I had a smart post in my head ...

... but it is really hot today (cue calanthe_fics , pingrid  and raitala  giggling, yes, I complain about ALL weather that's not 9-19 degrees C), so my brain has turned to slurry.

I do have one question though, for people who remember Conan Doyle better than I do: How likely would Holmes be to say 'discombobulate'? It sounds too American to me, but then, Holmes had wide acquaintance with Americans, so ...

Also, a book mini-review. I was going to write about this one in more depth, but I left my copy with Cal  after my laptop had died, so had no opportunity to do so with the book beside me. Apologies in advance for generalities rather than quotes.

I've bought and read all of Justine Larbalestier's novels, and been equally impressed and frustrated. She's really bright and talented, but her first trilogy had significant distracting elements for me, both in the copy editing and in the internal logic of the overall story. Her next, How to Ditch Your Fairy, was a great read all the way up to the end, which I found a bit too quick and unresolving: all these great questions, and so few answers to any of them (still worth the read, though!).

Liar, her most recent book, is one that you may have heard of, because it excited a lot of debate over a publisher's decision to pop a white girl on the cover, despite the lead character describing herself as black. And you may have also heard people talking about its unreliable narrator. Which I can't do without spoilers, so the rest of this is going under a cut.

( The cut bit ... )

I had a smart post in my head ...

... but it is really hot today (cue calanthe_fics , pingrid  and raitala  giggling, yes, I complain about ALL weather that's not 9-19 degrees C), so my brain has turned to slurry.

I do have one question though, for people who remember Conan Doyle better than I do: How likely would Holmes be to say 'discombobulate'? It sounds too American to me, but then, Holmes had wide acquaintance with Americans, so ...

Also, a book mini-review. I was going to write about this one in more depth, but I left my copy with Cal  after my laptop had died, so had no opportunity to do so with the book beside me. Apologies in advance for generalities rather than quotes.

I've bought and read all of Justine Larbalestier's novels, and been equally impressed and frustrated. She's really bright and talented, but her first trilogy had significant distracting elements for me, both in the copy editing and in the internal logic of the overall story. Her next, How to Ditch Your Fairy, was a great read all the way up to the end, which I found a bit too quick and unresolving: all these great questions, and so few answers to any of them (still worth the read, though!).

Liar, her most recent book, is one that you may have heard of, because it excited a lot of debate over a publisher's decision to pop a white girl on the cover, despite the lead character describing herself as black. And you may have also heard people talking about its unreliable narrator. Which I can't do without spoilers, so the rest of this is going under a cut.

( The cut bit ... )