Here are some thoughts on finishing Harrow the Ninth for the second time. I read it as an audiobook after having read it in paper a couple of years agHere are some thoughts on finishing Harrow the Ninth for the second time. I read it as an audiobook after having read it in paper a couple of years ago. I'll continue to use spoiler tags, though this second review will presume some familiarity with the story and characters. My first review, which doesn't make those presumptions, is below the ***.
- I enjoyed my second time through this book more than the first, and raised its rating from three to four stars. This is near-entirely attributable to Moira Quirk's narration, which made some characters who seemed near-identical easier to differentiate from each other, particularly when it came to the characters in the Mithraeum. They were still pretty one-note, though: Ianthe the world-weary, Mercymorn the petulant, Augustine the sardonic.
- I loved (view spoiler)[the ghosts in the river (hide spoiler)], though. I want to see them again, though I wonder if that is even possible. (sniffle)
- Harrow herself became far more interesting to me this time around. Just like Gideon, she's young and vulnerable and longing for connection, but unlike Gideon she isn't open about it. At all. The very few times she overcomes her reluctance were some of the best in the book.
- Directly connected with that, Harrow had me near tears a couple times. (view spoiler)[
"You're not waiting for her resurrection; you've made yourself her mausoleum"(hide spoiler)] knocked me flat. Harrow would rather (view spoiler)[fuck up her own brain than let Gideon become just a memory (hide spoiler)], and, as bizarrely as that comes to fruition in this book, I could sympathize with it on a level that fiction rarely manages. That's what reading's all about, doods. I'd usually give this book five stars on that basis alone, but I unfortunately spent too much time being either bored or frustrated with other parts of the book to give it that extra nod.
- The story does indeed tread water (in-book pun?) in places, especially between when the point of view first says "I," and when that "I" is definitively revealed. The endgame with its crowd of characters--some of whom the reader only knew of at second hand as others said their names in conversation--still felt anticlimactic. A big battle between characters I didn't care about. yawn...
- I'm torn between being happy that going to TVTropes (my thanks to a review for the tip, and my apologies for not copying the link somewhere) made me better able to understand a lot of the worldbuilding and the whole business with (view spoiler)[Wake, the lost ova, and how Gideon came to be (hide spoiler)]... and being kind of grumpy about it. With any story I'm there for the characters, not worldbuilding that's a snarl of string that I have to spend hours untangling to make any sense of. Obviously, opinions will differ on that.
I'm looking forward to Nona's story now, as opposed to feeling somewhat indifferent about it, so that's a win for everybody. I'm kind of expecting to love her as a character, and being "take it or leave it" for much the rest, but that'll be good enough for me.
***
This was a long trip for me. Much longer than it had to have been, or should have been, for sure. It was one of half-a-dozen victims of a brain, squashy house of the soul, that decided for several months that it couldn't both compass all the dog shit that 2020 dropped outside our doorsteps (I live in the U.S.), and also amuse itself with anything but the short, horny and/or adolescent. After two months' break 360-ish pages in, I finally finished it. This was partly said brain's "fault"--in the sense of both a fissure and a personal failing--but it's also the fault of the book.
The majority of the book is told from alternating points of view, the first of which goes through what looks like an "alternate universe" version of the first book, for a reason that doesn't become clear for quite some time. The second is a second-person narration that details Harrowhark's experiences in the Emperor's space station/palace. The first is an intriguing mystery. The other creeps and crawls and was my main sticking point through the first two-thirds of the book.
Harrow the Ninth brought on much the same feeling as Jade War did for me: a promising beginning leading to a case of sloggy second-book blues. Gideon was a stunner, a book with a wild heart, a vivid imagination, and a lead I could fully sympathize with, almost despite myself. The second tore down a lot of the goodwill the first had built.
In its favor, Harrow's worldbuilding is interesting and well-done. The Mithraeum's just as necromancy-themed in its décor as Canaan House or the Ninth were in the first book, despite being a space station. A river of souls, formed in part of the souls of planets, is where the Lyctors play out otherworldly battles. Lyctorhood itself is by no means a homogenous process, as we see both through Harrow herself, and though others as the story goes along.
So the scaffolding is great. I can ride on concept and worldbuilding for quite some time, especially when they're presented in a non-straightforward way as they are here. It created a sense of confusion and alienation that made me associate more strongly with Harrow as she also tried to negotiate this bizarre landscape.
