Book review and SGA
Jan. 15th, 2008 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jadesfireI'm apparently feeling unusually opinionated today. Below is a brief review of "What was lost" by Catherine O'Flynn and SGA 4x12 "Spoils of war". I've left a good gap between them, so the book review can be read without the SGA one, for those who don't want to be spoiled.
I picked up this book from the library because I'd heard an interview with the author on Radio 4. She sounded interesting, and talked about the themes of the book, both in terms of what she intended to be there and what others had found in it.
The first half of the book is told from the point of view of ten-year-old Kate Meany, who spends her days at the shopping centre, Green Oaks, watching people coming and going and trying to spot bank robbers. Kate doesn't want to be a private detectice; as far as she is concerned, she is a private detective. The voice is incredibly strong and believable, childish without being simplistic, and Kate is a wonderfully rounded character.
The second half of the book picks up the story of Lisa, a despondent employee of "Your Music" at Green Oaks, and for me, it was here that the story both took off and slowed down. Lisa befriends a security guard, Kurt, who is equally bored and trapped, and together, they unravel the mystery of the shopping centre and tell us Kate's story. As the plot details come to light and come together, it changes Lisa and Kurt completely, and the book ends not exactly positively, but at least satisfactorily.
I found the second half much harder going, and it definitely shows that Catherine O'Flynn used to work in a shopping centre like Green Oaks. She spends a long time on the details of the centre, which, while building atmosphere, does slow things down somewhat. The structure of the book twists and turns, and does rely heavily on co-incidence, but the mystery is none the weaker because of it. If you can get under the characters' skins, the co-incidences are actually satisfying, providing resolution for them. I had a great deal of sympathy for Lisa, and grew to like Kurt a lot as the story went on. There's such a sense of claustrophobia about their stories, that they are trapped, not because something terrible has happened to them, but because they can't find a way to get out and have lost the will to try. The book does leave you with a hopeful note, although you have to wade through a good deal of emotional stiltedness to get there.
By far the best creation of the book is Kate. Her voice is spot on, and is certainly how I remember myself thinking as a ten year old only child. She has a lot more drive than I did, and it is that that drives the book, but her fantasies, her understanding of the world and her approach to it struck a chord in me. She is intelligent and determined, and completely lost in her own interpretation of the world.
All in all, I'd definitely recommend it. It's not something I would normally have picked up, but she has an engaging style and an engrossing plot. Yes, I saw one of the resolutions coming a mile off, but the others were genuine surprises and genuinely satisfying. Worth the read.
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I had to watch "Spoils of War" on YouTube while doing other things, so this is not as coherent as usual. I have also deliberately avoided other reviews, so for once, these are all my own thoughts. Such as they are.
For once, I felt like the plot was just there to carry the characterisation, which is not a bad thing. They seemed to drag it out for quite a while, just to give Teyla a chance to shine. Not that I'm complaining, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for Sheppard, Ronon and Rodney, running round the Wraith ship, peering into doorways and generally not getting anything done.
Things I liked:
- Teyla and Sheppard in the changing room. I'm so glad the writers decided to tackle this head-on, rather than have it be all roses and puppies. He was really mean to her, and it was great to see them really arguing. I also liked that Sheppard stuck to his guns, because that's what he does when he thinks he's right. The gradual reconciliation was handled nicely, as was Teyla's final decision. Because Sheppard *was* right, as was she.
[as a side note, I love Ronon and Rodney as a double act. they seem to be working well together now, and it makes me want to squish them both]
- Teyla and the Wraith queen. Wow. Awesome work, where everything seemed to come together, writing, production and performance-wise.
- Todd the Wraith. It's so great to have a Wraith with personality, rather than one that's just "grrr! argh!". The actor under the prosthetic actually gets to act, instead of just standing around looking menacing. I loved the sarcasm.
- Lorne and Teyla's conversation. It's nice to see some of the supporting characters getting a bit more of a voice, and the short chat, while incredibly contrived, was nicely done. I like Lorne :)
- The boys getting stunned. Because team-whumping never gets old.
Things I liked less:
- The overall plot. It did seem to be yet another of those 'let's all run around the Wraith ships' stories, which gets a little wearing. I found it hard to buy into the danger, given they seem to wander the corridors at will. Until the siren goes off, at which point they run. Seriously, the security on Wraith ships/bases sucks.
