What was THE MOMENT for you?

[bluesimplicity.livejournal.com]

Hey Fellow Lashers. 

I've got a question I've been wondering about for you all. Consider it a survey of sorts.

What was THE MOMENT when you knew that you were done with AB:VH (Or even Merry?) I'm not talking about the bad grammer, the endless, bore me to death sex scenes, or LKH not even remembering how to spell her own character names. (We've all plodded along with those in the hopes that it would someday get better.) I mean the moment when it FINALLY happened. When you threw whatever book you were reading across the room and just KNEW you were never going to pick it up again?

For me, it had to be in Incubus Dreams. I almost did it when we found out Richard was now a rape victim (WHAT?? A-fucking-NOTHER one?? Can you not have a dick in the AB world and not get raped?) But I held on. Then it was almost the sex scene were Anita goes on and on in great detail about barfing and blowjobs, followed by the 18 thousand fuckmefuckmefuckmes at the end. But not quite - I was plodding along until....

The bad guys leave a note. 

After all this drama, all this tension (well, no not really, but let's pretend), said bad guys don't even show up and do a "Whoops! Our bad! So sorry. Gotta-go-bye!" 

For me, that was IT! I was never ever EVER going to pay good money to read this woman's crap again. And I feel so much freer for it!

What was everyone's else THAT'S IT moment of clarity? 

Just curious.

Blue

P.S. For Merry, it was in the last book, which I didn't even bother to read, when my friend mentioned to me that is was 384 pages and they STILL hadn't made it to the Seelie Court. But they sure as hell did fuck alot. BAH!!

Comments

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I know I was wondering what happened to the series with NiC. I clung on through the WTFery of CS, but ID had to be it. It took me four attempts to start the book because every time I got to page eight, I declared it the worst. book. ever. stopped reading and put it back in my locker.

For MG it was definitely Seduced By Moonlight and the first sentence put me right off - but I struggled through. When it got to Merry dying and getting resurrected by TEH DIETY, I was ready to set things on fire. Then again, MG books never sat right with me because they hold your hand and explain everything that doesn't need the exposition and then skims over all the WTF parts. Also, I am not a political idiot - my little finger can create a better court intrigue than what's going on there right now. I'm only hanging in there for my fucking Sholto porn that was promised back in book one! A Stroke of Midnight sits unread after over a year on my bookshelf.

Given how painful Danse Macabre is, I don't know if I'll continue with AB:VH. I keep telling myself that I will, but dude - the previews and other people's snarks have been painful enough. The real thing? OMG. This should be banned under the Geneva Convention as a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Goodness knows, I do not want to pay for these books any more.

[summersdream.livejournal.com]

Are there any good political intrigue-y faeryland books? Because Merry Gentry made me want to find some.

Danse Macabre is atrocious. And I'm not sure 'atrocious' covers it. Atrocious books back away from Danse Macabre in awe and horror. I skimmed through it in the bookstore and nearly choked. There's someone named Merlin. He does ballet. I think. And Mommy Darkest goes all Buffy First Slayer. Or something. And Anita pwns all. Even the Rat King. Because she's Teh Ebill Dark And Twisty Mega Sue. And there is sex. Really, really, badly written screaming almost-death sex.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I haven't really found any smart fairy books - but then, I haven't really been looking. I will pimp Jim Butcher's Dresden Files books like a two dollar whore - and they've got fairies, vampires, werewolves and pretty much anything else you can shake a stick at. I've been told The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins is LE AWESOME, and have it...just haven't read it yet.

Also, Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrel keeps getting really good things said about it.

Oy, I have yet to look forward to translating the rest of DM into English.

[c0lder-than-ice.livejournal.com]

Really? I read The Autumn Castle and have to say I didn't care for it much. The plot was wtf followed by omgcliche and there wasn't a single character I liked. Actually there was, and I was hoping for a prequel or a sequel about him and the main character, which is why the ending was pretty much a cop-out in my opinion.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I love Sookie Stackhouse! Just for the fact that there's a vampire named Bill. And BUBBA! Bubba is my hero.

Though, the third book has made me wary what with the love-rectangle between Sookie, Bill, Eric and Alicide - but I've yet to read the next two books. They're sitting on my "to be read" pile.

Eh, not a huge fan of Kim Harrison. They make as much sense as Sharpe's Challenge (Part one (http://dwg.livejournal.com/584608.html) and part two (http://dwg.livejournal.com/587362.html)), only without the awesome of Sean Bean to propel the story. Really, there are ink-blot tests out there with better writing skills.

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

Oh and JS and MN is really good - first 400 or so pages slow going, next 400 or so pages a whirlwind where you're really glad she did 300 pages of worldbuilding because everything makes sense.

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

I mean 400 pages of worldbuilding. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/belladonna_/]

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean and Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones are both re-tellings of the Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer stories. Both VERY good, but in different ways. Whee, fairies that don't suck.

my $0.02

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

Good books!

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer: smart fairy book.

Actually, all her books are damned smart. I love me some Kushner. I'm in the middle of her newest. YAY for a noble-girl-who-takes-up-swordplay story that is realistic and makes sense! YAY I SAY!

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

And oh damn I nearly forgot -- Patricia McKillip does a fantastic retelling of Tam Lin with her Winter Rose. It's more about humanity than fairyland, but she does a bang-up job of contrasting the familiar with the alien, and showing how the latter can be both enticing and terrifying.

She has written other fairy-ish books, I believe. (One of which... I own? And have read? Must really assemble library into coherent structure...)

[withered-spring.livejournal.com]

Tad Williams' War of the Flowers, Holly Black's Tithe, and Emma Bull's War for the Oaks. Or War of the Oaks.

They're all wonderful, are set in Faerie, and War of the Flowers has the most eviltastic villain EVAR! ^_^

And there is no Marysueishness as an added bonus!

[ambrmerlinus.livejournal.com]

For good urban-fantasy fairy-intrigue stuff, try Valiant by Holly Black, or anything by Charles deLint.

[ambrmerlinus.livejournal.com]

My favorite is still the first one I read: The Blue Girl. It's just such a cute little self-contained story that, at the same time, hints at something much larger. Plus, the characters are great.

True Story: I got the book from my friend for my birthday. She was an exchange student in Germany at the time, and sent me the book from there. So, I got an English book as a gift from Germany. It amused me.

[ambrmerlinus.livejournal.com]

I haven't read those ones yet. I'll definitely check them out. Thanks for the recommendation!

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

I'm only hanging in there for my fucking Sholto porn that was promised back in book one!

AHA! I KNEW there was a reason I trudged through three of those damn books, and that was it! I remember now!

Damn you and your cruel whimsy of unfulfilled porn promises, LKH. It's like you live in Opposite Land -- giving us the gristle and keeping the good stuff unwritten. Hate. You. So much.