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[Warning: been in an incredibly foul mood all week long. This means content and responses may end up being on the snarky side of the fence.]
Finished Jim Butcher's "Changes" - the latest in the Dresden Files, in which, well the author managed to surprise me with his ending. Did not see that coming. Saw a lot of other things coming, but not that. Have rather mixed feelings about it, to be honest.
In case you haven't read Butcher's Dresden novels, and plan to, I'll hide most of this post behind the quintessential cut-tag. But then I hide most things behind cut-tags, for obvious reasons that aren't really worth going into at the moment.
Butcher's novels are noirish supernatural thrillers - with a decidely Raymond Chandleresque feel to them. They aren't really mysteries, although there's a mystery in the center, it's more an adventure caper or how do we resolve this impossible problem without destroying ourselves and everyone else in the process. The mystery itself? You sort of figure out about ten-fifteen pages in. The story has plot-twists, but it is more character driven then plot driven - which is why I find it interesting. Plot driven stories tend to bore me. Since most plots are rather boilerplate. Yes, we know, its the hero's journey, again, now show me something interesting. Butcher's novel is not the boilerplate hero's journey, which is why it is interesting. The books are rather violent. One of the many reasons that I'm hunting something non-violent as my next read - thinking it will be Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking on the Kindle. But, this novel like the others - has interesting characters, and a complicated hero, who you can't help but root for on some level. I fell in love with him in the first novel.
( Changes Spoilers - if you haven't read or plan to read and a bit on South Park, because you know, snarky mood. )
Finished Jim Butcher's "Changes" - the latest in the Dresden Files, in which, well the author managed to surprise me with his ending. Did not see that coming. Saw a lot of other things coming, but not that. Have rather mixed feelings about it, to be honest.
In case you haven't read Butcher's Dresden novels, and plan to, I'll hide most of this post behind the quintessential cut-tag. But then I hide most things behind cut-tags, for obvious reasons that aren't really worth going into at the moment.
Butcher's novels are noirish supernatural thrillers - with a decidely Raymond Chandleresque feel to them. They aren't really mysteries, although there's a mystery in the center, it's more an adventure caper or how do we resolve this impossible problem without destroying ourselves and everyone else in the process. The mystery itself? You sort of figure out about ten-fifteen pages in. The story has plot-twists, but it is more character driven then plot driven - which is why I find it interesting. Plot driven stories tend to bore me. Since most plots are rather boilerplate. Yes, we know, its the hero's journey, again, now show me something interesting. Butcher's novel is not the boilerplate hero's journey, which is why it is interesting. The books are rather violent. One of the many reasons that I'm hunting something non-violent as my next read - thinking it will be Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking on the Kindle. But, this novel like the others - has interesting characters, and a complicated hero, who you can't help but root for on some level. I fell in love with him in the first novel.
( Changes Spoilers - if you haven't read or plan to read and a bit on South Park, because you know, snarky mood. )