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Old 03-16-2014, 12:26 PM   #19242
Yapyap
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I originally picked up The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko last night but realised only a few pages in that this wasn't what I'm currently in the mood for, so that went on hold. (I've heard enough praise for the series that I'm certainly going to give it a proper go some day!)

So instead I opted for something lighter, which turned up to be the second kids' book in a row - this time Switchers by Kate Thompson, a YA modern day shapeshifter fantasy set in Ireland & in the Arctics. Well, I think it's supposed to be YA anyway, but I felt it aimed more at the younger end of that age range - pre-teens and younger teens, possibly.

In any case, this was a book I'd have adored as a child; for adult-me, it was a little too simple and straightforward, but it was fast-paced and fun, with just enough depth to it to still be enjoyable. I'm glad I bought the entire trilogy as an omnibus at some point, as I'll be wanting to read the next books too whenever I'm in the mood for a quick and light read.

And now I started The Plague Forge - the last book in the Dire Earth Cycle by Jason M. Hough. As usual with sequels, it took me a bit to get up to speed again but now that I am, I'm enjoying it, like I did the first two books.

Quote:
Originally Posted by missimpossible View Post
I just finished this last night, and I pretty much agreed with your assessment. It was a light, fun read, and it didn't stray as much from the original story as I would have expected. Of course, it's not the original, but I'm surprised so many people had such vitriolic reactions to it. It probably just depends on whether you're predisposed to like that sort of thing or not - I like pastiches on Austen just fine, as long as they're done well (I loved Clueless and Lost in Austen, but Austenland not so much...)

Spoiler:
I also agree with you regarding the modernisation - having read a couple of reviews beforehand I was expecting it to be chock-full of swearing and sex and so on (and not in a good way) and it really, really wasn't. I really thought it was pretty tame in that regard, which isn't a complaint, but it made some of the stuff surrounding Marianne's "disgrace" harder to swallow.
Agreed, with both.

Spoiler:
Considering that these are supposed to be 21st century Western young people living in a world where pre-marital sex stopped being a big taboo at least during their parents generation, if not before, I felt Marianne and Willoughby - two passionate, beautiful modern young people infatuated with each other - giving in to their desires didn't seem out of place at all. And it was handled carefully and completely non-gratuitously.
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