Books! Sharing! Ranty--Mercedes Lackey

[darkelf105]

 

Alrighty, here's my deal. I was in the bookstore and saw that there was a new series in the world that Mallory and Lackey's Obsidian Trilogy  took place in. I liked OT well enough to buy the first two books (in paperback...from the library booksale, but still I own them) and eagerly awaited the third and bought IT in hardcover. And read it. And came to the conclusion that there is a reason that I read Mercedes Lackey eagerly when I was like ten but not so much now that I am older. The end of the OT trilogy featured the valiant death and sacrifice of a main character...who was then reincarnated...and, erm, well her lover in life who was an Elf (that's another issue, the capitalizing, but I will get to that later) as he holds the newly reincarnated infant...says something like, Elves have long lives, I can wait (presumably until she's eighteen). But see, that has all kinds of creepy uncle conotations (which is a shame because until then I had really, really liked Jermayan's character) and well, reincarnation so twu luv can conquer all and....gag. See I am not a fan of reincarnation as a plot device, but there are ways to do it. The boys from Saiyuki come to mind as does the multiple layering of existence that happens in a movie like The Fountain. But Lackey and Mallory's ending was so clunky and sugary and felt too much like a reward handed out to the characters because they were sooper speshul. Which brings me to The Phoenix Unchained. I will be forever grateful to Nicky for stopping me from purchasing that thirty dollar book. Because, I knew, knew in my heart of hearts that this series wasn't going to be that great because well the ending of OT proved that Lackey still writes things too sugary sweet and too adolescent-y for my tastes. This books takes place a friggin' thousand some years after the events in OT...and Jermayan and Sandalon and Idalia are still freaking alive. Yes I realize that they are Elves (capital!) and thus live a long time...but come on. Then, then, they die sacrificing themselves....and oh gawd, the misty, misty sappiness of it all. I just glanced through the book and....and am despondent because this series had such cool stuff in it. Talking, snarky unicorns. Centaurs that weren't bad guys. Talking, weird crystal spiders that weren't bad guys. The Endarkened were pretty damn scary....but, zomg, the sugary, happy sweetness that I had to get through to get to those cool bits. And in PU (lol), the main characterization between the two main characters is how they are polar opposites of each other and gah! That's not characterization. That's cheap writing.  That's cardboard cutouts and that's what they are. There is nothing that makes Harrier and Tiercel different from anybody else. And btw, if I fucking save the world and am a sooper awesome Knight-Mage (CAPITAL because it's like the President), I will be sorely agrieved if I am heretofore referred to as Kellen the Poor Orphan Boy (capital!) for the rest of fucking history. Come on, what is that? Yes, that's what the main character from the first trilogy is referred to by the people of the future. Kellen the Poor Orphan Boy. What the hell? If I save the world, you'd better be calling me Your Majesty, or Awesomely Awesome or, if you're an honest lot, She Who By Some extraordinarily Dumb Luck Saved Us All Despite A Penchant For Procrastination And Bad Hand EyeI Coordination And Who Despite Running From The Demons Managaed We Know Not How To Destroy Them...but not Katie The Poor Orphan Girl. I mean, for real, that's his heroic title? But still, I kept reading. And, no, I can't do it. I got through the first set of books because of the centaurs and snarky unicorns and incredibly anal retentive Elves (capital!) but not now, not with so much else to read. Which is sad, because sometimes, there are books that Lackey writes that look so interesting...

And okay, the other thing, the capitalization. Like I understand you capitalize proper nouns and such, but really, when every other word is capitalized and italicized it really, really snags up my reading.  But They seemed to have thought that They were making a Great Point about Their bad guys when They did it in the last Book all the fucking Time. And by They I mean Mercedes Lackey the Misty Author Girl and James Mallory Whose Name Also Appears On The Cover The Poor Boy.  See what I mean? That's hard on the eyes, just from a straight up typological stand point not to mention what it does to your narrative.  So straight up, avoiding the sugar induced come from now on and never reading a Lackey book again.

Comments

[crowyhead.livejournal.com]

Kellen the Poor Orphan Boy

I totally have songs from "Pirates of Penzance" running through my head now.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Lol, totally do now, too.

[athousandwinds.livejournal.com]

It's not the first time Misty's pulled something like that, of course. Vanyel's boyfriend Tylendel dies when they're both around sixteen; twenty years later, Stefan shows up (and naturally, Vanyel recognises his soul - but not immediately). And to her credit, she does mention the age difference. That's about all there is to her credit there (and, okay, I love Magic's Price. Don't judge).

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Magic's Price...is that the Last Herald Mage...because I must admit *cough* *cough* that I liked those, too.

[athousandwinds.livejournal.com]

Yup. I also like Brightly Burning, which is the one where Lavan Firestorm falls in love with his Companion. Yeah.

[theforeverturk.livejournal.com]

Lol, yeah I read that one, too. At the time I thought it was awesome...much later I realized that in essence Lavan was a furry. Hmmms. I'm just sad, I guess because I've ALOT of good ol' Misty and now apparently I've just outgrown them. Ah well.

[darkelf105.livejournal.com]

Oops. Apparently I forgot to sign out of my RP journal.