hmmm

[bjornwilde]

 Well, I decided to work with my new guideline of finish the canon before doing anything with tempting head voices, and picked up the final book in the Heartstriker series. I am seeing how this is a good rule of thumb for my impulsive self and I'm also thinking I see why I dropped Amelia from when I played her before; the character I want her to be isn't the same as the character in the book. Also, the book tends towards flash with little substance. Don't get me wrong, there is good meaty bits there, but the author seems to me to be throwing "cool" ideas and scenes on the page without stopping to think if it adds to the story. 

Your mileage may vary of course, and I don't mean to suggest I'm not enjoying the book. I guess it's like the difference between a Michael Bay movie and a Guillermo del Toro one. Ok, maybe Bay as an example is being cruel...maybe more Cameron?

Haven't given up the idea of Amelia just yet.

ETA: OK I think I’ve figured out what doesn’t quite work for me with the author’s writing. She has great plot ideas and world building concepts, a good sense of pace, but I feel like she gets all her clues for writing drama and dramatic tension from reality TV. Seriously. The Heartstriker series could be the Real Dragons of Shadowrun. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not something I look for in a book. 

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Real Dragons of Shadowrun.

Haha!

I only read as far as the set-up, I think, I mean, just enough to get a sense of the world and the characters, but that wouldn't surprise me. From what I remember, I liked the worldbuilding a lot (it was a mixture of some of my favorite things -- humaniform dragons chief among them, and the way magic works -- with enough original ideas to keep it interesting, and it was a fun, quick read, but didn't really grab me as a series.

[bjornwilde]

I do like the set up and world, as well as the reason for why the dragons spend so much time in human skin. = ]

[bjornwilde]

And thinking further on it, it's not reality TV that's the author is using, it's keyed up animes. Again, nothing inherently wrong with this, and honestly, imaging I'm reading a prose version of some anime makes the book much more inherently to me.

I also don't think I will be playing or testing out Amelia. At her base, she's too selfish and lazy for any sort of lasting character for me.

I should take the character in my head that the book has inspired and work her into my own story though. Aether sailing through the planes for the win!