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When I went to pick up the Immortals Trilogy for the next leg of my 2009 Tamora Pierce Reread, I saw First Test. Kel's books are one of the few of Pierce's that I haven't reread (actually, I wasn't impressed the first time I read them) so I read The Protector of the Small Quartet and loved it. Seriously, I think this safe to say that Kel and Alanna are my favorite characters.
First Test is the weakest - it's a bit too slight of a book and the climax doesn't have any resonance with the rest of the novel (I actually think that, though I love Squire, it had a weak climax as well - Pierce had used up all the really scary Ordeal-induced visions earlier in the book, and I'm surprised we didn't ever see one where she married Cleon and ended up caring for children and not fighting and hating it).
However, what I really, really loved was the relationship between Kel and Wyldon and how that grew and changed. I've said before that I love people with honor in opposition to our protagonists, and Wyldon fits the bill perfectly. I thought his growth, from actively working against Kel to respecting and liking (I'd almost go as far as to say loving her in a paternal way) was excellent.
Politically speaking, I think Jon was right (and Wyldon will have done the girls to follow Kel a favor) by making sure that Alanna was in absentia for Kel's training.
I adored Kel's relationship with Peachblossom and the griffin - I think her line about Peachblossom being her temper was sweet and so telling, but I hated the sparrows to the point where I wasn't sure I could enjoy The Immortals Trilogy. (And yes, I know Daine is the in-canon reason for all the oh so helpful cutesy-cutesy animals.) At Kel's point in the time line, with the animals acting so human - I wanted to see problems with that. Animals refusing to work, revolts at slaughter houses, etc. The sparrows and the other animals being so helpful just... I didn't buy it. A cat will still be a cat, even if it has brains.
One of my favorite bits was her on Progress, jousting and kicking ass.
I did enjoy getting to see Daine and Numair being in a relationship and awesome together, though.
And I HATE the reprint covers. I know it's not cool, but I actually like the current urban fantasy aesthetic - for example, I think it's a shame that LKH continually gets gorgeous covers for crap books, but this is freaking Keladry of Mindelan. She need covers where she is doing shit *point to icon* not covers that are all dreamy and abstract and only show part of her body.
I've also reread the first six Dresden Files novels, and had some thoughts.
-When he was getting beaten up by werewolves, all I could thing was 'oh Harry. You think this is bad. You have no idea what bad is.'
-I really hated Susan for the majority of her screen time, excluding her actually at the Masque and Susan v2.0, when she came back. Then I liked her.
-Both Murphy and Harry's growth is really well done.
-The introduction of The Archive and Kincaid remains one of my favorite parts. I find Ivy in particular adorable.
-Has Murphy and Harry really never shared a soul gaze? Because if so, I may need to fix that via fanfic.
First Test is the weakest - it's a bit too slight of a book and the climax doesn't have any resonance with the rest of the novel (I actually think that, though I love Squire, it had a weak climax as well - Pierce had used up all the really scary Ordeal-induced visions earlier in the book, and I'm surprised we didn't ever see one where she married Cleon and ended up caring for children and not fighting and hating it).
However, what I really, really loved was the relationship between Kel and Wyldon and how that grew and changed. I've said before that I love people with honor in opposition to our protagonists, and Wyldon fits the bill perfectly. I thought his growth, from actively working against Kel to respecting and liking (I'd almost go as far as to say loving her in a paternal way) was excellent.
Politically speaking, I think Jon was right (and Wyldon will have done the girls to follow Kel a favor) by making sure that Alanna was in absentia for Kel's training.
I adored Kel's relationship with Peachblossom and the griffin - I think her line about Peachblossom being her temper was sweet and so telling, but I hated the sparrows to the point where I wasn't sure I could enjoy The Immortals Trilogy. (And yes, I know Daine is the in-canon reason for all the oh so helpful cutesy-cutesy animals.) At Kel's point in the time line, with the animals acting so human - I wanted to see problems with that. Animals refusing to work, revolts at slaughter houses, etc. The sparrows and the other animals being so helpful just... I didn't buy it. A cat will still be a cat, even if it has brains.
One of my favorite bits was her on Progress, jousting and kicking ass.
I did enjoy getting to see Daine and Numair being in a relationship and awesome together, though.
And I HATE the reprint covers. I know it's not cool, but I actually like the current urban fantasy aesthetic - for example, I think it's a shame that LKH continually gets gorgeous covers for crap books, but this is freaking Keladry of Mindelan. She need covers where she is doing shit *point to icon* not covers that are all dreamy and abstract and only show part of her body.
I've also reread the first six Dresden Files novels, and had some thoughts.
-When he was getting beaten up by werewolves, all I could thing was 'oh Harry. You think this is bad. You have no idea what bad is.'
-I really hated Susan for the majority of her screen time, excluding her actually at the Masque and Susan v2.0, when she came back. Then I liked her.
-Both Murphy and Harry's growth is really well done.
-The introduction of The Archive and Kincaid remains one of my favorite parts. I find Ivy in particular adorable.
-Has Murphy and Harry really never shared a soul gaze? Because if so, I may need to fix that via fanfic.