sometimes, i amaze even myself
Jan. 8th, 2003 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windandwaterWell.
I went up to LA on, uhm, Sunday, I think. I got my Xmas shawl-thing (don't know exactly what to call it) from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kochou. Plus, got to spend a bit of time with skyblueandblack before I head back up to the great frozen (make that rainy) north. We actually wandered around Third Street Promenade for a bit. I actually managed to find a copy of the book I've been waiting years for.
Yay for me! That means I didn't have to order it from online! I hate going to the post office to pick up things. >_<;; The post office is Hell in concentrated form.
So, I finished reading the book and well...
Oh, by the way, it's DoOon Mode by Piers Anthony.
Okay, before anyone lynches me for reading Piers Anthony, I just want to say that I can't help it. I was sucked in by his Incarnations of Immortality Series, which I think is among the better things the man has written, and that's saying a lot. Of course, the original five novels (about Thanatos, Chronos, Fate, Ares, and Gaea), IMHO, are better than the two additions (about Satan and God). Of course, I simply like And Eternity because God ends up becoming a woman. Plus... I like the way Anthony writes the character of Satan (or Natasha, if you're familiar with him ^^). Natasha is a damn funny guy, when he isn't being... well, evil.
Plus... I like Thanatos. ^____^;;
So I also picked up his Mode Series, and got sucked into that, too. I wanna say that the whole series is like watching a train wreck happen. I mean, Piers Anthony has this style of writing that can really put you off if you're not used to it. I mean his writing is very... male.
Not that that's a bad thing or anything, since Anthony is male, but it's sort of weird when the main protagonist of the Mode Series is a 14-year old girl. I mean, while Anthony has a very great imagination and stuff, you can tell through his writing that he is rather linear and straightforward.
And... for some reason there was an inordinate amount of dialogue in this book. Maybe it's because there were so many extra characters wandering around, or possibly I've been spoiled by introspective fanfiction and stuff, but... it was like all they did besides walking was talk during this whole book. It was sort of annoying and stupid... like a character couldn't come to a self-realization without talking to someone else about it first.
Oh, and I have to say this right now...
PIERS ANTHONY SHOULD STOP WRITING SEX SCENES.
They hurt. They're painful. They make Baby Jesus cry. Actually, the make Baby Jesus run off looking for a shotgun so he can pull a Hemmingway. There's nothing wrong with fading to black... but when you get a guy who can't write descritive imagery worth shit trying to write a sex scene (a supposedly "romantic" sex scene, natch), it's pretty much all... thrust, squeeze, come.
>___<;;
I know that I've been spoiled by GW fandom, but... come on. No one is reading these damn books for the sex, no matter how intregal it is to the plot. And, dammit, I didn't even get to see Colene and Darius get it on! Four damned books and what happens? Colene freaking faints in Darius' arms at the end of the book.
That's it.
No nookie.
Even Nona, who's supposedly the innocent virgin, had Tom the Cat Boy to hump her on a fairly regular basis (once again, I emphasize the severe NEED for Piers Anthony to stop writing sex scenes).
Also, I felt sort of cheated by some of the scenes in the book. I mean, I understood the whole Mode-jumping thing, what with the Mind Monster after Colene and all, but I felt that all that stuff that happened on Earth was totally unnecessary. Sure, Nona and Tom got to hook up, but... it could have been done another way.
A whole chapter lost when it could have been devoted to writing a more satisfying conclusion to the series.
Which brings me to another gripe... the way Colene dealt with the Mind Monster. Uhm... I realize that traumatic experience often build up on each other, until the original cause is buried under layers and layers of guilt and shame, so I don't have a problem with all of Colene's traumas. Hell, I put Duo through enough tortures in short fanfics... Colene having a realistic basis for her suicidal tendencies, depression, and fear of sex is okay with me. What I didn't like was how Pussy was there.
I mean, yes, she's a devoted Null who loves Colene... yes, she desperately wanted to be there to support Colene... yes, Colene needed someone who could be objective enough to keep her from just killing hersel... but, I don't think enough time was devoted to how exactly Colene and Pussy got to be such great friends in the first place. Colene absoultely couldn't stand Pussy in the first novel, so I don't see how they'd be all buddy-buddy (slight shades of shoujo ai, but not really, though it's amusing to see Colene yell: "But I'm not a lesbian!"). See... characterization and stuff like that really makes a difference.
And, despite the fact that I can't STAND Darius' attitudes about sex, I still think he's okay. He's not a "manly" man, always saving the helpless womenfolk... he's got his own hangups and problems. Plus, he's pretty damn honorable. Still, it's pretty damn nifty how he figured out how to totally SCREW OVER Ddwng. That was massively cool. And it's obvious he loves Colene a lot. Props to him.
Oh, that reminds me... I know Colene has that HUGE MASSIVE aversion to sex because of her Trauma(s), but is that really a reason to make Darius suffer? Dude... you've never heard of oral sex? Hand jobs? Hell, mutual masturbation if it'll get them both off? Jeeze... Colene is mostly afraid of penetration... she doesn't mind getting naked and snuggly (ooh, cocktease!) with Darius. At least she's not a TOTAL cockblocker.
Poor Darius, surrounded by all these girls and he can't have sex with any of them. ^^;;
Anyway... I'm getting ranty. The book was so-so... I mostly read it because I wanted to see how the series would be finished. I know that Piers Anthony always meant for this to be an open-ended series, like Xanth, but the publishers got shirty with him. Heh... anyway, Mode Series had uber crossover potential for anyone who wants to try their hand at it. It's like Sliders or Quantum Leap... but more obsessive about sex.
Uhm... and if I heard Colene referred to as a "vessel of dolor" one more time, I was going to scream.
