by Megan Whalen Turner


After this review I won't have anything else to say about Attolia* until March 23, which is when Conspiracy of Kings will be released. If you think I'm not counting down the days, you're insane. (Background here: my favorite series tend to be those which have already been fully published--not like I choose it that way, it just happens--so this giddy mixture of anticipation and impatience is new to me.) Sigh. I hope I've convinced one or two of you to pick them up. If I have, my work here is done.

What can I say about this book? Not much, plot-wise, since once again huge spoilers for the first two books would be involved. Alas. Let's just say that all of our favorite characters are back, plus a few more who prove their complete and utter awesomeness! Notably, Costis, a guard in the Queen's Guard, who does something rash and has to deal with the consequences.

By this time, assuming the reader is going through the series in order, we're in on the joke. We know that Gen has something up his sleeve, even if we don't know exactly what it is. And if you are an obsessive long time, ardent fan, there are some lines that will just make you squee. There are some others that make me cry. Every.single.time. (I cry easily over books and movies, but still.) And you know what? Every book in this series is better than the one before it. I don't know how MWT manages it. I seriously do not. (And the first ARC reports are coming in for CofK: this one is definitely happy. But SPOILERS for the rest of the series.) Also in this book, the return of Rosemary Sutcliff references and a moment where Gen quotes himself in Thief AND Howl in Howl's Moving Castle at the same time.

This book, incidentally, contains my favorite simile of all time: "The queen was settling on the edge of the bed, ungainly with hesitation and at the same time exquisite in her grace, like a heron landing in a treetop." (p. 208) It's just so incredibly appropriate and beautiful for that character and moment. And the fact that my second favorite simile of all time is also in this book should tell you something.

The emotional journey that Turner has taken these characters on is wonderful, unexpected and rewarding. She never settles for the easy answer. Gen has gotten what he wanted most in the whole world, but at a price. At a high price. Nonetheless, this is the book where he goes beyond being simply a thief, or even a patriotic thief, to being something--well, I'll just say that someone makes a claim about what he could become at the end of the book, and I agree.

One of the other subplots I love about the books is Gen's spiritual journey. When he starts off in Thief, he doesn't really believe in the gods of his country. By the end of that book he is forced into belief. In QoA, he does believe, but he still doubts and questions. For Turner to take him from the beginning of the Thief, when he thinks of the gods as old legends to the end of KoA, when he says "Whether I am on a rafter three stories up or on a staircase three steps up, I am in my god's hands," and for that journey to be believable, is quite remarkable.

A few favorite quotes (I had to leave out lots of good ones because of spoilers):

She knew he had both hated and loved those cousins who were now beyond both love and hate. p. 97

Expecting better of royal closets, Costis went to bed disappointed. p. 302

Costis was puzzling through the convolutions of human relationships, which were so unlike the neatly arranged patterns in a fireside story. p. 307

If we truly trust no one, we cannot survive. p. 331

* the technical term for this series is the Queen's Thief series, but I've never managed to get behind that one.


Book source: my personal library
Previous posts: The Thief; The Queen of Attolia

by Megan Whalen Turner

Reviewing this book is going to be annoying, for the simple reason that I can say even less about it than I could for The Thief without revealing huge massive spoilers for both books. Nonetheless, I will make a valiant attempt.

When The Queen of Attolia begins, Gen is hiding in Attolia's palace. I can't tell you why he's there, but I can tell you that it doesn't end well. Not. at. all. Which leads me to part of why I love Megan Whalen Turner so much--she does terrible things to her characters. I know that sounds awful, but I mean it. She really makes gutsy moves. Something really awful happens to Gen in the first part of this book and (okay spoiler ahoy, and I'm sorry but I have to say it) it never gets undone. Oh, Gen learns to live with it in his own...Gen-ish way, but Turner never takes the easy route, never has Moira come down from the clouds on a band of sunlight to fix things (in-joke, for those of you who are already fans).

Gen from The Thief is a wonderful character. Funny, horribly flawed, and always hiding something from someone. Gen from The Queen of Attolia is that character grown up in amazing ways. He's still funny, he's still horribly flawed, and he'll never stop hiding something from someone. And yet, my heart breaks every time I read this book because of how wonderful he is and difficulty of the choices he is faced with. There's another amazing characterization in Queen that I can't really talk about because it would be too spoilery, but I will say that Turner had to walk a very fine line and, in my opinion, she absolutely delivered on it (I know others who do disagree with me somewhat on that count).

