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Five unrelated things
1) Just realized the other day that I have been conflating the Lymond Chronicles and the Liaden series into some sort of sword-and-sorcery woobie-centric fantasy series for the last fifteen years. I gather that ... no.
2) Also realized today that the reason I was not especially surprised/impressed by the Avengers helicarrier wasn't because they'd already shown it in another movie or because I was spoiled for it but because of The Master's helicarrier thing. So I am retroactively surprised/impressed, SHIELD! That was pretty cool!
3) Tonight one of the members of my book group passed around the Lord of the Rings Pez dispenser set she got for Christmas. I got Aragorn! :D!
4) IS IT TIME FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS MARATHON FOR IULIA'S BIRTHDAY YET? (Signs point to no: her birthday is not until February.) BUT MAYBE IT IS TIME TO GO SEE THE HOBBIT AGAIN.
5) Having managed to write 750+ words on each of the last six days (today will make seven unless something goes bad wrong in the next three hours), I am cautiously optimistic that I have passed out of the Christmas/sick/New Year's/discombobulated three-week Slough of Writing Despond. But I am still not done with anything.
Yet.
2) Also realized today that the reason I was not especially surprised/impressed by the Avengers helicarrier wasn't because they'd already shown it in another movie or because I was spoiled for it but because of The Master's helicarrier thing. So I am retroactively surprised/impressed, SHIELD! That was pretty cool!
3) Tonight one of the members of my book group passed around the Lord of the Rings Pez dispenser set she got for Christmas. I got Aragorn! :D!
4) IS IT TIME FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS MARATHON FOR IULIA'S BIRTHDAY YET? (Signs point to no: her birthday is not until February.) BUT MAYBE IT IS TIME TO GO SEE THE HOBBIT AGAIN.
5) Having managed to write 750+ words on each of the last six days (today will make seven unless something goes bad wrong in the next three hours), I am cautiously optimistic that I have passed out of the Christmas/sick/New Year's/discombobulated three-week Slough of Writing Despond. But I am still not done with anything.
Yet.
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OMG no. Dunnett is a supremely-talented writer: the best I can say about the Liaden books is that for some people they hit the fannish sweet spot. I found them intolerable.
To be fair, however, other people have found Dunnett intolerable--either the baroque prose, or the way the character of Lymond is simultaneously a supreme asshole and the fannish woobie.
... I want to do a LOTR rewatch, but I won't have time to do that unless I come down with the flu...
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4. I would totally try to invite myself to this except I have a conference Iulia's birthday weekend. EPIC SADFACE.
5. GO YOU.
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No, really, two series that I love to bits and tiny pieces, and there's even a very, very faint underlying commonality of themes...but...I think I sprained my brain trying to put them together.
The thought is going to make me grin for days, though.
(I'm due for another round with the Hobbit as well, thought I think I'm going to use it as a bribe to get past my current writing jam...)
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4) We have been discussing a LOTR marathon at the house. All four of us are gearing up for it.
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And now that I've actually figured out what each is, I must say I'm a lot more likely to try Lymond than Liaden at this late date.
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Oh, sadness! Is it a cool conference at least?
Also, I JUST NOW NOTICED THAT YOU CAN SEE THAT AMAL IS HITTING 3 TO CANCEL HIS CARD. ALSO, BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYS. ♥ ♥ ♥
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(Ooh, good idea!)
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I find that, yes, Liaden hits a very particular kind of fannish sweet spot for me; I need to be in a mood where I don't think too hard about the holes in the worldbuilding or the problems in series consistency between one book and the next. For brainless comfort reading in space opera / comedy of manners, it works beautifully.
I reread Liaden whenever I need comfort reading and don't have brain to critique. Whereas I read the Lymond series through once, and was basically obsessed with it for the amount of time I was reading it, but I don't ever plan to reread it. Too many of Dunnett's choices, specifically in Lymond's characterization and in the construction of the family drama, severely and terminally irritate me.
So basically, Cofax, you and I agree -- we just happen to place the two series(es?) on opposite sides of our personal intolerability/tolerability lines.
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