I finished a challenge!

Wow, I did it! I actually completed a challenge. The other day I finished reading Patricia A. McKillip’s Harrowing the Dragon, a collection of short stories. In doing so, I read my third book of hers for the year and completed Lennth’s challenge. My updated challenge post is here.

I have to admit this was far from my favourite on McKillip’s works. I think she’s better at full length novels than short stories.

I usually love McKillip, but a lot of these stories failed to completely satisfy. I think a lot of the problem is that the endings tended to feel weak to me; the stories built beautifully, the writing was lovely and then they just kind of ended. My favourites were "The Stranger" and "The Lion and the Lark" and I think part of that is because the endings were stronger. But I'm left with the feeling that McKillip writes better at the longer length than the shorter one.

All the same, I enjoyed the experience. I’m not really one for anthologies full of stories by different authors, but reading this collection by McKillip and Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint earlier this year I’ve discovered that I’m more likely to enjoy a collection by a favourite author where I know I already enjoy their world(s) and writing style.

Harrowing the Dragon
Patricia A. McKillip
7/10

Qualifies for: 100+ Reading Challenge, Patricia A. McKillip Challenge, eBook Reading Challenge

I’ve actually managed a few book comments over on my GoodReads entries lately, so I shall endeavour to add this to the blog over the next few weeks. It’s school holidays here and having Marcus at home for two weeks solid (well 1½ so far) has really knocked me over.

Progress on Once Upon a Time III

Since I’m not currently doing book reviews (a disappointing but necessary situation at present), I thought I’d do a quick follow up on my current progress on the Once Upon a Time III challenge. Since the start of the challenge on 21st March, I’ve read three books that fit the categories and I started on my fourth today.

The Ordinary Princess – M. M. Kaye

If I remember correctly, I got this book from on2 of the school book clubs, way back when I was about 12 or so. I loved it immediately. The story of Amethyst (commonly known as Amy), a seventh princess who gets given the gift of ordinariness by one of her fairy godmothers at her christening, is a delightful story. It’s just a short, little children’s book, that even has written inside the back page, in my 12-year old writing: My verdict – Supa. Why I decided to misspell “super” remains a mystery to this day, but the verdict remains the same. The Ordinary Princess is written with an almost sly wit as it makes fun of the usual fairy tale fare full of beautiful princesses, handsome princes and other archetypes. The king wanders around insisting inviting fairies is a RASH idea (often in capitals), while the queen tries in vain to remove her youngest daughter’s freckles and Amy decides to run away when the king considers hiring a dragon to lay waste to the countryside in the hope some rash young prince will slay it and be forced to marry plain Princess Amy. It’s a truly lovely story and it doesn’t matter in the least that it’s theoretically a children’s book; it’s a delight to all ages. My verdict this time around (and, okay I’ll admit it, 28 years later) is 10/10.

Alphabet of Thorn – Patricia A. McKillip

I went on a McKillip spending spree last year and bought most of her recent books that I hadn’t read (it helped that Lenneth over on LJ started up a Patricia A. McKillip challenge that I quickly joined). Alphabet of Thorn was one of these. It started out in what is typical McKillip style at present, with a varied collection of characters all apparently doing their own thing. The reader has to have faith that all the separate lines of the tale will come together in the end – and McKillip always comes through. The translator Nepenthe (a orphan so named because the librarians were up to N for names when she was found) finds herself obsessed with deciphering a book written in an alphabet of thorns. Slowly, she uncovers a tale of a mighty emperor 3000 years ago and his quest to conquer the world. At the same time, the new young queen of the kingdom finds her throne at risk, a young mage caught up in family politics meets Nepethene and the aged mage, Vevay, tries to counsel a queen she doesn’t really understand. All of these strands finish up making a beautiful story that enchants the reader. I did guess the general solution to one the the book’s mysteries fairly early on, but it didn’t matter in the least. The how of getting to the end and the beautiful, lyrical language McKillip uses to tell her tale are what the book (and indeed, all McKillip’s books) is all about. I really enjoyed the tale and I’m glad I’m having a year reading McKillip. My rating for this book is 9/10.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan

There’s been a lot of comment on this book on a number of the blogs I read and that comment has been all positive. So I feel I bit like Scrooge crying “Humbug” to say that the book didn’t work for me. This is a zombie book that doesn’t mention the word “zombie” and while that isn’t generally my reading (or viewing) preference, I have to say that that part of the book was very well done. Mary lives in a village ringed by fences where the “Unconsecrated” live outside in the forest and a forever trying to find a way through to the living on the other side. Mary is something of a misfit, not satisfied with the live she is expected to lead, either as a member of the Sisterhood that is the authority in the village, or as a wife and mother. Her own mother told her tales of the ocean and while no-one else really believes in it, Mary is haunted by the stories and wants to find the ocean. When the fences are breached, she and several others find themselves caught of fenced paths, trying to find their way to some kind of safety. I read on bottle_of_shine’s LJ that this book is an excellent zombie metaphor. Well, I readily admit that I wasn’t reading for metaphor but for story. And as a story, it failed for me. Mary is self-absorbed and annoying as she drags everyone else along on her obsession towards the ocean. She wails about her life and obsesses about her own feelings to a point I found it annoying. Since the book is told from her point of view, not identifying with her in any way wasn’t helpful. It was also frustrating that the author drops clues about the cause of the “Return” (such as Mary finding old newspaper clippings in an attic) but then chooses not to tell us what happened. Now, I can accept that in real life – often we don’t learn the answers we’d like to learn – but in a book where there is setup about the mystery of what happened to humanity, it’s annoying not to get the reward at the end. (And I admit, part of what I like about post-apocalyptic fiction is finding about about the apocalypse through the characters history and discovery.) So sadly, this wasn’t a great read for me – although I do love the cover – and I’m glad I borrowed it from the library rather than buying it. My rating is 5/10.

