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OK, I take back what I said about The Raven Boys, because I don't know what happened between this post and the last one, but I kept reading, and suddenly, somewhere around page 100 it was like the writing got better* and suddenly this was a story I was interested in.
I have WAY less nitpicks with this book than Shiver. Though a tip - the guy's name is Owain Glyndŵr. Please call him this and not the Anglicised version? I read an entire Diane Duane book with full blown Irish Gaelic in it when I was twenty years younger than I am now, and I had no problems with it (mainly because she provided a glossary). But eh, that's my only major gripe.
Well, that and I don't know what the heck is going on with the first 80-100 pages. I get some of it is world/character-building, but it feels so differently written to the rest.
Now I will have to raid the library to get the other two, since I've been reading while cat-sitting**, and I've got less than a third of The Raven Boys left.
I think my favourite character is Adam, mainly because I totally see where he is coming from (also if I had a Virginian accent, I could be him, I guess). Except my dad never hit me, but he didn't have to, because other people did (also I've never lived in a trailer, but let's be grateful for small mercies, shall we?) Also I totally ship him and Blue (our heroine) right now, even though I know they agree eventually that it's not going to work and also because Blue/Gansey is the designated ship anyway. I mean literally all they have done is be cute together and held hands, but that's so cute I can't even (and also it's nice to have a ship for once that is not all about the sex. Because let's be honest, ninety percent of the couples I ship are ALL about that).
At least the adults in this book act like adults (unlike in Shiver), apart from the one who is only slightly older than the main group of five teenagers, and acts probably appropriate to that age (well, from what I can figure, anyway).
I guess what this is mostly trying to say is that you can tell that Maggie Stiefvater's writing has improved between 2009 (when Shiver was published) and 2012 (when The Raven Boys was published). And that's a good thing, because she wasn't a bad writer to start with.
I just hope I like the other two books, because I'm fed up of being let down by sequels (I never finished Days of Blood and Starlight because it wasn't as interesting as Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It was still well written and stuff, but it became about characters I had no interest in, and it just didn't engage me as much).
~
Cat sitting seems to be going ok? The cat chirrups to me when I open the front door, and he made happy noises while he was dozing on me this afternoon, so that's good. I know it's only been three days, and I've got a million more left, but I honestly don't know what I was so worried about.
(Also ha ha ha ha ha ha, I was all, "I can write unimpeded while I'm there!" Nope. I lie on the sofa and read, and the cat lies on top of me like a small, bitey, hot water bottle - which is good because my friend's house is so effing cold).
~
*To a degree. There's a sentence where someone sees "a bone move" in someone else's jaw, and another is accused of "flaunting" school rules, when what Ms Stiefvater means is "flouting", but I understand that's a common mistake to make.
**Though if anyone is doing the sitting, it is the cat, upon me.
I have WAY less nitpicks with this book than Shiver. Though a tip - the guy's name is Owain Glyndŵr. Please call him this and not the Anglicised version? I read an entire Diane Duane book with full blown Irish Gaelic in it when I was twenty years younger than I am now, and I had no problems with it (mainly because she provided a glossary). But eh, that's my only major gripe.
Well, that and I don't know what the heck is going on with the first 80-100 pages. I get some of it is world/character-building, but it feels so differently written to the rest.
Now I will have to raid the library to get the other two, since I've been reading while cat-sitting**, and I've got less than a third of The Raven Boys left.
I think my favourite character is Adam, mainly because I totally see where he is coming from (also if I had a Virginian accent, I could be him, I guess). Except my dad never hit me, but he didn't have to, because other people did (also I've never lived in a trailer, but let's be grateful for small mercies, shall we?) Also I totally ship him and Blue (our heroine) right now, even though I know they agree eventually that it's not going to work and also because Blue/Gansey is the designated ship anyway. I mean literally all they have done is be cute together and held hands, but that's so cute I can't even (and also it's nice to have a ship for once that is not all about the sex. Because let's be honest, ninety percent of the couples I ship are ALL about that).
At least the adults in this book act like adults (unlike in Shiver), apart from the one who is only slightly older than the main group of five teenagers, and acts probably appropriate to that age (well, from what I can figure, anyway).
I guess what this is mostly trying to say is that you can tell that Maggie Stiefvater's writing has improved between 2009 (when Shiver was published) and 2012 (when The Raven Boys was published). And that's a good thing, because she wasn't a bad writer to start with.
I just hope I like the other two books, because I'm fed up of being let down by sequels (I never finished Days of Blood and Starlight because it wasn't as interesting as Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It was still well written and stuff, but it became about characters I had no interest in, and it just didn't engage me as much).
~
Cat sitting seems to be going ok? The cat chirrups to me when I open the front door, and he made happy noises while he was dozing on me this afternoon, so that's good. I know it's only been three days, and I've got a million more left, but I honestly don't know what I was so worried about.
(Also ha ha ha ha ha ha, I was all, "I can write unimpeded while I'm there!" Nope. I lie on the sofa and read, and the cat lies on top of me like a small, bitey, hot water bottle - which is good because my friend's house is so effing cold).
~
*To a degree. There's a sentence where someone sees "a bone move" in someone else's jaw, and another is accused of "flaunting" school rules, when what Ms Stiefvater means is "flouting", but I understand that's a common mistake to make.
**Though if anyone is doing the sitting, it is the cat, upon me.
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"Though if anyone is doing the sitting, it is the cat, upon me" it is human-sitting you.
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I promised I would never rec this book to someone and say this BUT since you are expressing interest anyway: please, if you find the first 80 or so pages a bit boggy, keep going, because it improves tenfold after that! (I don't even know why). But if it's not working for you at all then it's not working, and that's OK. Also don't believe what the backs of the books say, because they make out like it's some YA romance story, and it totally isn't. I know I said about Adam and Blue up there, but there's like, less than ten pages devoted to their being together - the rest is the main story which is so not a romance AT ALL (and believe me, I am so relieved to see that).
Also also fuck yes magic powers and no-one questions it or says it doesn't exist.
it is human-sitting you.
LOL, I think you may well be right!
no subject
:"DD MAGIC!
no subject
YES MAGIC. In very interesting ways, too.