^_^
I went up to LA on, uhm, Sunday, I think. I got my Xmas shawl-thing (don't know exactly what to call it) from
kochou. Plus, got to spend a bit of time with skyblueandblack before I head back up to the great frozen (make that rainy) north. We actually wandered around Third Street Promenade for a bit. I actually managed to find a copy of the book I've been waiting years for.Yay for me! That means I didn't have to order it from online! I hate going to the post office to pick up things. >_<;; The post office is Hell in concentrated form.
So, I finished reading the book and well...
Oh, by the way, it's DoOon Mode by Piers Anthony.
Okay, before anyone lynches me for reading Piers Anthony, I just want to say that I can't help it. I was sucked in by his Incarnations of Immortality Series, which I think is among the better things the man has written, and that's saying a lot. Of course, the original five novels (about Thanatos, Chronos, Fate, Ares, and Gaea), IMHO, are better than the two additions (about Satan and God). Of course, I simply like And Eternity because God ends up becoming a woman. Plus... I like the way Anthony writes the character of Satan (or Natasha, if you're familiar with him ^^). Natasha is a damn funny guy, when he isn't being... well, evil.
Plus... I like Thanatos. ^____^;;
So I also picked up his Mode Series, and got sucked into that, too. I wanna say that the whole series is like watching a train wreck happen. I mean, Piers Anthony has this style of writing that can really put you off if you're not used to it. I mean his writing is very... male.
Not that that's a bad thing or anything, since Anthony is male, but it's sort of weird when the main protagonist of the Mode Series is a 14-year old girl. I mean, while Anthony has a very great imagination and stuff, you can tell through his writing that he is rather linear and straightforward.
And... for some reason there was an inordinate amount of dialogue in this book. Maybe it's because there were so many extra characters wandering around, or possibly I've been spoiled by introspective fanfiction and stuff, but... it was like all they did besides walking was talk during this whole book. It was sort of annoying and stupid... like a character couldn't come to a self-realization without talking to someone else about it first.
Oh, and I have to say this right now...
PIERS ANTHONY SHOULD STOP WRITING SEX SCENES.
They hurt. They're painful. They make Baby Jesus cry. Actually, the make Baby Jesus run off looking for a shotgun so he can pull a Hemmingway. There's nothing wrong with fading to black... but when you get a guy who can't write descritive imagery worth shit trying to write a sex scene (a supposedly "romantic" sex scene, natch), it's pretty much all... thrust, squeeze, come.
>___<;;
I know that I've been spoiled by GW fandom, but... come on. No one is reading these damn books for the sex, no matter how intregal it is to the plot. And, dammit, I didn't even get to see Colene and Darius get it on! Four damned books and what happens? Colene freaking faints in Darius' arms at the end of the book.
That's it.
No nookie.
Even Nona, who's supposedly the innocent virgin, had Tom the Cat Boy to hump her on a fairly regular basis (once again, I emphasize the severe NEED for Piers Anthony to stop writing sex scenes).
Also, I felt sort of cheated by some of the scenes in the book. I mean, I understood the whole Mode-jumping thing, what with the Mind Monster after Colene and all, but I felt that all that stuff that happened on Earth was totally unnecessary. Sure, Nona and Tom got to hook up, but... it could have been done another way.
A whole chapter lost when it could have been devoted to writing a more satisfying conclusion to the series.
Which brings me to another gripe... the way Colene dealt with the Mind Monster. Uhm... I realize that traumatic experience often build up on each other, until the original cause is buried under layers and layers of guilt and shame, so I don't have a problem with all of Colene's traumas. Hell, I put Duo through enough tortures in short fanfics... Colene having a realistic basis for her suicidal tendencies, depression, and fear of sex is okay with me. What I didn't like was how Pussy was there.
I mean, yes, she's a devoted Null who loves Colene... yes, she desperately wanted to be there to support Colene... yes, Colene needed someone who could be objective enough to keep her from just killing hersel... but, I don't think enough time was devoted to how exactly Colene and Pussy got to be such great friends in the first place. Colene absoultely couldn't stand Pussy in the first novel, so I don't see how they'd be all buddy-buddy (slight shades of shoujo ai, but not really, though it's amusing to see Colene yell: "But I'm not a lesbian!"). See... characterization and stuff like that really makes a difference.
And, despite the fact that I can't STAND Darius' attitudes about sex, I still think he's okay. He's not a "manly" man, always saving the helpless womenfolk... he's got his own hangups and problems. Plus, he's pretty damn honorable. Still, it's pretty damn nifty how he figured out how to totally SCREW OVER Ddwng. That was massively cool. And it's obvious he loves Colene a lot. Props to him.
Oh, that reminds me... I know Colene has that HUGE MASSIVE aversion to sex because of her Trauma(s), but is that really a reason to make Darius suffer? Dude... you've never heard of oral sex? Hand jobs? Hell, mutual masturbation if it'll get them both off? Jeeze... Colene is mostly afraid of penetration... she doesn't mind getting naked and snuggly (ooh, cocktease!) with Darius. At least she's not a TOTAL cockblocker.
Poor Darius, surrounded by all these girls and he can't have sex with any of them. ^^;;
Anyway... I'm getting ranty. The book was so-so... I mostly read it because I wanted to see how the series would be finished. I know that Piers Anthony always meant for this to be an open-ended series, like Xanth, but the publishers got shirty with him. Heh... anyway, Mode Series had uber crossover potential for anyone who wants to try their hand at it. It's like Sliders or Quantum Leap... but more obsessive about sex.
Uhm... and if I heard Colene referred to as a "vessel of dolor" one more time, I was going to scream.
^_^
