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shadowkatAs an aside, I actually saw a good Doctor Who tonight. It was from two weeks ago - via the DVR. Fun devices DVR's. And much cheaper than Tivo's. At any rate - the episode was entitled Gridlock.
Was told by flist that this was a good episode. But flist also thought the Shakespeare episode was good. So, I was leery. When it comes to cultural tastes flist and I are not always in agreement. Heck you should have seen thefights discussions I got into with some of them on a discussion board. I'm not afraid of voicing my opinon on stuff nor do I tend to do it timidly. But you know that or knew that and friended me anyways. Yay, you.
Sorry, snarky mood tonight. Don't know why.
Gridlock was about well gridlock. But it wasn't a one-joke piece, it also discussed the detriments of relying on medication as escape, or trying to flee one's world. Or staying in a rut, fearful of going up. The idea of isolation. The idea of being alone. Disconnected in a sea of people. Very moving and somewhat humorous piece of sci-fi. And the acting was better than average. Tennant seemed less twitchy.
Am curious to see what Blink is like - that's the other one everyone keeps raving about.
I finished Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Witch Bounty Hunter Series finally. Well not finally, I tore through five books in less than three months which for me is pretty fast reading. Averaging a book every two or one and a half weeks. Since I normally do all my reading on the thirty min subway ride to and from work - that's not bad. I read these at home as well. They pulled me in and did not let go.
Harrison wrote five books to date in this series - all of which fall into the genre entitled urban fantasy - which came to a head around the time Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended. While I won't go so far as to say Buffy sparked this genre into being, I will state the show definitely influenced it. Every novel I've read or looked at in this genre seems to either reference Buffy or take ideas from it. This series being no exception - in fact the characters - Kisten and Ivy feel a lot like sane versions of Spike and Drusilla.
And in looks at least, resemble Spike and Dru quite a bit. But you can't prove it. They are their own characters.
What distinguishes Harrison's novels from most urban fantasy is the relationship between Ivy and Rachel, our protagonist. Most urban fantasy have a decidedly male-female dynamic regardless of what sex the main protagonist is. These are a bit different, which in my opinion makes them unique.
Another distinguishing factor is they are better written than most of them. Unlike Laurell K. Hamilton - Harrison does not rely on sex scenes to propell the action nor does she manipulate her characters so that we can read a great sex scene. (I can read fanfic for free on my lj if I want to read that, I have no patience for it in a book I'm paying for, possibly because I can get it for free on the net.) Laurell K did not always do this. Her best book in the Anita Blake series has very little sex in it - that's Obsiddian Butterfly in my opinion. I couldn't read any of the other ones. But she sells like hotcakes, so what do I know? Charlain Harris had much the same problem - we'd have story, then the awkward sex scene, more story, and the sex scene. To give Harris credit - she had great ideas.
But her writing style was third grade level in comparison to Harrison's. Harrison's people talk like human beings. They sound different from one another. You can see them in your head. And hear them. They are three dimensional and complicated. Harris' characters feel flatter somehow. And unlike Jim Butcher - Harrison is a little less cliche. She doesn't do the long action scenes that often bog down Butcher's Dresden books, nor does she get as religious as Butcher, leaving things a tad more open. Nor, for that matter, does she do the "gay jokes", in Butcher's novels - he makes fun of the fact that Thomas and Dresden look like gay lovers. (I don't mind this, but it is a bit tired and I've seen it done too many times.) Harrison actually has a character who is gay and goes a different route, explores it without taking the easy way out. In some ways, Harrison's writing style reminds me the most of Robin McKingly's in the novel Sunshine. She's more descriptive than the other writers. Her magic also seems more real somehow, has greater consequences, and is more difficult than Dresden. And her elves, fairies, and pixies more realistic - if that's possible.
The novels take place in Cincinnati and you can smell it. Taste it. See it. It's a alternate universe Cincy, but it is as much a character as the others.
Harrison has about ten characters who track through all the novels or are at the very least mentioned. Each is complicated and none I'd state are straight forward black and white. Her lead character, Rachel, who tells the story - and we stay in Rachel's point of view throughout it, starts out as a character who sees the world in a very rigid way - black and white. Good and evil. As she moves through the novels, her world-view gets grayer, she finds herself doing things that she swore she'd never do, going places she'd never go.