- The destruction of the Wraith army. I kind of wanted there to be more of a threat for the rest of the season. With the replicators gone and the Wraith preoccupied, I'm assuming it's the Elizabeth from the end of "Be all my sins remembered" who'll turn out to be the big bad, and I'm getting the sense that they're clearing the way for her. But it's hard to take the Wraith seriously when the team keep taking them out so easily.
Overall, I enjoyed it more than the last episode, but it's not going to be my favourite from S4. It felt solid and gap-filling, but not thrilling. Although I am intrigued about Teyla's baby, but I guess that was the idea!
So, as of Wednesday, I've got 2 series on the go at once. It's been a while since I tried to split my attention, and I'm not sure I can take that much squee, but somehow I'll just have to cope.
It's a hard life :D
I picked up this book from the library because I'd heard an interview with the author on Radio 4. She sounded interesting, and talked about the themes of the book, both in terms of what she intended to be there and what others had found in it.
The first half of the book is told from the point of view of ten-year-old Kate Meany, who spends her days at the shopping centre, Green Oaks, watching people coming and going and trying to spot bank robbers. Kate doesn't want to be a private detectice; as far as she is concerned, she is a private detective. The voice is incredibly strong and believable, childish without being simplistic, and Kate is a wonderfully rounded character.
The second half of the book picks up the story of Lisa, a despondent employee of "Your Music" at Green Oaks, and for me, it was here that the story both took off and slowed down. Lisa befriends a security guard, Kurt, who is equally bored and trapped, and together, they unravel the mystery of the shopping centre and tell us Kate's story. As the plot details come to light and come together, it changes Lisa and Kurt completely, and the book ends not exactly positively, but at least satisfactorily.
I found the second half much harder going, and it definitely shows that Catherine O'Flynn used to work in a shopping centre like Green Oaks. She spends a long time on the details of the centre, which, while building atmosphere, does slow things down somewhat. The structure of the book twists and turns, and does rely heavily on co-incidence, but the mystery is none the weaker because of it. If you can get under the characters' skins, the co-incidences are actually satisfying, providing resolution for them. I had a great deal of sympathy for Lisa, and grew to like Kurt a lot as the story went on. There's such a sense of claustrophobia about their stories, that they are trapped, not because something terrible has happened to them, but because they can't find a way to get out and have lost the will to try. The book does leave you with a hopeful note, although you have to wade through a good deal of emotional stiltedness to get there.
By far the best creation of the book is Kate. Her voice is spot on, and is certainly how I remember myself thinking as a ten year old only child. She has a lot more drive than I did, and it is that that drives the book, but her fantasies, her understanding of the world and her approach to it struck a chord in me. She is intelligent and determined, and completely lost in her own interpretation of the world.
All in all, I'd definitely recommend it. It's not something I would normally have picked up, but she has an engaging style and an engrossing plot. Yes, I saw one of the resolutions coming a mile off, but the others were genuine surprises and genuinely satisfying. Worth the read.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
P
A
C
E
I had to watch "Spoils of War" on YouTube while doing other things, so this is not as coherent as usual. I have also deliberately avoided other reviews, so for once, these are all my own thoughts. Such as they are.
For once, I felt like the plot was just there to carry the characterisation, which is not a bad thing. They seemed to drag it out for quite a while, just to give Teyla a chance to shine. Not that I'm complaining, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for Sheppard, Ronon and Rodney, running round the Wraith ship, peering into doorways and generally not getting anything done.
Things I liked:
- Teyla and Sheppard in the changing room. I'm so glad the writers decided to tackle this head-on, rather than have it be all roses and puppies. He was really mean to her, and it was great to see them really arguing. I also liked that Sheppard stuck to his guns, because that's what he does when he thinks he's right. The gradual reconciliation was handled nicely, as was Teyla's final decision. Because Sheppard *was* right, as was she.
[as a side note, I love Ronon and Rodney as a double act. they seem to be working well together now, and it makes me want to squish them both]
- Teyla and the Wraith queen. Wow. Awesome work, where everything seemed to come together, writing, production and performance-wise.
- Todd the Wraith. It's so great to have a Wraith with personality, rather than one that's just "grrr! argh!". The actor under the prosthetic actually gets to act, instead of just standing around looking menacing. I loved the sarcasm.
- Lorne and Teyla's conversation. It's nice to see some of the supporting characters getting a bit more of a voice, and the short chat, while incredibly contrived, was nicely done. I like Lorne :)
- The boys getting stunned. Because team-whumping never gets old.
