mostly about "Empress"
Jul. 21st, 2013 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silverflight8It rained Friday (!!!!!) and the weather has cooled significantly down. It was even slightly cool today when I went out, and it was enormously satisfying to walk in the sunshine and enjoy it.
*
I was at the mall today and went and read some more of Empress. (I'm not really a fan of shopping.) I'm now up to about page 150.
She runs away! AND SHE CUTS UP HER FACE. Oh no, I hope that's reversible. That said, I'm probably enjoying the slave bits (when Abajai told her about her status) more than I ought to. Anyway, then there was the meandering with Nogolor and Raklion warlords trying to outmaneuver each other, and that was really boring. Normally I am all over political maneuvering. But the parts with Raklion talking to anyone was especially boring, because it'd be basically him getting advice from someone and then him rejecting it, only the conversations took pages and pages. And were really, really repetitive.
Now I understand why there was that scene with the escaped slave--and also why it was so gory.
Also return of the misogyny, which was expected but still unpleasant, what with Raklion going to Nogolor to retrieve his betrothed and arguing with her father about the marriage at the gates. It's pretty much outright stated that he's just after her to get heirs (he's fifty and has apparently tried many times, and each time his wife dies and so does the child), but the whole 'blunt spear' bits were not pleasant. Especially when they kept repeating it! And then said something about sharp spears, which, ow.
Oh, that brings me to the other point. THE COMMA SPLICES. I know, picky, but she uses them multiple times in a paragraph, on every page. I swear I'm not using hyperbole. It's everywhere. Also when Hekat speaks, there's a subtle shift in writing, where she will drop words that make the writing choppy.
I don't recall Miller using comma splices so often in CW: Wild Space or CW Gambit: Stealth, so I think it's for effect, but while I can and do ignore some of it, some just leap out at me and I end up thinking about the comma splices instead of the stuff I'm reading.
But mostly the political stuff bogged me down. I don't care about Raklion, he can go do whatever he pleases, but I want to see more of Hekat! And also see Abajai get his comeuppance. (There's not a chance Hekat's father will get his comeuppance on page, but I would love to see Abajai get his. I just enjoy revenge stories in general.)
Lastly: in the bookstore I noticed the second book was in stock and oh my god it's enormous! It's over a thousand pages and much taller than a paperback, although it has similar margins and print size.
*
I was at the mall today and went and read some more of Empress. (I'm not really a fan of shopping.) I'm now up to about page 150.
She runs away! AND SHE CUTS UP HER FACE. Oh no, I hope that's reversible. That said, I'm probably enjoying the slave bits (when Abajai told her about her status) more than I ought to. Anyway, then there was the meandering with Nogolor and Raklion warlords trying to outmaneuver each other, and that was really boring. Normally I am all over political maneuvering. But the parts with Raklion talking to anyone was especially boring, because it'd be basically him getting advice from someone and then him rejecting it, only the conversations took pages and pages. And were really, really repetitive.
Now I understand why there was that scene with the escaped slave--and also why it was so gory.
Also return of the misogyny, which was expected but still unpleasant, what with Raklion going to Nogolor to retrieve his betrothed and arguing with her father about the marriage at the gates. It's pretty much outright stated that he's just after her to get heirs (he's fifty and has apparently tried many times, and each time his wife dies and so does the child), but the whole 'blunt spear' bits were not pleasant. Especially when they kept repeating it! And then said something about sharp spears, which, ow.
Oh, that brings me to the other point. THE COMMA SPLICES. I know, picky, but she uses them multiple times in a paragraph, on every page. I swear I'm not using hyperbole. It's everywhere. Also when Hekat speaks, there's a subtle shift in writing, where she will drop words that make the writing choppy.
I don't recall Miller using comma splices so often in CW: Wild Space or CW Gambit: Stealth, so I think it's for effect, but while I can and do ignore some of it, some just leap out at me and I end up thinking about the comma splices instead of the stuff I'm reading.
But mostly the political stuff bogged me down. I don't care about Raklion, he can go do whatever he pleases, but I want to see more of Hekat! And also see Abajai get his comeuppance. (There's not a chance Hekat's father will get his comeuppance on page, but I would love to see Abajai get his. I just enjoy revenge stories in general.)
Lastly: in the bookstore I noticed the second book was in stock and oh my god it's enormous! It's over a thousand pages and much taller than a paperback, although it has similar margins and print size.
