The Garden of Discordia

So I was going to do a nice, well-structured post on the German university system (because some of my former classmates from Sweden were curious) but that will have to wait a bit, since I'm feeling a bit too tired for that right now. My annoying almost-cold is beginning to become a real chest cold, which I am valiantly fighting with the help of fresh ginger tea, eucalyptus honey, hot steamy baths and a bit more actual shut-eye in the sleep/internet equation.

In the beginning of November, we'll go see the Norwegian all-female band Katzenjammer. According to our Katzenjammer-expert, they do "chaos pop with some folk-punk". It's fast, engaging and entertaining at least, and I think the concert might turn out to be really great - they seem like one of those bands that do extra well live.


One of my favorite songs, A bar in Amsterdam.

We bought the tickets today and, since we were at the ticket office already also got tickets for the musical Tanz der Vampire - one pair of plastic fangs included with the tickets!
Alas, it's based on the movie by Roman Polanski, him of serious skeevyness, and as such, I'm sure he'll get royalties. Otoh, I hope it's not too much, because Tanz der Vampire nicely filled some ticky-boxes on my mental "Stuffs I Must Do in Berlin This Exchange Year": Seeing some big-budget stage extravaganza, seeing a original German-language musical and vampires/gothy stuff. They'll show the Rocky Horror Picture Show here in Berlin too, in November, which works for ticky-box one and three, but since it will either be translated or in "denglish" (German talk, English songs) it moves to the second position.
Also, the stage images they have on the website look wonderful (eeeeeven though one of the posters has a bit of a Twilight-y vibe going on) so, uhm, I'll just be evil and go. Sorry.

A few days ago, I finished reading Walter Moer's Ensel and Krete: ein Märchen aus Zamonien. ( Bookblather goes here )

Basically, it's a take-it-or-leave-it book, though anyone who has a strong liking for Moer's style ought to have fun with it. It's also the first book where Hildegunst von Mythenmerz is introduced, which alone makes it worth a read.

When buying this one, I also noticed that the sequel to his Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher had arrived: Das Labyrinth der Träumenden Bücher! Only out in hardcover so far, but I'm very much looking forward to reading it later :) And there's apparantly a third part coming out in about a year, swell!

oursin posted the results from that silly "Vote the 100 Best SFF Works!" that some site had as a have read-meme. The results are really weird, quite skewed towards Gaiman and even contains unfinished (and currently in-progress) works, but what the heck - it's a book meme!

Filling that in sounded like excellent late night excersize to me, so here it comes!

( Books I have read, failed to finish & am planning to read )

Some of the old SF I read because my mother owned them, some because the selection of what was to be translated to Swedish & later bought in by my library was eclectic at best, pure insanity at other times... As for more current books, there are those I like (Pratchett, Gaiman, Miéville; plebian like I am) and those I read for work, more or less. Working in the geeky bookstore gives excellent access to a lot of smushed, cut, crushed or otherwise unsaleable books and with my reading speed, it is hardly a chore to skim the best-sellers and see what they're about, which I like and which I will only recommend to people who like what I hate. (Customer: I think Terry Goodkind is the best author evah! Me: Ah, right. Raymond Feist, Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan might interest you...?)

Of course, this whole "reading for leisure" thing kind of fell to the wayside this year, what with lit classes, trying to read in German and generall stress, but as soon as I'm done with that I will... actually, I'll probably be in Germany, reading lit class books in German so, eheheheh ^^;;;;

Late 2012, however, you bet you're ass I'll be reading like a [bleep]!!!

Packed up the last books going to grandma's today; or so I thought, because then I found the little shelf of cookbooks. Drat.

I have also managed to finish Katherine Kerr's Deverry Cycle!! That only took, what, 10-15 years? In my defence, most books were not published when I began, never mind translated into Swedish.

Fittingly enough for a book that jumps back and forth through time and reincarnations, I also did not read it entirely in the correct order. I got the two final books out of the "torn, smushed or otherwise wonky" heap at work (and thought that I had actually read all upp to The Shadow Isle. Which I obviously had not) and first thought I'd stick with that, until the "torn etc" heap turned up the remaining two. Only then I read about how Salamander had a prominent role in The Spirit Stone and since Salamander has been my favorite Deverry character since I was around 15, wellp, the decision was pretty much made for me.

Do I like it? Of course I like it! Most other series I started at around that time and couldn't finish in ~5 years are long abadoned. Jordan's Wheel of Time has been relocated to my mental "check the spoilers at Wikipedia" list years ago and unless I end up with a lot of time and the fantasy world goes up into a collective fangasm at the conclusion of A Song of Ice and Fire I fear that it too will end up there.

