(no subject)

[skygiants]

After reading the book I posted about yesterday, I felt desperately in need of a comfort read, and you know that pretty much always ends up taking me back to Diana Wynne Jones. And anyway, I have been meaning to reread Deep Secret for ages!

I love Deep Secret ridiculously. Partly that is because of our cast of characters!

RUPERT VENABLES: AKA "The Prat," a rather self-satisfied young computer programmer who dresses very dapper, bitches at his elder brothers a lot, and also happens to be one of the Magids who helps keep the universe on track.
MAREE MALLORY: A vet-in-training and potential Magid with some serious depression issues; very capable of being both glum and angry at once; has a tendency to hold up traffic by getting out of the car and doing witchy dances in the middle of the road.
NICK MALLORY: The most creative and self-absorbed fourteen-year-old you ever saw; also, DWJ's loving homage to Neil Gaiman.
STAN: A ghost jockey.
JANINE: You can tell she's evil because she wears truly hideous designer sweaters.
ANDREW: Rupert's absentminded-inventor neighbor, who may possibly be an integral part of the complex fatelines entangled in the plot, or who may just want to borrow a cup of sugar.
ROB THE CENTAUR: Very pretty. May be a secret heir to the throne of an interdimensional space empire. Likes cheeseburgers.
ASSORTED SFF CON-GOERS: Are generally cheerful and great at cosplay!

And partly that is because of the plot, which looks something like this:

KORYFONIC EMPIRE: We're a corrupt interstellar empire on the verge of dynastic collapse!
STAN THE GHOST JOCKEY: Sorry, Rupert, we'll have to put the space opera on hold, you need to find a wizard apprentice!
DIANA WYNNE JONES: SFF CONVENTIONS ARE LOLARIOUS.
RUPERT: Wait - but - I'm very confused right now. Wait, why are there centaurs? This was supposed to be a space opera! Or a wizard trainee session! Also what the hell I don't need to be buying five million sci-fi novels in the dealer's room, I came here to do serious wizard work.
CONVENTION GOERS: OMG, dude, those are AWESOME centaur costumes.
RUPERT: *facepalm*
THE CLIMAX: Bet you didn't notice me coming, did you! That's because I'm half space opera collision and half total crack.
(CONVENTION GOERS: OMG, dude, those are AWESOME interstellar weapons carriers.)
THE CLIMAX: ANYWAY WHO CARES, the characters went through some development, the love story is very sweet, and SFF CONS ARE LOLARIOUS.
THE READER: . . . . I can't argue with that.

In other words, guys, you totally want to read Deep Secret.

Comments

[spence-reid.livejournal.com]

I love Deep Secret!! It is space opera+crack+centaurs, which is amazing! DWJ rules.

[skygiants]

It is totally one of my favorites. I know people who can have problems with DWJ's throw-everything-in-the-kitchen-sink-and-watch-people-deal-with-the-chaos style of plotting, but WHATEVER, I LOVE IT. *_*

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm a sucker for a good novel set at a convention, so I think I'll have to pick this one up.

[skygiants]

You definitely should! I can loan you if you want - it's actually one I own, and, having just reread it, I'm not likely to need it again for a while.

(One of the things I really like about it is that - unlike some of the other convention novels I remember you reviewing - you can tell that DWJ really does enjoy the cons and the people who go to them; I mean, the crazies are there, but there's also the parts where the protagonists are cheerfully sitting around dorking out with random con-goers and surprising themselves with how good of a time they're having. And the filk room even plays a role!)

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Yes, all that times eleventy! Deep Secret is one of my absolute favourite DWJ novels for all of those reasons.

Also, I claim I don't have to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, because Deep Secret is Pride and Prejudice and Centaurs and that is SO MUCH MORE AWESOME. And I'm in love with Maree.

[skygiants]

HAHAHAHA SO TRUE. And infinitely more awesome! Also, that is fair, because Maree is totally fabulous. (Maree and Rupert are way, way up there among my favorite DWJ romances - they're both so flawed and amazing and ridiculous. I defy anyone to find a better antagonistic first meeting than the scene on the bridge.)

[tiltingheartand]

This is hilariously accurate, and also, :D.

[skygiants]

Basically this book makes me just want to hang out at sff conventions with DWJ all day long. :D

[oneechan19.livejournal.com]

Time to add another book to the list. *eyes* That's... at least 50 awesome sounding books from you alone. I'M NEVER GONNA GET THEM ALL READ AAAH.

[skygiants]

>:D >:D >:D MY PLAN PROCEEDS ACCORDING TO PACE.

(Look at it this way: better to have too many on the list than to risk running out!)

[ceitfianna]

I adore Deep Secret so much, its one of my favorites of hers.

[skygiants]

You can tell that Diana Wynne Jones was really just having fun when she wrote it, which I think is half the reason that it's so good.

