![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I've actually finished some books!
* Ages ago, I picked up the audiobook of Necromancer's Dance because it seemed very relevant to my interests. The narration was terrible, so I returned it. I am back on Audible for a few months and accidentally bought the book again. I just assumed that books I'd gotten refunded for in the past wouldn't show in my reccs? Anyway, I decided to power through because I didn't want to return it again. That was dumb, I should have returned it and gotten a text copy.
I am going to talk about the first two books in The Beacon Hill Sorcerer series, which Necromancer's Dance starts, and the narration separately. But, since I bought more of the books and obviously hate the audiobook narration you can probably guess my feelings on both.
Books
I enjoy them! I like the characters and the dynamic. The world building is very unique and taken seriously. There are strong connections and tensions between the characters, and not just the couple. They are actually part of the world they live in, which is weirdly something a lot of modern paranormal stuff is bad at. The world feels solid instead of like set dressing. This books has the things I've been looking for in m/m urban fantasy.
I can't really recc them because the writing is... it has some weaknesses. I feel weird criticizing the writing when so much of the queer fic I've picked up doesn't even have a strong grasp of grammar. Honestly, this reads so smoothly compared to what I picked up in that summer reading challenge. Between that and looking for good fanfic these books are a relief. I don't even really care that the sex scenes suck because I like the tension between the characters a lot. I might actually write a fanfic that is basically an improved sex scene between the main couple.
I have questions about how the world building works since the existence of vampires and stuff seems so open... but honestly as someone from New England I am actually willing to accept that Boston is just like that. And, there are 5 more books in the series and more coming out so that might all be explained.
In short: glad I finally got into this series.
Audiobook
I have several problems with how this book is narrated. I am not going to get into the weeds about the enunciation cadence being wrong, but since I am going to talk some things.
That the narration for this book was well reviewed was one of the reasons I gave up on audio books back then. Looking closer at the reviews, shenanigans become clear. Even some people who gave the book 5s across the board (you score separately for Overall, Story and Narration) actually complained about the narration in the text of their review, and others said the book was bad and they were only there for the narrator? Some of the people praising the VA talk about his amazing Boston accent and NO... NO NO
Here are some of the problems:
* He went with guttural working class accent. I think the VA went so hard he was hurting his throat. In sections where the protag talks a lot he starts to sound like he has bronchitis. Not sexy. He pulls back on the accent a bit about halfway through, but early on he sounds honestly sick.
* The protag isn't working class. He family lived on an estate before the paranormal wars. That sorcerers like him have private schooling for both regular academics and magic is a world building detail that comes up a lot. There was 0 reason for him to wreck his voice with the gravelly, harsh accent. It's not the right accent... at all
* From reading the dialogue in the book I can tell that the protag sometimes seems to talk normally, even a bit formally... consistent with his background! The accent comes out when he's in certain social situations, angry or being a little shit. Again, this is how things work. The VA has every line guttural, rather than having the accent be dynamic.
* People praising it as a perfect Boston accent of any kind confuses me because he does not drop his Rs. It's possible the protag wouldn't drop his Rs because his last name is Salvatore. They don't specify if he's Hispanic or if he has an usual accent, but it makes sense if he was speaking some Spanish at home or at least needed to pronounce Spanish family names right that he'd be used to making R sounds and it might effect his accent. But it sounds more Bronx than anything.
There is a hardness to the vowels sounds that is right, but outside of that, yeah it's giving Bronx construction worker who's been yelling all day.
But some reviewers thought that the VA got Simeon's Scottish accent perfect... (He's Irish), so it's just people giving hype reviews to support creators and I'm taking it overly seriously because A) it offends my New Englander sensibilities and B) shenanigans with reviews makes it harder to find good content.
* I DNF'd The Dark Lakes trilogy by M V Stott. The reason why I got audible again was because getting 4 months of audible was cheaper than just picking this up. It's an urban fantasy trilogy read by Dave Jones, the voice of Halsin from BG3. So, I was interested. The voice work is great, but I could not get through the story. The main character has amnesia, which means that while he's a full grown man with a job, due to lack of life experience he's very emotionally and socially immature. His basic lack of understandings of things are sometimes mistaken for an endearing joke by people around him. That premise could be interesting, but the vibes were off. It felt kinda gross actually.
It wasn't the first time I'd bought something specifically due to who the VA is and then hated the book, and it probably wont be the last.
* Ages ago, I picked up the audiobook of Necromancer's Dance because it seemed very relevant to my interests. The narration was terrible, so I returned it. I am back on Audible for a few months and accidentally bought the book again. I just assumed that books I'd gotten refunded for in the past wouldn't show in my reccs? Anyway, I decided to power through because I didn't want to return it again. That was dumb, I should have returned it and gotten a text copy.
