"First you save yourself/then you save the world"

I am about ten books behind and also in that horrendous early head cold stage, where I lie around on the floor equidistant from the heater, my laptop and a large box of tissues, and do almost nothing productive. I am also in the middle of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys (excellent) and Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo (also excellent despite me having mentally confused it with The Man in the Iron Mask for the first 200 pages or so, am currently in one of those "guide to 19th century Italy for the discerning young sprig of nobility" bits that make you wonder how much he was getting per serialised episode).

Anyway. This was closest to me on the floor. Post title from Greg Johnson's "Save Yourself", which seemed applicable.

The Ropemaker, Peter Dickinson. I liked this but didn’t love it. It’s solid, detailed fantasy, with the valley convincingly grounded and the Empire enticingly strange, and the magic system unfolds neatly from its own premises. Where it goes wrong for me is in two interconnected respects; the overall story, and the way in which the characters achieve it (which does sound appallingly thorough. I should say again that I like the world, the writing and the characters). I am possibly guilty of reading the book I wanted to read rather than the one I had in front of me, however.

( Spoilers. )