In short: I love this book beyond measure. If you have not already read The Thief, go and do so at once. Or I'll send the dancing bears after you.

Quotes:

"You would only come sneaking back through my palace, leaving notes beside my breakfast dishes." p. 20

"The magus was reminded of a bear, chained in a pit, albeit a small bear." p. 87

"'I came to steal his magus.'
'You can't,' said the magus in question.
'I can steal anything,' Eugenides corrected him." p. 106

"Nothing I've ever learned from a priest makes me think I know just what the gods are or what they can accomplish, but, Gen, I know my decisions are my own responsibility. If I am the pawn of the gods, it is because they know me so well, not because they make up my mind for me." p. 171

"She sat perfectly still, looking at him without moving as his words dropped like water into dry earth." p. 360

Book source: my personal library
Megan Whalen Turner's homepage

A great interview with Turner! (note spoilers)

[I posted this at my public blog awhile ago, but I realized that many of you don't read that and it would be just as valid here. So, voila!]

by Megan Whalen Turner

Those of you who have read this blog for any length of time should recognize this title. I only read it an average of once every two months. But I have never actually reviewed it. I thought this should change since me going, "Read it! Read it!" is not a basis for you actually reading it, except to make me be quiet and go away. It's one of my minor quests in life to make everyone I know read this series, hence the review. However, it is very difficult for me to talk coherently about this book and I'm working with the additional problem of huge, massive spoilers which it would be very easy to give away. I will try to both talk coherently and avoid ruining the surprise.

The Thief begins thus:

I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison. The days were all the same, except that as each one passed, I was dirtier than before. Every morning the light in the cell changed from the wavering orange of the lamp in the sconce outside my door to the dim but even glow of the sun falling into the prison's central courtyard. In the evening, as the sunlight faded, I reassured myself that I was one day closer to getting out. To pass time, I concentrated on pleasant memories, laying them out in order and examining them carefully. I reviewed over and over the plans that had seemed so straightforward before I arrived in jail, and I swore to myself and every god I knew that if I got out alive, I would never never never take any risks that were so abysmally stupid again.

I had to stop there because if I didn't I would just type up the whole book and then I would be breaking copyright law and probably get sent to jail.

So the I in that passage is Gen, a thief who stole the king of Sounis's seal ring...and then boasted about it and got arrested. He's been languishing in the king's prison ever since. But things are about to change. The magus, the king's most powerful adviser, offers Gen a chance at temporary freedom if he will steal something for him (the magus, that is). This is exactly what Gen's been waiting for. And with that the story begins.

Gen is one of those characters that just leaps off the page. He's a little bit like Howl, a little bit like Peter Wimsey, but in the end he's no one but himself. The story moves between the countries of Sounis, Eddis, and Attolia which make up that region of Gen's world. As Turner explains, "I knew that I wanted to write a story and that I wanted the Greek landscape to be the inspiration for it....The setting for the story was inspired by Greece, but it isn't Greece and this isn't a Bronze Age culture that Gen lives in...There's no specific date in our world that correlates to development of Gen's world, but it is certainly more like the Byzantine period than classical Greece." (Extras, p. 2) She does a fantastic job of building a world and culture that seem familiar but are not overly reliant on real-world facts and dates and that, above all, feel alive and real. The use of stories, especially in this book, really helps that, as well as the wonderful descriptions of the landscape. I noticed these particularly in my latest re-read and was reminded a bit of Rosemary Sutcliff, although it's an entirely different land they're describing. In fact, if you're a Sutcliff fan, you may be amazed to find a description of an object featured in several Sutcliff books making an appearance. There's also a quote from Howl's Moving Castle (the book), which is later repeated in The King of Attolia.

Wow, that was all fairly coherent.

A few favorite quotes:
"This was no time to demonstrate unsuspected abilities" p. 40
"I noticed that I had ceased to be 'Gen' and had returned to being a kind of unreliable animal, like a cow that's prone to wandering away." p. 126

"The magus, in spite of his dogged pursuit of world sovereignty for Sounis, was a reasonably honest man." p. 179

"The people on the stairs were sucked down in our wake, and by the time we'd left the dark entrance hall and crowded into the doorway of the brightly lit throne room, I felt like the center of a circus on the move. All we needed was dancing bears." p. 259

Book source: my personal library (I own all three and have pre-ordered the fourth)
Megan Whalen Turner's Wikipedia page
The series's Livejournal community

( Read more )

I made a really delicious roast pork awhile ago--seriously, it may have been the best pork I've ever eaten. I got some weird cut I'd never heard of and couldn't find in any of my cookbooks, but I think this would be good with any cut meant for roasting.