I am going to talk about the first two books in The Beacon Hill Sorcerer series, which Necromancer's Dance starts, and the narration separately. But, since I bought more of the books and obviously hate the audiobook narration you can probably guess my feelings on both.
Books
I enjoy them! I like the characters and the dynamic. The world building is very unique and taken seriously. There are strong connections and tensions between the characters, and not just the couple. They are actually part of the world they live in, which is weirdly something a lot of modern paranormal stuff is bad at. The world feels solid instead of like set dressing. This books has the things I've been looking for in m/m urban fantasy.
I can't really recc them because the writing is... it has some weaknesses. I feel weird criticizing the writing when so much of the queer fic I've picked up doesn't even have a strong grasp of grammar. Honestly, this reads so smoothly compared to what I picked up in that summer reading challenge. Between that and looking for good fanfic these books are a relief. I don't even really care that the sex scenes suck because I like the tension between the characters a lot. I might actually write a fanfic that is basically an improved sex scene between the main couple.
I have questions about how the world building works since the existence of vampires and stuff seems so open... but honestly as someone from New England I am actually willing to accept that Boston is just like that. And, there are 5 more books in the series and more coming out so that might all be explained.
In short: glad I finally got into this series.
Audiobook
I have several problems with how this book is narrated. I am not going to get into the weeds about the enunciation cadence being wrong, but since I am going to talk some things.
That the narration for this book was well reviewed was one of the reasons I gave up on audio books back then. Looking closer at the reviews, shenanigans become clear. Even some people who gave the book 5s across the board (you score separately for Overall, Story and Narration) actually complained about the narration in the text of their review, and others said the book was bad and they were only there for the narrator? Some of the people praising the VA talk about his amazing Boston accent and NO... NO NO
Here are some of the problems:
* He went with guttural working class accent. I think the VA went so hard he was hurting his throat. In sections where the protag talks a lot he starts to sound like he has bronchitis. Not sexy. He pulls back on the accent a bit about halfway through, but early on he sounds honestly sick.
* The protag isn't working class. He family lived on an estate before the paranormal wars. That sorcerers like him have private schooling for both regular academics and magic is a world building detail that comes up a lot. There was 0 reason for him to wreck his voice with the gravelly, harsh accent. It's not the right accent... at all
* From reading the dialogue in the book I can tell that the protag sometimes seems to talk normally, even a bit formally... consistent with his background! The accent comes out when he's in certain social situations, angry or being a little shit. Again, this is how things work. The VA has every line guttural, rather than having the accent be dynamic.
* People praising it as a perfect Boston accent of any kind confuses me because he does not drop his Rs. It's possible the protag wouldn't drop his Rs because his last name is Salvatore. They don't specify if he's Hispanic or if he has an usual accent, but it makes sense if he was speaking some Spanish at home or at least needed to pronounce Spanish family names right that he'd be used to making R sounds and it might effect his accent. But it sounds more Bronx than anything.
There is a hardness to the vowels sounds that is right, but outside of that, yeah it's giving Bronx construction worker who's been yelling all day.
But some reviewers thought that the VA got Simeon's Scottish accent perfect... (He's Irish), so it's just people giving hype reviews to support creators and I'm taking it overly seriously because A) it offends my New Englander sensibilities and B) shenanigans with reviews makes it harder to find good content.
* I DNF'd The Dark Lakes trilogy by M V Stott. The reason why I got audible again was because getting 4 months of audible was cheaper than just picking this up. It's an urban fantasy trilogy read by Dave Jones, the voice of Halsin from BG3. So, I was interested. The voice work is great, but I could not get through the story. The main character has amnesia, which means that while he's a full grown man with a job, due to lack of life experience he's very emotionally and socially immature. His basic lack of understandings of things are sometimes mistaken for an endearing joke by people around him. That premise could be interesting, but the vibes were off. It felt kinda gross actually.
It wasn't the first time I'd bought something specifically due to who the VA is and then hated the book, and it probably wont be the last.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 12:54 am (UTC)From:Which is to say I haven't read the last few books in the series. I sort of think fondly of them from time to time and think about reading them, and then don't.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 02:40 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 05:35 am (UTC)From:I don't think I've heard of the Beacon Hill Sorcerers series, but it sounds interesting! I'm into stuff with strong dynamics between the characters. It's a shame the writing sounds like it has some flaws, but... eh. I find some stylistic things forgivable if it has other stuff going for it strongly enough.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 08:10 am (UTC)From:Every time I buy something based on the VA I have regrets...
Yeah, it's tricky to balance the plusses and minuses. It does have a lot going for it like a magic system that is elemental so it's easy to understand, but it also feels unique and not like it's copying a popular show. But it's hard to recc because someone coming in might be put off by the flaws.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-03 02:57 am (UTC)From:It's definitely true that there are aspects of books that are hard to translate to audio. Some sort of a sound effect - a pause-click-pause or something to indicate a break point or something would be helpful! (When I'm reading to someone, like Alex on a road trip or something, I'll just verbally say "break point" or "end of chapter," but realize that would be a bit too immersion breaking for actual audio, lol.) Out-loud dialogue and internal thoughts are really hard to convey well.
