Always nice to tie up a manuscript and send it off! I always enjoy it as much as possible, since it happens at least twice per book (and sometimes more).
Revising KEHERA was kind of a big job and in fact I thought of a loose end I didn’t tie off properly just a minute ago. I should add a couple sentences. But BASICALLY, it is finished. It will go back to Caitlin for comments. I took a lot of her suggestions but not all; my feeling is the book works pretty well now but may seem a bit choppy toward the end. My feeling is not reliable at this point, though, which is why the manuscript goes back to Caitlin. Very likely I will wind up doing a bit more with it.
But not this week!
My hope right now is to take October off (essentially). I have an awful lot lined up to do, but I am due a month off and I’m taking it.
So, taking time off!
What I REALLY want to read is more Raksura stories, but since I’m out, I will have to read other stuff. Luckily other stuff is not in short supply. Even though I have a lot of titles on my Kindle that I would love to read, I really must read at least half a dozen titles from my physical TBR shelves, because those shelves are overflowing (again).
So now I’m in the middle of FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK. I loved Melina Marchetta’s contemporaries. I know some of you commented that you were not keen on her fantasy, but I’m always interested in exploring an author’s work once I start reading her books. I had trouble getting into each of her contemporary titles, so though FINNIKIN has also been tough to get into, I am going on with it. It’s got a horribly brutal backstory which is definitely causing me to stay a bit distant from the story out of self-protection. Therefore, I’m sort of liking it, but in a distant, more intellectual way. I’m not very emotionally involved. I am pretty sure I will be giving this book away, because I’m pretty sure I will not want to re-read it. But I’m only halfway through the book and it’s possible the ending will be so brilliant it will change my whole perception of the story and make it a keeper.
I’ve also got RANGE OF GHOSTS on my table upstairs. I own the whole trilogy, so unless I change my mind, I will next re-read RANGE OF GHOSTS and then go on with the other two books. There’s plenty of brutality in that one, too, but it’s not the same as the grinding despair that fills FINNIKIN’s backstory.
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Congratulations on finishing the manuscript Rachel. Enjoy your break!
Thanks! We’ll see just how far I can whittle down the TBR pile in one month.
I’m so excited that Kehera is one step closer to me being able to read it!
I think you’ve put your finger on why I wasn’t able to go on with the Finnikin trilogy, despite it being well-written and interesting.
I really enjoyed the whole Range of Ghosts trilogy: such a big, fascinating world and amazing characters!
Kim, I’m finding I like FROI quite a lot better than FINNIKIN. The sheer grimness of the first book took me by surprise, and then the horror and despair were nearly unrelenting till the end. In contrast, in FROI, we open with the main characters of the first book plus the kingdom and people of Lumatere in a much better place, so the grimness has lifted to a considerable extent. Also, for me, Froi and Quintara are both more interesting characters than the protagonists of FINNIKIN.
But I’m still not sure whether I’ll go on with the third book, or keep the trilogy.