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Sep. 19th, 2003 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jainaPlaying hooky from general grad student orientation; the only thing I'm interested in is the student health plan explanation, which isn't for a little while. I stopped at various booths to get freebies, and was given a "mood dot" (you know, the thingie that's supposed to change color with your mood) by the Psychological & Counseling Services people. It's cute, but it doesn't give me much confidence in the validity of their methods. ;-)
Been buying and reading lots of books lately, since there's not much else to do in a big empty apartment, even with two malls nearby. I bought and read "Holes" (excellent) and "Coraline" (excellent, but scary) on the flight from BWI to Austin and "Life of Pi" (on the advice of many SZers-- it was all right) on the flight from Austin to San Diego. Then I bought some novel about Japan and isolationism and samurai from the Albertson's across the street (two malls, and not a single bookstore-- I picked the one book that didn't look to be incredibly mainstream or a terrible romance). It was okay; I may look into reading its sequel. Then I found the campus bookstore and used my $10 gift certificate from opening a USE checking account to buy "Shadow of the Hegemon" and "Good Omens." I got about halfway through Shadow of the Hegemon this morning.
And look, I'm finally going to write something about Alias: I remembered, having gone back to this universe after not reading any of the Ender books recently, that Ender's real name is Andrew-- the same first name many fic writers give Sark. That has no real significance, I'm sure (I know, I know, Anders --> Andrew), but I thought it was a neat coincidence, and kinda got me thinking, on the busride to campus, about similarities between Sark and characters in the Enderverse. It's tough to draw good comparisons, especially since we don't know much about Sark's background (canonically, anyway-- lots of writers have come up with some great ideas). But still-- these deceptively young people, capable beyond their years, taken in childhood and molded into killers-- it was enough of a similarity to keep my thoughts occupied on the ride here. :)
Anyway, Shadow of the Hegemon. Is it disappointingly predictable if I say that Petra's fast becoming my favorite character? I liked her very much in Ender's Game and was saddened when she, the lone girl, was the first one to break during the final battles. I'm liking her even more here, and she and Achilles are very compelling together. They're great foils for each other. I mean, I still want the rat bastard to die, but their scenes are very-- vivid, I guess, is a good word. I can see and hear them in my head. I also really liked that Ender's parents are so human and so fallible. They're far from perfect-- they made some serious mistakes, raising their children. But that's life.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the book (and buying Shadow Puppets, when I'm done).
Been buying and reading lots of books lately, since there's not much else to do in a big empty apartment, even with two malls nearby. I bought and read "Holes" (excellent) and "Coraline" (excellent, but scary) on the flight from BWI to Austin and "Life of Pi" (on the advice of many SZers-- it was all right) on the flight from Austin to San Diego. Then I bought some novel about Japan and isolationism and samurai from the Albertson's across the street (two malls, and not a single bookstore-- I picked the one book that didn't look to be incredibly mainstream or a terrible romance). It was okay; I may look into reading its sequel. Then I found the campus bookstore and used my $10 gift certificate from opening a USE checking account to buy "Shadow of the Hegemon" and "Good Omens." I got about halfway through Shadow of the Hegemon this morning.
And look, I'm finally going to write something about Alias: I remembered, having gone back to this universe after not reading any of the Ender books recently, that Ender's real name is Andrew-- the same first name many fic writers give Sark. That has no real significance, I'm sure (I know, I know, Anders --> Andrew), but I thought it was a neat coincidence, and kinda got me thinking, on the busride to campus, about similarities between Sark and characters in the Enderverse. It's tough to draw good comparisons, especially since we don't know much about Sark's background (canonically, anyway-- lots of writers have come up with some great ideas). But still-- these deceptively young people, capable beyond their years, taken in childhood and molded into killers-- it was enough of a similarity to keep my thoughts occupied on the ride here. :)
Anyway, Shadow of the Hegemon. Is it disappointingly predictable if I say that Petra's fast becoming my favorite character? I liked her very much in Ender's Game and was saddened when she, the lone girl, was the first one to break during the final battles. I'm liking her even more here, and she and Achilles are very compelling together. They're great foils for each other. I mean, I still want the rat bastard to die, but their scenes are very-- vivid, I guess, is a good word. I can see and hear them in my head. I also really liked that Ender's parents are so human and so fallible. They're far from perfect-- they made some serious mistakes, raising their children. But that's life.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the book (and buying Shadow Puppets, when I'm done).
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Date: 2003-09-23 09:06 am (UTC)