cyphomandra (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cyphomandra) wrote2007-01-24 10:22 pm
cyphomandra) wrote2007-01-24 10:22 pm
Entry tags:
One more day down
Forgot at least one book in my last post. Gillian Bradshaw, The elixir of youth. A daughter meets her long-estranged father, an American (daughter is British) scientist working on secret research, and gets involved with a protestor who may, or may not, be involved in the theft of her father's work. I like having the daughter be a philosopher, and watching her formally argue with people, but the trying to have both sides at once means I'm expected to sympathise more than I feel ready to with someone who beats up his girlfriend.
I loved the medicine in Beacon at Alexandria, and it's a shame this suffers from the same sort of Hollywood science that The Wrong Reflection did - the elixir is referred to as a serum (short-term protection against a specific viral disease, if it works at all), and the whole "boosts the immune system" thing ignores all the actual diseases that can result from an overactive immune system in favour of vague threats of cancer. I think Kate Wilhelm's much vaguer description in Welcome, Chaos was preferable.
Dick Francis, 10lb Penalty. Nicely done, nothing outstanding, but good solid characters. One day, I might give in and work out which ones I haven’t read, and go through them systematically, but I like just occasionally stumbling over a new one.
Reginald Hill, Ruling Passion. One of the early ones, and the plot strains a bit with all the connections, but the character interactions are there already. I do like Ellie, and she’s always done well. Read in a library copy, and some helpful earlier reader has corrected grammar and made little notes in the margin (about their disbelief at the severity of shotgun damage in one case). Am currently resisting the urge to write sarcastic comments (in pencil) underneath.
Reginald Hill, Exit Lines. When I read some of the early ones before I thought Dalziel was more fallible, but ones like this make him much less so. The stories don't necessarily hang together, but it works as part of a series, where police work doesn’t necessarily come in convenient book-length packages. Vivid characters.
Reginald Hill, Under World. This is probably where I’d say the series really started moving beyond being just a well-written detective series, although it’s not a clean demarcation. The relationship between Colin and Ellie is excellently done, complex, tangled and adult, and Pascoe’s reaction is also good. The crime storyline works well for me on this one, as well. I need to re-read On Beulah Height, which has some superficial similarities.
It's just struck me how many of the Dalziel and Pascoe books feature old crimes, and their contemporary after-effects. Will have to think about this.
I loved the medicine in Beacon at Alexandria, and it's a shame this suffers from the same sort of Hollywood science that The Wrong Reflection did - the elixir is referred to as a serum (short-term protection against a specific viral disease, if it works at all), and the whole "boosts the immune system" thing ignores all the actual diseases that can result from an overactive immune system in favour of vague threats of cancer. I think Kate Wilhelm's much vaguer description in Welcome, Chaos was preferable.
Dick Francis, 10lb Penalty. Nicely done, nothing outstanding, but good solid characters. One day, I might give in and work out which ones I haven’t read, and go through them systematically, but I like just occasionally stumbling over a new one.
Reginald Hill, Ruling Passion. One of the early ones, and the plot strains a bit with all the connections, but the character interactions are there already. I do like Ellie, and she’s always done well. Read in a library copy, and some helpful earlier reader has corrected grammar and made little notes in the margin (about their disbelief at the severity of shotgun damage in one case). Am currently resisting the urge to write sarcastic comments (in pencil) underneath.
Reginald Hill, Exit Lines. When I read some of the early ones before I thought Dalziel was more fallible, but ones like this make him much less so. The stories don't necessarily hang together, but it works as part of a series, where police work doesn’t necessarily come in convenient book-length packages. Vivid characters.
Reginald Hill, Under World. This is probably where I’d say the series really started moving beyond being just a well-written detective series, although it’s not a clean demarcation. The relationship between Colin and Ellie is excellently done, complex, tangled and adult, and Pascoe’s reaction is also good. The crime storyline works well for me on this one, as well. I need to re-read On Beulah Height, which has some superficial similarities.
It's just struck me how many of the Dalziel and Pascoe books feature old crimes, and their contemporary after-effects. Will have to think about this.