I combined {this recipe} and {this recipe}. So I combined:
1 t thyme
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 t rosemary

Rub this mixture over the pork. Then put the pork in a baking dish. Cut up about 1/2 a medium apple and spread over the pork and the bottom of the dish. Preheat the oven to 325 and put the pork in, uncovered. It will cook slowly for about 3 hours. Baste regularly.

Make the glaze:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 c vinegar
1/8 c water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
ginger

Combine these in a saucepan and heat until slightly thick. Brush over pork several times during the last 1/2 hour or so of cooking.

I added some potatoes, carrots, and onions in the last hour or so--they needed a bit more time or something, but the pork itself was delicious!

It was a cold wet day yesterday. In the middle of class and a fascinating discussion about the way we handle courses in my school's English department I suddenly thought, "I want soup for dinner tonight. Soup and biscuits." My roommate found a good potato corn soup recipe (I'm not sure where she got it...possibly Allrecipes?). I made the biscuits.

Now, she studied abroad in New Zealand and I studied abroad in England, so in the midst of my cutting the butter into the flour, she said, "Wait. These are American biscuits?" They are. Vintage Betty Crocker, I believe.

Baking Powder Biscuits
1/3 c shortening or butter (I used butter)
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour (I did 1 c white, 3/4 c whole wheat)
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
3/4 c milk

Heat oven to 450 degrees (F). Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Cut shortening into mixture until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in just enough milk that the dough leaves the side of the bowl and rounds up into a ball.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead lightly 10 times (I skipped this step last night because I forgot it was there). Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut with floured 2 inch biscuit cutter (or a cookie cutter, or a glass if you don't own either). Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden-brown, 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet immediately.

Dinner was extremely satisfying and just what we both needed after a long, cold, rainy day.

Next week I'm planning to post my dinner arrangements so this is by way of testing the system.

My roommate has an evening class so I thought it would be nice to have dinner made for her (she's a vegetarian). We had about half a head of broccoli and an ear of corn that really needed to get used up so I made a vegetable pasta dish.

I cut up broccoli and carrots and sliced the kernels off of the ear of corn. I put them in the pot and left them there while I got everything else ready.

I started the pasta (the spiral-y kind, but it could be anything) and turned it down to low after the water boiled.

In a frying pan I heated 1 T olive oil and about 1 T butter. I chopped up a small clove of garlic and added it. When they were bubbling I whisked in 2 T whole wheat flour. I stirred it until it was nice and bubbly. Then I stirred in about 1 c milk. When it had thickened a bit I also added 1 T lemon juice and 1-2 t soy sauce. I stirred those in well and then turned it off.

While it was turned off I started the vegetables steaming and chopped up another clove of garlic, 1/4 an onion, about 1/4 t fresh ginger, and a few mushrooms. Then I added 1/8 t nutmeg, 1/8 t chili powder, 1/4 t pepper, and 1/2 t ground ginger to the sauce. I turned it back on, whisked it a bit more, and added the onion, mushrooms, garlic, and ginger. I cooked these for a bit and added 2 t heavy cream (we just happened to have some--this part really isn't necessary). I let the onion and mushroom cook a bit while I drained the vegetables. I used some of the broth to thin the sauce down reasonably. When the onion and mushrooms were cooked enough, I added the pasta and vegetables and stirred it all up. I put a bit of Parmesan cheese on top of mine.

Would I make it again? Yes, definitely. It ended up being nice and flavorful with a very slightly spicy aftertaste. I added a little more lemon juice and soy sauce. But overall this was a fairly quick and yummy dinner.

Ingredients:
broccoli
carrots
corn
onion
mushrooms
garlic
fresh ginger (about 1/4 t)
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 T flour
1 c milk
1 T lemon juice (to taste)
1-2 t soy sauce (to taste)
1/8 t nutmeg
1/8 t chili powder
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t ground ginger
broth of some sort
2 t heavy cream (optional)
pasta

As requested by several people.

( Because they're super long otherwise. )

Hi everyone! I just did a friends-cut. Pretty much the only people I cut are those who have not posted in their own journals for a really, really long time. If you think that applies to you, please check and see if you've been cut. If really you just liked lurking around here, feel free to leave a comment and I will add you back.

So I just made shortbread. It's ridiculously simple and the only expensive part is the butter. Which is better for you anyway, but I understand if you're like, I'm not going to blow a pound of butter on one thing!

But it's so gooooooood.

