Story recs
11 Apr 2005 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kangeikoGoliath by Neil Gaiman.
Yes, that Neil Gaiman. I found this fabulous story on this site, which has a collection of various Matrix fics, all written by professionals. In this fic, things happen. And then they happen. And again...
Also bloody good is System Freeze by Poppy Z. Brite, in which promises are made and then broken.
I'm going to go read some more, but before I do, has anyone read Feintuch's The Still? I read his Hope series a couple of years ago and was pretty fond of it (especially the first four), and always so plenty of subtext in there, what with all the whipping and caning and manly declarations of love. So I figured that The Still would be rather cool and groovy as it had canon slash in a fantasy genre. Not seen every day, after all.
Well, it pains me to say it, but it sucks.
The lead - Roddy - is incredibly annoying. He starts off a whiny coward, and progresses to a whiny coward that is completely aware of being a whiny coward but still fails to do anything about it. I suppose that it is a realistic portrayal, but it doesn't mean that I empathise with him. Roddy is heir apparent to the throne of Caledon when his mother the Queen dies and his Uncle Mar goes slightly homicidal. We're supposed to root for Roddy's quest to regain his throne, liberate his baby bro Pytor and protect his young brother Elryc, and then there's Rustin, the slightly older yet incredibly mature and handsome mentor (with a really big jewelled sword). As Roddy must remain a virgin to wield The Still (a power which is not revealed until the end and is frankly a wee bit trite), he can't jump on any of the sterotypical women that pass his way. No, not the slutty Chela, nor Tresa-the-former-childhood-acquaintance-now-blossoming-beauty. As far as I can remember, those are the only women around. There's also hestor, but she's an Old Crone (TM). And the Queen, who was supposed to be wise and knowledgeable etc etc but still managed to choose Roddy as her heir, when it's incredibly obvious that young Elric would have made a better choice.
Meanwhile, Uncle Mar plots and schemes, which is where things really start to unravel because he's actually not bad as Regent. Yes, okay, the minor matter of trying to steal Roddy's throne, but, honestly, Roddy's so incredibly stupid and self-centred that I was actually wishing that he'd die heroically and someone - anyone - would have to take over in his stead. Because he was really pissing me off.
Also, the sex? Book sex. It read like Mills & Boon, complete with heaving chests and hands in inappropriate places. *shudder*
All in all, a pretty big disappointment. Mr Feintuch - stick to the futuristic space operas, please, I much prefer godly (and humourless) Nick Seafort and all the UST he has with Tolliver ("Why, Tolliver, I didn't know you cared." "I don't. They'd court-martial me if I let you die." *Nick fails to understand the humour and instead has Tolliver's breeches removed for another caning*). Also, with Philip Tyre, and all the hero-worship, student/mentor wrongness. Ah, Mr Tyre, whom Nicky describes as beautiful, as wonderful, as incredibly handsome, as many other things because all Nick can think of when he sees young Mr Tyre is how spiffy he looks in those Navy blues.
*glow*
Yes, that Neil Gaiman. I found this fabulous story on this site, which has a collection of various Matrix fics, all written by professionals. In this fic, things happen. And then they happen. And again...
Also bloody good is System Freeze by Poppy Z. Brite, in which promises are made and then broken.
I'm going to go read some more, but before I do, has anyone read Feintuch's The Still? I read his Hope series a couple of years ago and was pretty fond of it (especially the first four), and always so plenty of subtext in there, what with all the whipping and caning and manly declarations of love. So I figured that The Still would be rather cool and groovy as it had canon slash in a fantasy genre. Not seen every day, after all.
Well, it pains me to say it, but it sucks.
The lead - Roddy - is incredibly annoying. He starts off a whiny coward, and progresses to a whiny coward that is completely aware of being a whiny coward but still fails to do anything about it. I suppose that it is a realistic portrayal, but it doesn't mean that I empathise with him. Roddy is heir apparent to the throne of Caledon when his mother the Queen dies and his Uncle Mar goes slightly homicidal. We're supposed to root for Roddy's quest to regain his throne, liberate his baby bro Pytor and protect his young brother Elryc, and then there's Rustin, the slightly older yet incredibly mature and handsome mentor (with a really big jewelled sword). As Roddy must remain a virgin to wield The Still (a power which is not revealed until the end and is frankly a wee bit trite), he can't jump on any of the sterotypical women that pass his way. No, not the slutty Chela, nor Tresa-the-former-childhood-acquaintance-now-blossoming-beauty. As far as I can remember, those are the only women around. There's also hestor, but she's an Old Crone (TM). And the Queen, who was supposed to be wise and knowledgeable etc etc but still managed to choose Roddy as her heir, when it's incredibly obvious that young Elric would have made a better choice.
Meanwhile, Uncle Mar plots and schemes, which is where things really start to unravel because he's actually not bad as Regent. Yes, okay, the minor matter of trying to steal Roddy's throne, but, honestly, Roddy's so incredibly stupid and self-centred that I was actually wishing that he'd die heroically and someone - anyone - would have to take over in his stead. Because he was really pissing me off.
Also, the sex? Book sex. It read like Mills & Boon, complete with heaving chests and hands in inappropriate places. *shudder*
All in all, a pretty big disappointment. Mr Feintuch - stick to the futuristic space operas, please, I much prefer godly (and humourless) Nick Seafort and all the UST he has with Tolliver ("Why, Tolliver, I didn't know you cared." "I don't. They'd court-martial me if I let you die." *Nick fails to understand the humour and instead has Tolliver's breeches removed for another caning*). Also, with Philip Tyre, and all the hero-worship, student/mentor wrongness. Ah, Mr Tyre, whom Nicky describes as beautiful, as wonderful, as incredibly handsome, as many other things because all Nick can think of when he sees young Mr Tyre is how spiffy he looks in those Navy blues.
*glow*
