Shopperiffic!

Went shopping tonight, which is something I just haven't done lately. My Anime-pusher had a stack of stuff waiting for me, including the latest volumes of Chobits, Card Captor Sakura (What? What?!), Inu Yasha (Hi Mookie!), Please Teacher, Full Metal Panic, Haibane Renmei (which I saw one-and-a-half episodes of at Animania), DNA2, Noir, and His and Her Circumstances (Kare Kano). Also the latest two issues of NewType... Not that I actually have time to read it.

King's Comics had the Azumanga Daioh manga - yay! I'm a huge fan of this wonderful show, but as far as I know the anime is currently not available. The fansub has been pulled from distribution now that the series has been licensed, but it hasn't actually been released yet.

Not that I care, because I already have it. Ha ha!

Then I took my few remaining dollars to Galaxy Bookshop (Sydney's best Science Fiction and Fantasy book store) where I found Lois McMaster Bujold's new book, Paladin of Souls. This is the sequel to her fabulous Curse of Chalion, which was nominated for the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novel.* (The winner was Neil Gaiman's American Gods, which I didn't like at all.)

Oh, and Jack Williamson's Darker Than You Think and Lawrence Watt-Evans' Something-or-Other. Sorry, LWE, I just buy your books, I don't notice the titles so much...

But it's Paladin of Souls that's going to keep me away from the blogs for a couple of days. Try not to break anything, peoples, and beware of frogs. They're up to no good!

* Bujold did win the Hugo for Best Novel in 1991 for The Vor Game, and again in 1995 for Mirror Dance.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:17 PM

Comments

1 Heh, should I have known you'd be a Bujold fan I got 2 copies of Paladin through the SFBC. One for me, one for my mom's B-day Haven't gotten around to reading it yet, though.

Posted by: Chris C. at October 24, 2003 01:35 AM (3bb7g)

2 Bujold is teeeriifffic; I haven't read her non-Vorkosigan stuff except for an early dark fantasy (it was ok), but I've reread many of her Miles books time after time.

And "American Gods" was pretty pathetic. Spot on.

Posted by: Tadeusz at October 24, 2003 02:36 AM (bkSEZ)

3 I suppose I'll have to take one for the team & defend Gaiman. American Gods is a pretty solid fantasy, well-written, and entertaining. I loved the mid-book diversion into darkest Minnesota.

the Curse of Chalion, on the other hand, was decidedly minor Bujoldia. Fantasy isn't really her thing, and the Paladin/Chalion universe is missing a few gears. It might have something to do with the way she used late-Medieval Spain as her world-model, but excised the Jews from the narrative. Medieval Spain without Jews is kind of hollow, like an incomplete explaination. Don't get me wrong - I read, and liked both books. But they aren't particularly major works in any sense of the phrase.

I'm hoping that she has a few more Vorkosigan books in her, but I'm starting to suspect that the well might have run dry. The last Quaddie novel was fun, but a little overripe. Miles seems to be something of a played-out character.

Oh, well. I'm looking forward to that "Winterfair Gifts" short getting printed one of these centuries...

Posted by: Mitch H. at October 24, 2003 03:18 AM (tVSJJ)

4 I like Gaiman's work a lot. Neverwhere, Stardust, his short stories, Coraline, Good Omens, of course.

But American Gods struck me as a failed attempt at a Tim Powers novel. (I like Tim Powers' novels, but I prefer them to be written by Tim Powers.)

And I disagree with you about Chalion being minor Bujold. Grr! Grr, I say!

But I do agree that the last Vorkosigan novel was a bit weak - rather a disappointment given that she has been going from strength to strength with the series until now. I think it might be time for Miles to be put out to pasture.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 24, 2003 10:23 AM (jtW2s)






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