[adiva_calandia]

DEEP SECRET. MY LOVE. THE SOURCE OF MY OBSESSION WITH CENTAURS.

God I love that book. *draws hearts all over it* *only not literally* *draws hearts on a passed out congoer instead*

[skygiants]

HAHAHA BEST reason to be obsessed with centaurs. (Now I want fic where Epimetheus meets Rob.)

Deep Secret was totally my formative impression of SFF conventions FOREVER. And now that I have reread it having actually been to a convention, it is even better!

[deutscheami.livejournal.com]

DWJ and Elizabeth Peters are really the only writers I can think of who do the "You are a horrible HORRIBLE person and we mutually CAN'T STAND EACH OTHER-- oh wait no we fight because we're so in looove" plot so that it rings true.

Which is to say: I love DWJ and I especially love Deep Secret.

[skygiants]

Oh man, I know! I love that. I love how Maree sums it up in Deep Secret, where she's like "total prat, met him two months ago and couldn't stand him, met him again and felt as if I'd known him for years." I think part of the reason it works so well for DWJ is because she really roots both the "horrible HORRIBLE person" and the "oh man we're so in looooove" parts really deeply in the flaws and strengths of the characters - so, like, you can see exactly why Rupert and Maree get on each other's nerves at first (he's a total prat! She talks with a sob in her voice all the time!) and exactly why they work for each other, too (because those qualities balance each other out). It's never just "ohmygosh, they're SO ANNOYING, ohmygosh they're hot."

. . . also I can talk for embarrassingly long amounts of time about DWJ. *sheepish* As has just been demonstrated.

[spellcoats.livejournal.com]

You know what you should totally do?

This. (http://dianawynnejones.wikia.com/wiki/Deep_Secret)

[skygiants]

Hahahaha MAYBE. Though not when I'm at work. >.>

[peroxidepirate.livejournal.com]

Adding to memories so I can pull this entry up & show my friends: here's what I mean about this book. READ IT.

[skygiants]

>:DDDD MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED.

[miseline.livejournal.com]

I love Deep Secret too (but then I love most of DWJ's books). I also love the way you sum up a book. :) Hilarious.
Reading this book makes me wish I could go to a convention some day, but I'd have to go to the UK for that so it's just going to be way too expensive for me. And anyway, in real life it will probably never be as awesome as in Deep Secret.

[skygiants]

Hee, thanks! :D

I went to my first big con two years ago, and I actually really enjoyed it - though sadly I did not encounter any actual centaurs. (THAT I KNOW OF.) On the other hand, I never really felt at risk of being blasted with an Imperial phaser either, so maybe that sort of balances out . . .?

[lacewood]

Not the mention the menacing thorn bush that has to be fought off with INTERPRETATIVE DANCE.

(I am never really sure which are my favourite DWJs, but I'm pretty sure this one is high on the list, together with Archer's Goon <333)

[skygiants]

Hahahaha YES. Only DWJ can pull off a grand finale where the villain is defeated by the combined power of imperial phasers and INTERPRETATIVE DANCE.

(Excellent choices both! <3 Oh man, Archer's Goon. Erskine! Awful! TORQUIL'S CLOSET OF RIDICULOUS COSTUMES!)

[ojuzu.livejournal.com]

Deep Secret is one of my favourite books ever. ♥ I think my favourite bit is where Maree starts talking to him and he tells her he's never read any classic sci-fi/fantasy, so she GRABS HIM AND DRAGS HIM TO THE DEALERS' ROOM. :D

The whole Koryfonic Empire bit was really interesting, but all the bits at the convention entertained me like a million times more. As did the bits at the beginning where Rupert and Andrew and Maree and Nick were running around having their normal life. And the bits with Rob. And Will. And oh fuck it I love everything about this book. ♥ ♥ ♥

[skygiants]

Yes I love that! *_* I would so read the fanfic that is just Maree and Rupert arguing about all the classic sff she made him read (because you know half of the things she loves he would love too, and the other half he would hate with a fiery passion). It would be glorious.

Hahahaha, I think that your feelings about the Koryfonic Empire and the convention are a.) my feelings but also b.) totally Diana Wynne Jones' feelings also. Like, I sort of want to believe that she started out writing a space adventure and then was like ". . . . okay, yes, that's happening, NOW BACK TO THE WACKY CONVENTION HIJINKS."

[crazyfurries.livejournal.com]

Read it! Love it!

Got more than a little weirded(in a most pleasant fashion!) with the use of nursery rhymes as pieces for a great space/magic opera mysterious summoning!

[skygiants]

IS IT NOT AWESOME

Ahahahaha yeah I love how DWJ does that. You start looking over your shoulder every time you hear "Mary Has A Little Lamb . . ."