SCSF: Well, it seems I had a lot you could find yourself in!
For Cumberbatch... I hardly know anything about him, so I will follow your word in this.
Indeed we will not, and I am just as happy with not knowing. Besides, aside from the constant insistence on how "beautiful" the protagonists are, it does not bother me much; not all the "good" female characters are like that (see the Goodwife Renkin, for instance), so I can hardly speak of a problem. That is one point to Douglass, I suppose.
Oh yeah, no question. She's likeable enough in book one, but then in book two - BAM - right out of nowhere she suddenly turns into a snotty little princess with a major case of Bitch. I even said in my own spork that the original Azhure died by massive character assassination in that book, and I was right on the money.
From what I have seen, that would fit!
Oh yeah, dead right on both counts. Douglass even has the whole "magical songs" thing get dropped. Instead Azhure can just do anything she wants with no explanation as to how and no learning curve of any kind either.
Plus you'll have noticed that the trilogy keeps lurching between grimdark and childish nonsense. A problem the Cycle had too, and just as off-putting.
I have certainly noticed that, though I think the other pole is a bit more complicated than "childish nonsense"; in the Inheritance Cycle, it is mostly exposition or detours, while here it seems to be mostly twee fairytale stuff. Of the two, the latter puts me off quite a bit more, since it is actively incompatible with the grimdark in a way that the exposition or detours is not.
And yes, that will really break the story. I somewhat wonder if Douglass realised that herself, since I cannot recall her doing anything like that again; sure, there are probably more unexplained abilities, but not to the point of wholly ruining a book.
Oh yeah, when a series is as aggressively hetero as this, one of the biggest sources of fun is finding the accidental HoYay that managed to slip in. Which it pretty much always does. The author's utter cluelessness just makes it even funnier. 🤣
(grins) Oh, me too! I just love to spite (that is probably the right word) the author in such a case, and interpret it as I want to. And yes, the complete lack of awareness makes it all the better!
That does sound better; it is nothing but utter nonsense, after all.
no subject
SCSF: Well, it seems I had a lot you could find yourself in!
For Cumberbatch... I hardly know anything about him, so I will follow your word in this.
Indeed we will not, and I am just as happy with not knowing. Besides, aside from the constant insistence on how "beautiful" the protagonists are, it does not bother me much; not all the "good" female characters are like that (see the Goodwife Renkin, for instance), so I can hardly speak of a problem. That is one point to Douglass, I suppose.
Oh yeah, no question. She's likeable enough in book one, but then in book two - BAM - right out of nowhere she suddenly turns into a snotty little princess with a major case of Bitch. I even said in my own spork that the original Azhure died by massive character assassination in that book, and I was right on the money.
From what I have seen, that would fit!
I have certainly noticed that, though I think the other pole is a bit more complicated than "childish nonsense"; in the Inheritance Cycle, it is mostly exposition or detours, while here it seems to be mostly twee fairytale stuff. Of the two, the latter puts me off quite a bit more, since it is actively incompatible with the grimdark in a way that the exposition or detours is not.
And yes, that will really break the story. I somewhat wonder if Douglass realised that herself, since I cannot recall her doing anything like that again; sure, there are probably more unexplained abilities, but not to the point of wholly ruining a book.
Oh yeah, when a series is as aggressively hetero as this, one of the biggest sources of fun is finding the accidental HoYay that managed to slip in. Which it pretty much always does. The author's utter cluelessness just makes it even funnier. 🤣
(grins) Oh, me too! I just love to spite (that is probably the right word) the author in such a case, and interpret it as I want to. And yes, the complete lack of awareness makes it all the better!
That does sound better; it is nothing but utter nonsense, after all.