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Aug. 16th, 2012 12:47 pmWhile we're on the topic of Barbara Hambly, I should probably also write up the other Hambly book I read recently, Bride of the Rat God.
. . . actually, to give the full impact of the title, I think you need to see the cover:
AW YEAH.
I mean, this is totally deliberate; Bride of the Rat God is a novel-length homage to wacky pulp silent movies. A GLAMOROUS ACTRESS in PERIL from an ANCIENT CURSE! POSSESSION! DRUGS! LIQUOR! MURDER! SINISTER FOOTSTEPS IN THE NIGHT!
. . . of course, because it's Barbara Hambly, the actual protagonist is the glamorous actress' sister-in-law Norah, a sensible young British widow who takes care of her dogs and makes sure Glamorous Christine gets home safely after her wild parties. And the actual character arc, kind of hilariously, is Norah finding out that while she's doing that, she might as well become really good at everything to do with making movies that isn't acting. She helps with camera work! She does make-up! She does script rewrites! GO GO GADGET NORAH. Obviously, all the technical details of the early Hollywood film industry are deeply relevant to my interests, and Barbara Hambly has done her research. Learning how to swap out film reels in the dark YES GO!
The other part of Norah's arc is working through her grief about losing the husband she loved in WWI and having a low-key romance with a sweet Jewish cameraman, who is a little bit bland as a character, but, you know, very nice! (Their romance is a lot of Barbara Hambly telling us "AND THEN THEY TALKED FOR A LONG TIME AND ENJOYED HANGING OUT WITH EACH OTHER," which is . . . not super specific, but which is still deeply preferable to romances that don't take the time to inform us that they talked for a while and enjoyed hanging out with each other.) And while Christine at first comes across very much as a flighty pretty face of a diva, she is not villainized for that, and also turns out to be a complex and sympathetic character, and her relationship with Norah is a very affectionate one. All good!
. . . all good except, of course, OH BARBARA HAMBLY ANCIENT CHINESE CURSE OF THE RAT GOD HUMAN SACRIFICE DID YOU HAVE TO. ;_____; I mean, it is a pulp homage, and that is totally what a pulp would do, but ALL THE SAME.
. . . actually, to give the full impact of the title, I think you need to see the cover:
AW YEAH.
I mean, this is totally deliberate; Bride of the Rat God is a novel-length homage to wacky pulp silent movies. A GLAMOROUS ACTRESS in PERIL from an ANCIENT CURSE! POSSESSION! DRUGS! LIQUOR! MURDER! SINISTER FOOTSTEPS IN THE NIGHT!
. . . of course, because it's Barbara Hambly, the actual protagonist is the glamorous actress' sister-in-law Norah, a sensible young British widow who takes care of her dogs and makes sure Glamorous Christine gets home safely after her wild parties. And the actual character arc, kind of hilariously, is Norah finding out that while she's doing that, she might as well become really good at everything to do with making movies that isn't acting. She helps with camera work! She does make-up! She does script rewrites! GO GO GADGET NORAH. Obviously, all the technical details of the early Hollywood film industry are deeply relevant to my interests, and Barbara Hambly has done her research. Learning how to swap out film reels in the dark YES GO!
The other part of Norah's arc is working through her grief about losing the husband she loved in WWI and having a low-key romance with a sweet Jewish cameraman, who is a little bit bland as a character, but, you know, very nice! (Their romance is a lot of Barbara Hambly telling us "AND THEN THEY TALKED FOR A LONG TIME AND ENJOYED HANGING OUT WITH EACH OTHER," which is . . . not super specific, but which is still deeply preferable to romances that don't take the time to inform us that they talked for a while and enjoyed hanging out with each other.) And while Christine at first comes across very much as a flighty pretty face of a diva, she is not villainized for that, and also turns out to be a complex and sympathetic character, and her relationship with Norah is a very affectionate one. All good!
. . . all good except, of course, OH BARBARA HAMBLY ANCIENT CHINESE CURSE OF THE RAT GOD HUMAN SACRIFICE DID YOU HAVE TO. ;_____; I mean, it is a pulp homage, and that is totally what a pulp would do, but ALL THE SAME.