Despite Ms Kerr's confusing reincarnations, lack of proper who-is-who tables and endless tossings of heads, however, I have always known that I wanted to keep reading these to the end. It helps that I do not despise all the female characters that appear *cough*Jordan*cough* nor is the plot so twisty and the prose so thick that I have to re-read every book every time a new one deigns to appear *cough*Martin*cough*

The Deverry series has it's fault - an overabundance of reincarnations and names mostly, but I still prefer the characterization, the world and the general plotlines.

I'd like to preface that I am, actually, occasionally a mature and responsible adult. See, justs this week I met up with alitna to write. Alas, I was just exhausted after working a full day while still a bit ill and couldn't think of anything to write. But! Instead of faffing around on the net, I checked up things with CSN and filled in forms for my exchange year, quite responsible of me, yes?

And then there's times like yesternight, when I sat up to 03:33 (yep, exactly, I checked my clock) because I couldn't put down Elizabeth Moon's Kings of the North. No, I did not wake up at nine o'clock like planned to do laundry and go shopping early...

This is the second book in the Paladin's Legacy trilogy which is a sequel to the trilogy The Deed of Paksenarrion. The original trilogy is a real classic and a well-deserved one. Excellent female main character, manages to have religious themes and characters that don't bug the hell out of me, interesting plot, detailed world-building with a lot of attention to soldiers and more regular people (Moon has thought of how the plumbing works. Extensively) and enchanted me when I was a teen and still holds up very well for adult readers who have read several good works in the high fantasy genre.

And Paks - Well, Paks was just awesomesauce cool to my younger self. Her, and Kushana from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind were what I wanted to be if I ever got transported to magic land and learned sword fighting XD (only, with less background angst than Kushana, plz)

The Paladin's Legacy books are... weeeell, the first one was nice but a bit confusing since we don't follow one focus character in the same way as in the first books. And Kings of the North? I'm sorry to say that, while I had no problem keeping all the people apart, the overall plot structure in especially the later half of the book disappointed me a bit.

When I can start to see patterns and guess what's going to happen past 02:00, you're heading into dangerously easily-solved territory, ok?

I mean, there are a lot of concepts in this book I like - how things were set in movement by Paks, and not neccessarily by those events that impacted her personal development the most. Dorrin is a great character, and a very unusual type! A somewhat older woman (40-45ish) who gains a great amount of power and yields it with power, compassion and cool logic. That she is the second most prominent character in this trilogy so far makes me very happy.
And then there's Phelan, whom I just adored in the original books. He then had slight hints of Vetinari's characterization around him, although not at all as brilliant and all-knowing. He also has a very interesting backstory and many faults, which of course really come into play here as the books focus a lot on him.

But. Exactly like with the end of the Serrano Legacy* things just... fall into place far too easily during the final. We get new characters who more or less drop into the plot and wrap things up, we get a very rushed romantic subplot and a character makes some weird good-to-evil/no wait!/heel-face-turn I don't even really know journey.

Take the romance, (which, all righ, was slightly hinted): But that minor hint somehow morph into an almost shoujo manga-esque Love at first sight!! thing. Take note, Moon and JKR: Just because you know the characters love each other, doesn't mean the readers do. Have them bloody interact a bit more. At least this couple talks on a few pages and have a practice fight)

( Spoilers ahoy )

The portrayal of the Pargunese was also a bit bwuh to me, but to be honest, I was too tired to properly consider the exact implications at that time.

Also, let's talk about the cover for a moment! Because, see, this is a rather high-profile fantasy book. Not quite as big as the latest Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson, but large enough that they ship an impressive stack of hardcovers. They're also for some unknown reason (which I much appreciate :) release the trade paperback at the same time, so I don't have to wait six months to read about Phelan and the others' adventures.

All that taken to mind, it really surprises me that they couldn't fix a cover which contains a character actually in the book. See the picture there? That's Aragorn It's definitely not Paks, nor is it Dorrin, seeing as how they are women. (though Dorrin is probably on the cover of book one, Oath of Fealty, at least it's close to her colors).
Taken together with the title, I would assume the cover to contain either the king of Lyonya or Mikeli, the king of Tsaia. The latter, alas, is a young man just grown into maturity and he doesn't do any fighting in this book. ( Spoiler for the Paksenarrion trilogy )

So, all right, I've whined a lot about Kings of the North now. However, Paladin's Legacy is still 2/3 into the series, absolutely among the better half of fantasy literature that's out there to read. It's not as good as the amazing first trilogy, but until the big wrap-up which contains a bit too much fixit moments for my taste, it is quite interesting. What Moon does well is, among others, that she does not forget the non-kingly characters - the soldiers, the servants, the elderly who remember things. We also meet characters like the Duke of Andressat again and, I have to say, I never expected to like the old snob as much as I did now. Actions from the past have consequences, such that can't be just removed with a bit of magic.