However, I never got a good handle on the other characters in the Mithraeum as I did the ones in Canaan House, including a character who carried over from Gideon. For a lot of it, we are seeing adult characters through a teen's eyes, one who has no real understanding of, and is often repulsed by, their adult behavior, codified over millennia: ancient loves (including sexual relationships) and hates and even straightforward interactions expressed without words, or in an oblique way that only they can understand. So when the last part of the book came around, and so much of the conclusion was (view spoiler)[these adult characters working out their issues in fast-paced, violent ways (hide spoiler)], my reaction was not all it could have been. I never felt like I'd gotten to know these people, so when the bodies fell, reverses were reversed, re-reversed, and re-re-reversed, my response was less than enthusiastic to all of it.
This second book also took me well past my "fictional Dunbar number," and the further I got along, the more frustrating it was when someone's name came up and I couldn't recall if they were first introduced in Gideon or in this book, what they looked like, or what their personality was like. Many of the new characters in Harrow parsed similarly or identically to ones in Gideon. The volatility of death and identity throughout the story made this effect more pronounced, and in the long run created a feeling of distance from the proceedings.
As with Jade War, my anticipation for the third book of this series is heavily tempered by my experience with the second one. I'm keeping an open mind, but the hype is just not there anymore. Two and a half stars, rounded up....more
I very much enjoyed this second of Veronica Speedwell's adventures. After I'd read the first, I'd dismissed the idea that her family background would I very much enjoyed this second of Veronica Speedwell's adventures. After I'd read the first, I'd dismissed the idea that her family background would be relevant to the series, but I was proven wrong as both her own and Stoker's are brought more clearly to light, and the bond between them grows stronger.
The mystery is nicely tawdry, involving--among other things--a private sex club and a number of its patrons, and there's a decent amount of bawdy humor and sexy flirting between Veronica and Stoker. There were also a couple of scenes that nearly brought a tear to my eye, which was unexpected.
Angele Masters' narration is excellent, although, just as with A Curious Beginning, I found that listening to it at 1.15x was more pleasant than at 1.0x, which hasn't been the case for any other narrator or book. Whatever works!
I'm grateful to A Perilous Undertaking for helping me get through a difficult time. Things have settled down since I started listening to it, and I hope the future will see me appreciating this series in its own right rather than using it as a distraction....more
My history with ol' Sherlock Holmes is spotty. Over the years, I've vowed to work my way through his canon several times... and never got further thanMy history with ol' Sherlock Holmes is spotty. Over the years, I've vowed to work my way through his canon several times... and never got further than finishing this one. A nice audio production by Audible studios with Stephen Fry as narrator--and which includes a foreword to each volume composed by Fry himself--bids fair to see me through it all. Or so I hope! There's over 60 hours of it, and a little goes a long way, so don't expect this to happen tomorrow...
A Study in Scarlet starts off promisingly, as Holmes and Watson meet somewhat by chance and come to room together. Already the reader can see the blooming friendship between Holmes and Watson. There's a need for patience and respect on both sides: Watson for Holmes's eccentricities, Holmes for Watson's always being behind the curve when it comes to the mystery at hand's solution.
The second half of the book, which explains the murder mystery introduced in the first half, isn't anywhere near as good. It's an extremely straightforward and melodramatic (view spoiler)[revenge (hide spoiler)] tale, with characters about as deep as puppets in a performance for children. (The only woman involved in the story being a MacGuffin two opposing camps of men were trying to keep or snatch away from each other didn't help its case, either.) In its favor, it was told in an engaging style, which I took to be the latter-19th-century version of "bestsellerese": simple and fast-moving, with little or no difficult vocabulary. (I could see this one being used as an early ESL text.)
Even if half of it was not all that good, in my opinion, I could see the kernels of something great in this very short novel. I hope that Holmes's further adventures will focus more on characterization for the "walk-on" characters involved in the mysteries, not just on its iconic leads....more
And so, with Persuasion, I've finished reading all of Austen's major works.
Here we have a confident writer who knows what she wants to say, and how shAnd so, with Persuasion, I've finished reading all of Austen's major works.
Here we have a confident writer who knows what she wants to say, and how she wants to says it, and is skillful and economic in doing so. Scenes are purposeful and the characters' situations are changed deliberately through them. This novel is her second-shortest, after Northanger Abbey which by today's terms is more of a novella.
