So Many Books... - 120 Hour Challenge(let)

10:02 pm - 120 Hour Challenge(let)

Got my two comments made for the day, and was all set to crank through the backlog, when I got sidetracked by the wonderful Moomin icons seymaza has up.

Anyway, quite a bit later and even more headachey, but still determined not to fall on the first day... So, today, Sherwood Smith's Sasharia en Garde Book 2 (or Twice a Prince) and Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix.



I was really glad not to have to wait at all long for the second book in the Sasharia en Garde duology, as -- well, as I was impatient, mostly, but also it does feel more like one book broken up than a sequel. And it didn't disappoint at all! But I'm finding myself remarkably without things to say about it - in part because I said a lot about the first book and in part because anyone who read and enjoyed that will undoubtedly already want to read the second.

So, a few remarks only. First of all, I liked both strands of the story again, and loved Atanial's middle-aged hippy, mother-of-all peace marches - it might not have worked, but did and was great. And I loved the way all the separate efforts came together: nobody could see that what they were risking everything to do would necessarily work, without knowing if anyone else would also be risking their all... The treatment of 'the villain' as nuanced and complex was spot-on perfect, and that made the ending a bit more on the bittersweet side, but much richer for that. And I loved the glimpses of the bigger world history everything Sherwood writes has - though that's my only remaining lack of satisfaction - I want the other Sun stories mentioned in the interview with asakiyume, and there isn't any publishing deal lined up so far. WANT them!

[No Silver Phoenix tonight as my computer started making its death rattle and I had to get what I had posted before it died. Tomorrow, I hope!]