Will I buy the next book? Oh yeah. Will I rec this book series to people? Oh yeah - And I usually anti-rec the Gird prequel to Paksenarrion, because that is just dull in great bits. But, for all the faults here, there are still many great characters and an underlying highly interesting plot thread that I think might remake the world of these characters a great deal.

And now I really gotta go and buy a fuse because one blew yesterday and I have no light in my (windowless) bedroom.

*I only bought one of the omnibuses, dunno exactly which books it contains

Life: It continues to be busy!

But I at least had the time to read The Story of Saiunkoku on the train home. It's a manga I have looked forward to read properly ever since someone posted a few pages to scans_daily years ago.

The art style is polished fantasy shoujo, similar in design to the (good) works of Yuu Watase and You Higuri. It's pretty similar to Watase's Fushigi Yuugi in other ways too, starting with the obvious Chinese influence. Stir in plenty of court intrigue and possibly prophecies or something from the mysterious past and a go-get-'em female lead, and the surface starts to look very similar.
But! There are many differences too, because Saiunkoku takes place entirely in one world. There's been no magic in the first volume and, so far, only one of the pretty men in the manga has become obviously infatuated with the main character. Who is also btw admired because she's smart and driven, yay.

I like shoujo manga, especially the historical and fantasy kind (high school romances tend to bore me) but I will freely admit that there is a problem with the female main characters. In short, they tend to do little but have to be rescued after a while. Sometimes for really stupid reasons too.

It's way too early to say how Saiunkoku will develop in that fashion, but at least Shurei isn't supposed to run around and fight people (so she shouldn't be able to fail at it). Instead, she's supposed to teach the reluctant young emperor how to actually be an emperor - a task she has accepted because it means she gets The Moniez, and this is very important to Shurei.

Shurei, the main character, reminds me a great deal of Tohru from Fruits Basket, except she's way sharper when it comes to handling her money. They do seem to share the same kindness, however, and they're both very likeable; both for characters in the story and reader (well, me at least).
This is great, because far too often (in all kinds of genres), one finds a person everyone loves, from good old Mary Sue over to generic harem-manga leading man, for no reason whatsoever.

Here, we're presented with a noble but impoverished young girl, who is both book-smart and knows the pains of the world. She's still got a positive outlook on life, but it's not all roses and cheer - and yes, I like her. Maybe she's a bit too good, but heck, she's the HEROINE, she's allowed to. And the author still makes me think that if I met her in real life, she's someone I could easily come to like.

There appears to be much more intrigue, palace schemes and whatnot brewing in this manga than in your typical shoujo story. I hope it keeps up and develops those threads even further, because there's the potential of a really, really good story here.

So far, I like it a lot ^_^ Since I also bought the very last volume of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, this series came at just the right moment. Might even give the anime a try if the manga keeps my interest...

By the way, Saiunkoku is another anime where it's fun to play "Spot the voice actor!"
( Seiyuu-geek out )

So I am busy. Quite insanely busy. My AMAZING & BRILLIANT & in general very sparkle-and-cake deserving friends helped me move last Sunday. We hauled boxes upon boxes of books (and coffee cups, oh, do I have too many coffee cups) and they put together my sofa while I went with some other friends to get the second load. And, in general, they were teh awesum. Thank you!!!

( My business, let me tell you about it )

As for reading, there really hasn't been that much time. I bought and read Under Ground Hotel which is now out in English and read that. Whiiich doesn't really take all that long, considering that it's a very explicit yaoi manga. Inspired a lot by the tv-series OZ, apparantly. So plenty of well-drawn and violent prison sex, ahem /fans self

Mostly I've been reading Harry Potter - Finished Half-Blood Prince a while ago and just a few days back, I read The Deathly Hallows. HBP was better than I recalled, but it's really not a book that works well as a movie (or rather, not the types of movies they've decided that the Harry Potter series will be) seeing as most of the interesting bits are discussions, Harry reading in his snarky book and flashbacks.

The Deathly Hallows was good. I was never bothered by all the camping, but I was bothered by how the end feels almost rushed (why did Snape have to die like that? It is TEH POINTLESSNESS) and Draco's story feels very much like a dangling plot-thread. Not so for the other Malfoy's; given how little Harry interacts with Lucius, I feel that the few scenes we see of his - if not quite repentance - but realization of what really matters is handled well.

The "Ginny is Harry's eternal love" story felt even more tacked on when I knew it was coming and still had to squint to see evidence of more than teenage hormones... And Hermione really, really comes into her own in the entire latter half of the series. She's so cool =D

Now class is starting, so enough babble from me. I think I want to re-read the HP books in Swedish and not just admire the pretty, pretty covers. I may be biased, but I really feel that the Swedish Harry Potter editions look the best of all that I've seen.

