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Can you tell it's a slow day at work?
OMG, there are so many crazy people in the public library!
I am trying to get better at dropping books that are difficult to get through, rather than forcing myself to read things. Thus, even though I only had 100 pages left in Holly Black's Tithe, I dropped it. I can't get into Shelley Jackson's Half-Life, so I'm not going to force myself to read that, either (I'll still go to Wiscon Book Club, don't worry!).
I think that part of why I grow tired with fantasy novels is that world-building makes me impatient. Sure, it's dealt with in science fiction too, but supposedly the SF genre is grounded in possibility - something that could happen - and therefore the world, however futuristic, is inextricably linked to our own.
With fantasy, it seems like more time is spent explaining societal structures like governments and schooling than I care to read at once (interpersed information is much better than infodumps, in my opinion).
Anyway.
This is partly why I find it difficult to stay wholly interested in the manga series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. The main characters are literally world-hopping, and each new world means another set of explanations to get through. Of course, they travel to a new world every time I get comfortable with the one I'm in. New worlds can be neat, but it's hard to care about every character, even though most of them are incarnations from previous CLAMP manga.
Of course, as soon as I am able to make sense of my mild dislike of the narrative structure of the series, I read volume 13.
OMG, Kurogane's past! So angsty! So good! It was so shounen!
Like the "everyone always loses an eye" trope, it seems like someone should also keep a list of violent maternal deaths. Perhaps, when I post my list of "Recommended Reading Order for CLAMP Manga," I will make a key, with symbols next to each series, for things like "Someone loses an eye" or "Doubles/Clones are important in this series."
ALSO, WTF, someone told me that the word "fey" means "fated to die," and the Del Rey editor made sure to say that that's how you pronounce Fei's name. WTF, FAI CANNOT DIE!
I am trying to get better at dropping books that are difficult to get through, rather than forcing myself to read things. Thus, even though I only had 100 pages left in Holly Black's Tithe, I dropped it. I can't get into Shelley Jackson's Half-Life, so I'm not going to force myself to read that, either (I'll still go to Wiscon Book Club, don't worry!).
I think that part of why I grow tired with fantasy novels is that world-building makes me impatient. Sure, it's dealt with in science fiction too, but supposedly the SF genre is grounded in possibility - something that could happen - and therefore the world, however futuristic, is inextricably linked to our own.
With fantasy, it seems like more time is spent explaining societal structures like governments and schooling than I care to read at once (interpersed information is much better than infodumps, in my opinion).
Anyway.
This is partly why I find it difficult to stay wholly interested in the manga series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. The main characters are literally world-hopping, and each new world means another set of explanations to get through. Of course, they travel to a new world every time I get comfortable with the one I'm in. New worlds can be neat, but it's hard to care about every character, even though most of them are incarnations from previous CLAMP manga.
Of course, as soon as I am able to make sense of my mild dislike of the narrative structure of the series, I read volume 13.
OMG, Kurogane's past! So angsty! So good! It was so shounen!
Like the "everyone always loses an eye" trope, it seems like someone should also keep a list of violent maternal deaths. Perhaps, when I post my list of "Recommended Reading Order for CLAMP Manga," I will make a key, with symbols next to each series, for things like "Someone loses an eye" or "Doubles/Clones are important in this series."
ALSO, WTF, someone told me that the word "fey" means "fated to die," and the Del Rey editor made sure to say that that's how you pronounce Fei's name. WTF, FAI CANNOT DIE!
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That's a good point. I can appreciate it when an author spends a lot of time developing a world and culture, but it can get pretty dull. I like it best when an author knows his or her culture well, but doesn't take a long time showing it off, and concentrates on the characters instead.
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I love worldbuilding in fantasy (and often think SF gets it's head swelled with the "grounded in possibilities" part) but every once in a while, i just want to tell authors to get on with it myself.
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I find that when it comes to worldbuilding, it's much more fascinating to me when done in a subtle way.
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