One thing I especially appreciated in Persuasion is how well Austen manages a number of characters that goes well beyond my typical "fiction character Dunbar number." Sisters, cousins, in-laws, friends, intrusive hangers-on, a handful of ex-Navy men, well-placed relations, etc. were all easily recognizable by name and by their associations with each other. Austen's sketching-out of their personalities made it very easy for my mind to fill in the rest of the picture with gestures, stances, facial expressions, and so on.
At times it was easier to see the mechanisms behind the book than it was to simply appreciate it, especially when it came to the plot. The only impediments to Anne and Captain Wentworth's getting together in the first hundred pages were all plot contrivance: a greedy cousin/suitor, an accidental fall and concussion, one or two more things like that. Both characters are complete sweethearts, who don't make any serious errors in judgment, which makes them less interesting to follow around than Austen's more obviously flawed leads (although, like Fanny, they would be wonderful to have as friends).
Austen's acerbic asides seem all but absent this time, adding a sense of calmness to the novel. Folly is noted, but not snarked on very hard. There wasn't a lot to laugh with here: something it shares in common with Mansfield Park, which isn't my favorite, to say the least.
Despite all this, the conclusion got me a little teary-eyed, something it only shares with P&P among Austen's novels. There wasn't any question whether these two would overcome their jealousies and minor misunderstandings to get together, but the catharsis still worked just as it should.
As with all of Austen's novels except Northanger Abbey, I listened to Persuasion in audio, this time with Audible's production read by Greta Scacchi. A number of times Scacchi seemed to be suppressing a chuckle while she read, and while I could see this being an annoyance for some listeners, for me it was charming, like she was delighted with what she was reading and wanted to share that with her audience.
3.5 stars, rounded down because of the often flat effect of this book. It's hard to say what I would have thought of this one if I'd read it earlier rather than last. I wouldn't say that the glow had faded, because it hadn't by any means, but if Austen had had the opportunity to continue on after this, I wonder if I would have bothered. The seams, repetitions from previous books, and incipient creation of a brand of sorts, were really starting to show here. And in an unfortunate turn, the last sentence or two left a very odd, almost unfitting final note to the story. (view spoiler)[If another war starts, Capt. Wentworth could well be sent off and die! Did you ever think of that? (hide spoiler)]
My having now read all of the major works, it's time for the inevitable rating list! Who knows what the next reading, and the passage of time, might bring?
1. Pride and Prejudice 2. Emma 3. Sense and Sensibility 4. Northanger Abbey 5. Persuasion 6. Mansfield Park...more
This isn't a terrible story. The parts of this season that I've read on an off-and-on basis over the last couple of years have been fun and readable. This isn't a terrible story. The parts of this season that I've read on an off-and-on basis over the last couple of years have been fun and readable. On a very bland technical level, it has very few grammar or spelling errors, which is pretty extraordinary given how prodigious the author's output is. (I didn't read far enough to see if there are plot inconsistencies or retconning.)
The 350 pages or so that I read established a couple of pov characters, and a supporting cast for one of them. There are a couple of epic fantasy-type things lurking in the background that I suppose aren't going to come into the foreground for quite some time. It's hard to say what kind of story it is, in some ways. I'd almost call it a fantasy cozy if it weren't for the level of violence and death. Its scenes have a decent sense of place, though the world building thus far has been lightly sketched in. You have a town, and an Inn in the middle of nowhere (not terribly useful, for an Inn to be off a major thoroughfare), goblins and lizard men and a king in a castle, and... nothing new to see here.
Considering I have never read more than fifteen books in any series ever, the prospect of reading 90 books' worth (this is 9,000,000-ish words long at time of writing) and ongoing is not even slightly feasible for me. The major thing that's kept me from moving forward with this, that has made me reluctant to pick it back up regardless of how much I might enjoy its individual episodes, is the prospect of never seeing the end of it, whether pirateaba themself brings it to a definitive conclusion or not.
I might finish the first two seasons' worth of The Wandering Inn that I've already got in ebook, but I'm not counting on it, and neither should you. :) ...more
I first read The Warden something like 25 years ago, when I was on a 19th Century English Literature mailing list back in the mid-'90s. All I rememberI first read The Warden something like 25 years ago, when I was on a 19th Century English Literature mailing list back in the mid-'90s. All I remembered was that I strongly sympathized with Mr. Harding. It seems like, in the long term, I conflated him with the main character of Margaret Oliphant's The Rector, though considering both men end up quitting positions in their church--albeit for different reasons--maybe that isn't such a terrible mistake.