It's not like Butcher's books about a man trying to redeem himself from a dark past, Rachel is a woman who discovers she has a great deal of power and is struggling not to let it pull her into darkness, she hasn't done anything dastardly - yet.
Accompanying Rachel on her journey are her two friends, a male pixy named Jenks - who is described as a bit of a dreamboat physically, yet also annoying, loyal, and crazy. He's clearly a pixy. The writer creates the smell, size, look, and cultural background - showing that he is not human. Rachel likewise is not human - but a witch, with a different makeup.
And then there's Ivy - a living vampire who is part human and part vampire - or a vampire with a soul that can walk in daylight. Ivy is female and in love with Rachel. She prays Rachel can one day save her from a soulless existence amongst the undead. Rachel firmly heterosexual isn't sure how she feels about Ivy and struggles with her feelings throughout the series, coming to terms with them finally in the last two books.
Added to this mix are Trenton Kalamack who is a complicated bad boy - part villian, part not. The councilman and power figure. Rachel's relationship with Trenton is odd and complicated. He is set up as the villain in two of the books and an odd benefactor in the second and third ones. Kisten Felps - another living vampire, who makes cameao appearances and is mostly featured in the second novel - The Good, the Bad, and the Undead. And Nick Spargamagos - a human - who summons demons. The men in the novels remind me of femme fatales in a way - especially Trenton. The fatale who lures the hero, who may be innocent, or may not.
There's also a trio of charming and manipulative demons. The main one being Al. And a few human cops, including a very sexy black cop named Glenn.
Each character has a sense of humor. The books drip with sardonic dry wit. The main character often cracking wise to keep herself intact.
Their titles - are from old Clint Eastwood films or films in general. Dead Witch Walking.
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead. Every Which Way But Dead. A Fistfull of Charms. And A Few Demons More. And have noir/western feel to them.
The world is well-developed and consistent throughout. It's an alternate earth. In this earth - people pursued biological discoveries as opposed to nuclear or physics. The arms race was about biological weapons. And the big discovery was the human DNA or genome, how the strand was put together and how it could be manipulated. There's another world paralle to the human one - where magic comes from - called the EverAfter - in this world demons, elves, fairies, pixies, and witches lived. Now only demons do. Witches, pixies, and fairies fled to the human one and hid. Elves came later after nearly being killed off by the demons.
The elves according to the first book were killed off along with a good portion of the human race by a virus that had attached itself to a brand of Tomatoes - and became airborn.
As a result all humans fear and despise tomatoes. Also as a result of the tragedy - biological testing, genetic experiments, drugs, medical cures for cancer and the like or research in those field is against the law. Also, witches, pixies, fairies, vampires, werewolves are all known to humans - they are called Inderlanders and tolerated by humans.
It's an interesting world Harrison creates and through its creation she is able to subtly explore some complex themes, such as racism, biological testing, scientific testing,
and to what degree do the ends justify the means.
But mostly I enjoyed the books for the interactions and relationships between the lead characters, who are a humorous mismatched bunch of odd ducklings. The second to last book, Fistfull of Charms may be the most fun. It sets up the last one. But is by far the funniest of the group and at times the most moving. It furthers the relationships between our central three - Jenks, Rachel and Ivy.
Dead Witch Walking sets up the series. And the universe. And is largely an origin tale.
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead - sets up the main villain and conflict Rachel must resolve throughout the next three.
Every Which Way But Dead - sets up Rachel's relationship with two key male figures, and sets up an interesting romantic triangle
Fistful of Charms - is just fun and is the werewolf book, it takes place in Michigan
A Few Demons More - deals with the results of Fistful and pulls together all the unresolved plot threads from the previous four - in a way it is a fitting conclusion to them. As well as the most tragic.
Series? A+
The first four are better than last, which I'd give a B-, but that could just be because I was getting burnt out.
Oh - speaking of urban fantasy - The Dresden Files was cancelled by Sci-Fi. Apparently they think re-doing Flash Gordon is better bet. Figures. Not overly surprised, could tell by the lukewarm response on flist that it wasn't going to last. Don't get why. Why did they watch Bones and not Dresden? Bones bores the heck out of me most of time. But if I understood why people like what they did I would have become a marketing or sales person, and made lots of money.
