Bartimaeus, and Falling In
Oct. 9th, 2011 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerFirst, a question. Has anyone read Jonathon Stroud's Bartimaeus trilogy? I read the first book and liked it well enough (yay footnotes!), but not so very well that I'm sure I want to commit to books two and three - especially given that the reading teacher who lent it to me said the first was by far the best.
But she also told me that Eragon was AMAZING, so I'm taking her literary advice with a grain of salt. So I ask you, dear readers: books two and three of the Bartimaeus trilogy? Worth the plunge?
***
In return, I give you - an anti-recommendation. Francis O'Roark Dowell's Falling In chronicles the adventures the intrepid half-changeling Isabelle Bean, who falls through a school closet into a magical land. Doesn't that sound like a promising set-up?
Except…except…once she's through the closet, nothing particularly magical happens. All Isabelle manages to do is learn some random herb lore and nurse people. Not to be demanding, but WHERE ARE MY MAGICAL WISH FULFILLMENT ADVENTURES?
What's more! Dowell is clearly aware of this problem! Every so often she pauses for a short meta chapter of commentary on the story, and one of them, I kid you not, is about how there's no adventuring going on, and what's up with that?
If you ever find yourself writing meta-commentary into your book about how boring your book is, that would probably be a good time to bring in a fire-breathing troll. Just sayin'.
But she also told me that Eragon was AMAZING, so I'm taking her literary advice with a grain of salt. So I ask you, dear readers: books two and three of the Bartimaeus trilogy? Worth the plunge?
***
In return, I give you - an anti-recommendation. Francis O'Roark Dowell's Falling In chronicles the adventures the intrepid half-changeling Isabelle Bean, who falls through a school closet into a magical land. Doesn't that sound like a promising set-up?
Except…except…once she's through the closet, nothing particularly magical happens. All Isabelle manages to do is learn some random herb lore and nurse people. Not to be demanding, but WHERE ARE MY MAGICAL WISH FULFILLMENT ADVENTURES?
What's more! Dowell is clearly aware of this problem! Every so often she pauses for a short meta chapter of commentary on the story, and one of them, I kid you not, is about how there's no adventuring going on, and what's up with that?
If you ever find yourself writing meta-commentary into your book about how boring your book is, that would probably be a good time to bring in a fire-breathing troll. Just sayin'.
