Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
I finally got hold of a copy of Tortall and other lands and have to say, I loved it. Two of the stories were published in anthologies and I'm happy that they added them to this book.
It's fascinating to read of other people in the lands around Tortall.
i want to here more of what happens to aly but there are no anounced books yet :$
Mystic Ward
13 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
I'm pretty sure the Aly series is done but there is a story of her and Nawat in Tortal and Other Lands. :D
Mystic Ward
12 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
[act]sidles past [/act] *dpm*
Looks like Mastiff will be available next week. Yay!
Mystic Guildmistress
12 years ago
Mystic Guildmistress
Mage
That must be the American/UK version, because the Australian version isn't available until December I think.
And the postage prices as always are horrible :(
Methinks the Sending is taking up my book budget :P
Wanderer Ward
12 years ago
Wanderer Ward
Dreamscape Artist
Has anyone read Mastiff yet? I found it in Dymocks last week :D
When I started reading, I really didn't like it at all. Admittedly, maybe it would have helped if I'd reread Terrier and Bloodhound before starting Mastiff, but I have so many new books to read, rereading would just take up too much of my precious reading time :P So I didn't reread the first two, and when I started Mastiff I didn't really feel like I connected with the story.
Beka's fiance who died, we'd not actually met him as her fiance in the earlier books had we? I couldn't remember him at all so I was a little uncaring that his funeral was the first scene in the book. And I know Beka was feeling guilt rather than grief because she hadn't actually wanted to be with him for a long time before his death, but I just felt like that whole section was fake or something. Maybe that's not the right word, but something didn't sit right with me about it.
So I wasn't really liking the book to start with, but I eventually got into it and really liked much of the middle. I thought it was really obvious that Beka was going to end up with Farmer, but regardless of that being a bit predictable, I still loved it!
But then the ending! :O Tunstall!?! No! That was so ridiculously out of character! I know that's how good traitors work so you don't guess they're traitors, but I still can't believe that he'd turn traitor, meaning he'd have to murder Beka and Prince Gareth, just so he could be on an even footing socially with Sabine. I guess he was the most unlikely person to be the traitor, I was thinking it was Sabine, so it was a good plot twist, but I don't know, I still don't think it's believable.
It really doesn't sound like I liked the book from what I've said here, but it was an enjoyable read :P Some parts I though "Now is that really necessary?" but it was a good read overall.
=O
I have not, but I'm now planning to raid Dymocks tomorrow!
And I've just remembered the cliffhanger segment in Tortall and Other Lands... *craves*
Ashlings' guildleader
12 years ago
Ashlings' guildleader
Dreamscape Artist
I read it today Kaede! Loved it.
I loved it to pieces, I actually got into it really quickly, which was surprising (I normally have that connection issue with new books in series that I love to death, my brain rebels for a few pages exclaiming indignantly This is not how the books go! ). Maybe it's because the first page was like a slap in the face :P (I am a terrible person). I d'know, I can see why other people might not connect with the opening chapter, but it was very real for me, maybe because I'm very familiar with the whole guilt/grief/numbness think and I could internalise it easily. I think she was actually grieving, but not in the way that she or anyone else expected her to ('cept Rosto <3 ). Reading it, I thought it was the sort of thing where she wouldn't really realise that she was grieving till it was long over.
No, I don't think we'd ever met Holborn before. Though the name did seem familiar, maybe he was mentioned in passing somewhere? But somewhere it said that they hadn't met till the winter following Bloodhound, so he certainly wasn't a proper character before.
I agree that the whole Tunstall thing didn't quite work. His voice was wrong during the confrontation, it didn't sound like him. Part of me thought maybe he'd been suffering from depression a bit and hiding it. It's a bit of a stretch, but it would make sense with him not feeling as useful since his legs were broken and stuff and he'd never talk about it (all that "being a man" stuff that Beka referred to). I'm worried that I'm trying to make excuses for him, but it would explain why his voice was wrong.
I also think the Farmer thing was a bit obviouse, but I like Farmer. I just feel a bit sulky though over the fact that the Rosto thing never went anywhere -_- I mean, sure, it would never work long term, but I expected it to get expanded a little bit. I feel like he, Aniki and Kora have gotten swept under the carpet a bit. I love the scenes about Beka's life in Corus and there weren't any of that in this one :'( And poor Esrken wasn't mentioned at all! It was one thing that they were so absent in bloodhound, that worked, but the way the last one ended, I thought there would be sorting out of things between Rosto and Beka to happen before she'd move onto someone sooner. I thought we'd get to see Kora and Esrken house shopping or something (had to stop myself from writing "sommat" just then). I think I would have been happier with Farmer if we'd gotten that. [act]sulks about lack of Rosto[/act]
Actually, I can't help but wonder if Tamora wasn't in the same position that IC was with The Sending, with the book just ending up to long, and that her editor made her cut stuff out :-/
It was really great to be given such a good explanation as to why Tortall doesn't allow slavery in Alanna's time.
