a book a week
So! Who DID read The Fire's Stone this week? Discussion & spoilers within!
a book a week
New Shibe
MOVED
comfy drow cave
Sword Logic
I think were people that made noises of possible reading?
a book a week
And of course anybody else that did read but didn't mention it
MOVED
I didn't get past the first chapter because I got distracted by other things lol
feypril
Oops that's fair BUT YOU READ IT ALONG TIME AGO yes? (Am I thinking of something else?)
New Shibe
I read it!! I enjoyed it but I was kind of lukewarm on the character development
feypril
Yah this was a re-read for me and I still liked it and there were a lot of things I was fond of but I definitely noticed a lot of things I was like, hmmm, not so much
feypril
Definitely would read again in a few years and rec to others but not give five stars to
feypril
also keeping in mind that this was published in 1990 and trying to gauge it from that lens lmao
New Shibe
yeah, it definitely seemed a little older. but what really kept on jarring me and made it harder to read through towards the end
comfy drow cave
I READ IT
New Shibe
mostly what I kept on getting hung up on was how each character seemed to be defined by very simplistic tropes and they only moved beyond them in what felt like very "monologue" scenes rather than taking definitive action
New Shibe
like towards the end if I heard Aaron talk about his walls or Dar talk about wine or Chandra refer to herself as a wizard of the nine I sort of wound up rolling my eyes a bit.
feypril
Yah I agree it was very trope-y. Which I am also on some level OK with because it was like "what if we took these tropes and made them not suck as much as they usually do"
feypril
GOD IF I READ "DEMON WINGS" ONE MORE TIME, I STG
comfy drow cave
That's kind of funny to me because I had a very different impression -- not meaning to argue at all (what you took from it you took from it) but for me, it always felt like they tried to put themselves in boxes but were actually a poor fit for them from the start
comfy drow cave
THOUGH YEAH, DEMON WINGS
comfy drow cave
MMM.
feypril
STOP
New Shibe
and it would have been nice to see their moments of overcoming those traits be something where it was really them taking an action that contributed to the story, but in Dar and Aaron's case it was just them in a room. For Dar there wasn't even anything external stopping him it was literally him vs a glass of wine
New Shibe
god the stupid demon wings!!
feypril
kjfdhghaha
New Shibe
and I can see that but I felt like the boxes they were putting themselves in got belabored by the end of the book
comfy drow cave
For me I felt like they had defined who they thought they should be in a stubborn opposition to what people's expectations of them were, but had built it up to a point where it became an unhealthy roadblock to their life
New Shibe
like the pacing of it was off
feypril
yah I think part of what tk's saying is not so much the actual characters but the way it was written was kinda clunky in resolving it
comfy drow cave
Yeah, I get that
New Shibe
yeah
New Shibe
I loved the characters but I kind of wanted to see them in a different story
feypril
the writing was definitely clunky at times especially since I'm spoiled now by some really smooth and snappy stuff I've read recently
New Shibe
especially since the villain's motivation was kind of nonexistent
feypril
Which partially I feel like I can attribute to the story being almost 30 years old and styles change for sure
New Shibe
right. Peter Darling definitely made it harder to read this book
New Shibe
yeah
feypril
haha WE SET THE BAR REAL HIGH
comfy drow cave
yeah the standards of fantasy of the late 80s is thankfully very different
comfy drow cave
I DO NOT REGRET IT
comfy drow cave
THAT CHANGE WAS, NEEDED
feypril
y-yes
comfy drow cave
The thing I kind of wanted, and like, I didn't need it in this story, but, is... is there a war now
comfy drow cave
do we? is there a war?
New Shibe
IT'S A GOOD CHANGE and it's good to see how it changed
comfy drow cave
the other country like
comfy drow cave
kinda. broke. a peace treaty. to try to murder every single citizen
comfy drow cave
which they have proof of?
New Shibe
yeah that felt very
New Shibe
flat
New Shibe
at the end
feypril
Part of why I put this book on the list was to like, shake it up and get some looks at some older books to see how things changed so I'm glad I was able to get that out of it
New Shibe
and especially since the king's reasons for starting a war were jsut so shallow?
New Shibe
definitely
feypril
a lot of uh shit what's the phrase. A LOT OF THINGS THAT ARE LIKE known faux pas now I think
comfy drow cave
I'm down with Aaron not knowing about it, because he's like, not on the ins there, and he's the one who gave us our closing pov
feypril
like "the blond man" "the taller man" what are those called
comfy drow cave
epithets
feypril
I think any editor worth their salt in the year of our lord 2017 would be like please god
New Shibe
oh also I felt like the shifting POVs was really difficult to slog through at times
comfy drow cave
for me I didn't have as much an issue with how those were used as I had with- yah
feypril
yes
New Shibe
especially when they would switch mid-scene
feypril
MID SCENE THREE TIMES
comfy drow cave
the midscene shifting pov was absolutely a standard of the 80s
feypril
FOR LIKE A SINGLE PARAGRAPH
comfy drow cave
and I HATE it
feypril
hahahaha
New Shibe
YEAH it was real bad
comfy drow cave
Like I don't blame it for being there, because it was part of the style, but I'm so glad that's not a thing as much any more
comfy drow cave
it's so messy
feypril
That said I really love the characters and I liked how the ending played out
New Shibe
soo messy
comfy drow cave
yah I love the characters
feypril
I love love the "..... you idiot obviously you're staying with us ....."
feypril
gfjhd god I was like
feypril
DIDN'T I WRITE DOWN SOME QUOTES I LIKE
feypril
and I did, I wrote down one
comfy drow cave
steal a baby
feypril
“I don’t care for him, he told the god of his father. I don’t care. there’s no reason for him to die."
