meganbmoore | (no subject)

On a very unwise whim, I went by the used bookstore (Because we all know how desperately I need new books. That, or I operate under the mistaken belief that if I feed the monster-sized backlog more books, it'll keep it from eating me.) after lunch with my mother today and got I think most of Marjorie M. Liu's Dirk & Steele books and some of the multi-author Crimson City series. Can someone who's read one or both clue me in on where I stand? (And if the ones I'm missing are needed.)

Dirk & Steele:

The Red Heart of Jade
Shadow Touch
The Wild Road
The Iron Hunt
The Last Twilight
Eye of Heaven

Crimson City:

Liz Maverick: Crimson City
Marjorie M. Liu: A Taste of Crimson
Jade Lee: Seduced by Crimson

Other grabs, if anyone is curious:

Shana Abe: The Last Mermaid
Joanna Bourne: My Lord and Spymaster
Lois McMaster Bujold: The Curse of Chalion and Young Miles
Susan Grant: Moonstruck and Your Planet or Mine?
Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett: Havemercy (for $1)
Robin McKinley: Rose Daughter
Dian Curtis Regan: Princess Nevermore
Nancy Springer: I Am Morgan LeFay

Not that I'm likely to read any of these by the end of the year, as I have a list of things I want to get read by then.

ETA: Also, I have decided that the computer and laptop should have names. The computer is black and a little older and pretty reliable, but it's also cranky and sometimes has to be coaxed into doing what I want. The laptop is newer and little and pretty and silver. It's pretty fast and generally willing to please , but sometimes throws temper tantrums when it thinks I'm taking advantage of its good will and working it too hard. Or something.

I'm pretty sure the computer is male, and the laptop is female. Name suggestions?

Threaded | Flat

Iron Hunt isn't from the Dirk and Steele steries... I'm a year or two behind on the DS books, so I'm not sure about a lot of the others.

You're missing the first book, Tiger Eye, but I think starting with Shadow Touch would actually be better. I liked Tiger Eye, but I'm not sure I wouldn't have become such a Liu fan as I was if I'd read it first.

I thought the earlier ones were pretty good (I didn's so much stop reading her books as I stopped reading in general... *sigh*). I think I described them to a friend as "X-Men with romance". The women are delightfully strong, and the men are expectedly hot. Liu is about our age and the same generation of comic geek, and I think that helped me get into her books, too. (Although, obviously it doesn't only appeal to our age/fan bracket, because lots of people love her books :D).

The Dirk & Steele series, in order, would be Tiger Eye, Shadow Touch, Red Heart of Jade, Eye of Heaven, and Soul Song. Plus there are supposed to be some short stories scattered about but I've never bothered to track any of 'em down. Each book is pretty much self-contained, though, with characters from other books making only small background appearances at most, so you can definitely read them totally out of order without getting lost. She generally seems to split the POV between the couple du jour, and since one half of the pairing is inevitably unaware of the existence of the various paranormal sorts, the agency, and so forth, the new reader gets brought up to speed on her world at much the same time as the characters do.

The laptop's name is Sylvia and Sylvia is its name? XD

I fervently feel that this laptop should be named Rue.

Errr, the only names I could think of were Kurogane and Fai. XDDD

I almost suggested Hideki and Chi, but then you would have all sorts of slightly horrifying connotations when looking at them next to each other. Or on top of each other. ajsldfkja or... whatever.

I haven't even read that series in years. I had to Wikipedia the names. ): Feel free to ignore me.

The books you have, in order:
[Tiger Eye]
Shadow Touch
Red Heart of Jade
Eye of Heaven (I loved this one by the way)
[Soul Song]
The Last Twilight
The Wild Road

The Iron Hunt, as

shadawyn noted, is not Dirk & Steele & is a completely different series. It's UF.

Rose Daughter, imo, is one of Robin McKinley's very best.

I also loved The Curse of Chalion. I'd like your take on Young Miles--I'm trying to decide whether to get into her Vorkosigan books or not.

Boris and Natasha? ;)

I operate under the mistaken belief that if I feed the monster-sized backlog more books, it'll keep it from eating me.

Haha...love that! :D

And for the laptop I would suggest Sumomo (or Plum, though I like Sumomo better)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chobits_characters#Plum ("a miniature 'mobile persocom'—the equivalent of a laptop computer)

Oh oh oh - the Liu Crimson City one was awesome. Don't read it first, because it will spoil you for the others. Srsly.

If Boris and Natasha don't suit you, what about Gwendal and Anissina?

"The computer is black and a little older and pretty reliable, but it's also cranky and sometimes has to be coaxed into doing what I want. The laptop is newer and little and pretty and silver. It's pretty fast and generally willing to please , but sometimes throws temper tantrums when it thinks I'm taking advantage of its good will and working it too hard. Or something.
I'm pretty sure the computer is male, and the laptop is female. Name suggestions?"

Lenny (Henry) and Billie (Piper).

Oooh, Young Miles! I will be thrilled when you get to that.