Another review, Melusine this time

[truepenny]

Mélusine gets panned over at Associated Content.

Comments

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Ouch. She really didn't like it, did she? :(

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

Regardless of whether I feel the reviewer had valid or invalid points (which is really kinda null because I just got home from good sushi and nothing can be bad in my world post-good-sushi so naturally this review's negative parts are not even worth noticing, because, hey, SUSHI), is it just me or does it seem like she cut & paste the phrase "Sarah Monette" about fifty bazillion times in the review? Maybe it's a reviewer's quirk, maybe it's some kind of psychological tick thanks to a little too much medication (or sushi?, no, wait, that's just me) but it started to feel like it was the right moment to write the reviewer and say, "reviewer, meet pronoun, pronoun, meet reviewer."

I believe everyone has their idiosyncracies, and I also believe now I'll have another drink. Since, y'know, sushi gone. Sadness. But only in the sense of good-over-now sadness.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Sushi is a victory condition.

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

hm. so she didn't like it at all, but rated it a 3.8? or is that how people are rating her review ... ah yes, i think that's it. ok, that explains that. :) pardon me while i lower that a little...

so what's with the liberal strewing of "sarah monette" throughout the review? i was tempted to count them, it was that obvoxious (not a typo :). does she have a personal beef here? i've noticed that people who do not like me use my name a lot more often when addressing me or speaking about me than people who do like me.

not a habit that makes me look forward to her own novel, for which she's apparently going to write a couple of paragraphs now that queerdom's been so sadly let down by SARAH MONETTE.

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

*whistles innocently*

It's now down to 3.3, tra la la...

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* If she really wants mediocre fantasy, I can direct her to some -- and darn it, must write my review, -- but we apparently read very different novels. Maybe it's because I don't have a queer book club, darn it! I actually cannot stand book clubs, having been in several of them, and they always make me turn violence -- for one thing, it takes so long for people to read books, and for another, they say such stupid things about them. (And I teach English, so if I have to hear ill informed comments about books, I'm damn well going to to get paid for it.) I am fascinated by the way the different schools of wizardry work -- for me, any confusion would be only because each school was limited in what they could know or do, each "discipline" or (ack) department (sorry, academia!) not willing to talk to each other, and obviously a whole lot of unethical and corrupt stuff going on underneath it all.

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

i should stop. blood pressure going up.

us classless American types not understanding status, nobility, etc.

because, um, we're seeing through two point of view characters who are not from the nobility, from the lowest of the lowest social strata, and who would therefore not necessarily "understand" the inner lives (snort, yep, all those sensitive inner feelings of those noble types?) of the nobility in the same way someone born into that class would be.

[pabba.livejournal.com]

Maybe you can review her masterpiece once she finishes it and point out that she called dollar bills Centaurs. I liked Melusine!!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, truepenny. Why couldn't Felix have been raped more butchly? And don't you think the character of a brutalized child sold into a brothel would have been a lot more realistic if it were informed by the modern liberated sex workers' movement?

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

...don't make me write a butch same-sex rape scene.

Just don't.

(*loff*)

[mirrorthaw.livejournal.com]

Me, personally, I have no opinion on that review, none whatsoever. Really. I swear it. Johnny over there in the icon, on the other hand....he looks a little upset.

[heresluck]

My demon mutant fennel of DOOM salutes your pissed-off Johnny Cash.

[xenacryst.livejournal.com]

Well, what a fine review... Myself, I just have to say that I picked up Melusine earlier this week (as I had been meaning to for quite some time), and am thoroughly enjoying it.

[lydaiya.livejournal.com]

Felix isn't girly. I've read stories with feminized men and, believe me, Felix doesn't come close.

Hi. Inveterate lurker here, but thought you might appreciate some support after that idiotic review. I note that she's got a journalism degree, which might explain a lot. One of my basic English courses in college was taught by a journalism professor, and I realized that there were going to be problems when I got my first paper back; she wanted all of the sentences brief and the word choice simple.

