Cold Days...
Jan. 1st, 2013 12:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinished Cold Days by Jim Butcher this morning...and while I found the book slow going at points (too much frigging exposition), will state that the writer surprised me and took the characters in interesting directions. Sort of makes me want to re-read the books.
Still wasting far too much time jockeying around with the Karrin Murphy/Harry Dresden will-they-won-t-they routine. To the point in which I'm beginning to lose interest in it entirely and thinking - hey, let's go do Harry and Molly instead, so much more interesting.
(By the way, this happens in all serials, no serial writer that I've come across in television/film or books has found a way of keeping a long-term relationship interesting in a serial. Was watching "Doc Martin" with my parents over the holiday, and of course they broke up Doc Martin and his paramour up about five times. It gets old after a bit, and the audience starts rooting for both characters to move on. Because let's face it - if you can't make it work after two years of trying, it isn't happening. The only times it works is when the writer is smart enough to let the characters get together and work on their relationship - see Farscape, Amy/Rory in Doctor Who, Nick and Nora Charles for just a few examples. Teasing the audience on the ship forever doesn't work, audiences are fickle creatures with shorter attention spans than cats.)
Cold Days is tighter and a bit better written than Ghost Story, but since the writer has to find a way to work Harry back into his world, move the plot forward, and explain everything that has been happening to Harry and the reader - there is a lot of exposition or more telling/less showing. I found myself skimming a bit.
I'm finding myself more and more intrigued as we move forward with the character of Molly Carpenter, who I'd dreaded in the first book - because earnest young hero-worshiping apprentice characters can be grating. But Butcher's characterization is masterful. She changes over time and you can see how Harry indirectly and inadvertently affects those changes, some are deliberate, most unintentional. You can also see why she's so devoted to him, and is deeply and irrevocably in love with him. Like Susan, she's seen inside Harry's head, inside his soul - which is something Karrin Murphy has not seen - having avoided a full-on soul gaze.
The depiction of the fae is also well-done. They aren't good or evil, so much as both. Forces of nature. The fact that they are women, and Butcher's constant griping through Harry about how women are forces of nature that can't be understood makes me want to bop Butcher one in much the same way that Karrin bops Harry. Get a grip, dude, we aren't that different. I'd say Butcher is sexist, but no, the women characters are powerful and well-drawn. I think the author just struggles with gender and non-traditional gender roles and orientations - but at least he admits that he is struggling with it - that's what I see in his books, a struggle and questioning of his own traditional views on the topic.
I rather like "Mab"...the Queen of Air and Darkness...she is rapidly becoming a favorite, much more interesting than Titania. Also like Leansidhe. At least Charity and Michael were no where to be seen - least favorite of Butcher's characters. Keep them on the sidelines, please.
Also Thomas, who was sorely lacking from Ghost Story, is back. Thomas works well as a foil to Harry.
With a few quibbles, I rather liked the book. Not great, but fun and enjoyable overall.
Up next...I think is Diana Rowland's My Life as a White Trash Zombie, which I got as a Xmas present, or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Decisions, decisions.
Oh...and Happy 2013. May it treat you well. I'm hoping it's better than 2012, or at the very least no worse than 2012. Less stress, more fun.
This comment was originally posted at http://shadowkat.dreamwidth.org/. You can comment on it if you see it there or here. There's no ads, pop-up or otherwise over there, so you want to comment over there.
Still wasting far too much time jockeying around with the Karrin Murphy/Harry Dresden will-they-won-t-they routine. To the point in which I'm beginning to lose interest in it entirely and thinking - hey, let's go do Harry and Molly instead, so much more interesting.
(By the way, this happens in all serials, no serial writer that I've come across in television/film or books has found a way of keeping a long-term relationship interesting in a serial. Was watching "Doc Martin" with my parents over the holiday, and of course they broke up Doc Martin and his paramour up about five times. It gets old after a bit, and the audience starts rooting for both characters to move on. Because let's face it - if you can't make it work after two years of trying, it isn't happening. The only times it works is when the writer is smart enough to let the characters get together and work on their relationship - see Farscape, Amy/Rory in Doctor Who, Nick and Nora Charles for just a few examples. Teasing the audience on the ship forever doesn't work, audiences are fickle creatures with shorter attention spans than cats.)
Cold Days is tighter and a bit better written than Ghost Story, but since the writer has to find a way to work Harry back into his world, move the plot forward, and explain everything that has been happening to Harry and the reader - there is a lot of exposition or more telling/less showing. I found myself skimming a bit.
I'm finding myself more and more intrigued as we move forward with the character of Molly Carpenter, who I'd dreaded in the first book - because earnest young hero-worshiping apprentice characters can be grating. But Butcher's characterization is masterful. She changes over time and you can see how Harry indirectly and inadvertently affects those changes, some are deliberate, most unintentional. You can also see why she's so devoted to him, and is deeply and irrevocably in love with him. Like Susan, she's seen inside Harry's head, inside his soul - which is something Karrin Murphy has not seen - having avoided a full-on soul gaze.
The depiction of the fae is also well-done. They aren't good or evil, so much as both. Forces of nature. The fact that they are women, and Butcher's constant griping through Harry about how women are forces of nature that can't be understood makes me want to bop Butcher one in much the same way that Karrin bops Harry. Get a grip, dude, we aren't that different. I'd say Butcher is sexist, but no, the women characters are powerful and well-drawn. I think the author just struggles with gender and non-traditional gender roles and orientations - but at least he admits that he is struggling with it - that's what I see in his books, a struggle and questioning of his own traditional views on the topic.
I rather like "Mab"...the Queen of Air and Darkness...she is rapidly becoming a favorite, much more interesting than Titania. Also like Leansidhe. At least Charity and Michael were no where to be seen - least favorite of Butcher's characters. Keep them on the sidelines, please.
Also Thomas, who was sorely lacking from Ghost Story, is back. Thomas works well as a foil to Harry.
With a few quibbles, I rather liked the book. Not great, but fun and enjoyable overall.
Up next...I think is Diana Rowland's My Life as a White Trash Zombie, which I got as a Xmas present, or Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Decisions, decisions.
Oh...and Happy 2013. May it treat you well. I'm hoping it's better than 2012, or at the very least no worse than 2012. Less stress, more fun.
This comment was originally posted at http://shadowkat.dreamwidth.org/. You can comment on it if you see it there or here. There's no ads, pop-up or otherwise over there, so you want to comment over there.