It's a shame that the VAs you'd buy an audiobook for aren't narrating better books! :P
That's a bit how I feel about The Tarot Sequence. I really like aspects of it, and I thought the second and third books were fantastic. But the first one has some writing flaws, including at times feeling like someone novelizing their TTRPG game when it comes to magic systems and the enemies they fight. But some of the worldbuilding is cool, and I like the dynamics between the characters as well... but it's hard to tell someone to read it when the first book isn't *bad*, but does have some issues that keep it from being great.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-03 05:08 am (UTC)From:My writing would be a mess read aloud. It really needs grammar marks. I sometimes have contrast between what is being said and the info right after it, so not having " marks would make it messy.
Also, with the books I just read there are POV shifts and they are never marked in the audio version.
S J Himes has put out a lot of books since Necromancer's Dance so they might improve a bit. Some of their later books center on werewolves and I'm me so yes. But if their writing improves I'll be a little sad that the pairing I like so much got the early stuff. But, such is life!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-05 03:44 am (UTC)From:I enjoy the stylistic choice of contrasting between what's spoken aloud and what's said in the text, but it's true that you then have to be absolutely sure which is which when you read/listen!
POV shifts can be hard. Sometimes the character voice is strong enough that it's obvious quickly, but if the reader doesn't have a way to distinguish? A rapid switch could be very confusing, ha.
Ha, understandable. "Why did my much-loved characters and pairing have to be the first-book-pitfalls guinea pigs??" I hope that their writing does smooth out and fix some of the issues, without losing the things that made it good. (I know sometimes that's also an issue: later books get OVERpolished, and lose The Good.)
no subject
Date: 2024-02-05 04:36 am (UTC)From:Oof, yeah, over-polished can also be an issue. Or like getting really into the popular romance trends that I am reading this to avoid!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 02:55 am (UTC)From:Ugh, yes! It sucks when a writer starts out in a niche that I'm excited to find, and then decides to pivot to something that aligns more with the mainstream. Like... I can't really fault an author if they want something with broader appeal, but it's still disappointing!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-06 08:31 am (UTC)From:I've followed some series that have had odd pivots, sometimes extreme ones. I am still salty about ones I read a million years ago.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 04:27 am (UTC)From:I feel like there were a handful of those I'd encountered, mostly from some enormous ebook dump that someone on LJ gave out decades ago. One I recall really leaving me with a bad taste. The early books were fine, passably okay M/M erotica stuff. The second half of the series (or at least a run of two or three stories, after which I gave up) were suddenly *extremely* focused on how the characters were Good, Monogamous, Normal Couples Who Couldn't Get Real Married But Would If They Could And Were Only Having Sex Because They Were Spiritually Married to the point it was a deeply uncomfortable focus. I don't remember the series or author anymore, but it was a weird change in tone.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-07 10:45 pm (UTC)From:SO much can go wrong with long running series, including the author having a massive change in taste or having certain life experiences.
In a case of me putting the cart waaaaay before the horse I actually account for this in the original fic series I've got planned out. They all have certain constraints and I plan out certain things way in advance to not have those massive tone shifts. I am pissed at a few series for the massive, massive tonal shifts or retconning or... all sorts of things.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-08 04:15 am (UTC)From:There's certainly *some* amount of drift that's inevitable. With a long-running series, you will become a different creator over the course of time, and I'm not sure it's possible for the work to reflect NONE of that. But you can do work ahead of time to make sure the drift doesn't result in something that's likely to alienate your readers, or betray the initial intentions of the series. I've got a couple longer-running novel series that I enjoy, and it impresses me how obviously well thought-out some of the longer plot arcs have been. The quality of the writing has improved in a lot of cases, but it's never felt like the series betrayed itself or its audience. (To me, at least!) (On the other hand, I've also encountered those huge tonal shifts, massive retcons, and pivots toward something I no longer liked.)
Which is to say, it's a *really good idea* to have those plans in place!
no subject
Date: 2024-02-08 08:19 am (UTC)From:Reading well thought out and planned in advance arcs is so satisfying. I want to do that
no subject
Date: 2024-02-09 04:48 am (UTC)From:And ugh, yes! I LOVE long-con well-planned arcs. It's the best to watch them play out. I feel like that's not something I have a great sense of how to do yet, but it's something I really enjoy in the works I love, so is something I want to be able to do.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 12:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 01:28 pm (UTC)From:I haven't watched TVD, couldn't get into it, so it's possible the author is riffing on that in ways I am not picking up on. I'm really not sure how much of that tracks.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 01:33 pm (UTC)From: