two books

[cahn]

Tiassa (Brust) 3+/5 - I really loved the first, oh, 3/4 of this book. And then... whoa, what? I get the feeling this is the first half, or maybe third, of a book that I will really love, but as it was I got the distinct feeling of merrily tripping along and then running face first into a blank wall when the book abruptly ended with only half the plot lines being wound up.

Anyway... part of the book is told by Paarfi, so be aware that if you haven't read the Paarfi books you'll be a bit lost. (And if you haven't read the other Vlad books you will be more than a bit lost; there isn't much recap.) But if you like the Paarfi books, that part is fantastic, of course!

I was reading King of Paris at the same time, next to which this kind of suffers, but up until the ending I was liking it much more than the last couple of Vlad books, and almost as much as some of my favorites.

Nickel Plated (Davis) 3+/5. This book was actually... quite impressive. Think a cross betwen Girl with a Dragon Tattoo (minus the weird middle-aged fabio vibes) and Veronica Mars as a boy -- teen noir, gritty, A plot with a couple of B plots mixed in, with a hero who has a cold black heart with a fluffy marshmellow center -- but minus pretty much all the relationships (the parental figures, the friendships, the angst-ridden love interests -- Nickel has got one of each, but none of the relationships are as deep as Veronica's. Or, to be fair, as angst-ridden, which is a good thing) and that blazing core of integrity Veronica has. (Not that he doesn't have his own kind of integrity, but it's not nearly as fundamental to his character as Veronica's.) Unfortunately for this book, what I loved about VM was the relationships (well, except for the angsty love, bleah) and that flaming integrity. So I didn't like it as much as I kind of felt like I should. But I was drawn into the story.

6-28-11: changed "Paarvati" to the proper "Paarfi" :)

Comments

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I like the idea (suggested by your respelling) that Paarfi is in fact a desi woman, but he's not. ;)

[ase.livejournal.com]

It would be a very different book, one I would read at least as avidly.

My book log tells me I am up to date on Brust's pseudo-Dumas pastiches, but I'm not sure I remember enough to dive into Tiassa. (Come to think of it, I may be more than a book behind on the Vlad series too.) Paarfi seemed amusing in the "author's notes" sections of the pastiches, though.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

You don't need to remember very much about them -- I remembered basically nothing at all and I was fine, he reminds you of the points of interest in the text. It's just that if you had never read one, I think you'd be thrown for a loop when suddenly there's this big style change from hard-boiled assassin first-person to pseudo-Dumas pastiche.

I think you might be okay with having skipped the last Vlad book; there are a couple of spoilers for the previous ones, but couched in such a way that you would probably not notice :)

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I'd totally read it, too!

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Hee. Oops. I thought that looked not quite right! I'll go fix it now.