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Things read lately
So I read this summary of the new Homestuck epilogue and ... wow, okay, that is definitely a thing that exists in the world. I'm glad I didn't attempt to read the actual epilogue itself with my very own eyeballs (fortunately I'd already been warned away) and also somewhat selfishly glad that Homestuck isn't really a thing I'm still into, because that is a seriously sucky thing for a canon to do to you. Poor Homestuck fans.
I guess it's not that much of a shock that it ended on a note of pure disaster, because the author has clearly always enjoyed trolling his readers, but back in the day, the comic also had a lot of touching and heartfelt and genuinely epic moments, and now it's ... that. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a series torpedoed so thoroughly by its own creator, as opposed to being brought down by stupid editorial decisions and the like.
On a happier note, I have also read the next two Taltos books over the last week or two. Mini book reports follow:
Athyra: I really loved this! The outside POV on Vlad is fantastic, as is getting to see more of the day-to-day lives of Teckla and of Dragaerans outside the city, and I loved Savn and his sister. I really can't get over how much I adore Vlad and his general inability not to get attached to people even when he's trying to use them for his own ends. I was not expecting the book to end on such a downer note, though.
Orca: This wasn't a bad book, and it had some good character beats and a bit of thinky stuff, but I didn't really find the plot that engaging (there's only so much you can get into a plot about bankers and loan fraud). That sure was a pile of revelations that fell on our heads in the last chapter, though, wasn't it?
I don't know how I feel about Keira being Sethra. That is one damn big reveal and it comes a little too close to the ~your entire life is a giant conspiracy!~ thing that some canons do, which I'm not fond of (see also: River Song's life story). I also find Sethra, as a character, extremely difficult to get a handle on, so that doesn't help.
This does suggest that Morrolan having god blood is going to be important somehow in the future. I mean, I didn't think it was going to be dropped entirely as a plot thread, but if Sethra and the goddess set the whole thing up on purpose, there's got to be a reason for that.
And as if that wasn't enough, there's a sudden!surprise!baby!
I do love the unreliable-narrator aspect of this book, with neither Vlad nor Kiera/Sethra tipping their hand entirely to either each other or the reader (or, in Sethra's case, to Cawti either). I also love how many things become suddenly important in retrospect, like the opening lines about disguises, or Kiera preferring to write letters rather than making psychic contact, even the irony of Cawti talking about Kiera not telling her everything when those Cawti-Kiera interludes are also concealing something really huge.
I guess it's not that much of a shock that it ended on a note of pure disaster, because the author has clearly always enjoyed trolling his readers, but back in the day, the comic also had a lot of touching and heartfelt and genuinely epic moments, and now it's ... that. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a series torpedoed so thoroughly by its own creator, as opposed to being brought down by stupid editorial decisions and the like.
On a happier note, I have also read the next two Taltos books over the last week or two. Mini book reports follow:
Athyra: I really loved this! The outside POV on Vlad is fantastic, as is getting to see more of the day-to-day lives of Teckla and of Dragaerans outside the city, and I loved Savn and his sister. I really can't get over how much I adore Vlad and his general inability not to get attached to people even when he's trying to use them for his own ends. I was not expecting the book to end on such a downer note, though.
Orca: This wasn't a bad book, and it had some good character beats and a bit of thinky stuff, but I didn't really find the plot that engaging (there's only so much you can get into a plot about bankers and loan fraud). That sure was a pile of revelations that fell on our heads in the last chapter, though, wasn't it?
I don't know how I feel about Keira being Sethra. That is one damn big reveal and it comes a little too close to the ~your entire life is a giant conspiracy!~ thing that some canons do, which I'm not fond of (see also: River Song's life story). I also find Sethra, as a character, extremely difficult to get a handle on, so that doesn't help.
This does suggest that Morrolan having god blood is going to be important somehow in the future. I mean, I didn't think it was going to be dropped entirely as a plot thread, but if Sethra and the goddess set the whole thing up on purpose, there's got to be a reason for that.
And as if that wasn't enough, there's a sudden!surprise!baby!
I do love the unreliable-narrator aspect of this book, with neither Vlad nor Kiera/Sethra tipping their hand entirely to either each other or the reader (or, in Sethra's case, to Cawti either). I also love how many things become suddenly important in retrospect, like the opening lines about disguises, or Kiera preferring to write letters rather than making psychic contact, even the irony of Cawti talking about Kiera not telling her everything when those Cawti-Kiera interludes are also concealing something really huge.