30 Days of Books Meme - Day 6

[uberreiniger]

Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time.

Wow. That's a toughie. Well I don't want to pick just one favorite from one favorite series so I'm not gonna. Eat it.

-The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader - The Narnia crew take a break from saving Narnia from conquerors to go on an old fashioned high fantasy quest. Gets rather weird when invisible hopping monsters get thrown into the mix.

Kushiel's Dart - Never before in the centuries of animosity between Vikings and sissy French bondage freaks has anyone tried to tell both sides of the story. Carey does and does it well. And also: Chidric d'Essoms; what the fuck is WRONG with that guy? And why do the other books just forget he existed?

The Wheel of Time: The Shadow Rising - SPOILER ALERT! A guy gets so upset about his ancestor's history that he literally eats his own face. They don't make entertainment like that anymore.

Day 1 - A book series you wish had gone on longer, OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you've read more than five times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your comfort book
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your "to be read" stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?

Comments

[persephone-20.livejournal.com]

Kushiel's Dart!!!!

I have nothing more to say.

Oh wait, yes I do. I liked your reasons for liking it. I've never put more thought than 'I like the world building' into my answer.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I really, really love the world-building that she does. The premise for some of her cultures is pretty far fetched, (They worship Babylonian gods in Italy? really?) but the way she tells it, it all makes sense. Seriously, if just about any other author had tried to explain that the Jews had accepted Jesus as the Messiah and were now heading off to establish New Jerusalem at the North Pole it would have been a wall-banger moment. But in Carey's voice it seems completely reasonable.

A somewhat common complaint I've heard about the novels is that she romanticizes D'Angeline culture too much when it's actually a pretty unpleasant place. I have to agree there. Not a book-ruining flaw by any means though. I've also seen it said more than once that she doesn't really understand how S&M works. I can't speak to the veracity of that statement, but I can say the stories don't do anything to sell me on the lifestyle.

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

Which one was Shadow Rising? Must have been after I said "Fuck you, Robert Jordan. Fuck you in your pukered browneye, you two entire books in a row with no plot development writing son of a bitch!"

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

TSR is #4, long before he lost the plot... (I'd say that was book 7, personally)

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I think he got hit with a serious, perhaps near-fatal case of writer's block with book 7 given that it came out almost two years after its originally promised release date and was still the shortest book of the series to that point despite being damn near quadruple spaced on every page.

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

For me, it was the book that ended with cleansing the male source. the last 10 pages of the book were great, but I'll be damned if I had to read 2 entire books of shit about characters I neither like nor care about playing petty politics and doing nothing of use in order to hit that payoff. Any book which isn't at least half Matt, Rand, and Perrin is a waste of time for me, and he put two in a row.

After that, I stopped bothering to buy/read the books. It was obvious that someone was standing over his shoulder saying "Come on, string it out a couple more books! We'll give you a million dollars for every book you write, so why race to a finish when you can milk it?"

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

ahh...I did still enjoy them at that time...don't remember the face-eating, but I'm old and I forget things.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Wasshisname... Shaido in the glass columns.

http://wot.wikia.com/wiki/Muradin !