Book rec

[resonant]

I've just finished reading Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman's The Fall of the Kings. It took a while to hook me, but the more I read, the more impressed I got. (Until the last chapter, when I realized that "impressed by this book" had been superseded by "wildly in love with Jessica Campion." It took a while for the women in the book to show up, but when they did, they showed up with a vengeance.)

I also think it would make a hell of a movie.

Do any of y'all find that when you finish reading a book you like, your first instinct is to e-mail the author an LoC? Of course if I could do that I'd be polite and not do what I want to do, which is threaten to hold my breath and turn blue if they don't immediately give me a sequel with lots of Jessica in it.

Comments

Amen to that!

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

I thought that I was the only person disappointed with this book! After I finished it, I was ready to chuck the thing across the room.

I agree with all of your points, Clare. I was exceptionally bothered by the null reaction on the part of all of the characters to, what should have been shocking, events like the murder of lovers/friends/colleagues.

The book had a very rushed feel to me: I got the distinct impression that the authors had an outline and they were gonna stick to it come hell or high water, no matter how emotionally implausible it turned out to be.

Given some of Sherman's other work though, I wasn't especially suprised by the emotional deadness, but I was quite disappointed. :-(

--kai

Re: Amen to that!

[raietta.livejournal.com]

Hey! I threw the book across the room, too! Literally! Then I considered ritually burning it, but decided not to; I might burn down a building or something if I tried. Yeesh. You're not alone! You're not alone! The book felt rushed and so forth to me, too. And the emotional deadness... well, never mind. Suffice it to say, the book left me cold.

But enough of that. In reply to the original post, I must say, Delia Sherman, at least, is a very, very nice person, as I have discovered, and it seems like she'd probably love an LoC about the book. And a sequel at least co-starring Jessica seems to already be in the works, if the notes at the end of FotK are any indication.