SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Rachel wrote: "Wait - I can’t think of a love triangle in Souless please refresh my money! (Also yes I agree I think the ridiculousness is purposeful) (and I love it)"

I saw the third point as being Mr. MacDougall (the American scientist with the theories about supernaturals).

Ah. I guess I never took that seriously (seems Alexia didn’t?) and - - maybe I can’t say due to spoilers?

As I looked through my highlights of this book for another thread, I also noticed this progression of gems in We Broke the Moon:


"Io let out the breath she’d been holding."

"Looksmart gave her the bucket he’d been holding." (!!!)

"Maksim became aware of the pleasant mix of fresh sweat and something sweet and smoky."

"After a long moment, she let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding."

I've been trying off and on for a while, to think of any book I've read that uses the trope

Told: they're the best. Shown: they're idiots

I can think of TSTL (too stupid to live) characters, or characters who are complimented on their strength, wisdom, etc. when they don't actually display those qualities to any extent, but those aren't quite the same thing, I think. Maybe I'm just lucky and have been able to avoid it!

the Invisible Library is one I was just thinking about. we keep being told she's massively competent and yet we only ever see her mess up and need someone to save her

Beth, I know I've come across it a slew of times, but I can't think of a specific book at the moment. If I think of any of those books, I'll post them here because you might have read them, too.

Son of the Storm has a protagonist who we're repeatedly told is curious but fails to show it for most of the book.

I think this thread is the closest I can come to being on topic.

I got an email from my library that my book is waiting for me. I was like, I have active holds?! So I logged into the library system, and released the books I hadn’t realized I was holding.

:P

(About to go collect the one that's waiting for me, didn't release that one.)

LOL Anna! :)

lmao

Crap just now noticed it’s not correct, fixed from didn’t know to hadn’t realized! 😄

Anna, just this morning I released the cat I hadn't realized I'd been holding. What a coincidence!

Haha 😂

I saw a lot of "Smells of ... and ..." in the Divergent trilogy. I remember once reading that someone "smelled of the road" and I was "What?"

I think smelled of the road means sweat and dirt? Like they've been on the road, not able to shower?

This one isn't in the bingo, but ever since Jemppu pointed it out, I will never be unable to unsee it, and at this point I'd swear there was a law that every author who writes in English must include it in their book at least once. Our trope*--as many of you know by now--is a character with callused hands.

*maybe it isn't a trope so much as a recurring image?

I'm mentioning it because I wouldn't expect it contemporary and/or literary fiction, but here it comes in The Night Watchman:

Millie's grip was hard, like a white person's grip.

"Your hand has calluses," Millie said.

"I like chopping wood," said Patrice.

🙃🙃🙃

Okay, but also, if you are chopping wood regularly, just wear some damn gloves! If our ancestors managed to find a practical solution to this problem, then some people in some fantasy world will, too. This kind of unneccesary dumbness just irks me.

what's wrong with calluses?

There's nothing wrong with calluses--they're the body's natural defense against certain kinds of pressure or abrasion. ;)

And there's nothing wrong with them in books, either, aside from their being a trope or piece of imagery that is used constantly.

agreed. I'm reading a book now, The Barbed Coil, which is pretty good except for the main male character constantly chewing on the scar on his lip

New way of breath holding! (Angel of Storms)

"She would have caught her breath, if she had been conscious of breathing."

That sentence tied my brain into knots trying to figure out what pov it was from.

Aside from the almost-breath-holding, how is that series, Anna?

I've had this series on my TBR for over seven years, and I'm finally getting to it! I liked the first a lot, because I click with Canavan's writing. There are some things that would prevent me from recommending to others, but it's the sort of comfort fantasy I like. On the line between adult and YA, moves slowly but I don't mind. I'm near the end of book two now, and liking it a bit less, because there's more action and less slow waffling around :D As always, Canavan's magic systems are great, and I like both POV characters.

Thanks!

