What am I reading Wednesday
May. 14th, 2014 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nineveh_ukIn the midst of the headlong whirl, I turn to the one who I know will always give me what I want, where there are no nasty surprises, and I need to engage my brain just enough for enjoyment and no more. I turn to David Eddings, and a re-read of the 3-volume Elenium*
I like David Eddings. He was a lot of fun in my teenage years, and I’ve never found anyone like him – admittedly I haven’t always tried that hard, but when I have I’ve been disappointed**. Eddings at his worst is awful tosh, but Eddings at his best, and The Diamond Throne is definitely his best, is splendid fun. Largely free of armies of gods bestriding worlds, it has a small cast and a fairly contained plot, the quest element retaining a tolerable relationship to normal values of time and distance, and a large political element. The heroes are professionals, the villains are also professionals (I think it was partly the villains that hooked me the first time – ambitious churchman who gets seriously out of his depth, the friend-turned-adversary who knows he took the wrong road, but can’t go back because of pride***), there is sufficient worldbuilding for things to work, and the weather always seems to be terrible. Does it ever stop raining in Cimmura? Oh, and I shipped Sephrenia/Vanion madly. There is not nearly enough fanfic; I may have to write some.
In another fandom entirely, you know that the endgame of a fic isn’t quite for you when you start saying “But all Lapland hotels have excellent central heating!” when after a number of short amusing chapters the inevitable arrives in the form of huddling-together-for-warmth-leads-to-more. Oh Cabin Pressure fandom, why do you fail me so?
Have not been writing the Giant WIP, but have managed to think about it a bit and have come up with the beginnings of filling in a plot-hole, which is good.
*Who was it who started the trend of calling fantasy doorstoppers by these daft pseudo-epic names?
**Any recommendations, do give them.
***I bet there’s Sparkhawk/Martel slash out there. There has to be, goodness knows there was plenty of subtext.
I like David Eddings. He was a lot of fun in my teenage years, and I’ve never found anyone like him – admittedly I haven’t always tried that hard, but when I have I’ve been disappointed**. Eddings at his worst is awful tosh, but Eddings at his best, and The Diamond Throne is definitely his best, is splendid fun. Largely free of armies of gods bestriding worlds, it has a small cast and a fairly contained plot, the quest element retaining a tolerable relationship to normal values of time and distance, and a large political element. The heroes are professionals, the villains are also professionals (I think it was partly the villains that hooked me the first time – ambitious churchman who gets seriously out of his depth, the friend-turned-adversary who knows he took the wrong road, but can’t go back because of pride***), there is sufficient worldbuilding for things to work, and the weather always seems to be terrible. Does it ever stop raining in Cimmura? Oh, and I shipped Sephrenia/Vanion madly. There is not nearly enough fanfic; I may have to write some.
In another fandom entirely, you know that the endgame of a fic isn’t quite for you when you start saying “But all Lapland hotels have excellent central heating!” when after a number of short amusing chapters the inevitable arrives in the form of huddling-together-for-warmth-leads-to-more. Oh Cabin Pressure fandom, why do you fail me so?
Have not been writing the Giant WIP, but have managed to think about it a bit and have come up with the beginnings of filling in a plot-hole, which is good.
*Who was it who started the trend of calling fantasy doorstoppers by these daft pseudo-epic names?
**Any recommendations, do give them.
***I bet there’s Sparkhawk/Martel slash out there. There has to be, goodness knows there was plenty of subtext.