Was told by flist that this was a good episode. But flist also thought the Shakespeare episode was good. So, I was leery. When it comes to cultural tastes flist and I are not always in agreement. Heck you should have seen the
Sorry, snarky mood tonight. Don't know why.
Gridlock was about well gridlock. But it wasn't a one-joke piece, it also discussed the detriments of relying on medication as escape, or trying to flee one's world. Or staying in a rut, fearful of going up. The idea of isolation. The idea of being alone. Disconnected in a sea of people. Very moving and somewhat humorous piece of sci-fi. And the acting was better than average. Tennant seemed less twitchy.
Am curious to see what Blink is like - that's the other one everyone keeps raving about.
I finished Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Witch Bounty Hunter Series finally. Well not finally, I tore through five books in less than three months which for me is pretty fast reading. Averaging a book every two or one and a half weeks. Since I normally do all my reading on the thirty min subway ride to and from work - that's not bad. I read these at home as well. They pulled me in and did not let go.
Harrison wrote five books to date in this series - all of which fall into the genre entitled urban fantasy - which came to a head around the time Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended. While I won't go so far as to say Buffy sparked this genre into being, I will state the show definitely influenced it. Every novel I've read or looked at in this genre seems to either reference Buffy or take ideas from it. This series being no exception - in fact the characters - Kisten and Ivy feel a lot like sane versions of Spike and Drusilla.
And in looks at least, resemble Spike and Dru quite a bit. But you can't prove it. They are their own characters.
What distinguishes Harrison's novels from most urban fantasy is the relationship between Ivy and Rachel, our protagonist. Most urban fantasy have a decidedly male-female dynamic regardless of what sex the main protagonist is. These are a bit different, which in my opinion makes them unique.
Another distinguishing factor is they are better written than most of them. Unlike Laurell K. Hamilton - Harrison does not rely on sex scenes to propell the action nor does she manipulate her characters so that we can read a great sex scene. (I can read fanfic for free on my lj if I want to read that, I have no patience for it in a book I'm paying for, possibly because I can get it for free on the net.) Laurell K did not always do this. Her best book in the Anita Blake series has very little sex in it - that's Obsiddian Butterfly in my opinion. I couldn't read any of the other ones. But she sells like hotcakes, so what do I know? Charlain Harris had much the same problem - we'd have story, then the awkward sex scene, more story, and the sex scene. To give Harris credit - she had great ideas.
But her writing style was third grade level in comparison to Harrison's. Harrison's people talk like human beings. They sound different from one another. You can see them in your head. And hear them. They are three dimensional and complicated. Harris' characters feel flatter somehow. And unlike Jim Butcher - Harrison is a little less cliche. She doesn't do the long action scenes that often bog down Butcher's Dresden books, nor does she get as religious as Butcher, leaving things a tad more open. Nor, for that matter, does she do the "gay jokes", in Butcher's novels - he makes fun of the fact that Thomas and Dresden look like gay lovers. (I don't mind this, but it is a bit tired and I've seen it done too many times.) Harrison actually has a character who is gay and goes a different route, explores it without taking the easy way out. In some ways, Harrison's writing style reminds me the most of Robin McKingly's in the novel Sunshine. She's more descriptive than the other writers. Her magic also seems more real somehow, has greater consequences, and is more difficult than Dresden. And her elves, fairies, and pixies more realistic - if that's possible.
The novels take place in Cincinnati and you can smell it. Taste it. See it. It's a alternate universe Cincy, but it is as much a character as the others.
Harrison has about ten characters who track through all the novels or are at the very least mentioned. Each is complicated and none I'd state are straight forward black and white. Her lead character, Rachel, who tells the story - and we stay in Rachel's point of view throughout it, starts out as a character who sees the world in a very rigid way - black and white. Good and evil. As she moves through the novels, her world-view gets grayer, she finds herself doing things that she swore she'd never do, going places she'd never go.
It's not like Butcher's books about a man trying to redeem himself from a dark past, Rachel is a woman who discovers she has a great deal of power and is struggling not to let it pull her into darkness, she hasn't done anything dastardly - yet.
Accompanying Rachel on her journey are her two friends, a male pixy named Jenks - who is described as a bit of a dreamboat physically, yet also annoying, loyal, and crazy. He's clearly a pixy. The writer creates the smell, size, look, and cultural background - showing that he is not human. Rachel likewise is not human - but a witch, with a different makeup.
