review whiplash

[truepenny]

Good.

Bad.

(N.b., that's their opinion of me, not my opinion of them.)

Comments

[marith.livejournal.com]

*eyes negative review* I dunno. Someone who cares that much about the placement and names of animal species and the linguistic integrity of names, and who so thoroughly seems to dislike hurt-comfort and emotional angst, must frequently be disappointed with fantasy books. (At least she puts you in company with Swordspoint.)

[ashkta.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! My review has been found (the velvetlibrarian one, that is). Silly thing took me ages to finish, and I'm still not sure it lives up to expectation. ^_^

As for the other one - my goodnes. That's an awful lot of negativity for one review. And I won't argue anyone on their point of view, but the writer seemed a bit nitpicky to me. I mean, I just have to point out, it IS a fantasy novel. So what if there are crocodiles and coyotes? I'm not really following how that's relevant. And, anyway, I've always been a proponent of using creatures people know rather than making up crazy fantasy names to describe the same kind of animal.

As for words like 'fuck' and whatnot.... I don't see why that matters either. I would never say a word is too modern for any setting, especially a fantasy novel. Unless it was historical fiction, which Melusine and The Virtu are not.

I admit, I had to stop reading the review, though. After a certain point I couldn't really follow what was being said. Or maybe I'm just biased as I liked both of the books very much. I guess I just like to take a novel for what it is instead of attaching so many requirements to it. *shrug*

[cschells.livejournal.com]

Somebody (not pointing any fingers) might need to consider surrendering their Fantasy Library Card for mental and emotional health reasons... Sheesh. *gestures encouragingly toward the natural history section of the library*

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Well, gracious. At least her axe must be nice and sharp now.

[perverse-idyll.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well. Interesting pair of bookends, those reviews. For the record, I'm definitely in the Love It camp, but I was enjoying the pizazz and personality quirks of the negative review, taking note now and then of how closely it resembled a job lot of personal preferences, i.e. prejucides, wrapped up in glittery critical rant. But then the poster goes on to accuse you of sexploitation. And glamorizing gayness as if it's so old news to have a character's sexual identity actually conflict with his ambitions and culture. (Although, me? I'd be ecstatic to have my work consigned to burn in hell with the likes of Swordspoint. Oh, pshaw, you character-driven, lapidary writers you. How dare you complexify the moral quagmire of the decadent underbelly! Where Are Your Heroes? Where are your Frodo and Aragorn?)

Problem is, this post doesn't know when to quit. I started inching away when it became apparent that the reviewer was unable to stop pissing on you because of your unmitigated gall in questioning Tolkien's conclusions. Great Geek in Heaven, you have certainly managed to get on this person's ranty side. I suppose having a dialogue with one's antecedants and revolving the diamond to see how else it might be cut is off limits when it comes to Hallowed Objects.

In any case, negative reviews of things I love always interest me, because I enjoy looking through another pair of eyes. But when I could no longer recognize by hir description the book I'd read, I lost, first respect, then interest. Still, the poster's voice is lively enough that I might give hir other screeds a peek.

No comment on the positive review, because I'd just be recapitulating everything velvetlibrarian said.

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

Hi! It's the Penguicon Head of Programming here. I appear to have lost your contact info somehow. Would you please email me at matt dot mattarn at gmail dot com?

[april-art.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with Nora Roberts?

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, I'm amazed the person who wrote the bad review can stand any fantasy books at all.

[poshlil.livejournal.com]

Me too. And I always thought that review writers were supposed to make them short (ish), to the point, and use correct grammar.

I agree entirely with everyone who has mentioned it - based on that review, there isn't a single fantasy series I've liked that i could recommend them (and probably not even half the ones i didn't like.) I really would like to point them in the direction of Phillipa Gregory, if solely for the historical accuracy they seem to crave, but whoops - she has abuse themes, angst and inappropriate sex scenes too.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

>And I always thought that review writers were supposed to make them short (ish), to the point, and use correct grammar.

There's a fairly significant difference between a review and a blog post.

(Some blog posts do want to be reviews. Some even do a good job of it. But I don't think this particular one is claiming to be anything other than it is?)

[(Anonymous)]

You obviously inspire passion, Dr Monette :)

[hlglne.livejournal.com]

She thinks Tanith Lee has the sun rising over her noggin. That tends to warp her suspension of disbelief. It's hard to surpass somebody whose stuff is mostly out of print and unavailable for actual comparisons anymore.

And why does everyone think Felix is a jerk? I didn't. It's like blaming a bird for having feathers instead of fur.

Holy Feral Alley Cats

[spank-an-elf.livejournal.com]

And here I thought I was over critical during my reading. Yes, here and there I shrugged and winced, wondering why and what and oh come on (usually wanting to slap Felix, gee, what a stunner!)

Mind you, I adore the books.

To paraphase dear Mildmay, dunno, do these overly critical folks own real jobs? Ranting is not the same as critique. Having been a music reviewer, yes, I know short and sweet is best.

Darling, keep the prose flowing clear and strong. You make your little Mildmays quite happy.

August 7. Ahhhh.
spanky