Suspension of disbelief is a funny thing
Feb. 23rd, 2016 06:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjornwildeBehind a cut as I talk about a book I am currently reading, so slight spoilers for Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley, and talk of a plot point that might be bothersome for those who squick at parasites and other body invaders.
So the book reminds me a lot of Hans Christen Anderson's style of fantasy with an entire world of new creatures living in the skies. There are flying ships, avian humanoids that can shift to birds we are familiar with, and magic is performed by song. There are squall wales and storm sharks, all of which I can accept. But there is also a type of bird that flies down a person's throat and takes up residence in a lung.
Really, this is where I arch an eyebrow? Flying wales I can accept but not lung birds? Perhaps it's because there hasn't been a good explanation for the lung birds yet? They do seem to be symbiotic and can exit the chest via doorways that don't harm the host, and they seem to be almost like a witches familiar, but there hasn't been any clear reason for them that I can see or remember.
I guess that's the secret to credence. The fantastic element that you want your audience to believe in has to have a reason to being in the story. That and consistancy.
So the book reminds me a lot of Hans Christen Anderson's style of fantasy with an entire world of new creatures living in the skies. There are flying ships, avian humanoids that can shift to birds we are familiar with, and magic is performed by song. There are squall wales and storm sharks, all of which I can accept. But there is also a type of bird that flies down a person's throat and takes up residence in a lung.
Really, this is where I arch an eyebrow? Flying wales I can accept but not lung birds? Perhaps it's because there hasn't been a good explanation for the lung birds yet? They do seem to be symbiotic and can exit the chest via doorways that don't harm the host, and they seem to be almost like a witches familiar, but there hasn't been any clear reason for them that I can see or remember.
I guess that's the secret to credence. The fantastic element that you want your audience to believe in has to have a reason to being in the story. That and consistancy.
