three things

[fahye]

1) Yes! I was home for just long enough to acquire the first adventure of Eleven, despite, uh, not having seen the past few specials with Ten. WHATEVER. Brand new sarcastic hipster Doctor! Brand new slightly unhinged companion! But all that pales in comparison to

STEAMPUNK TARDIS!

Seriously, the highest point of that episode was when he started typing on the typewriter.

2) I was ALSO home for just long enough to finally get started on this book, which has been sitting on my shelf for ages. I love the worldbuilding and the faerie creepiness and the deadpan Victorian humour, but so far I am kept from the whole-hearted enjoyment I expected by the fact that I don't really...like...any of the characters. I have the feeling I could become very attached to Arabella and Stephen and maybe Jonathan, but the narration is so very distant and all-encompassing that I don't feel like I know any of them well enough to care.

3) DUBLIN. CHECK IT OUT.

Comments

[lilith-lessfair.livejournal.com]

I love the worldbuilding and the faerie creepiness and the deadpan Victorian humour, but so far I am kept from the whole-hearted enjoyment I expected by the fact that I don't really...like...any of the characters. I have the feeling I could become very attached to Arabella and Stephen and maybe Jonathan, but the narration is so very distant and all-encompassing that I don't feel like I know any of them well enough to care.

Yes. I think it's a wonderfully crafted book, and I'd agree that becoming attached to the characters is a slow proces. I found that I became increasingly fascinated with them as the book progressed; I didn't think like was the right word for me. But I found the narration to be far too distant, even though the craftsmanship is very good.

[themis.livejournal.com]

I was crazy about the pastiche in JSMN, but I felt like the characters had no inner life and that kind of ruined it for me.

Oh, but I did love Stephen. Crazy about Stephen. But I am susceptible to characters called Stephen.

[fahye.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's it exactly. It's told as a book of history and so they appear as figures in history: significant for their deeds, not for their personalities.

[mkcs.livejournal.com]

You might, perhaps, enjoy the short stories by the same author more.

[fahye.livejournal.com]

I have read them! And I don't remember having this problem with them, indeed.