Reading Wednesday
Dec. 2nd, 2015 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhWhat did you just finish?
The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. A sequel to Sorcery & Cecelia, Kate and Cecelia go on their honeymoon across Europe, though the trip quickly turns from tourism to a race to prevent a magical spell which will conquer all of Europe. It's still an epistolary novel, though instead of letters, one character writes a diary and the other's story is told through a "deposition". This is a really weird conceit that didn't work at all for me; the characters are much less engaging and fun when they're no longer having a conversation but are just retelling what happened. The characters in general (not just Kate and Cecelia but their husbands as well) are much less distinct than in the previous book. I had trouble remembering who was who, and eventually just gave up on trying to keep anyone straight, since it didn't seem to matter anyway. The most interesting character turned out to be Kate's new mother-in-law, who unfortunately is only in the first few chapters. Despite being for much larger stakes, the plot in this book is much more boring, and the mystery aspect of it is incredibly obvious (when you only meet one new character in all your travels, it's clear that he's going to be involved in the mystery), which makes the characters seem dumb for not figuring it out until the end. I will say that the final climax was exciting and charming, but that's not enough to make the rest of the book worthwhile.
Sadly, a real disappointment, especially compared to how much I enjoyed the first book.
What are you currently reading?
Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise by Oscar Hijuelos, a novel about Mark Twain and Henry Morgan Stanley, which is dragging on foreverrrrrrrr.
The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. A sequel to Sorcery & Cecelia, Kate and Cecelia go on their honeymoon across Europe, though the trip quickly turns from tourism to a race to prevent a magical spell which will conquer all of Europe. It's still an epistolary novel, though instead of letters, one character writes a diary and the other's story is told through a "deposition". This is a really weird conceit that didn't work at all for me; the characters are much less engaging and fun when they're no longer having a conversation but are just retelling what happened. The characters in general (not just Kate and Cecelia but their husbands as well) are much less distinct than in the previous book. I had trouble remembering who was who, and eventually just gave up on trying to keep anyone straight, since it didn't seem to matter anyway. The most interesting character turned out to be Kate's new mother-in-law, who unfortunately is only in the first few chapters. Despite being for much larger stakes, the plot in this book is much more boring, and the mystery aspect of it is incredibly obvious (when you only meet one new character in all your travels, it's clear that he's going to be involved in the mystery), which makes the characters seem dumb for not figuring it out until the end. I will say that the final climax was exciting and charming, but that's not enough to make the rest of the book worthwhile.
Sadly, a real disappointment, especially compared to how much I enjoyed the first book.
What are you currently reading?
Twain & Stanley Enter Paradise by Oscar Hijuelos, a novel about Mark Twain and Henry Morgan Stanley, which is dragging on foreverrrrrrrr.
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Date: 2015-12-02 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-02 09:08 pm (UTC)