I Read What?!

So last time, we read the first story in the Chronicles of Pern. In it, we see the initial survey of Pern. Not a lot happened and the characters were more interesting concepts than fully developed, but it wasn't bad.

Let's see what "The Dolphins' Bell" gives us.

( We haven't seen Dolphins much yet, though there will be a book about them. Hopefully better than Renegades of Pern... )

So last time, poor Kevin was a whiny teenager who isn't really having fun. And I don't really blame him. I've mentioned a few times that as a kid, I disliked Kevin (at least early on), but I actually feel pretty fond of the little idiot now.

( A big sign of getting old is that it's hard to blame stupid kids for being stupid kids... )

So I figured I've taken a long enough break from Pern that it might be fun to get back to it. Also I realized that Masterharper of Pern is happily not the next one on the list. A reprieve!

Chronicles of Pern is actually a collection of short stories though and I've never actually tried to review one of those on this blog. Not really sure how it's going to work. But we can give it a shot.

I haven't actually read any of these stories before. Some of them may have been published earlier but I feel like if I tried to weave in all of the short stories by publication date I'd lose my mind. So we're going by the book publication date instead. Woo.

On the plus side, no standard intro for this book!

( Let's get started! )

So last time, Kevin decided to be an annoying teenager and strike out on his own. He immediately ends up embarrassing himself and courting disaster. I'm sure things will be fine now though.

( We're still very early in the book... )

So that one was basically a giant meh, to me.

It's disappointing, really. After a really strong start like Canticle, I had pretty high hopes for this book. But it really didn't deliver for me.

Plot:

The plot was fine, I suppose. Serviceable. We had recognizable stakes and a decent amount of excitement. But I spent most of my time wondering why I should care.

I mean, yes, of course, I want to see the invaders defeated and the innocent defenders win. But there were no real personal stakes involved in any of this. Cadderly, Danica, the dwarves, they could have been replaced by Drizzt, Wulfgar, and Bruenor and had the same emotional tie to Shillmista. Which is none.

And the one character who had an emotional tie to the events, the one who SHOULD have made us emotionally invested in the outcome, was too busy being a petty dick and a bully. Maybe a little reflection could have saved it - if Elbereth admitted that he was lashing out at the nearest target because he felt so powerless over what was happening with his home and people, it might have worked.

As it is, I didn't care as much as I should have. And I'm sad about that.

So let's talk about the Characters:

I liked Cadderly. I thought his post-Barjin trauma was really well-written. I like that he's overwhelmed and freaked out by the way his world has suddenly changed from a sheltered existence where he basically got to play the sitcom mischief maker to something more real and scary. I liked that he wanted to, and tried to, show mercy to even "monsters". And I dislike that the narrative seems to think he's in the wrong for that.

But the problem is, there's only so long you can watch a guy get kicked while he's down. We spent god knows how long watching him get bullied by Elbereth. His friends are completely unsupportive. He spends three quarters of the book feeling useless. And while he gets a few genuinely triumphant moments toward the end, we see them get immediately forgotten about.

He ends the book alone and honestly, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. I'm not sure I want him to meet up with these assholes again.

As for the others, well...they're just awful.

I really liked Danica and Cadderly as a couple in Canticle. But here, Danica spends all her time feeling this battle kinship with Elbereth, which could be fine and compelling, if she wasn't watching Elbereth bully the guy she's supposed to be in love with, CONSTANTLY. What the fuck is that? She's also completely unsupportive whenever Cadderly has a crisis, and I'm supposed to buy them as lovers?

I'm not saying a girl can't have her own friends, or that she has to drop everything when her boyfriend needs her, but SOME kind of consideration is basic fucking courtesy. These two are supposed to be in love, and I barely get the sense that Danica even likes him. There's no indication at all of any kind of respect.

I talked about Elbereth. He's the worst. He had a moment of growth and then completely backslid. And poor Galladel was completely ineffectual in a transparent attempt to make Elbereth look better. I just feel really bad for the Shillmista elves, because we have seen Elbereth demonstrate exactly zero traits that would indicate he'd be a competent ruler.

The dwarves were fun, I guess, but a bit too prone to comic relief for my taste. I liked Tintagel and Shayleigh fine, but they were mostly there as props for Elbereth. I've decided Tintagel is my favorite, simply because he shilled Elbereth less, but that's not saying much.

Kierkan Rufo had, by far, the most compelling storyline. I was genuinely invested in seeing him wrestle with his fear and conscience. And I was really pleased when he came clean to the others. It was, therefore, absolutely bewildering that after that growth and development, he suddenly regressed to being a horrible coward in one chapter. As I said in the review, I guess Salvatore decided he made a better villain than antihero, but the shift felt very sudden. And it's a shame, because he was actually interesting.

So yeah. It's not the worst book I've read. I still prefer Cadderly to Drizzt as a lead character, but it wasn't a very enjoyable read either, and it's kind of killed a lot of my anticipation to see where the series goes from here.

Sorry guys, things got ahead of me again and I ended up taking another accidental week off from reviewing. However, I insist the next In Sylvan Shadows review will be up tomorrow

So last time, we got to meet our main character. IMO, Aidan's definitely got issues, but he seems pretty rational. At least so far.

But I admit, I was looking forward to this chapter. Mostly so I can see my favorite character again - kind of fucking up the whole parenting thing.

( To be fair, in this setting, one can always be worse... )

So, you all know how annoyed I was by Cast of Corbies, right? That was a bad book. Obviously not the worst thing I've read, but it was disappointing. Especially considering that it's part of a series that's generally decent, and by decent authors.

It'd be easy to blame Ms. Lackey's co-writer, but the thing is, I remember reading books by this collaboration of authors before and enjoying them. So I decided that I was annoyed enough by that book to want to prove to myself and any readers who care that this collaboration of authors is capable of better.

And I remembered that, when I was about twelve years old, I really enjoyed this book. It's not particularly complicated or deep. It is, in fact, a tie-in novel to a 1985 Computer Game: The Bard's Tale. It's also NOT representative of that game's plot. It's merely, apparently, set in the universe.

At the time, I knew nothing about that universe. And to be honest, I STILL know nothing about that universe. So yeah.

I do vaguely remember that this book has a renegade dark elf in it, sorry for the spoiler, but one that's a different style than Drizzt. It'll be interesting to see how he compares.

I also remember a crossdressing scene at one point. I know there's a lot of discussion about crossdressing and transphobia and while I guess, as someone who identifies as a "female-adjacent non-binary person", I theoretically could have an opinion about that, I really don't.

I remember finding it entertaining when I was twelve. And at the time, transgender issues and transphobia wasn't really part of everyday discussion. So we'll see how it looks with adult eyes. I'll try to remember to warn.

So without further nonsense, let's get started:

( What WAS it with child me and Bards?! )

So last time, my least favorite character got a promotion while Cadderly had an...interesting solution to a moral dilemma.

( I mean at least he didn't kill her, but... )

Shit, we made it to the last chapter. And I don't actually know what book I want to start next. But that's a debate for later. For now, let's see how it ends!

( with violence I presume! )