New Shibe
lmao
New Shibe
yeah I feel like this book had some good quotes but then the good lines got repeated a million times
New Shibe
and were no longer good just by virtue of overuse
feypril
That part I was just like 
oh bye. goodbye.
oh bye. goodbye.
comfy drow cave
also shout out to teenage me for having this be like the first book I read with multiple queer characters who got to live
New Shibe
like I feel it could really ahve been improved by more crisp POVs and a better external conflict
New Shibe
and also the worldbuilding kind of felt like set dressing in places
comfy drow cave
I'm not an unbiased source of commentary on this book because holy shit did it mean a lot to me as a teenager
feypril
and less fat-is-evil shorthand oops
feypril
OOPS
New Shibe
ha ha
New Shibe
but yeah there were parts like "oh no she can't do X she's obviously a wizard of storms" when like. buddy, my dude, if you know that wizards of the other numbers exist obviously you know wizards of the nine exist so why wouldn't you assume she could be that?
New Shibe
like idk it just felt very weak in terms of establishing a magic system
comfy drow cave
I got the impression there were like
comfy drow cave
single digit wizards of the nine
feypril
I felt like that one was like. Nines are so super rare that they were like. That is like a 0.1% chance --
feypril
yeah
New Shibe
true
feypril
And under the circumstances they were not expecting a 16 year old princess from another country
comfy drow cave
why would they happen to have that on the ship instead of like a ship-paid wizard of the seventh
feypril
to have trotted off
feypril
hahaha
New Shibe
u never know
feypril
U NEVER KNOW
New Shibe
but yeah that and the fact that the politics were a little weak i didn't feel very drawn into the world
feypril
yeah and it was sort of a short book so it felt like things could have been fleshed out more
feypril
like I LIKE THESE CHARACTERS LET ME SPEND MORE TIME WITH THEM
New Shibe
right
feypril
but in the end, a book that ends up with a m/m couple with one of them non-romantically married to a wizard princess is still like, thank u, for existing
feypril
"you can just steal us a baby right"
comfy drow cave
I felt like she was considering making it a series but then she started writing the quarters books instead
New Shibe
I can see that
New Shibe
I feel like also, having just read Bujold's Curse of Chalion which is much better world building I was holding it up to that and it was coming up short
feypril
yah deffo a book where I'm like
feypril
I want someone to write a book LIKE this almost exactly only better
New Shibe
right
New Shibe
it's a book to learn from
feypril
lmao at one point it super reminded me of Captive Prince
feypril
I wonder if Pacat read it
New Shibe
yeah, it definitely felt like that
feypril
when they were doing like the chase thru the city and Darvish couldn't fit thru the narrow space
feypril
I was like THIS SEEMS KINDA FAMILIAR
comfy drow cave
I had the same thought
Sword Logic
I read it and was generally pleased
Sword Logic
on reflection it feels like it wanted to be about half again as long as it was; the narrative arcs felt a little cramped
Sword Logic
and a personal pet peeve, I finished the book with very little idea of how the metaphysics worked, but like. that's my personal Thing and I accept that not everyone's gonna get into that
New Shibe
Sword Logic
: I felt this too
Sword Logic
just. just tell me something about how it works, especially when you have a character who's super Into It
New Shibe
this is sort of what I mean by the world building felt like set dressing
New Shibe
the magic was just sort of like "it's magic, it works"
Sword Logic
yeah, at least show us some of the rules
Sword Logic
like, I got the impression it was tied to the gods somehow and sort of like the D&D magic schools but
Sword Logic
????????
Sword Logic
(also, because I'm almost never out of a fandom once I get into it, every time Chandra was onscreen I pictured 
(Chandra Nalaar), excessive pyromancer extraordinaire
(Chandra Nalaar), excessive pyromancer extraordinaire
Sword Logic
...huh, I meant to link that. oh well.
feypril
rofl
feypril
SHOW 
US THE MAGIC RULES -
Sword Logic
, 2017
US THE MAGIC RULES -
Sword Logic
, 2017
Sword Logic
I think you mean
Sword Logic
- Sword Logic, 1983-2017
feypril
I actually was gonna do that but couldn't remember when you were born
feypril
Now I know, for future reference
comfy drow cave
o hey you're my age
Sword Logic
yup!
comfy drow cave
nice
Sword Logic
o/\o
Sword Logic
ANYWAY aside from that I did enjoy, I liked the romansu and actually did enjoy Dar's plot arc a lot.
comfy drow cave
I'll hvae to reread quarters to check but I feel like I remember quarters being Huff like "i really need to show the magic rules next time"
Sword Logic
hahaha
Sword Logic
she was better about it in the smoke and books
comfy drow cave
sdfj she'd better be like 15 years later
Sword Logic
some authors just double down
comfy drow cave
(tony foster is so good tho(
comfy drow cave
IT'S TRUE
Sword Logic
(I love Tony, he's the best)
comfy drow cave
yah I kept whispering "Darvish is a good boy" to zazzle as I reread
Sword Logic
a Good Boy Who Has Problems
comfy drow cave
it was pretty good on having deeply flawed characters who were nevertheless good and likeable
Sword Logic
yeah!
comfy drow cave
like I never felt like it went too much into their Trope that they stopped reading as a Good Person
Sword Logic
I liked that when Dar is doing badass things it's really understated because he has such a low opinion of himself, whereas the other two notice their own badass more
Sword Logic
but with Dar it's only afterward you're like "oh he just fought like a dozen guys, that....that's kind of cool actually"
Sword Logic
hmm, other stuff...I really think if there was a duology or some more room to breathe it would've solved a lot of the issues
Sword Logic
oh well