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gwyn_bywydSo, this was such a magnificent book I felt I had to tell people about it.
In genre, it is fantasy and humour. It draws upon Norse legends and celtic mythology, adding its own twist on all the sources. It is light in tone, and feels distinctly Australian somehow, and not just because of the Australian locations and characters. I keep trying to read Celia Dart-Thornton, because it is so wonderful having a fantasy land-scape that is also Australian in character. But she intensely irritates me, Maybe because I tend to feel that her estimation of how much cleverer she is than me is a trifle unfair to me, even in my impaired state. Seriously, we can all see you've got a wacking great thesaurus hidden under the desk, Celia Dart-Thornton, you're not impressing anyone.
Anyway, back to The Visitants. It plays with language and the vagaries of translations betweens languages and cultures, which I enjoyed greatly.
Read it for sentences like:
"Natalia suggested a mildly desperate scheme involving tying an SOS message to the wombat and pushing it out the door to seek assistance, but unaccountably nothing further came of that proposal."
"Moving with the grace of a cheetah wrapped in a sleeping bag, he padded around the chamber."
I was snorting aloud with laughter at various points, and continually found myself enjoying how much fun the author seemed to be having. There is a very large cast of characters, which in my befuddled cfsish state I did have some trouble getting straight, but the author has helpfully included a Dramatis Personae list at the front. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending. It was not what I expected at all, and made the book more stand-alonish than I thought it would be.
A draw-back however - it was published in 2002, but the next book in the series would seem to not be available yet. Catastrophe! I immediately wanted to start on the next book, but it seems I will have to exercise some patience. *long-suffering sigh* ;-)
In short, it was one of those glorious books that made me go "Whhheeeeeee!"
Let me know what you think if you have read it/do end up reading it.
In genre, it is fantasy and humour. It draws upon Norse legends and celtic mythology, adding its own twist on all the sources. It is light in tone, and feels distinctly Australian somehow, and not just because of the Australian locations and characters. I keep trying to read Celia Dart-Thornton, because it is so wonderful having a fantasy land-scape that is also Australian in character. But she intensely irritates me, Maybe because I tend to feel that her estimation of how much cleverer she is than me is a trifle unfair to me, even in my impaired state. Seriously, we can all see you've got a wacking great thesaurus hidden under the desk, Celia Dart-Thornton, you're not impressing anyone.
Anyway, back to The Visitants. It plays with language and the vagaries of translations betweens languages and cultures, which I enjoyed greatly.
Read it for sentences like:
"Natalia suggested a mildly desperate scheme involving tying an SOS message to the wombat and pushing it out the door to seek assistance, but unaccountably nothing further came of that proposal."
"Moving with the grace of a cheetah wrapped in a sleeping bag, he padded around the chamber."
I was snorting aloud with laughter at various points, and continually found myself enjoying how much fun the author seemed to be having. There is a very large cast of characters, which in my befuddled cfsish state I did have some trouble getting straight, but the author has helpfully included a Dramatis Personae list at the front. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending. It was not what I expected at all, and made the book more stand-alonish than I thought it would be.
A draw-back however - it was published in 2002, but the next book in the series would seem to not be available yet. Catastrophe! I immediately wanted to start on the next book, but it seems I will have to exercise some patience. *long-suffering sigh* ;-)
In short, it was one of those glorious books that made me go "Whhheeeeeee!"
Let me know what you think if you have read it/do end up reading it.
