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gmonkey42Book #8 and 9 Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire
I got this on a whim. It was pretty good but I should have gotten Son of a Witch. I still haven't read that one. This one was much more grounded in reality and I wasn't expecting that. I wish the cover illustration hadn't contained a huge spoiler. That would've been nice. Still, I very much like the illustrations. I like them as much as I like the illustrations in A Series of Unfortunate Events. And I like how Maguire writes female characters. In this book, as in Wicked, it was all about relationships between women and men were mostly peripheral. I like how the "stepmother" character is so complex. Nobody's good or evil in his books, they're all just human.
The only complaint I had was the ending felt a little abrupt. That was mainly because there were more pages but it turned out those contained study questions, which was odd because I didn't think I'd picked up a special students' edition. Anyway. I can't help keeping in mind roughly how many pages are left as I'm approaching the end of a book. I don't know why I do that. But when the book ends sooner than I expected, because there's an appendix at the back or something, it's like "woah, what happened?" I especially would have liked to know how a certain character died. I won't spoil it.
It wasn't as epic as Wicked but I still highly recommend it.
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I also finished the next Brother Cadfael book but they're all pretty much the same so I don't feel like reviewing them any more. Some new characters are introduced, somebody murders one of them and Cadfael eventually figures out whodunit. The End. I like the characters and setting so I'm going to continue reading the series but I don't have a lot to say about it.
Y'know, come to think of it, if you've got good characters and settings, there could be hardly any plot at all and I'd still enjoy it. Well, unless it's a stupid plot that doesn't make any sense. That would bug me. Characters are always the most important aspect for me. Lousy characters and an awesome plot add up to a book that I probably wouldn't even bother to finish. Or I would finish it and then rip it up on LJ.
I got this on a whim. It was pretty good but I should have gotten Son of a Witch. I still haven't read that one. This one was much more grounded in reality and I wasn't expecting that. I wish the cover illustration hadn't contained a huge spoiler. That would've been nice. Still, I very much like the illustrations. I like them as much as I like the illustrations in A Series of Unfortunate Events. And I like how Maguire writes female characters. In this book, as in Wicked, it was all about relationships between women and men were mostly peripheral. I like how the "stepmother" character is so complex. Nobody's good or evil in his books, they're all just human.
The only complaint I had was the ending felt a little abrupt. That was mainly because there were more pages but it turned out those contained study questions, which was odd because I didn't think I'd picked up a special students' edition. Anyway. I can't help keeping in mind roughly how many pages are left as I'm approaching the end of a book. I don't know why I do that. But when the book ends sooner than I expected, because there's an appendix at the back or something, it's like "woah, what happened?" I especially would have liked to know how a certain character died. I won't spoil it.
It wasn't as epic as Wicked but I still highly recommend it.
****************
I also finished the next Brother Cadfael book but they're all pretty much the same so I don't feel like reviewing them any more. Some new characters are introduced, somebody murders one of them and Cadfael eventually figures out whodunit. The End. I like the characters and setting so I'm going to continue reading the series but I don't have a lot to say about it.
Y'know, come to think of it, if you've got good characters and settings, there could be hardly any plot at all and I'd still enjoy it. Well, unless it's a stupid plot that doesn't make any sense. That would bug me. Characters are always the most important aspect for me. Lousy characters and an awesome plot add up to a book that I probably wouldn't even bother to finish. Or I would finish it and then rip it up on LJ.