Honestly, the whole thing felt extremely petty to me, as if she didn't want to read it in the first place and was therefore determined to find fault. To say you used all of the tropes of fantasy is absurd. I'm sure I would have remembered magic swords, bards with "the Voice" and telepathic animals had they appeared. And you should have studied the actual practice of magic in this world to make your magic better? So what, writers should only use magic in their books if it's "real" magic? Quick, someboyd notify, um, the majority of fantasy writers out there. No gorgons appeared in the book, therefore the world has no gorgons and calling the money that makes no sense. Riight.

Given this woman's apparent inability to reason logically, I can't imagine any book she might write would be very readable. "The action is set at inn named The Cocks Crow! Now I must be certain to make mention of cocks somewhere in the text so that it is clear that they exist in this world and that calling an inn that is legitimate!" Of course, she did not specify she was writing about another world, so maybe she needn't go to those lengths. Still. The woman's intelligence (note I have not once used even her last name, yet my subject remains obvious!) does not impress me, and I find it impossible to do anything but shrug impatiently in her general direction.

Hope this makes you feel a bit better!

[pariyal.livejournal.com]

When she writes "If the reader doesn’t desire to do magic or have access to magic from reading a fantasy novel, a large part of the fantasy novel has failed", does she mean that all fantasy novels should evoke the desire to do magic in readers? If that's really what she means, either her idea of what 'fantasy' is is completely different from mine or I haven't been writing fantasy all these years, because there's nothing in it what she would call magic.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I love it when reviewers fall into the Mirror Universe. Now, remind me--is it you that's evil and bearded, or your twin?

[yourssincerely.livejournal.com]

Everyone's got their critics - some people were born to be critics and can never find (or at least appreciate) the good in things. She may think the plot wasn't deep enough or that the characters didn't develop well, but I think for the first book in the series, you put in just enough information to keep us interested, but not so much that you have nothing to tell us in the next few books. I am quite pleased with where the characters and plot stand after Mélusine because I realize that there is room for development, which is crucial in a series - how else will you hold our interest? That's just my amateurish two cents.

[scott-lynch.livejournal.com]

Haven't read the book yet (it's sitting on my bookshelf in lovely hardcover, waiting to be devoured), but that was a dismal, presumptuous, dilletante-ish sort of review that deserved no brow-furrowing. In fact, it's sort of a badge of honor to be thought of as 'mediocre' by someone who honestly thinks that "real-world magical theory" needs to inform fictional thaumaturgy.

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

A few hours more post-sushi and I'm glad I'm not the only one who twigged on that; when I read the review, I honestly figured that tidbit had to be due to a little too much spicy tuna and couldn't possibly have been real. I mean, saying a fantasy author's work should be informed by "real-world magical theory" is sort of like, what, saying Star Trek should be informed by "real-world transporter theory"?

[leahbobet.livejournal.com]

Erm. Is it bad to say I bounced off the text of the review in the first paragraph and skimmed until the third, when I closed it?

[mincedniku.livejournal.com]

In an attempt to help counteract any negative side effects that review may have caused you, I'd just like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed Mélusine. I don't read a lot, mainly because I have such a short attention span that it's very difficult for me to get into books. I was so~ happy to be reading Mélusine because it wasn't boring. At all. And that's saying a lot coming from me. xD I don't think it was cliché at all and really liked your approach on how you handled the world. In fact, the biggest problem I had with it was that the Felix on the cover didn't have the right eyes or the scars on his back (which has nothing to do with you), but I think that's just the artist in me being picky. Haha.

So yes, while there will always be people out there who hate what you do, don't forget that there are just as many, if not more, who love your work. Thank you so much for sharing your talent. I just got The Virtu in the mail today and I'm already on Chapter 7, though I cheated and read the first four chapters online because I was too impatient to wait for the book to arrive. :D :D :D

[jodi-davis.livejournal.com]

Wow, Sarah Monette, I, Jodi Davis, think it is clear that Racheline Maltese is quite the douche bag.

