It’s like dragging a friend out to make her see a great movie, or making her come over to watch Firefly, or whatever. Of course *you* know perfectly well the plot twist that’s coming in The Sixth Sense or Ramius’ real intentions in The Hunt For Red October or whatever, but in a way it’s as much fun to watch someone else see those movies for the first time as it was to watch them yourself. Right?
And books work the same way. So I was really happy to see Thea at The Book Smugglers finally read Bujold’s The Warrior’s Apprentice. Yay!
And ditto for Heidi of Bunbury in the Stacks finally reading McKinley’s The Blue Sword. Double yay, because this is really one of my ultimate comfort reads, from the orange juice straight through the epilogue.
And yes, people, I now possess a copy of LeGuin’s Four Ways to Forgiveness, so I will let you know what I think when I get to it, fairly soon probably, for generous definitions of “soon”.
In the meantime, Inda is making me tense because I know things are going to get rough for Inda and his friends before they get better, and I’m waiting for the really bad stuff to happen, and, well, like I said, I’m tense. I think I will like the book better once Inda finds himself on the deck of a pirate ship, or whatever and can start dealing with that. The back cover copy makes it clear something like that is going to happen.
That’s quite a world, isn’t it? Very screwed up, in a lot of ways. Far too rigid as far as social determination of rank and marriage and everything. If *I* were Inda’s sister, whose name I have temporarily forgotten, sorry, but the point is, if I were her, I would definitely assassinate my intended fiance. I mean, it’s a really obvious solution to so many problems. I guess it’s easier for a reader to be brutally ruthless than it is for the character, though.
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It’s Hadand ^^ – the name of Inda’s sister, I mean. I’ll be particularly interested in reading what you say about what she will go through during the four books. And you’re right that when Inda gets agency it feels much more comfortable to read the series, even when the danger gets very personal.
Oh and as to the “someone reading one of your favourite books” thing, that’s exactly what I felt when Sherwood Smith finally read her first Andrea Höst, after I’d been subtly (I hope) hinting her into that direction, because I thought her work would be right what Sartorias would enjoy.
As for The Blue Sword, I really like it but I LOVED Hero and the Crown, probably because of the major role of learning and horse exercising ^^ (and dragon slaying) – It’s one of the reasons I adore her BEAUTY so much more than Rose Daughter, I just love Greatheart.
Hadend, right! I’m having trouble sorting out all the names and titles, but of course I’m hardly one to complain, right? : )
I’m so pushing people toward Andrea Höst this year! I’m not at all subtle, I tear my hair and say, “You’re killing me, here! You HAVE TO read The Touchstone Trilogy this minute.” Which isn’t to say that people necessarily do, of course, but I certainly try.
I loved The Hero and the Crown, but I did prefer The Blue Sword, but don’t ask me why. I definitely loved the horses in both books — and yes, Greatheart was one reason I very much preferred Beauty.