Reviewings
Le Chevalier d'Eon is an anime series I started watched probably years ago now, but didn't really get into. I picked that back up and watched it through to the (fairly tragic, I must say) ending.
It's a spin on a historical figure of France - a knight and spy who dressed and lived as a woman some of the time. Of course, being a manga-turned-anime series, a lot more importance is put upon things and the story is wrapped together with some heavy supernatural elements (among the least of which being d'Eon being possessed by his sister Lia).
It generally looks good, and there's a neat Musketeer-ish vibe to the adventure. On the other hand, character motivations are opaque a lot of the time and the supernatural stuff doesn't piece together very well for me, all told. And the end is, as mentioned, pretty tragic for most of the characters involved - plus leading into the French Revolution, so... there's that.
Interesting, but I don't know that I would widely recommend it.
I also took my time reading Nevernight recently - another of what I think of as "rogue fantasy" novels, as it centers on shadow-empowered girl working to join an order of assassins as a means to get revenge upon the political figures who destroyed her family.
There's a lot of familiarity/overlap there considering I've done a fair bit of roleplaying with rogue/assassin characters and those connected with shadow - so much so, I've had to buy the book for Kyn, too.
I do have a couple little quibbles about the writing itself. For one, establishing a setting of a three-sunned world that seems to have "turns" describing days or so, and seven-turn weeks, it throws me off to see nevernight (the time all three suns are down) only happens once very two-and-a-half years. It makes more sense in my mind for years to be based on that, and raises questions about orbital physics that are distracting. Additionally, the book begins by cutting back and forth between a couple scenes in a manner that is disorienting. Thankfully, that settles down.
Otherwise, the book is pretty good in writing and story. There are all sorts of moral issues if you scrutinize characters like this, but the adventure works pretty well. And it's clearly setting up sequels, so I think I'll follow this presumed-trilogy, and possibly look at some of the other books from this author.
It's a spin on a historical figure of France - a knight and spy who dressed and lived as a woman some of the time. Of course, being a manga-turned-anime series, a lot more importance is put upon things and the story is wrapped together with some heavy supernatural elements (among the least of which being d'Eon being possessed by his sister Lia).
It generally looks good, and there's a neat Musketeer-ish vibe to the adventure. On the other hand, character motivations are opaque a lot of the time and the supernatural stuff doesn't piece together very well for me, all told. And the end is, as mentioned, pretty tragic for most of the characters involved - plus leading into the French Revolution, so... there's that.
Interesting, but I don't know that I would widely recommend it.
I also took my time reading Nevernight recently - another of what I think of as "rogue fantasy" novels, as it centers on shadow-empowered girl working to join an order of assassins as a means to get revenge upon the political figures who destroyed her family.
There's a lot of familiarity/overlap there considering I've done a fair bit of roleplaying with rogue/assassin characters and those connected with shadow - so much so, I've had to buy the book for Kyn, too.
I do have a couple little quibbles about the writing itself. For one, establishing a setting of a three-sunned world that seems to have "turns" describing days or so, and seven-turn weeks, it throws me off to see nevernight (the time all three suns are down) only happens once very two-and-a-half years. It makes more sense in my mind for years to be based on that, and raises questions about orbital physics that are distracting. Additionally, the book begins by cutting back and forth between a couple scenes in a manner that is disorienting. Thankfully, that settles down.
Otherwise, the book is pretty good in writing and story. There are all sorts of moral issues if you scrutinize characters like this, but the adventure works pretty well. And it's clearly setting up sequels, so I think I'll follow this presumed-trilogy, and possibly look at some of the other books from this author.
the Nevernight author is resposible for "Stormdancer" a steam-punk fantasy Japan-like setting that reminded me a little of Rokugan and L5R in the clan set up. It was gritty and grimy and made me feel unpleasant as I read it in just how messed up the world was. Sure, steampunk isn't clean and shiny usually, the Parasol Protectorate series saw to that, but reading Stormdancer made me want to bathe after every sitting. I never finished it.
ReplyDeleteMmm. Well, I'm hoping this one is more interesting to you, at least. Looking at Stormdancer, I see the write-up starts off with: "The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, the land is choked with toxic pollution, and the great spirit animals that once roamed its wilds have departed forever." That alone seems to set up a doomed world as a pretty big component. I didn't really feel the setting was that much of the story in Nevernight. The suns thing exists in the background, and we get some slices of society - a few glimpses at the high-class end, a very narrow look at the lower-class end, but most of the time is spent among a sect of assassins. Now, as a bunch of assassins, they can certainly be merciless. There's plenty of morality on display that is questionable at best, but there are shows of gratitude and actual friendship among that too. Hopefully, that's more tolerable. And if not... well, then a poor recommendation on my part. I can accept that.
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