I listened to this short-ish novel in audiobook, narrated by Simon Vance, with frequent pauses to refer to the Oxford World Classics edition in e-book along the way. There are several mentions of current- and recent-to-its-time politicians and clergy, streets and other locations in London, and so on, that came extremely thick in places. While the gist of the story wasn't difficult to parse, and on the whole was lively and readable, it was good to have the notes at hand and understand some things that might have escaped me without them: for example, that Archdeacon Grantly was a High churchman.
Mr. Harding's moral dilemma remained the centerpiece of the book for me on this second go-through. Personality-wise I can easily see him as an introvert, very attached to his bedesmen, his bishop, and his daughter, and having no desire to expand his connections or draw the attention of the greater world.
Mr. Bold and his reforming campaign against the financial arrangements of Hiram's Hospital is a huge, dismaying disruption to Harding's quiet life. In the long run, Harding quits the Hospital (and its perhaps overgenerous stipend) in an attempt to restore stability and peace to his life. The result is equivocal, both on a practical and an emotional level.
My feeling from reading along in this novel is that it was outlined in the macro sense, and ad-libbed on the small scale. I can't otherwise explain chapters like "The Warden's Tea Party," a mock-heroic (and mildly bawdy, at points) digression that could otherwise have been summarized "Warden Harding held a party which John Bold declined to attend," or a long and convoluted paean to The Jupiter newspaper in the latter half of the book.
Interesting to me was the theme of the power of the press centered in London, and wielded by a small number of anonymous reporters. The details are different, of course, but Harding very much seems a victim of what in social media would be called "callout culture."
I haven't brought up the love story that adds a wrinkle to the proceedings. John Bold, the Barchester reformer, is secretly in love with Eleanor Harding, and his decisions regarding both his reform campaign and his love affair guide the book to its conclusion. In the long run, the bedesmen at Hiram's Hospital are the worst off of anyone by the end, an irony that isn't counterbalanced by anyone's good intentions, or the cause that supposedly was in their interests in the first place....more
Under other circumstances, maybe I'd have been able to power myself through at least half of this book to be able to call it "finished" and write a prUnder other circumstances, maybe I'd have been able to power myself through at least half of this book to be able to call it "finished" and write a proper review. But I'm not particularly enjoying it and don't have the wherewithal to do that right now.
+ The world seems interesting. There's incipient war, an upcoming fencing tournament, and some scary enemy creatures (or are they people?) in the present, and hints of "big" historical figures in the past, and various magic adding mystery and interest, all clearly presented without a lot of exposition to bog things down.
+ Super easy, quick-going prose with good narration from Stephen Pacey.
- What's with all the "ugh" "agh" etc., though? I guess I'm more used to "he groaned" and so forth, rather than the onamatopoeia for those sounds.
+ I have a good understanding of the major point-of-view character thus far, Glokta the ex-soldier/torturer. It was easy to sympathize with him as he struggled with his torture-inflicted disabilities.
- But then again, there's so much emphasis on the disabilities that it was getting to be off-putting. I pretty much checked out when Glokta woke up having shat his pants overnight, with a long narration as that was dealt with. Story instead please, maybe?
- Logan, his potential magic aside, wasn't that interesting a character. And Jezalle was straight-up repellent.
(neutral) Nope, I still can't bring myself to care about action and battle sequences. This isn't the book's fault, and therefore doesn't get a plus-or-minus value.
- I haven't seen much of women characters so far, but the one who shows up--Ardie? sorry, I don't know the spellings for these since I was listening to it--seems like she could be an interesting character. However, she is not seen from her own point of view as the male characters are. Maybe she will be, or she'll have a chance to be an active part of the plot later on?* What we've got so far is a pretty, spunky gal who also conveniently sets herself up for roving eyes mere moments after she's introduced. Meh.
* To be fair, the men are largely victims of circumstance, too.
I have a couple more of Abercrombie's books (the days of buying more than one book on spec before reading any of the author's work are over now), and am willing to give them a try, though I have to say I'm not anticipating great results unless there's some evolution in a direction I can more easily tolerate....more
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