, I don't care that you think I'm a huge geek. It's still cool. And Donatello is my geek God. So there. :P This could lead into a whole discussion about cartoons and children's literature and why we're turning children into idiots with the attention spans of gnats, but I think I'll leave it at this.
Number Five: Slash, Gen, Het. S'all good. Me? I like all of it. I have a not-so-secret fondness for slash, but if it's well written then I don't care what you write. Hell, write Yukina/Genkai non-con for all I care, just do it well.
*watches Sonnet's head explode*
I think a lot of fan fictions would be better if they forgot about sex entirely. Genfic quite often - by no means always, but often - seems to be better written, and I think that's because the author spends more time working on the plot then worrying about whether to use the word "cock" or "thrusting manhood."
Just use "cock." Okay? Please. And if the sex is distracting you from the story, then maybe you should be questioning the need for sex in the first place.
Okay, that was only five, but I'm distracted by my shiny book now. I'll post the other five later.
I know you all can't wait. ^_^ Oh yes. With bated breath, no less.
