I have been watching Veronica Mars with my sweetie – my second time, his first. During the original airings, I thought Logan was totally swoon-worthy. So angsty and adorable! This time around, I think he fits Veronica’s ‘psychotic jackass’ description amazingly well. And the sweetie keeps asking “when am I supposed to start liking this guy?” A good friend of mine says this means I’ve matured. Hmm.
I’m wondering if Guy Gavriel Kay books fit into this pattern. I read and fell in love with Tigana my senior year of high school. I read and adored The Fionovar Tapestry early in college. And I’ve read loads of his other stuff since then, but I’ve enjoyed it less and less. I think his particular brand of flowery language and star-crossed melodrama SPOKE to the annoying teen in me, and I have this glow of fondness for him, but none of it now lives up to those memories.
Plus, they’re all the same. Swap out the historical period he’s basing the story in (this time it’s Vikings), change the character names (sometimes even keeping the same initials), and it’s all the same stuff. Heroic deaths, lovers who can’t be together, deep wisdom and sacrifice and tragedy to right the wrongs of the world, etc. And the writing is lovely and the characters are noble! I’m not denying that! It just feels like I’ve read it all before, and it was better last time.
Plus again, there is a LOT of talk about forcing the world and everybody in it to follow the one true religion. The clerics say fairies don’t exist, so believing in fairies dooms your soul, even if the fairy is standing RIGHT there talking to the cleric. It’s like if Offler the Crocodile God said that the only people who could get into heaven were the ones who announced the Great God Om didn’t exist, even if Om is right there, offering to share his sausages inna bun.
AND, all the stuff about the “small” ways a woman can help shape the story, even though a princess is only meant to make an advantageous marriage for her kingdom. “We can’t know where our stories will go, flowery destiny blah blah blah blah…except yours, which runs straight into a wall, because you’re a GIRL.”
Huh. I thought I liked this book when I was reading it, but apparently I had some feelings about it. I think maybe I need a break from fantasy for a while. Sorry there’s no real plot summary here, but if you’ve read a Kay book before, you’ve read this book. I was on page 75 before I decided I hadn’t read this one already.
Sample floweriness:
“There would be joys and sorrows in life, as there always were, the taste of the latter present in the wine of such happiness as mortals were allowed.”
Thanks for the review. I was sucked in by the title because I realized that the last time I read something by Guy Gavrial Kay I was more than two decades younger than I am now (and I can’t even remember what I read . . . go middle-aged brain go). That said, my “thing” for Logan Echolls has not gone away, but it’s always been with a clear view of his “jackass-ness”–perhaps because I would have been “Stacy’s mom-ing” him when the show first aired anyway. :) His appeal has always been in the abstract (where tortured bad boys can do the least harm). Now I’m off to read the second Veronica Mars book.
I’m sad you’ve outgrown Guy, but any review that mentions Offler the Crocodile God gets extra points from me!