I’ve also had one DNF since I started the challenge. This was Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, which I received as part of the Christmas Blog Swap exchange. I was very excited about reading this as it sounded like it could be a lovely book (and the pretty cover didn’t hurt). Sadly, by about a third of the way through I was finding myself very ambivalent about reading it and wasn’t sure why. I finally figured out that I didn’t like any of the characters – of the two main protagonists, one was a whinger and the other was manipulating everyone (sometimes into very nasty situations) for her own ends. I just didn’t want to continue on the journey with them. I’m pretty sure I guessed what a big reveal was going to be, but I don’t really even care to know if I was right or not. I guess I should take a look at the back to see.

Right now, I’ve just started The Night Bird by Catherine Asaro, which has been sitting on the TBR shelf since it came out in July last year, so I’m delighted to have something push me to read it. While I prefer Asaro’s SF series to this fantasy one, I do enjoy the stories all the same and while I’ve only read two pages so far, I’m looking forward to the read.

In the Forests of Serre by Patricia A. McKillip

I fell in love with Patricia McKillip's writing many years ago when, as a teenager, I discovered her Riddle-Master trilogy in the library. From there, I pretty much read all her books as they came out. McKillip's writing is beautiful; it's lyrical, poetical, full of fantastic imagery and amazing ideas. But it also is never simple. Mostly, that simply enhances the story, but sometimes I find it opaque as well and I'm left confused. It's the former far more than the latter, but after failing to finish The Tower at Stony Wood, I left off buying her books for a while. Then last year, I heard a podcast of McKillip reading the beginning of her new book, The Bell at Sealy Head and was entraced all over again. When it was published and I read it, I just loved it and it was one of my 10/10 reads for 2008. At the time, I had some credit with Fictionwise, so in my enthusiasm, I went and splurged on two of the books I had skipped, In the Forests of Serre and Alphabet of Thorn.

When I found that Lenneth was holding a Patricia McKillip Reading Challenge for 2009, I pretty much immediately signed up, planning to read those two books I had on the TBR list and perhaps have another go at reading The Tower at Stony Wood. (I still haven't decided what I'll read for the third book in the challenge as I'm also tempted to reread some of my favourites.) Within the first week of January, the random number generator threw up In the Forests of Serre for me.

McKillip's books do not have simple linear plots, and this one is no exception to that. The reader starts off meeting a wide array of characters - Ronan, Prince of Serre, still grieving the loss of his beloved wife and child while his father demands he wed again; Sidonie, Princess of Dacia who is chosen to be his bride in spite of her own wishes; Euan, a scribe in Dacia who is selected to transcribe the writings of the wizard, Unciel, who went away and fought a terrible monster he cannot bear to mention and nearly died as a result; Gyre, the wizard always desperate for more magic who Unciel chooses to escort Sidonie to Serre. There are others as well, including Ronan's parents, the entrancing firebird that lives in the forests of Serre and the witch, Brume, who sets the events of the story in motion.

In the opening pages, Ronan rides down and kills one of Brume's white hens and she curses him to remain lost in the forest until he finds her again. Sidonie arrives to find her bridegroom missing and Gyre sees a chance to take something he wants. But this is too simple a summation to indicate the depth of the story and the intricate way in which everyone's stories are woven together to make a bright, magical whole. Each of the major characters encounters Brume and each is changed by meeting her. We learn about hearts and one's heart's desire and what is needed to be whole.

It's a beautiful story, but I admit that I found myself struggling a little at first as I tried to keep up with all the characters and threads of the story. About halfway through it all begins to come together and the power of McKillip's story-telling shines through. Once I got to that point, I couldn't stop reading and had to keep going and going, stealing time whenever I could to get to the end. Looking back, I see a glittering tapestry telling a bright tale and I am even more entranced by the story now, with the whole of it in my head and a day gone by to let it all sink in.

I tried reading McKillip's Od Magic last year and gave up because there seemed to be too many characters and too many plot threads. After my experience with In the Forests of Serre, I think I'm going to need to give Od Magic another go. I suspect the same thing is likely to occur and it all weaves together beautifully at the end. Looking back at what I wrote last year, I see that I did try to read Od Magic at a time when I was struggling to read much of anything, so I suspect it wasn't a good time to attempt McKillip.

It's a long time love affair, the one I have with Patricia McKillip, and I feel no need to attempt to escape from her spell. I love her writing, I love her characters and her stories. In the Forests of Serre was no exception and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books as the year progresses. The challenge is to read three, but I rather suspect I may have read more than that by the time the end of the year rolls around.

In the Forests of Serre
Patricia A. McKillip
8/10

Qualifies for: 100+ Reading Challenge, eBook Reading Challenge, Patricia A. McKillip Reading Challenge