(no subject)

[nightdog_barks]

Finished Ben Aaronovitch's The Hanging Tree last night. I liked it a lot, but ... I have some quibbles with it. I'm going to put the rest under a cut because I may give away some plot points, and I know I'd be pissed if I were spoiled for something I hadn't read yet. *g*



But you know what?

I don't care about the Faceless Man.

THERE I SAID IT AND I DON'T CARE WHO HEARD ME. :D

And I'm very close (maybe already there) to not caring about Lesley May. I was happy that Aaronovitch didn't forget her in the second book, but she's still on the edges of the story in Book Six and I don't know enough about her Evil Bargain with Faceless Guy to care about what happens to her. DC Guleed, now her I'm interested in! She's smart and funny and CAPABLE, and I like her a lot.

There was just a bit too much ... to-ing and fro-ing in this volume, with a ton more explanation of police procedures, tactics, and weapons than I really wanted to hear. I want more Rivers! Give me more gods and goddesses and Fae and the Demi-monde and everything in-between! The best parts of the book for me were Peter's encounter with Tyburn in the park ("It's getting needlessly metaphysical here.") and the flood outside Lady Tyburn's house (when the bystanders smelled meadowsweet and the one woman had a vision of washing clothes in a river). AND MORE NIGHTINGALE.

It did amuse me that Lady Tyburn's rationale for warning Peter away from any thoughts of marrying Bev was basically the same rationale that Elrond used on Arwen, warning her away from Aragorn, in the movie Lord of the Rings. Heh.



ANYWAY. Do I recommend? Yes, I do. Despite my (few) quibbles, I would give The Hanging Tree two thumbs up. Great series, strong rec. :D

Bleak and drizzly here today. There were at least a dozen finches at the feeders earlier, along with doves, juncos, and a pair of beautiful cardinals. Also there was a blue jay being a dick, making hawk calls to scare off the smaller birds so he and his blue jay pals could have the feeders all to themselves. Brazen little bastards. LOL

Low of 35 degrees tonight (1.7 degrees Celsius); 20 degrees (-6.7 C) tomorrow night. Hard freezes at night through Tuesday. SPRING PLZ COME SOON.

Comments

[silverjackal]

Ahahaha. I agree with you about more Guleed, and I'd actually like more Stephanopoulos as well. If Aaronovitch was interested in doing a spin off series I'd be first to pre-order historical Nightingale too! (As much as I'd like to know more about WWII/Ettersberg Nightingale rambling the world in the 20's would be fascinating.

LOL in an empathetic way to your "Spring plz come soon". I realise that for you at this time of year a hard freeze is uncharacteristically cold but it's currently -29C here, -36C with wind chill. Trade you? I'm ready for winter to be over. So are the fissures in my fingers. Poor Titus has to walk like a spider (i.e. holding alternate limbs in the air) just to defecate, poor pup. But climate change totally isn't A Thing... :P

[nightdog_barks]

Yes! More Stephanopoulos, and more Seawoll, for that matter! And DEFINITELY more Nightingale backstory. Plus I'm very much hoping Lady Helena Whatshername and her daughter Caroline make another, lengthier appearance, because I really liked them.

The SUN is shining here today, which makes it surprisingly more bearable! Plus it's above freezing. :D

[pwcorgigirl]

I have not started on that series yet due to no time and no space in my brain, but it always sounds fascinating. I won't remember the spolers due to No Vacancy in Brain. :-D

We had a few spring-like days after the February of floods and landslides. There are tiny wildflowers in the grass! But it is turning cold again and they may all be frozen for a couple of days.

[nightdog_barks]

Corgigirl, you will love this series! Honestly, I just can't say enough good things about it. :D

[warmdarkwoman]

SPRING PLZ COME SOON.

I concur. I wish we could cast some sort of collective spell that would, at the very least, make this transitional weather less whiplashy. (That's not a real word, but I just wrote it, so now it exists, and eventually it will make it into someone's dictionary. So there.)

I will say one thing: we need the hard freeze to try and kill some mosquito eggs.

I need to put my feeders back up. I had to take them down back in the fall because a wet week made the feed stick together and mold. :-(

[nightdog_barks]

UGH I HAVE HAD THAT HAPPEN WITH FEEDERS

And there was one feeder in particular that it kept happening with, even when it wasn't wet weather. (Were the birds spitting in the food? IDK.) Eventually I just took that one down and replaced it with a smaller feeder that was so much easier to clean. It was the feeder that contained a millet mix, so before I replaced it, it would get really clumpy. Ick.

WHIPLASHY is a perfectly cromulent word! :D

[sabra_n]

Well I don't care about Faceless in the sense of like...considering his feelings or something- I care what he's doing to do next because noooo protect Peter. And now the same goes for Lesley, except it's worse because it's personal with her; she's putting him in emotional agony every time she chooses the wrong thing.

But yeah, RoL now has the enviable problem of having too many great supporting characters, not to mention some recurrings I really want to see more of, like Walid and Abigail and Varvara and Lady Caroline and...