All right, now we're getting somewhere.

Today I finished a book about a dragon and yesterday I read another book about several dragons. There are many differences: The first dragon is mechanical and most of the plot is about finding it, while the dragons in the other book are very much alive and present. Though they do spend quite some time hunting dragon eggs, for what it's worth.

The books do however have one very startling similarity: They're both part of a series (part 3 and part 6, respectively) and they're both an immense improvement compared to the books just preceding them. Maybe last year was a bad year for dragon writers?

I'm talking about the books:
( Dragon Soul by Jones and Bennett )
( Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik )

ETA: I feel I should perhaps point out, outside of the cut, that the latest Temeraire book is damned good. Case in point: I began reading it yesterday too, and just kept on until I was finished. And then I wanted to go through the series again just to remember the details fresh

Escape from Hell by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The second part in a modern retelling of Dante's Inferno, about how a science fiction author ends up in hell. In the previous book, he was given a guided tour through hell by Benito Mussolini, who in the end shows him how to escape. Now, in this book, the author returns the favour to some other people and tries to show all
the lost souls that it's possible to get out.

It starts off very interesting, he meets a lot of famous people (Sylvia Plath, for instance, is another main character) but the second half of the story felt incredibly cheesy and preachy to me. Not the message, that everybode can be saved if they strive for forgiveness, but in the way that it was conveyed. Very "sing hallelujah, praise the lord" and then you're simply forgiven and that's
that. I dunno, maybe I read it wrong, but the more complex morals of the first half of
the book seem to be swept away in the end.

Anyway, official RPS, and not too shabbily written. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if I'd read part one?

Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon. After many years, Moon returns to Paksenarrions world. This is a direct sequel to Oath of Gold, but it focuses on Kieri Phelan (commander to Paks, the main character of the first books) and his captains Dorrin and Arcolin instead of Paks.

I will start off with three things about this book:
1) You really, really should read the Paksenarrion trilogy first.
I have read it, multiple times, and I was still a bit confused trying to remember who was who. But the characters would lack too much depth without that entire story. Not to mention...
2) that you'll get incredibly spoiled for the Paksenarrion trilogy if you
read this book first.
Moon also wrote a prequel, about Saint Gird, but it's not very good. Not so spoilery either. This book begins hours and days after the ending of Oath of Gold, and all the major characters appeared in the first trilogy. Don't even read the back cover, it basically spoils the big reveal for the third book in the series.
3) The Paksenarrion Trilogy is Really Very Good - and this book is almost as good.
It also contains a lot less marching and troop movement things, which people tend to critique the early trilogy for. Lots of politics and intrigue and a good set-up for another 2 books.

Highly recommended; the only thing I was a bit disappointed about is that it's less focused on Phelan than I was led to believe. Not that it matters that much, Dorrin Verrakai is a very interesting character and her story is fascinating. However, as both her and Arcolin's parts were minor in the first trilogy it took me a while to warm up to these new characters. But Elizabeth Moon likes to write thick trilogies with shifting POV's and she tends to give everyone enough attention.

Highly recommended if one enjoys classic fantasy. Also an interesting contrast to the Niven book - the Paksenarrion world is religious and the gods and saints play very obvious roles. Yet, the moral of the books never feels forced, nor too simple or preachy. This while St Gird shows many similarities with a Jesus figure and the paladins are among the most Lawful Good Paladins I have ever encountered in a serious story. But the world fits, actions have consequences and Moon is very good at building up how and why a character gains their faith. So, all in all, I strongly rec this book.

I also read some manga, like the latest part of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle by CLAMP. We've gotten to the end of the flashback, have an explanation for the link between Watanuki and Syaoran and things are really gearing up for the end. Which means one book goes by like snap and I'm left wondering when the rest'll arrive.

And I read Shugo Chara 1, will review for work later. Not bad, but not very exciting either. Nice character designs though and enough interesting ingredients to want me keep reading for at least a while more.

Eyeshield 21, part 31 of the American Footboll manga, was also released recently. This book contains the end to the Christmas Bowl match. They team's in the goal and I honestly don't know if I'll bother to buy the rest of the manga. It won't go severely downhill until after the national championship, but the upcoming game is the least exciting and most unrealistic of them all. Otoh, I
am a completist. We'll see...

Sena's really grown in this part though and I like the wrap-up of the Devil Bat's struggle for the Christmas Bowl.

And here's a little clip of me singing karaoke in cosplay. I wish I owned a working camera, so I could have asked some other cosplayers for good posing pictures. Maybe I'll get the chance to at Meuwcon.