Also, am I the only one that hates the cover? It's so awful it makes me want to cry! The other two covers were these beautiful illustrations and then they come back with this ridiculously awful photograph that wasn't even edited well. I look at all the work that went into the Obernewtyn covers and Mastiff's cover looks like it was thrown together at the last minute. I hate it. I am actually considering tearing it off and rebinding the book. If I knew how, I would have already. As it is, I'll probably make a dust cover. And it's a paperback.
The over tunic is terrible and looks edited. Badly.
Beka is positioned awkwardly, unless I look carefully, it looks like her neck is too far twisted round, her arms look awkward. The photo should have been taken at a different angle, so she was slightly more side on to the camera. She'd still have looked like she had her back to the audience if they positioned her more to the right of the book and further into the picture so it looked like she was further along the path.
Why couldn't they have just gotten another illustration? :(
Or at least done a better job with the photo? Tonks, Min, Axe, Arien, Arwen, Zier and pinkyperson have all done better jobs of cover design and I bet any of them could have done better if they'd been given the job!
[/rant] Sorry, I know the cover shouldn't matter, but I like pretty covers and this one ruins a really pretty set :(
I was going to squii about how much a loved the middle, but I don't have anything particularly substantial to say about that and I've written rather a lot ~:|
I'm just really sad that this is the last Beka Cooper book, I love Beka and I think her series is Tamora's absolute best work and I'm sorry that her journey's over. I really want another book!
Oh well, there's only one thing for it. Let the fanfiction begin!
Wanderer Ward
12 years ago
Wanderer Ward
Dreamscape Artist
About Holborn: I definitely get the emotion in the first chapter and the guilt that Beka feels later, but I just felt like I should have felt more.
And I definitely agree about the cover! It looks awful! At first I tried to convince myself that the material that the tunic is made out of wouldn't be that flexible, so even if her body was twisted around a bit so she's looking at us, it wouldn't necessarily be visible through the tunic. But even if that were the case, it still looks awkward. And her bracers (arm guards) are also edited on really badly. And Achoo is supposed to be white!
I forgot to say in my other post, I'm glad we went back to George's diaries at the end of the book. From memory (and this may be completely wrong as it's been a long time since I read Terrier and Bloodhound), George's diary isn't included in Bloodhound, and that made me feel a bit disconnected at the time.
I wonder what the next Tamora Pierce book will be!
I completely forgot about Mastiff until I saw it in Dymocks yesterday. Needless to say, I bought it on the spot. I'm planing on giving it to my sister for Christmas and stealing it off her (perhaps while she reads the other book I got her :P )
Ashlings' guildleader
12 years ago
Ashlings' guildleader
Dreamscape Artist
Bibli, if you feel like being evil....it is completely possible to read this book without it looking like it's been read |:|
The copy I bought was a gift for a friend, I did actually have her permission to read it before she did, but the spine didn't crease at all and I'm just pointing out, if you want to be evil....
I really, really want it, but I can't buy it this close to Christmas!! I have to wait... :(
Sian, I know. When we bought the most recent Wheel of Time book dad insisted on reading it first, but i managed to finish it before he did by reading it when he wasn't there; he didn't notice until I told him. I also have a habit of just standing in bookshops reading. i think my record is half a book completed in this way before i got around to getting it from the library. :P
So I recently read Mastiff too...
Unlike Sian, I don't particularly care for the Beka series - I like Tamora's earlier stuff most, especially the Lioness Quartet and the Wild Mage quartet. Anyway, I am just pointing that out in order to explain that I didn't really have super high expectations going into this book and I was still a little disappointed! ::)
I don't really have any major bugs with it that Sian and Kaede didn't cover - I was similarly disappointed by Tamora never fully exploring Rosto as a romantic possibility. I guess I just loved the roguish charm thing George had going with Alanna and I thought, more hoped, that perhaps Rosto would father Beka's kids and pass on the thief gene :P he he!!
That is not to say though that I didn't like Farmer - in fact, I quite liked him! But it like Sian says, because we never closed of the Rosto possibility, I wasn't rooting for Farmer as hard as I would have otherwise. Also re Beka and Farmer's relationship, like the others mentioned, it was blindingly obvious that their friendship would develop into something more and yet I felt a lack of romantic development between the 2 (except for when Farmer notices Beka has nice legs or something :P) I don't know - I am not explaining myself well and I guess I have been reading more adult novels lately so maybe I am expecting too much in this regard from YA fiction. Anyway, it bugged me.
As well, the Tunstall betrayal as the others have mentioned really jarred!! I felt like there was no sufficient explanation given for his betrayal - the thing that seemed to be repeated again and again was "well that is the thing with royalty - the stakes are so high that people do things they would never usually do" but I just didn't buy it with what we knew of Tunstall's personality to date... :(
All that said, I still didn't mind reading it. I guess I am just disappointed with the books Tamora Pierce is putting out of late - I don't know if the problem is me or her but I don't want to be outgrowing her novels!! :-/
I'm kinda in love with Tamora Peirce currently, I have the whole of the Immortals and first two books of The Circle Opens and then book one of Song of the Lioness (or whatever it is actually called, I don't know)... woo, she is so cool! :P
