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The one commonality between the two books (besides the fact the circumstantial fact that I read them back to back and learned about both authors from their blogs, rather than hearing about their work) is that neither has a classic romance arc. It was really refreshing.
Don't get me wrong; I actually really like love stories. I'm not so big on Romance, with all of the tropes it implies, but my own giant fic project was absolutely a love story. That was the whole point. But not every story has to be a love story, and a love story doesn't have to be a romance.
There's a lot of love in both both books (as long as I'm comparing apples to oranges I have to say that Jemisin conveys the love better than Hines); it just doesn't come in the two-people-meet-at-beginning, angst-and-fight-through-middle, kiss-at-end form.
Reading the end of Libriomancer was uncomfortable for personal reasons (I know damn well I can't do polyamory -- can't can't can't -- and having a PoV character who's apparently mono-amorous confronted with a poly love hit a bit close to home), but it makes sense in the context of the book -- mostly. This isn't a perfect, idealized group relationship, where all parties are equally interested in each other. It's a line -- one in the middle, two at the end -- and the middle character is a magical creature defined by the desires of her lover. Having two lovers gives her a choice, and therefore more free will. In regard to that character, at least, it's pretty much the only thing that makes ANY of her relationships feel okay -- I was uncomfortable, otherwise, with her whole premise, and would have been seriously uncomfortable if she'd ended up with the hero (as is traditional). But I still have a lot of personal sympathy for the guy out on the end.
Personal issues aside, it would work for me a better if I felt the love between Isaac and Lena more through-out the book. It's mentioned a lot, but my overall feeling was potential-friends-with-benefits rather than potential-lovers.
Hines talks about this here, where he writes that it's one of two places he expected people to have issues with the book. The other was a brief jaunt to the moon, and I have to say that part was entirely awesome. One of my big problems with urban fantasy is that it's usually so earthbound, especially with all the creatures tied to seasons or day/night or moon-phase cycles. That kind of limitation goes without question in a pure fantasy world, but in urban fantasy? When we've already got a space station? It strains disbelief. So for me, the possibly-jarring trip to the moon was perfect. OF COURSE a sci-fi nut given access to magic would think about space.
I also really liked how genuinely geeky Isaac is. Not all his pop culture references -- I actually wonder how well some of those will age -- but his desire to know and understand things.
Don't get me wrong; I actually really like love stories. I'm not so big on Romance, with all of the tropes it implies, but my own giant fic project was absolutely a love story. That was the whole point. But not every story has to be a love story, and a love story doesn't have to be a romance.
There's a lot of love in both both books (as long as I'm comparing apples to oranges I have to say that Jemisin conveys the love better than Hines); it just doesn't come in the two-people-meet-at-beginning, angst-and-fight-through-middle, kiss-at-end form.
Reading the end of Libriomancer was uncomfortable for personal reasons (I know damn well I can't do polyamory -- can't can't can't -- and having a PoV character who's apparently mono-amorous confronted with a poly love hit a bit close to home), but it makes sense in the context of the book -- mostly. This isn't a perfect, idealized group relationship, where all parties are equally interested in each other. It's a line -- one in the middle, two at the end -- and the middle character is a magical creature defined by the desires of her lover. Having two lovers gives her a choice, and therefore more free will. In regard to that character, at least, it's pretty much the only thing that makes ANY of her relationships feel okay -- I was uncomfortable, otherwise, with her whole premise, and would have been seriously uncomfortable if she'd ended up with the hero (as is traditional). But I still have a lot of personal sympathy for the guy out on the end.
Personal issues aside, it would work for me a better if I felt the love between Isaac and Lena more through-out the book. It's mentioned a lot, but my overall feeling was potential-friends-with-benefits rather than potential-lovers.
Hines talks about this here, where he writes that it's one of two places he expected people to have issues with the book. The other was a brief jaunt to the moon, and I have to say that part was entirely awesome. One of my big problems with urban fantasy is that it's usually so earthbound, especially with all the creatures tied to seasons or day/night or moon-phase cycles. That kind of limitation goes without question in a pure fantasy world, but in urban fantasy? When we've already got a space station? It strains disbelief. So for me, the possibly-jarring trip to the moon was perfect. OF COURSE a sci-fi nut given access to magic would think about space.
I also really liked how genuinely geeky Isaac is. Not all his pop culture references -- I actually wonder how well some of those will age -- but his desire to know and understand things.