And then there's Ivy - a living vampire who is part human and part vampire - or a vampire with a soul that can walk in daylight. Ivy is female and in love with Rachel. She prays Rachel can one day save her from a soulless existence amongst the undead. Rachel firmly heterosexual isn't sure how she feels about Ivy and struggles with her feelings throughout the series, coming to terms with them finally in the last two books.
Added to this mix are Trenton Kalamack who is a complicated bad boy - part villian, part not. The councilman and power figure. Rachel's relationship with Trenton is odd and complicated. He is set up as the villain in two of the books and an odd benefactor in the second and third ones. Kisten Felps - another living vampire, who makes cameao appearances and is mostly featured in the second novel - The Good, the Bad, and the Undead. And Nick Spargamagos - a human - who summons demons. The men in the novels remind me of femme fatales in a way - especially Trenton. The fatale who lures the hero, who may be innocent, or may not.
There's also a trio of charming and manipulative demons. The main one being Al. And a few human cops, including a very sexy black cop named Glenn.
Each character has a sense of humor. The books drip with sardonic dry wit. The main character often cracking wise to keep herself intact.
Their titles - are from old Clint Eastwood films or films in general. Dead Witch Walking.
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead. Every Which Way But Dead. A Fistfull of Charms. And A Few Demons More. And have noir/western feel to them.
The world is well-developed and consistent throughout. It's an alternate earth. In this earth - people pursued biological discoveries as opposed to nuclear or physics. The arms race was about biological weapons. And the big discovery was the human DNA or genome, how the strand was put together and how it could be manipulated. There's another world paralle to the human one - where magic comes from - called the EverAfter - in this world demons, elves, fairies, pixies, and witches lived. Now only demons do. Witches, pixies, and fairies fled to the human one and hid. Elves came later after nearly being killed off by the demons.
The elves according to the first book were killed off along with a good portion of the human race by a virus that had attached itself to a brand of Tomatoes - and became airborn.
As a result all humans fear and despise tomatoes. Also as a result of the tragedy - biological testing, genetic experiments, drugs, medical cures for cancer and the like or research in those field is against the law. Also, witches, pixies, fairies, vampires, werewolves are all known to humans - they are called Inderlanders and tolerated by humans.
It's an interesting world Harrison creates and through its creation she is able to subtly explore some complex themes, such as racism, biological testing, scientific testing,
and to what degree do the ends justify the means.
But mostly I enjoyed the books for the interactions and relationships between the lead characters, who are a humorous mismatched bunch of odd ducklings. The second to last book, Fistfull of Charms may be the most fun. It sets up the last one. But is by far the funniest of the group and at times the most moving. It furthers the relationships between our central three - Jenks, Rachel and Ivy.
Dead Witch Walking sets up the series. And the universe. And is largely an origin tale.
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead - sets up the main villain and conflict Rachel must resolve throughout the next three.
Every Which Way But Dead - sets up Rachel's relationship with two key male figures, and sets up an interesting romantic triangle
Fistful of Charms - is just fun and is the werewolf book, it takes place in Michigan
A Few Demons More - deals with the results of Fistful and pulls together all the unresolved plot threads from the previous four - in a way it is a fitting conclusion to them. As well as the most tragic.
Series? A+
The first four are better than last, which I'd give a B-, but that could just be because I was getting burnt out.
Oh - speaking of urban fantasy - The Dresden Files was cancelled by Sci-Fi. Apparently they think re-doing Flash Gordon is better bet. Figures. Not overly surprised, could tell by the lukewarm response on flist that it wasn't going to last. Don't get why. Why did they watch Bones and not Dresden? Bones bores the heck out of me most of time. But if I understood why people like what they did I would have become a marketing or sales person, and made lots of money.
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Kim Harrison is the best Urban Fantasy writer IMO
Date: 2007-08-04 07:20 am (UTC)http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the_hollows/
The one problem with fan boards is that if the name LKH comes up the fighting starts. Some just hate the sex scenes and others love them. Me, well I think a blog post LKH herself made regarding Anita and sex confirmed some thoughts I had. Here's the link to the blog entry it's the second post down:
December 29, 2006 Dear Negative Reader (http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2006_12_01_archive.html)
Have you read LKH's latest? My fave book was also Obsidian Butterfly.
