I am pretty sure that if anyone had handed me a page out of
Chalice before I read it and offered me a million dollars to identify the author, I would be an insanely rich person! (Sadly people do not actually offer me these kinds of deals very often.) This book is 100% Pure Essence of McKinley. It has the heroine who is wrapped up in an Occupational Passion - in this case, beekeeping; magic that is tied up in that Passion and that is usually fairly un-flashy except on a few dramatic embarrassing-to-the-heroine occasions; a land that is tied up in the well-being of its rulers, who are probably good for the country but unfortunately mistrusted by most of its inhabitants; leaders who are extremely uncomfortable and insecure in their position of leadership; a hero who is in some way dangerous and in human - in this case, because he is MADE OF FIRE - but is trying very hard to cooperate with humans despite this; some ordinary people who are unnerved by the strangeness of our protagonists but eventually learn to respect them . . . also the prose is vintage McKinley through and through. I am not saying this is a bad thing; I love McKinley! But I have read enough of her by this point that this book felt more like a comfortable reread to me than a new read, as opposed to the last new book of hers I read (
Sunshine), which diverged enough from her usual style and setting to feel McKinleyesque-and-yet-refreshingly-different. I did really like the worldbuilding, anyways, and I would happily read more books set in this world!
( Spoilers that will be spoilery to anyone who even starts this book and has read a McKinley before, though in that case they probably can predict these spoilers anyways )If, on the other hand, you showed me a random episode of the anime Gankutsuou and asked me to identify what story it was based on (this is a terrible segue, but whatever) . . . I could also easily identify it for a million dollars, which is TOTALLY AWESOME! I have seen six or seven episodes so far, and it is totally hilarious to me that despite being set IN SPACE and starring a blue possibly-demonic possibly-vampire as the Count it is still the most faithful adaptation of
The Count of Monte Cristo that I have ever seen! Possibly this is just because I do not expect it to be faithful at
all, given the initial IN SPACE etc. premise, but every time an episode reproduces a plot point from the book I am filled with irrational handflaily glee. They kept Lucien Debray and the tabloid journalist and the aristocrat
and their subplots! The Count doctored Madame Danglar's horse! Baby Edward is a brat! Monsieur Norrel is paralyzed! Albert totally got seduced and abducted by a boy disguised as a girl! And then where it does diverge from the book, it is for the most part hilariously even better - the crossdressing boy disguises himself as a maid and follows Albert to Paris, apparently solely for the purpose of following him around and making fun of him! Maximilien is a GENETICALLY ALTERED SUPER-SOLDIER! (I laughed SO HARD at this, oh man, he LOOMS.) In order to impress the Count, Albert wears a pirate hat and a coat that spells out PIRATE ALBERT in floating letters!
Um, I have no idea whether Gankutsuou is any good as an anime, for the record. But so far it fills me with irrational glee as an adaptation! Also the animation is beautiful - everything is full of textures and patterns and psychadelic colors, and it is kind of overstimulatory at times but incredibly, incredibly gorgeous. My one point of sorrow is that I am informed that Eugenie is not a lesbian in this version. :( But as she does not even really
exist in most adaptations, and in this one she is totally awesome and drives super-fast cars while Albert flails in the passenger seat, and also at least retains her dream of being a musician and playing around the world/galaxy, I will resign myself to this gracefully.
I feel like I should also say something about the Sarah Connor Chronicles finale, while I am talking about TV. But I cannot, is too much, was too awesome, have no words.