Things I liked less:
- The overall plot. It did seem to be yet another of those 'let's all run around the Wraith ships' stories, which gets a little wearing. I found it hard to buy into the danger, given they seem to wander the corridors at will. Until the siren goes off, at which point they run. Seriously, the security on Wraith ships/bases sucks.
- The destruction of the Wraith army. I kind of wanted there to be more of a threat for the rest of the season. With the replicators gone and the Wraith preoccupied, I'm assuming it's the Elizabeth from the end of "Be all my sins remembered" who'll turn out to be the big bad, and I'm getting the sense that they're clearing the way for her. But it's hard to take the Wraith seriously when the team keep taking them out so easily.
Overall, I enjoyed it more than the last episode, but it's not going to be my favourite from S4. It felt solid and gap-filling, but not thrilling. Although I am intrigued about Teyla's baby, but I guess that was the idea!
So, as of Wednesday, I've got 2 series on the go at once. It's been a while since I tried to split my attention, and I'm not sure I can take that much squee, but somehow I'll just have to cope.
It's a hard life :D
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-15 12:13 pm (UTC)The book sounds really good, I'll keep an eye out for that. I've heard of Catherine O'Flynn, she's one of my 'must read something by her at some point' authors, so 'What was lost' seems like a good place to start...
I'm trying to get into my miss_zedem email account, and it says I have a message, then promptly crashes the browser before I can look at it. If it's from you, and if you spot this before 12.30pm, could you resend it to my beermonster account please? If not, don't worry, I'll pick it up when I get home (also ignore this if it's not from you lol ;)).
Hope you're having a good day - you've been quiet lately *worries*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-15 12:17 pm (UTC)"What was lost" is her first book (it won the Costa) and I find that immensely encouraging - she's in her mid-thirties. There's hope for me yet!
There's some nice Lorne stuff in "Spoils of War", although "Tabula Rasa" is definitely his best of S4 so far. S4 is immensely better than S3 - not without weak spots, but they've hit their stride and they're darkening the tone a little, which is always nice. The characters have settled properly, which means they can do things with them, instead of having to establish them. I'm definitely not regretting keeping up with it :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-15 12:28 pm (UTC)...I'm getting her mixed up with someone else. But yes, I recognise it as the Costa winner now, we got a load of promotional stuff about it in work, which is why the book sounded familiar. And of course there's hope for you - never give up! You have far too much talent to let it continue unnoticed.
I think all long running series have a low point - the cast are flagging, or the scripts aren't quite up to scratch. That's why I'm holdihng out hope for TW being recommissioned - it had its dip in the first series, so it's over and done with ;) I'm planning to buy the s3 SGA boxset when I next get paid, as I think it comes out this week? Then I'll be a little more up to speed...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-15 06:08 pm (UTC)Because Sheppard *was* right, as was she.
I think Sheppard was right to be angry as a commander that Teyla didn't tell him about the baby because it meant he was putting *two* people at risk without knowing it, and I understood that he was upset as a friend that Teyla didn't mention the boyfriend or the baby. At the same time, I think it should have been Teyla's decision whether to continue to put herself and her child at risk, not Sheppard's. So yep, definitely sympathized with both sides. What I didn't like was that he summarily grounded her, or at least the way that he did it, and I was uncomfortable when this week she apologized and said he'd been right.
I kind of wanted there to be more of a threat for the rest of the season.
Me, too. Same for the Replicators. The war lasted, what, a few weeks? There were a lot of interesting things the show might have done while it raged on, either on-screen or off-. Maybe they still will since there are plenty of Wraith ships hanging around despite the destruction of the super-secret cloning facility, and we don't know how many "people" RepliWeir is leading.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-15 10:08 pm (UTC)What I didn't like was that he summarily grounded her
I don't think we were supposed to like it. He was mean, angry and downright rude. As a commander, I don't suppose he would see it as her decision, and I can understand how, from her perspective at the end of the episode, she would say he was right. Something I really liked about the whole thing was the ambiguity of it all. She's right and he's right, and she's probably wrong to say he was right, but she regards the pregnancy totally differently at the end of the episode, so I understand why she does it. It's a mess, basically. It feels like a mess, it looks like a mess, it sounds like a mess. Which I like, because people are, in general, messy. :)
The one upside of the whole 'tying up loose ends' thing is that it's got me wondering what the hell is going to happen. There's no way they can't up the stakes, so with the Replicators out of the way and the Wraith back to S1 levels of threat, I'm actually quite keen to see what happens next. Which may mean I'm in for a massive disappointment, but hey, I'm a Torchwood fan. I'm used to it!