[hominysnark.livejournal.com]

I don't agree with the reviewer's opinion, but I don't think she's a douchebag for having one that differs from mine.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, she really didn't like it, did she? It's unfortunate that she couldn't produce a decent argument to support her case (I mean, just at random, "If the reader doesn’t desire to do magic or have access to magic from reading a fantasy novel, a large part of the fantasy novel has failed" - really? Is that a rule? Damn, musta missed it...). And then, of course, she gives herself away entirely: "The greatest benefit I’ve gotten from Sarah Monete’s novel is that is has forced me to make a significant start on my own novel".

So there you are, truepenny, you done good. You contribute to literature, albeit vicariously. Not like that matociquala, whose books are not worth dying beside.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

I sincerely hope my books have never killed anyone. Although I do have that sneaking suspicion about Peter Jennings.

[lalouve.livejournal.com]

I have heard many better reviews from my students, and they don't claim to be critics. Admittedly I haven't read Melusine - so many books, so little time - but it strikes me as rather natural to leave loose ends dnagling enticingly if you're writing the first book of a series? Or did I not get the memo about closure being required at all, much less for every single volume?

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I have read it, and in fact it has a ton more closure than most first volumes of series. It's an episode, to be followed by more episodes, not a chunk of story put between separate covers for your reading convenience.

[phoebesmum.livejournal.com]

Oh, woe.

I liked it, if that helps. Of course, I like slash fiction, so I'm not sure my vote counts in anything that may be considered reputable circles. And I bought the sequel in hardcover, so there ya go, that's like one-gazillionth of a royalty cheque right there.

/vote of confidence.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Like between one-seven-and-one-fifteen-thousandth of an advance, given a standard advance and a standard rate. *g*

Doesn't that make you feel better?

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I had a German friend with a huge vocabulary in English which came from a base of learning English in school leavened by reading millions of fantasy novels -- so his pronunciation of ordinary words was fine, but his pronunciation of words he'd only read might be a little unusual. He once mentioned a gorgon as a gore-gown. He also had an unusual pronunciation of "moron" as "MOW-ron". It's very satisfying to say, MOW-ron, and it suits that reviewer very well.

[db2305.livejournal.com]

Because this seems to be a good moment to say this: I enjoyed Mélusine immensely, and although the reviewer is free to dislike it, of course, her arguments make no sense whatsoever...

Well, duh

[oursin.livejournal.com]

It would help anyone's case in a review if they didn't write, themselves, in excruciatingly clonkety-clonk-clonk prose. It would also help if they didn't display their need to have everything carefully spelt out for them in large letters, with lots of maps and glossaries and diagrams of the magical system and the hierarchy of gods and devils. And didn't reveal in every sentence that they are, in fact, much less genre-knowledgeable than they think they are.

I.e. is as the crackling of thorns under a pot.

Even reviews occasionally deserve a codslapping.

[mikaelbard.livejournal.com]

i've not actually read the book yet, tho i own it, so i can not REALLY comment but i DO find it amusing she say's your full name so much.
whatever happened to miss/ms monette or even just useing monette by itself since she does not REALLY like the book ?

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

That read to me like the "wah wah wah" sounds from Charlie Brown.

For what it's worth...

[kate-burgess.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I'll admit that I haven't had the chance to read 'Melusine', yet (I thought I'd better read the books I've already amassed before I buy yet another), but it's on my list books to read soon. So, I guess I can't say a true 'yay' or 'nay' to the review.

However.

I have run across that particular person in my lj circles (I wasn't aware she did reviews) and have been less than impressed by any opinion she's offered. I've also been awed (not in a good way) over her implied vanity as every one of her lj icons is a glamour shot of herself. So, while I've no doubt that any bad review hurts like hell, as a potential reader, I took one look at who it was and knew I wouldn't take her opinion with even one ounce of weight.