Book Challenge 3/12
Jan. 21st, 2016 07:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsMy latest fill in the 2016 Book Reading Challenge is the "book chosen for you by a loved one" (which as mentioned last time is broadening the stated parameter a bit, but I think acceptably). My Mom and I traded small stacks of books that the other could read any or all of*, and in my case I picked just one:
The book: "Amaryllis" by Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz)
So, my Mom is a huge fan of Jayne Ann Krentz (alias Jayne Castle, alias Amanda Quick, alias Stephanie James...). There's no other author she likes/trusts that much, but she will buy every new Krentz book as close to release day as she can get it, and for several years running my birthday present to her was a standing appointment to pre-order the upcoming Krentz book for her (this past year the release schedule finally failed to align, and that still might be how she spends the Amazon gift certificate I got her). So as she and I were looking at this, I maybe bent the rule a little more because I was curious and I asked her pick a good sample for me. Of the ones she came up with, I picked the one she thought I would, the paranormal set-in-the-future one.
And... um... Yeah, her stuff isn't for me, but by the end I didn't think it was terrible...?
This was also my first time reading a romance novel, and especially before I settled in it was like "Huh, they really are as clunky and regressive as people say." Having settled in and finished it, I'd say what I got is, like, mediocre YA sci-fi with sex in.
The sci-fi world-building comes off as half-baked and oddly tailored to the ::ahem:: agenda --- "it takes two to tango" is almost literally cited as the first law of thermodynamics in this new space colony, and there are two-person psychic linking techniques with overtones of destiny. It also features Earth-nostalgic mix-and-match naming that would later come off much better and less tin-eared in The Hunger Games (e.g. I refuse to believe that a culture would call a beverage "coff-tea" for any length of time before lapsing back into "coffee" out of sheer laziness). Much of the dialogue is oddly stilted, and at times it was repetitious; encountering a scene that goes like "Amaryllis, this investigation has gone far enough!" "But I can't stop until I get the answers!" every twenty pages or so wore thin. I don't know why I would have expected tighter craft from someone who puts out three books a year...
On the other hand, it was pleasantly plotty, and creepy/rapey stuff was I'd say not entirely absent but wasn't like up in my face. And the book does feature a variety of strong women, a happy lesbian marriage, a villainous and hypocritical conservative politician, some stuff like that --- the intended progressiveness and ingrained regressiveness battling it out across the text could make a fascinating study for someone who gives more ****s than I do.
Speaking of ****s, it did have its moments of mild-to-moderate hotness, but nothing big, to my taste. (Yeah, if I want that kind of thing, it is hard to beat fandom...)
Not sorry I read it, but not planning to make a habit of it. Curiosity satisfied. Case closed.
So, challenge progress:
-A book published this year (2016)
-A book you can finish in a day
-A book you've been meaning to read
-A book recommended by your local librarian or bookseller
-A book you should have read in school
-A book chosen for you by [a loved one]
-A book published before you were born
-A book that was banned at some point
-A book you previously abandoned
-A book you own but have never read
-A book that intimidates you
-A book you've already read at least once
NOW hopefully I can get back to that "book you've been meaning to read"...
*In case anyone's curious about the stack I gave Mom, it contained: "The Gifts of Imperfection" and "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown (looks like Mom's working on Gifts now), "Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett (the binge-read was in part pre-screening it for her), and "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau (if you've ever wanted a post-apocalyptic story that was, like, cozy and hopeful...).
The book: "Amaryllis" by Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz)
So, my Mom is a huge fan of Jayne Ann Krentz (alias Jayne Castle, alias Amanda Quick, alias Stephanie James...). There's no other author she likes/trusts that much, but she will buy every new Krentz book as close to release day as she can get it, and for several years running my birthday present to her was a standing appointment to pre-order the upcoming Krentz book for her (this past year the release schedule finally failed to align, and that still might be how she spends the Amazon gift certificate I got her). So as she and I were looking at this, I maybe bent the rule a little more because I was curious and I asked her pick a good sample for me. Of the ones she came up with, I picked the one she thought I would, the paranormal set-in-the-future one.
And... um... Yeah, her stuff isn't for me, but by the end I didn't think it was terrible...?
This was also my first time reading a romance novel, and especially before I settled in it was like "Huh, they really are as clunky and regressive as people say." Having settled in and finished it, I'd say what I got is, like, mediocre YA sci-fi with sex in.
The sci-fi world-building comes off as half-baked and oddly tailored to the ::ahem:: agenda --- "it takes two to tango" is almost literally cited as the first law of thermodynamics in this new space colony, and there are two-person psychic linking techniques with overtones of destiny. It also features Earth-nostalgic mix-and-match naming that would later come off much better and less tin-eared in The Hunger Games (e.g. I refuse to believe that a culture would call a beverage "coff-tea" for any length of time before lapsing back into "coffee" out of sheer laziness). Much of the dialogue is oddly stilted, and at times it was repetitious; encountering a scene that goes like "Amaryllis, this investigation has gone far enough!" "But I can't stop until I get the answers!" every twenty pages or so wore thin. I don't know why I would have expected tighter craft from someone who puts out three books a year...
On the other hand, it was pleasantly plotty, and creepy/rapey stuff was I'd say not entirely absent but wasn't like up in my face. And the book does feature a variety of strong women, a happy lesbian marriage, a villainous and hypocritical conservative politician, some stuff like that --- the intended progressiveness and ingrained regressiveness battling it out across the text could make a fascinating study for someone who gives more ****s than I do.
Speaking of ****s, it did have its moments of mild-to-moderate hotness, but nothing big, to my taste. (Yeah, if I want that kind of thing, it is hard to beat fandom...)
Not sorry I read it, but not planning to make a habit of it. Curiosity satisfied. Case closed.
So, challenge progress:
-A book published this year (2016)
-A book you've been meaning to read
-A book you should have read in school
-A book published before you were born
-A book that was banned at some point
-A book you previously abandoned
-A book you own but have never read
-A book that intimidates you
-A book you've already read at least once
NOW hopefully I can get back to that "book you've been meaning to read"...
*In case anyone's curious about the stack I gave Mom, it contained: "The Gifts of Imperfection" and "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown (looks like Mom's working on Gifts now), "Guards! Guards!" by Terry Pratchett (the binge-read was in part pre-screening it for her), and "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau (if you've ever wanted a post-apocalyptic story that was, like, cozy and hopeful...).