I just finished book 3 and while there still hasn't been any unrealized breath holding, there is so much breathing! Part of it is for plot reasons, but there's just so much! I wasn't even halfway through the audiobook when I decided that I'd check the ebook once I finished. I searched for 'breath', so that includes 'breathe', 'breathing', etc. and there were 163 hits! I'm pretty sure that's not a normal amount of times breathing is mentioned in a typical fantasy book. The book is almost 600 pages, so it's a breath every 3.5 pages. (58/163 are a 'deep breath', so there's even more breathing than it seems.)

Interestingly, I wasn't annoyed by this while listening to book 2, which (I just checked) had 181 mentions of 'breath' :o (46 'deep breath'.)

Wow. Can't wait to see how many are in the last book! Maybe I should check before I start it? Yeah I will. Oh no, 169 breaths, 62 of which are deep :S Am I going to make it through alive?!

Even more wow! I also checked book 1, because there were no plot reasons for breathing until book 2. There are 117 breaths in book 1, 38 deep. Yikes.

I wonder if this is in her other books? I haven't noticed it before!

Recap:

Book 1 - 38/117 (deep) breaths
Book 2 - 46/181 (deep) breaths
Book 3 - 58/163 (deep) breaths
Book 4 - 62/169 (deep) breaths

Total: 204/630 (deep) breaths

Whew, taking a deep breath now and then plunging into book 4 :P

Well I also checked her other trilogy (but not all her other books), for science! It seems that this is typical for her, I just never noticed it before :D

The Magicians' Guild - 37/123 (deep) breaths
The Novice - 44/130 (deep) breaths
The High Lord - 55/164 (deep) breaths

For comparison:

Ninefox Gambit - 1/27 (deep) breaths
Planetfall - 4/57 (deep) breaths
China Mountain Zhang - 5/21 (deep) breaths

You're so funny!! It's almost like hyperventilating!!

I wonder if I'll notice this the next time I reread Black Magician? I don't want to ruin it for myself :D

haha!

I also have one! The Unbroken - she smelled of sweat and rosewater

From Soulless:

She smelled warm and spicy sweet, like some old-fashioned Italian pastry his body could no longer process but whose taste he remembered and craved.

If I smelled like a pastry, I'd be drooling all day...

I think there's a good reason why Alexia smells like pastry, she does enjoy her tea and cakes!

An ex co-worker used a perfume that smelled exactly like (Finnish) cinnamon rolls, and all the dudes in the office flocked to her room. She said that was the intended outcome :)

Ooh! Let's do one of those "the name of your YA book" but instead it's what we would smell like if we were in a YA book:

I smell like [the last thing you ate] and [the thing closest to you on the right that has a smell].

I smell like chocolate chips and ethernet cables.

(I guess I *am* like other girls, I doubt I'm the only YA character who smells like choc chips.)

Wait, ethernet cables have a smell?

I smell like applesauce and the dregs of coffee in a paper cup.

It could be worse. ;_;

I guess I smell like General Tso's chicken and my cat Merlin.

Beth wrote: "Wait, ethernet cables have a smell?"

Absolutely!

I smell like chilaquiles and doggies 😂😂😂😂

I smell like sesame chicken and cat treats. Accurate.

I smell like chocolate and ink

(I actually smell like soap and spray paint. I am not taking questions at this time.)

Please note, Allison, that I really want to ask a question, but I'm exercising restraint.

Duly noted. =P

Quote from book 4, which I feel very accurately describes this series:

"Nobody replied, too caught up in breathing."

Anna wrote: "Quote from book 4, which I feel very accurately describes this series:

"Nobody replied, too caught up in breathing.""

gasping for air (or breath) would have worked better in that sentence.

Breathing does occupy a LOT of my day

unless you're a zombie...

Anna wrote: "Quote from book 4, which I feel very accurately describes this series:

"Nobody replied, too caught up in breathing.""

I have always thought that it something that happens when one runs for a long time but obviously not in Clicheland.

I smell like marionberry cobbler and camera lens. And chocolate (always).

Okay, I smell like rain and seasalt.

A dude runs around trying to learn how to breath properly

(view spoiler)[ Warbreaker (hide spoiler)]

CBRetriever wrote: "gasping for air (or breath) would have worked better in that sentence"

Don't worry, there's a lot of that, too :)