Re: McKinley: Re: epic fantasies

Yay!! : ) I have so many things I want to respond to . . . I'll try to get
them all in one message. : ) I haven't read Discworld, but I did pick up a
collaboration between Pratchett and Neil Gaiman called Good Omens. I'm
rather fond of Gaiman; his book Neverwhere (I think that's the title) is
truly excellent. Makes one think of Charles DeLint in some ways.

I haven't touched Rawn in a while. I've learned to become wary of large
series since I rely on my local library for books. One becomes slightly
bothered to find books one and three, or two and three, or one and two, etc.
  It's even worse when the books haven't been written yet because then one
must wait for the book to come out, then the library to buy it (if it does)
and then for the hold list to shrink to a reasonable number. : P As for
Pol, his was the only presence that really irritated me. Other than that,
her characters were, on the whole, quite interesting. I did have some
problems at first with adjusting to the complex social relationships she
uses sometimes . . . who is married to who, who spent years training under
who, who was going to be married to who but decided otherwise, etc. It
doesn't at all help that I have no head for names! But the charts and
geneological tables at the back were very useful. And Rawn can come up with
so many good character names. : ) Which is important!

I've tried a little CJ Cherryh, but the series I read was fantasy. Er, the
Dreaming Tree, I think . . . or the one with Sidhe and other strangely
pronounced words. I really enjoyed it . . . it had that ethereal quality
that I love so much about fairy tales.

Of Wrede, while I can't say I liked her Magician's Ward as much as I liked
Marielon the Magician, her Book of Enchantments wasn't too bad. Of course,
I've lost my copy and can't find it at a library so I can't remember more
than vague impressions of the stories. She (Wrede) did a Star Wars novel
for children based on Episode one, recently. I haven't read it yet . . . my
natural distaste of books based on movies and my desire to read any of her
new work are at war. : P

McKillip is excellent! There is no more to be said . . . other than that if
her books hadn't always been right next to Robin's, I don't think I would
have read any of them!

Robin Hobb posts on AOL message boards from time to time (for those AOL
users out there) which is really quite interesting. One may ask questions
directly of the author whenever one thinks of them. Wrede does the same. :
) I didn't think Fitz was that much of a jerk though I'll agree with you
about the stupid. But it's actually (strangely enough) one of the things I
like about Hobb . . . that her characters really aren't perfect. Though I
could have used a better ending to that series . . . I can't believe she
actually does that to him!!!!! : P

Has anyone heard of the Dragon Quartet? It's something I picked up a long
time ago in a high school library and I've forgotten the author now . . . as
well as the titles of the actual books.

My correspondence (what little there was of it) with Robin was waaaaaay back
in the sixth grade, when I was still young enough to belive the world
revolved around me. I actually have two letters of hers of which I am very
very proud! : ) She was just giving me a list of authors, among which
Elizabeth Moon was one. I believe, if you do wish to start Moon, you have
to start with the Deed of Paksinarion (sp?) because everything else (that
isn't a collaboration with someone else) stems from that book. The other
ones (Liar's Oath, etc) will make sense, but not as much sense. : )
Anyhow, Deed is good . . . Moon has an eye for military detail that's kinda
new in a fantasy novel. I learned stuff! : )

I don't know much about Beagle. I'm fairly sure he's American . . . but I'm
not sure where he's living anymore. I haven't really been keeping up with
his new books . . . the library doesn't seem to like Beagle all that much,
to my disappointment. He doesn't write much though . .

I don't think I've ever dreamed of Robin. Although (a kinda related story,
but not really) I must say when I finally saw her photograph, she looked
very much like the way I would have imagined her . . . with a direct, frank
gaze and a no-nonsense kind of face. : )

Something I found amusing: I was wandering through the lit crit section of
the library when I found a slim volume of the symbolism of Piers Anthony's
Xanth series. : ) I hadn't realized that his work had recieved that kind
of analysis . . .

::grin:: When I first saw the Disney B&B I was certain someone had been
reading Beauty! : ) Disney may overdramatize a little, and throw in random
"bad characters" but, like Robin mentioned in the transcript of that
interview, the important thing is that Beauty made a choice without having
to escape from a horrible home. Other wise, it doesn't really count, does
it? Awful, poor home with lots of sisters . . . or nice empty mansion?

And now that I've reached the end of my five page email (see what happens
when you guys give me a chance to talk?? ; )) I'm off to think of more
random things to post! : )

--eli

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Received on Thu Aug 5 05:35:57 1999