SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

± Colleen (of the Crawling Chaos) ± wrote: "And since we're on the topic, I get the share this lovely video: Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk)"

I like it.

± Colleen (of the Crawling Chaos) ± wrote: "And since we're on the topic, I get the share this lovely video: Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk)"

On a totally unrelated note, you know those songs where you hear them once and they stay in your head for days afterwards? You know what I'm talking about? You know those songs? DO YOU?!?!?

I do know what you're talking about, yes. >:D

btw: still in my head.

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Ugh. ugh ugh ugh. I officially only like Zeno. lol, because he was very exaperated by the fact that (view spoiler)[ all Emily had to do was show up to throw off his plan (hide spoiler)]
mehhh

I agree with some of the previous comments on this thread. Hobson has a LOT of really great ideas, but it seems that she's more interested in cramming as many ideas as she can into the book rather than just taking a few ideas and using them to their full potential.

For instance, the zombies are a wonderful idea. There's a great background, great setup, interesting use but they're there for just a single scene, then disappear. I'm not saying I would want to read a zombie novel. I'm actually not a zombie fan at all. But it's such a great idea that it's a shame it's not at least referenced one or two more times.

Another example would be the magic system. There were whole chapters centered around explaining a complex, intricate magic system but only a quarter to a half of that information ever gets used. The same with the racism. It's mentioned, used for a chapter or so, then ignored for the rest of the book. Or the use of magic for manufacturing - barely mentioned, then dropped.

There's all these really interesting plot elements and ideas that attract attention to themselves just for a moment or two, then disappear, rarely to be seen again. All those ideas and work to set them up are wasted. It's a very frustrating book because I wanted it to be so much more than it ended up being.

One thing I'd like to see in the future books is the evolution of all these great ideas that were in this first one.

Since book 3 takes place a couple decades after this one, it'll be interesting to see if anything's changed with the zombies, or those flying machines, or the magic system, or any of that stuff.

I agree, Mike. (I really want to call you Monkey Mike, btw.)

I'll be doubly disappointed if these ideas don't come up again and get further development and usage in future installments.

I started 'Hidden Goddess' this morning, so I'll try and keep an eye out for stuff.


*hums some steampunk related song about gears*

I finished The Hidden Goddess last night and it was a rather vexing book, but I still really liked it.

I am sad to say, though, that neither the zombies nor any kind of magitech are ever mentioned again so, no, Hobson does not build on the various things that are mentioned and then dropped that people have complained about.

I'll say if you didn't like the first book, then you probably won't like the second, either. And if you did like the first book, well, this one is more romancey and melodramatic, so I guess it depends on what you liked about the first book whether you'll like the second.

Luckily I seem to have to a soft spot for overwrought romances, as long as they're set in the past and have magic, so I did enjoy it - though I often wanted to throttle people.

My full review is

Finished this a while back. Never picked up the second one but I did enjoy this book. I loved Stanton. I wish she would write a prequel book about him (view spoiler)[ when he used blood magic. (hide spoiler)]

Thank you for the info on the second book, Colleen. I picked it up at a book sale last month but with what you've said, I think I'll just send it on its way to someone else.

You do find out some more about Stanton's past in the second book.

Just finished The Hidden Goddess and I really enjoyed it. The storyline is more unified (cohesive? Focused? I don't know what word to use) and therefore more satisfying than Native Star. But as Colleen (of the Crawling Chaos),(I don't know how to write the plus-minus sign, sorry), pointed out, The Hidden Goddess is much more romancy. But (view spoiler)[ I felt the romance ended up being an integral part of the climax. True love really did save the day at the end, with a little help from a 'goddess' and lots of magic. The relationship between Emily and Stanton made more sense to me in Hidden Goddess but maybe that was Hobson's intention because their romance was more important in this book. (hide spoiler)]

I agree that it was more cohesive and (view spoiler)[integral. (hide spoiler)] And I did like Hidden Goddess better, overall, though parts of it frustrated me.

One thing I did like (view spoiler)[was a lot of the comments about how true love didn't solve things... it wasn't the end, but it was a good beginning.

This bit between Emily and the other woman whose name I can't spell was one of my favorites:

“Credomancy may seek to exploit the human desire for a tidy narrative where an unblemished romantic hero vanquishes all obstacles, but such ideals have very little to with reality. Reality requites pragmatism and compromise. Men fail. Women fail. There are no heroes, only human beings who somehow find the strength to behave heroically, no matter how many times they have been unable to do so in the past. If you understand that, Miss Edwards - if you truly and deeply understand that, then you will understand the most powerful thing anyone with a heart can understand.”
“And what’s that?” Emily said softly.

“That love is not enough. But it’s a start.” (hide spoiler)]