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Aug. 8th, 2014 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI was scared to read The Islands of Chaldea. In order to make myself read it, I had to get it out of the library, and then let it sit around for a while so I could get used to the idea. I read it on the day before it was due back.
And now that I've read it still don't really know how to write about it. I mean, I've got stuff to say, I just don't know how to say it. It's not that the magic wasn't there, except sort of wasn't. But it sort of was. There are a lot of ways in which, as a book, I liked it better than Enchanted Glass. On the other hand, it was hard not to spend large swathes of the book making unfair comparisons. I could write a whole essay on how Islands of Chaldea seems to lie closer to Dalemark in some ways than anything else DWJ has written (and Ogo is vastly less interesting than Mitt Alhamittson but he has the same physical frame and silhouette, which in DWJ doubles-parlance probably means they split off the same archetype in her mind.)
It does read like Diana Wynne Jones, prose-wise, which means that it's easy to read in some ways, although it hurts in others. I guess maybe the best way to put it is that it feels like there's much more surface to it than there should be. It's like when you jump into a pool, expecting the water to be pretty deep, and it's not, so you stub your toes. But you can still enjoy paddling.
Also, as someone who has in the past spent significant time trying consciously to pastiche Diana Wynne Jones, there were definitely times towards the end when I'd eye a sentence and think, "that sounds so archetypally Diana Wynne Jones that she can't possibly have written it." I mean I would recognize it as the sentence I would have written at that point, if I were trying to sound like Diana Wynne Jones. Which is kind of an interesting feeling to have.
... this is a really useless entry. Have I even said anything about the plot of Islands of Chaldea? There are some very British islands, and a magical barrier, and the cast of characters has to go on a road trip to fix it, there you go. I don't know, someone else please come talk about this and help me sort out my emotions, because I'm clearly not doing a great job of it on my own.
And now that I've read it still don't really know how to write about it. I mean, I've got stuff to say, I just don't know how to say it. It's not that the magic wasn't there, except sort of wasn't. But it sort of was. There are a lot of ways in which, as a book, I liked it better than Enchanted Glass. On the other hand, it was hard not to spend large swathes of the book making unfair comparisons. I could write a whole essay on how Islands of Chaldea seems to lie closer to Dalemark in some ways than anything else DWJ has written (and Ogo is vastly less interesting than Mitt Alhamittson but he has the same physical frame and silhouette, which in DWJ doubles-parlance probably means they split off the same archetype in her mind.)
It does read like Diana Wynne Jones, prose-wise, which means that it's easy to read in some ways, although it hurts in others. I guess maybe the best way to put it is that it feels like there's much more surface to it than there should be. It's like when you jump into a pool, expecting the water to be pretty deep, and it's not, so you stub your toes. But you can still enjoy paddling.
Also, as someone who has in the past spent significant time trying consciously to pastiche Diana Wynne Jones, there were definitely times towards the end when I'd eye a sentence and think, "that sounds so archetypally Diana Wynne Jones that she can't possibly have written it." I mean I would recognize it as the sentence I would have written at that point, if I were trying to sound like Diana Wynne Jones. Which is kind of an interesting feeling to have.
... this is a really useless entry. Have I even said anything about the plot of Islands of Chaldea? There are some very British islands, and a magical barrier, and the cast of characters has to go on a road trip to fix it, there you go. I don't know, someone else please come talk about this and help me sort out my emotions, because I'm clearly not doing a great job of it on my own.
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Date: 2014-08-09 05:14 am (UTC)I reread Deep Secret as job searching is sucking and that's one of those books that goes, keep looking, life is weird but you're not alone.
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Date: 2014-08-09 03:04 pm (UTC)