[book post] Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I managed to miss the explosion of "romantasy" as a genre so entirely that, when I went to a writer's workshop a year and a half ago, and a fellow workshopper read one of my stories and was like "yo, you could totally make this into a romantasy and make bank," I was like "oh cool, thanks! what's romantasy, again?" And when another workshopper sidled up to me afterwards and said, hey, this is good but it is absolutely not romantasy, do NOT take that other person's advice," I was like "oh cool, thanks! uh, what's romantasy, exactly?"

I then proceeded to spend all my time post-workshop frittering around writing a bunch of Exactly What I Want To Write without bothering to learn a single damn thing about The State Of Modern Publishing or researching the market at all, so, y'know, thank you kindly fellow students & sorry that your thoughts were so wasted upon me...!

But even so, I managed to vaguely glean a couple factoids and takes about this whole "romantasy" thing. Y'know, the sorts of takes you see on Tumblrs and in Substacks and such—"let women enjoy things" vs "they're pornographic trash" or whatever. Which sure rhymed with some stuff I remember hearing when Twilight was a hit, so when I finally got around to reading Fourth Wing, I was expecting... something like Twilight, right? Something not-really-to-my-tastes but nonetheless satisfying and pulpy? Like, I read the whole series back then, and while I didn't love them and wouldn't have read them if they weren't a popular phenomenon, like... they were in fact a pretty good time! I remember the third book in particular having a very satisfying progression and a cool final battle! I liked the weird Americana backstory stuff with that Jasper guy! The vampire baseball shit was legitimately charming! It was very easy for me to read those books, even as a judgy know-it-all teenager, and see what the appeal was.

I say this to establish some non-snob credentials because I worry I come off like a dragon here sometimes. "I can enjoy fun and normal and kinda trashy things," I say, persuasively and convincingly.

But like... Fourth Wing... really...?

Even in the depths of my virus-induced delirium, I found myself cringing at so much of the language—every instance of "for the win" was like nails on the chalkboard of my soul; so much of the language was just stupid or self-contradictory on a line-by-line level. And by God it repeats itself, often, as though it's worried you're... only barely skimming the text? only half-paying attention? so you need basic stuff repeated to you over and over? but it managed to do this so much it annoyed me even in the depths of my virus-induced delirium! Ahhh!!! (I commented on Tumblr that part of this might just be a "house style" thing? I guess?? if so I hate it???)

And there's so many logical/plausibility inconsistencies—each minor in their own right, each which might be easy to overlook on their own—but they pile up so much I was just left wondering what the stakes were or what basic facts were or who or what I was supposed to care about, so often, that I was just confused and annoyed most of the time.

Like:

( This section is literally me just scrolling through my Kindle notes and rambling on everything I marked with a "???". It gets so long oh my God. )

( the rest of my thoughts )

...in conclusion I do not think I am the right person to aim to try and write anything in the category of "romantasy" anytime soon.

[book post] Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant trans. Douglas Parmée

I saw this summary of Bel-Ami somewhere...

The story chronicles journalist Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power from a poor former cavalry NCO in France's African colonies, to one of the most successful men in Paris, most of which he achieves by manipulating a series of powerful, intelligent, and wealthy women.

...and was like "oh my God this is SO my shit I must read it IMMEDIATELY." (And then was pleased to discover I apparently already downloaded it a few months ago, so, uh, apparently past-me had the same thought and just got distracted haha.) Anyone who knows my taste knows that "messy drama," "scoundrels being scoundrels," "terrible dinner parties," "dudes seducing and/or being seduced by cougars," and so on, are all on the shortlist of Things That Are Instantly Interesting To Me, and BOY HOWDY does Bel-Ami deliver on all those fronts.

What I wasn't expecting was—

( moderate spoilers for the ending, if you care )

Anyway, this was a rollicking good ride; fun as all hell; if it seems like the kind of thing you might like, you will in fact like it, give it a shot. I kept shouting "oh NO" while reading, was occasionally hollering at Duroy to KEEP GOING or NO STOP; it was a rush.

I only knew of Maupassant via his short stories (aside: is it more correct to refer to him as "Maupassant" or "de Maupassant"? no idea how the French name thing works here)—I read "The Necklace" out of one of my mom's textbooks when I was a kid, alongside a couple others I don't remember as well—but I'm surprised I'd never heard of him for his longer stuff! It moved along at such a gallop and was so entertaining throughout. I dunno if you'd want to teach it in high school, exactly (see: aforementioned blackpilledness; I'm not sure if Maupassant is trying to say anything Super Deep here or if he's simply just giving an Incisive, Biting Look at society, which doesn't make the best class material I suppose), but I enjoyed the ride so much. Like a classier and cleverer high-concept The OC, or something. It's possible that tinge of blackpilledness might've been wearying at a longer length, but as-is, I was captivated throughout.

Other scattered stuff I remember enjoying:

( Read more... )

[book post] The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

This was a really solid page-turner.  I think marketing did this book a little dirty—the cover art gave me romantasy vibes, and the marketing copy called it "dark epic fantasy," but I don't think it's quite either of those things?  It's a full-speed-ahead court intrigue throwdown that happens to be in a fantasy setting.  A very cool fantasy setting, to be clear, and I could imagine some fun building-out-of-the-world if there's ever any more books in this universe, but as-is, most of the action here is about secrets and close spaces rather than magic or battles or romance.

( Read more... )