Wrong Train, Right Time (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wrongtrainrighttime) wrote2018-07-29 11:05 pm
wrongtrainrighttime) wrote2018-07-29 11:05 pm
2 Unfinished Books: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente & Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
I keep thinking I'll get back to these and it keeps not happening, so I'm just going to knock them out here and move on.
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
I am on record here as a big fan of Valente, but about halfway through this book I had a terrible, sinking feeling, and that feeling was:
Space Opera isn't very good.
I kept going and going and while there's, like, one good concept, most of it just felt clunky. It seems really weird to me that a full half of the book (and it's not a long book!) is spent on the rules of Space Eurovision and random asides before anyone actually gets off planet. And THEN we finally get Decibel Jones and Oort running into the exception in Rule 20. Like, that happened, and I wondered why the hell it had taken half a book of navel-gazing to get to a point where the rules were actually going to affect anything beyond, you know, existing.
And, here's the thing, I do like this roundabout random asides style of structuring a novel...sometimes. It's a very Valente thing to do. But in Space Opera it felt like it got taken way, way too far, to the point of just distorting the structure of the book in a bad way. In fact the whole book felt ridiculously self-indulgent, in the way that makes you wish the editor had been a bit more judicious with their red pen.
And, here's another thing... I did flip ahead, I wanted to know if it was going to be worth continuing, I guess. And when I got to the final concert and, really, I think that just killed my interest. Mira got fridged, and then she got un-fridged, but she didn't even get un-fridged in a way that respected her growing up and struggling and complicated relationship with Dess. Nope, only the pristine young innocent Mira gets to be alive again.
Since then I've been meaning to go back and start over, I was in a bit of a weird mood when I started the first time, but after laying this all out: nah. No thanks.
Strange Practice (Greta Helsing #1) by Vivian Shaw
I am on record here as a big fan of Arkady Martine, and Vivian Shaw is her wife (and also wrote a short story I liked a lot: "The Utmost Bound" in Uncanny Magazine.).
So, yes, that was my primary motivation, but the premise of Strange Practice was intriguing too. A doctor who serves the secret underworld of supernatural beings, getting into adventures, and mysteries, with supernatural beings throughout the ages! Exciting!
And you know what? Strange Practice delivers on that practice. Greta is a doctor, supernatural beings abound, there is mystery and a bit of adventure. And I do like how the novel is kind. Life in service of a secret underworld is hard, yes, but Greta is not alone. This is not that kind of mystery. She has a community -- old friends, new friends, colleagues, patients. For all that the plot is driven by a new and deadly threat, it's remarkably gentle. The sense of community is really lovely.
But I guess...it's almost too gentle. All the conversations feel a little too carefully designed to feel like people actually talking to each other. And it feels like the plot is (apologies to all featured vampires) missing some teeth. Admittedly, I'm only about 20% of the way through, but despite the eerie threats to Greta's life, I couldn't muster a real sense of concern or even desire to know what was coming.
I don't dislike Shaw as a writer, and I do like a lot of what she's doing in Strange Practice... So I think perhaps this disconnect really is a matter of wrong timing. Still. I don't wish to continue right now, so I won't.
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
I am on record here as a big fan of Valente, but about halfway through this book I had a terrible, sinking feeling, and that feeling was:
Space Opera isn't very good.
I kept going and going and while there's, like, one good concept, most of it just felt clunky. It seems really weird to me that a full half of the book (and it's not a long book!) is spent on the rules of Space Eurovision and random asides before anyone actually gets off planet. And THEN we finally get Decibel Jones and Oort running into the exception in Rule 20. Like, that happened, and I wondered why the hell it had taken half a book of navel-gazing to get to a point where the rules were actually going to affect anything beyond, you know, existing.
And, here's the thing, I do like this roundabout random asides style of structuring a novel...sometimes. It's a very Valente thing to do. But in Space Opera it felt like it got taken way, way too far, to the point of just distorting the structure of the book in a bad way. In fact the whole book felt ridiculously self-indulgent, in the way that makes you wish the editor had been a bit more judicious with their red pen.
And, here's another thing... I did flip ahead, I wanted to know if it was going to be worth continuing, I guess. And when I got to the final concert and, really, I think that just killed my interest. Mira got fridged, and then she got un-fridged, but she didn't even get un-fridged in a way that respected her growing up and struggling and complicated relationship with Dess. Nope, only the pristine young innocent Mira gets to be alive again.
Since then I've been meaning to go back and start over, I was in a bit of a weird mood when I started the first time, but after laying this all out: nah. No thanks.
Strange Practice (Greta Helsing #1) by Vivian Shaw
I am on record here as a big fan of Arkady Martine, and Vivian Shaw is her wife (and also wrote a short story I liked a lot: "The Utmost Bound" in Uncanny Magazine.).
So, yes, that was my primary motivation, but the premise of Strange Practice was intriguing too. A doctor who serves the secret underworld of supernatural beings, getting into adventures, and mysteries, with supernatural beings throughout the ages! Exciting!
And you know what? Strange Practice delivers on that practice. Greta is a doctor, supernatural beings abound, there is mystery and a bit of adventure. And I do like how the novel is kind. Life in service of a secret underworld is hard, yes, but Greta is not alone. This is not that kind of mystery. She has a community -- old friends, new friends, colleagues, patients. For all that the plot is driven by a new and deadly threat, it's remarkably gentle. The sense of community is really lovely.
But I guess...it's almost too gentle. All the conversations feel a little too carefully designed to feel like people actually talking to each other. And it feels like the plot is (apologies to all featured vampires) missing some teeth. Admittedly, I'm only about 20% of the way through, but despite the eerie threats to Greta's life, I couldn't muster a real sense of concern or even desire to know what was coming.
I don't dislike Shaw as a writer, and I do like a lot of what she's doing in Strange Practice... So I think perhaps this disconnect really is a matter of wrong timing. Still. I don't wish to continue right now, so I won't.