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Jun. 2nd, 2009 11:23 amSo I have this thing with Patricia McKillip books. I really like them! It's just, once I've read them, it takes me about two weeks to forget everything that happens in them. It's like magic! Fantasyland amnesia magic! (I hate that kind of magic.)
However, I am going to make a concerted effort not to let that happen with her latest, The Bell at Sealey Head. Hopefully posting in detail about it will help with that! It also helps that as McKillip books go, it's one of her least dreamy, I think - it takes place in a small inn town which is for the most part quite grounded in reality. Our protagonists and POV characters:
JUDD: I would like to spend all my time reading! Unfortunately I have to run an inn and cannot figure out how to tactfully get rid of my terrible, terrible cook.
GWYNETH: I would like to spend all my time writing! Unfortunately I have to spend all this time taking tea with the friendly, silly local squire's son and his friendly, silly sister who are obsessed with the potential of new faces at the big house, in a section of the plot that appears to have wandered accidentally out of an Austen novel and set up shop.
EMMA: I am actually pretty cool with spending most of my time being a maid at the big house, although it is a little awkward how I keep opening doors onto an alternate version of the castle filled with creepy rituals, bad-tempered knights and scary crows. (But no dancing cat teachers, thankfully.)
YSABO: I live in the alternate version of the castle! My days are full of creepy rituals, bad-tempered knights and scary crows. And, uh, I would kind of like to spend my time doing SOMETHING ELSE, thanks.
I quite liked all the characters - Gwyneth and Judd's courtship was very sweet and pleasantly angst-less and mature, and, in the other half of the novel, the creepy rituals, bad-tempered knights and scary crows were indeed as creepy and unnerving as they ought to be! My main problem with it was that ( vague spoilers )
Anyway, while I am on the topic of Patricia McKillip - okay, guys, Patricia McKillip and Robin McKinley. They are shelved right next to each other in the fantasy section, they write similar dreamlike plots and prose, they were both formative parts of my childhood: what happens if we put them in a cage match? Who comes out tops? Show your work!
However, I am going to make a concerted effort not to let that happen with her latest, The Bell at Sealey Head. Hopefully posting in detail about it will help with that! It also helps that as McKillip books go, it's one of her least dreamy, I think - it takes place in a small inn town which is for the most part quite grounded in reality. Our protagonists and POV characters:
JUDD: I would like to spend all my time reading! Unfortunately I have to run an inn and cannot figure out how to tactfully get rid of my terrible, terrible cook.
GWYNETH: I would like to spend all my time writing! Unfortunately I have to spend all this time taking tea with the friendly, silly local squire's son and his friendly, silly sister who are obsessed with the potential of new faces at the big house, in a section of the plot that appears to have wandered accidentally out of an Austen novel and set up shop.
EMMA: I am actually pretty cool with spending most of my time being a maid at the big house, although it is a little awkward how I keep opening doors onto an alternate version of the castle filled with creepy rituals, bad-tempered knights and scary crows. (But no dancing cat teachers, thankfully.)
YSABO: I live in the alternate version of the castle! My days are full of creepy rituals, bad-tempered knights and scary crows. And, uh, I would kind of like to spend my time doing SOMETHING ELSE, thanks.
I quite liked all the characters - Gwyneth and Judd's courtship was very sweet and pleasantly angst-less and mature, and, in the other half of the novel, the creepy rituals, bad-tempered knights and scary crows were indeed as creepy and unnerving as they ought to be! My main problem with it was that ( vague spoilers )
Anyway, while I am on the topic of Patricia McKillip - okay, guys, Patricia McKillip and Robin McKinley. They are shelved right next to each other in the fantasy section, they write similar dreamlike plots and prose, they were both formative parts of my childhood: what happens if we put them in a cage match? Who comes out tops? Show your work!
