17 April, 2007
(0 ) 19:58 Poo. I know I haven't blogged for what, half a month? Anyway the letters for the respective interviews came... the NTU's one this Saturday. ZOMGWTFABC. Fear. I don't have very good interview experiences. I mean there's the whole what-to-wear dilemma, and then I have to know the answers to questions like "Why do you want to join the course so badly" and "What's so great about you that we should pick you" etcetera, and try not to recite generic answers that they've heard a million times before. Oh and it was suggested to bring along a small portfolio as well. I have some stuff for it (am I glad I joined fac comm...) but I'm not sure if it's relevant. I mean I've never written anything for a school newsletter or whatever.
Anyway, I've finally finished Alastair Reynolds' Absolution Gap, the last of his trilogy. I read the last book in under a week, all 700+ pages of it. What I absolutely love about Reynolds is how extremely readable his books are. I'm able to devour page after page without feeling bored or wanting to put the book down; time just slips along with the pages, and before I know it, an hour has passed and I'm a hundred pages ahead. It's always easy to pick up where I've left off as well. I read the previous two books on and off, even reading other books in the interim, but it was always easy to go back to them and be immersed once more in Reynolds' lovingly-crafted universe.
What I like about his plots are that they seem massive at first--two or three totally unrelated story threads begin the book, but culminate in one ending that ties most of the loose ends up neatly. I say "most" because there are still some questions that have yet to be answered at the conclusion, but with such a vast number of fates the book juggles with, it may be impossible to satisfy that curiosity, unless Reynolds plans to write another sequel, which I don't think is needed.
Another device that I've seen repeated in both Chasm City and his trilogy is his use of characters who believe they are someone they are not. I won't go into detail with this because it's probably too tangential to be of interest to most people, but suffice to say it's always a surprise when you realise that that's who they were all along! This kind of revelation (pun!) is not limited to his characters' identities only, of course--there are many other incidents in his books which suggest at coincidences and reappearances or relations with other parts and details of before.
SPOILER AHEAD!! (highlight to read) For example in Absolution Gap, I highly suspect that the man that Scorpio saw amongst the refugees from Yellowstone they rescued was Khouri's husband. I was like OMG! REALLY. She's been searching for him ever since book one. END SPOILER.
Anyway, I've finally finished Alastair Reynolds' Absolution Gap, the last of his trilogy. I read the last book in under a week, all 700+ pages of it. What I absolutely love about Reynolds is how extremely readable his books are. I'm able to devour page after page without feeling bored or wanting to put the book down; time just slips along with the pages, and before I know it, an hour has passed and I'm a hundred pages ahead. It's always easy to pick up where I've left off as well. I read the previous two books on and off, even reading other books in the interim, but it was always easy to go back to them and be immersed once more in Reynolds' lovingly-crafted universe.
What I like about his plots are that they seem massive at first--two or three totally unrelated story threads begin the book, but culminate in one ending that ties most of the loose ends up neatly. I say "most" because there are still some questions that have yet to be answered at the conclusion, but with such a vast number of fates the book juggles with, it may be impossible to satisfy that curiosity, unless Reynolds plans to write another sequel, which I don't think is needed.
Another device that I've seen repeated in both Chasm City and his trilogy is his use of characters who believe they are someone they are not. I won't go into detail with this because it's probably too tangential to be of interest to most people, but suffice to say it's always a surprise when you realise that that's who they were all along! This kind of revelation (pun!) is not limited to his characters' identities only, of course--there are many other incidents in his books which suggest at coincidences and reappearances or relations with other parts and details of before.
SPOILER AHEAD!! (highlight to read) For example in Absolution Gap, I highly suspect that the man that Scorpio saw amongst the refugees from Yellowstone they rescued was Khouri's husband. I was like OMG! REALLY. She's been searching for him ever since book one. END SPOILER.