Rufus
Re: Kim Harrison is the best Urban Fantasy writer IMO
Date: 2007-08-05 01:36 am (UTC)Will state it boggles my mind that someone would actually stand in line at a book signing just to tell a writer that they hate what they have written. Isn't there a better way to spend your time? And how embarrassing. People are weird. I get why you might rant on a discussion board about it - we all do that from time to time. But to buy the book, and then stand in line for a few hours with the express purpose of telling the writer, after she signs the book you bought, that you hate the book and hate the writer? Oookay.
TBC
Re: Kim Harrison is the best Urban Fantasy writer IMO
Date: 2007-08-05 01:36 am (UTC)I get why people didn't like it. I didn't dislike it. It just didn't pull me in or hold my attention as well as the others. Possibly because I spoiled myself and knew the ending ahead of time. That could have had an effect. Didn't find it to be much of a cliff-hanger. The writer resolved most of the threads. The only unresolved one was what happened the night she lost her memory.
I think the reason a lot of people may have had troubles with it - was they may have been more invested in the Kisten/Rachel romance than the Ivy/Rachel relationship. While I enjoyed Kisten, he remains on the periphery through most of the novels. We see little of him in this one - which is my one critique - we needed to see more for what happened to have an impact. But that's a minor point and I'm on the fence about it.
In a way, I find the fact that she spends less time with the romantic interests refreshing. There's a lot of urban fantasy on the market and almost all of them follow the formula established by LKH. Even Charlain Harris follows it. It gets old after a while. Nice to see someone try something new.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-04 08:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 01:42 am (UTC)It explores new ground, explores the characters, and actually moves the Doctor forward in his arc, as well as Martha. She realizes in this episode something that Catherine Tate's character did in Runaway Bride - which is that she does not know him, does not know where he took her, and how dangerous the Doctor is and how dangerous blindly following him can be.
Wish I'd liked the Evolution of the Daleks better - although it also played with some interesting themes. But it felt like old ground.
Might have been better if I hadn't missed the first half of the two episode arc. DVR didn't pick it up for some reason.
When's Blink appear? Did I miss it? Hope not. Was warned that things slow down a bit after Gridlock. Then rev up again.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 06:15 am (UTC)"Evolution of the Daleks" is arguably the weakest bit of the season (42 isn't that good, either), BUT it contains some important stuff so one can't leave it out when watching. (Mostl in parallels and contrasts; let's just say it's not the only episode this season which uses WWI as an emotional background and point of reference.) As far as I recall, you're due for "The Lazarus Experiment" next (good, but not splendid; however, very important arc stuff), then "42" (competes with "Evolution" for weak point), then "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood" (awesome, terrific, every accolade in the book two-parter, really really not to be missed at point of death), "Blink" (terrific and fun standalone, has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the season), "Utopia"/"Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" (the final trilogy, where it all gets together and you see what the season has been leading to).
Back to "Gridlock": the bookending scenes at the start and end of the episode - the Doctor talking to Martha about Gallifrey, first lying and pretending it still exists, then finally when she does something Rose never managed to, make him talk about his home planet - are incredible, imo. (Also a treat for Old School fans, but that's just a bonus.)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-05 01:12 pm (UTC)Since I'm DVR'ing and not watching live this does work better. Can fast-forward through the commericials etc.
Would agree Gridlock's book-ending was part of what made it so good. The characters started at one place and ended up in a completely different one emotionally. And their journey fits the metaphor of the gridlock.
The Doctor is caught in the gridlock of his feelings for Rose, fear of being alone in the universe, and doing the same things over and over, not moving forward, not confiding in anyone about who he really is or what he wants - protecting himself. Martha is caught in the gridlock of trying to get to know the Doctor, but being kept at bay, a rebound girl after Rose - stating "he looks at me, when I say something, but it's not me I think he sees, so much as he is remembering someone else...I might as well not be there." And it is revealed that everyone trapped in the gridlock was put there to be protected, much as Martha and the Doctor are being protected. They break it by flying up into the sky, into the city. Opening up so to speak. Not flying downwards to the devolved monsters below. Or just going in a circle.