Reviewing has occurred, and it's surprisingly awesome. If there's one thing I love, it's being surprised by awesome.
I'm not sure the next thing on my list is going to surprise me with awesome, but I bet it'll find some way to surprise me, so I'll take it.
Liu's Christine is my favorite for the sole reason that she kicks Erik in the balls. He's had it coming for a long time imo.
ReplyDeleteIt was a moment of delicious triumph.
ReplyDeleteEr... "Juste." But seriously, I did a slow clap all by myself when I read that part.
ReplyDeleteI think I was more bothered than you by what I saw as plot holes. The Daroga is supposed to be the sane one!
ReplyDeleteThat said, she had a couple of really evocative passages in there. I liked it much better than Kay. I like my Phantoms crazy and dangerous.
That confusing prologue is what irritated me the most. I need to know the origin of my eyeballs!
ReplyDeleteI think I wasn't bothered too much by the Daroga because he was both comparatively much saner than Erik, and because most of the things he did were based in understandable psychology. The willingness to give up anything for his king, even his family, makes sense (even if it's not exactly a ball of fun), and the transference of his emotions toward his children onto Christine and Erik also seemed plausible to me, particularly since so much effort was put into slowly growing his respect for them.
The bizarre love of a dude who keeps murdering people you like was the biggest sticking point for me with him - but since that's something that happens with everyone for some reason, I have to assume that it's a representation of Erik's hypnotic/semi-magical power over others. I agree, though, that was less exciting without some kind of attempt at addressing the weird phenomenon.
I assumed it was the one of Erik/Juste's victims, or maybe Christine's become a killer too...
ReplyDeleteI thought it was implausible that Christine could just wander up to the Sultan like that when she first arrived. Isn't there a guest list for anything with the head of state in attendance? Where are the body guards?
And if Philip thinks that having a family member marry a singer will hurt the family's reputation, why isn't he worried about getting caught putting a hit on Christine?
I'm not as worried about Anton/Philippe - I assume he wasn't worried about getting caught, seeing as he could probably pretty effectively bribe or distance himself from the situation. I was a little put off by the whole hit itself, though. It seemed too patent and cardboard villain-y, especially with people conveniently saying things to let her know who had hired them. The book got a lot better in Persia; the beginning parts in Paris were weak in several places.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I'm not sure if Christine could have just walked up to Nasir like she did, though it's possible that her status as a veiled woman could have given her some leeway if they thought she was a servant or something. Still weird, though. I'm afraid I'm not up on my nineteenth century Persian court etiquette enough to know if the details are wrong. I did think the scene made a good dramatic beginning for her odd relationship with the shah, though.