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[personal profile] shadowkat
Feeling better - may be a combination of the barometric pressure lifting, my sinuses clearing up, and the antibiotics. Also it helps to know what the problem is?

Now, I just got to get the stupid Stress MRI scheduled. They keep calling me while I'm on the F train to schedule - usually when the train is going over the viaduct to Seventh Avenue. I told them this was annoying. And could they call me anytime before 3pm to schedule, not between 4pm-5pm, while I'm in transit. I just don't want to schedule a Stress MRI on the subway.

I miss the days in which I didn't have phones literally everywhere. I can't escape them. I even have one attached to my wrist. It's so Trek. I talk to people on my watch now. All I need is a teleportation device - and I'm all set. Beam me up, Scotty, and fly me to an Earth that doesn't have any Republicans or social conservatives.

Came home. Did Laundry. Which was relatively easy - there was only one other person using it - and theirs was in the dryer. I listened to Fourth Wing while doing it. While the novel moves at a brisk pace, it's annoyingly juvenile in places and the protagonist whines incessantly about her situation (the downfall of trying not to make her a Mary Sue?). But, the people trying to kill her are worse, and they get satisfyingly killed by Dragons. Yes, we finally got to the dragons. I'm admittedly reading it for the dragons. I like the dragons. (Who am I kidding? I love dragons. I fell in love with dragons at the age of ten. Thank you Aunt Audrey, may you rest in peace. She was my mother's oldest sister and a librarian, who loved science fiction, fantasy, and westerns. And introduced me to sci-fantasy at the age of 10.) Anyhow, the problem with Fourth Wing is it is YA, so most of the characters are between the ages of 14-20 and incredibly annoying. More dragons less annoying teenagers, Yarros. At least the author is ruthlessly killing off the teens. The protagonist, Violet, is kind of whiny - I'm hoping she becomes less whiny, but I'm on Chapter 15, so am losing hope. (The writer has gone out of her way to make Violet not a Mary Sue, Violet is weak, and can't do a lot of things and constantly whines about it.) It's very predictable. Of course she's fallen for the guy who wanted to kill her, yes, it's the enemies to lover's trope, and of course the baddest dragon bonds with her, not just one but two dragons. Very predictable - I figured it all out halfway through. But I like the dragons. I have this feeling most people are reading it for the dragons.

I told mother about it - and she told me how much she loved the Anne McCaffrey Dragon books. I did too. (Although they don't hold up well, unfortunately, very few books from past decades, let alone centuries do.)

Finished Rules of Redemption (Firebird #1) by Toby White, aka TA White. It's not well written. I ended up skimming the last five chapters, because it was dragging - and that was the climax. The world-building is not up to snuff. Folks? If you want to write science fiction or fantasy? World-building is kind of important, so is characterization. If you can't do world-building, don't write science fiction and fantasy. It doesn't have to be perfect - you don't have to necessarily develop languages, or religion or stuff like that? But you do have to create rules, a structure, and be consistent. Granted the more successful fantasy and sci-fi have religions and languages developed, but usually you can do fine without it.
The book felt very amateurish. And tropy. I agreed with the reviews - which stated the heroine was a bit of a Mary Sue (she is), and the romance falls flat. (It does). And it was predictable (it is). And it didn't satisfyingly answer or delve in some of the questions or the bits that were interesting.

I'm not continuing with the writer, and have become leery of book suggestions via the Kate Daniels fandom.

Have moved on to Station Eternity: The Midsolar Murders - Book 1 - this is a science fiction murder mystery. Doesn't appear to have a romance, but I could be wrong. I found it on Smart Bitches as a Kindle Daily Deal.

Blurb: "Amateur detective Mallory Viridian’s talent for solving murders ruined her life on Earth and drove her to live on an alien space station, but her problems still follow her in this witty, self-aware novel that puts a speculative spin on murder mysteries, from the Hugo-nominated author of Six Wakes."

***

Work continues to be enjoyable for the most part. I'm not bored. I think I'm becoming a good editor, or at the very least, a good legal, technical and business editor. Not to mention a half decent financial analyst.

I'm learning to just enjoy things without thinking too much about it. Life is so much more enjoyable when I float through it and remember to turn off my brain.

Date: 2025-01-31 01:31 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
Fourth Wing has some good stuff in it, but ultimately I couldn't get past Violet or the truly awful romance stuff.

Date: 2025-01-31 06:27 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
That's an advantage to audio that I hadn't considered. :)

Date: 2025-02-01 01:04 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
I tend to love fantasy stories with strong female characters, but as you say, there are limits. When done well (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Buffy) they are great. But it's apparently too easy (or, Goddess forbid, too popular) to come up with dreck like Twilight.

Date: 2025-02-01 01:47 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
I agree with you on Harry Potter, though I think she doesn't manage to completely disguise the fact that Hermione is the real hero. Also, Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood have their moments. But otherwise, yeah, it's written as though the story is about the boys.

Jemisen's first book is great. It goes downhill afterwards. I couldn't get very interested in Kuang.

Date: 2025-02-01 02:25 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
Sorry: The Fifth Season. Definitely recommend. But books 2 and 3 are increasingly convoluted and less interesting. Neither is bad, but whereas The Fifth Season is excellent books 2 and 3 are meh.

Date: 2025-02-01 03:21 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
I started Black Leopard, Red Wolf, but couldn't finish it. That said, I think you'll like it better than I did so don't let me discourage you.

Date: 2025-02-01 03:23 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
Because she always did the work and knew the spells that got them out of many of their problems. And she stayed loyal to Harry even when Ron was being an asshole to her or Harry.

Date: 2025-02-01 01:51 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
Sorry, forgot your last point. I don't remember that debate with sdev, but just...wow.

Date: 2025-02-01 02:28 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
I remember her being so contentious that I stopped reading her comments, so it's possible I missed the debate on women firefighters. And I definitely wouldn't have liked her politics/religion.

Date: 2025-02-01 03:29 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
That's hilarious that I participated in that discussion and have zero memory of it, even now that you tell me I was there. I do remember lots of debates with Mal. Suffice it to say that he and I did not see the same show.

I tend to remember the posters I liked and agreed with -- you, Rah, Ian, others -- rather than the ones who just argued or who were so fixated on a certain issue (cough *Spuffy*) that they viewed everything through that lens. I may have argued back, but those are rarely the times I remember now. And that's true even though I went back through the archives in about 2012 and re-read many of the threads.

Date: 2025-02-01 01:15 pm (UTC)
From: [personal profile] mefisto
"I do remember the Buffy series ... to the point that I probably never have to watch it again - because I can replay it in my head." This is true for me too.

I only met a few people in person; Doc was one of them but I don't remember the others. I kept in touch with Rah for a few years after the show ended, but lost track of her. You're the only one I'm still in contact with, mostly because you're so prolific a poster. :)

Date: 2025-02-01 01:09 am (UTC)
avrelia: (Default)
From: [personal profile] avrelia
I started the Forth Wing and it hopped along briskly indeed, but I got so bored, I dropped it and never went back.

Date: 2025-02-01 04:48 am (UTC)
avrelia: (Default)
From: [personal profile] avrelia
I think it was the teen in-fighting that stopped me from reading further. And the beginning of the romance. (I don't mind either by itself, but that one felt very repetitive) I could read more from the dragons' point of view, I think. that would be cool.

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