reading update

[meganbmoore]

Sharpe’s Sword by Bernard Cornwell-My first Sharpe book in a little while, and it'll likely a while before my next.  Why?  As a general rule, I don't really care for Sharpe's women.  The one from the first couple books and the one at the beginning of the trilogy about young Sharpe are ok, but the only one I've actually LIKED is Teresa, and since she's the one he married, I was rather glad I liked her.  Here, though, he has an affair(while married) whose characterization begins and ends with her being gorgeous.  Now, Sharpe/Teresa is a fondness/for the kid match, as opposed to a "true love" match, and I don't expect a man of the period to be celibate for months or years on end, but couldn't she at least have been moderately interesting so I could care about the story?  The fact that Sharpe used Teresa as a reason for why he WOULDN'T have the affair and then started the affair in the same chapter didn't help any.  I'll just chalk it up to the penalties of being a female reading a men's action/adventure series and remember that romance has nothing to do with my interest in the books.

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews-It's been about 2 weeks since I read this, so my memories are a touch fuzzy, but I liked it quite a bit.  Yet another urban fantasy, fut for once one that pretty much ignores vampires...they're there, but more as an afterthought.  A lot more weres, but for once, NOT limited to werewolves, but rather, various species.  It's one of those "magic is a normal structured part of life" series, and it seems to be drawing more from actual mythology than other such series.  I liked it quite a bit, but like most urban fantasy, I'm reserving full judgement until I at least read the second book.

Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey- A take on the swan princess fairy tale, from Odile's POV.  Definately one of Lackey's better books, though not one of her easier ones.  Pretty much all the characters start out very unlikable, but become likable in the end.  Except for the prince, because, frankly, I tend to be pretty generous as far as character redemption goes.  But a rapist who blames his not having enough fun on his victim then orders despicable things to be done to her body so she won't haunt him?  You MIGHT be able to get me to respect a heroic death or dying for love, but not getting one of the heroines in the end.  Still, the book as a whole is proof that Lackey is at her best when adapting Fairy Tales.

Crimson Hero Vol 5 by Mitsuba Takanashi-I don't have the mad pash for this book that I did the first couple volumes, but I still like it quite a bit.  One of the few shojo manga that really is about a girl trying to follow her dreams and they don't involve catching a bishie, or being chased by bishies.  That said, Yushin SERIOUSLY needs to get over his twitty ex and answer to the call of OTP, largely because Yaibuki...well, you know  me and my weakness for stalkery/obsessive type  guys, but only when it's the GOOD type of stalkery obsessive type guys, not whenever they're like Yaibuki and make me worry they have not nice at all plans for the girl and it's the "want you so much i hate you" type of obsession.

Ghost Hunt Vol 7 by Fuyumi Ono and Shiho Inada-Wrapping up the "secret room" story and probably the closest to straight out horror the book has come.  It's not one of my favorite series, but I AM quite fond of it, I just rarely have a lot to say about it.

Backstage Prince Vol 1 by Kanoko Sakurakoji-Cute and sweet but clutzy girl accidentally injures a kabuki actor and becomes his assistant until he heals.  He hates people and has an absurdly shy streak, but ends up liking her and they start secretly dating.  it's quite cute(and is practically begging to be made into a dorama) but, like Tail of the Moon and a few others(really any manga that's relationship-centric) I need a couple more volumes to get invested.

Hana Kimi Vol 17 by Hisaya Nakajo-It was kinda stalled for a bit there, but is moving along quite well with the track meet and dealing with Sano and his father issues.  I'd ave much squeeing, except: SANO> YOU. MADE. MIZUKI. CRY.  Because she was trying to help you.  *glares*

note: part of the reason for the brevity of a lot of that is that I'm TERRIBLE with names and don't feel like going "girl with glasses" or "other guy" "best friend" etc...which is why I usually do these posts at home so I can refer to the books, unless A) there's a good, easily navigatable guide for me to refer to or B) I've read enough of a series or it made enough of an impact for it to stand out for me above the rest.  Also, without the books, if it's any kind of series, events in past books tend to start blurring "what happened in which" for me.

Comments

[chomiji]

Re Lackey's take on the Black Swan - Tanith Lee had an interesting one in Red as Blood, which is a collection of her short stories based on classic fairy tales ... did you ever read those?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

on my list but not in my backlog, if that makes sense.