Anyway, the recipe:

1 lb butter (REAL BUTTER NOT MARGARINE)
4 c flour
1 c sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together by hand. I recommend doing this literally by hand as it's much simpler. Especially if you forgot to soften your butter.

Mix in flour 1/2 c at a time. At a certain point, you won't be able to use your spoon/fork anymore and you'll want to go back to the hand mixing. If you're me, you might never have left. Anyway, when the dough leaves the sides of the bowl, you're good.

Press in a pan. Score the top lightly and prick the squares with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Turn off oven and leave sitting in for 10 more minutes. Cut while still warm and soft. That's it. Seriously.

If you feel like splurging on the butter, you can't go wrong with shortbread.


In other news, I have ordered Twilight from the library. I want to see what all the fuss is about. Although I suspect it'll be one of those things where I go, "WHY am I doing this to myself? Why am I still reading this?" And then keep reading.

In still other news, we have had some seriously gorgeous weather the past few days. Which is good because, make no mistake my friends, the rain, it is coming. I enjoy the rain for the first month. Although I left my umbrella at home, so we'll see how much I actually enjoy it this year.

This is a recipe for eggless, dairyless zucchini bread. I made it a few days ago because we're currently in the Dormition Fast (I love Wikipedia). It would also be suitable for any vegan types out there.

Fasting Zucchini Bread

6 T water
1 c oil
2 c sugar
2c grated zucchini
3 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t cinnamon
1 T vanilla (yes, a tablespoon)
1/2 c chopped nuts

Mix water, oil, and sugar. Add grated zucchini and beat. Add flour, soda, and salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and nuts. Mix. Pour into two 9x5 inch greased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Cool and remove from pans.

You don't need to use a mixer for this--it goes together nicely by hand. Of course if you're short like me, that means holding the bowl in the crook of your arm because the counter's too high and THAT means hoping the batter doesn't go all over what you're wearing. Or wearing an apron which I always forget to take off.

This post will be completely boring if you’re not a Jane Austen fan. But I’ve been meaning to review this since I watched it and I think I’d better do it now.

This was probably my favorite of the new adaptations. Mansfield Park was beyond awful, Persuasion had me cheering until they butchered The Letter, and Northanger Abbey was lovely if you ignore the random stuff Andrew Davies threw in. I’m giving you what I didn’t like first, and then winding up with what I did like.

DISLIKES

Naturally, the scene at the beginning, but that was such a tacked-on thing I managed to ignore it quite well. And I knew it was coming. Which doesn’t mean it should have been there—I don’t know what Andrew Davies was thinking.

Willoughby was far inferior to Greg Wise. Sorry, it’s true. I looked at him and did not swoon or understand why Marianne would be attracted to him at all. Greg Wise on the other hand, I understood perfectly.

Too much too soon on Willoughby. Where’s the surprise? The mystery?

Too much too soon on Elinor. I felt like I didn’t get enough of an evolution in her character.

They changed Eliza’s story which oddly enough, given Andrew Davies’ predilections for steamy Austen, made it less shocking and sensational. How weird.

Mrs. Dashwood and Fanny are too much like the characters in the 95 version, particularly Fanny. I know the minor characters are probably hard to act without calling on the older version but Fanny’s portrayal was too similar.

Sir John and Mrs. Jennings are just not funny. Although how they could beat Elizabeth Spriggs and Robert Hardy is beyond me.

The lack of Hugh Laurie was sadly felt. I think they should have just left out Mr. Palmer altogether.

Brandon = eeep! I’m sorry, but every time I looked at the actor I thought of Bradley Headstone (a particularly villainous role the actor played in Our Mutual Friend) which is not conducive to happiness and joy for Marianne. I kept expecting him to start bleeding or hit a tombstone.

Must we have a cliff scene? Is it a requirement for a period drama? At least this one makes some sense given the locale, but really.

Marianne’s hair—why is it down? It’s only down some of the time and I know she’s young but why is it down at all?

Ellie? Really? That seemed highly odd and out of place.

Marianne’s costumes seem oddly modern in some places. I’m thinking particularly of her pink headband which looked like something some young ladies of my acquaintance might wear, not something a Regency lady would have worn. Yes, they did wear headband-ish things, but not that sort!

They totally stole the smaller room idea for the ball scene! Heavens!

Also Marianne’s letter scene. Cribbed.


LIKES
I like Edward very much indeed. For one thing, he’s not Hugh Grant who always annoyed me terribly in that role. Hugh Grant annoys me to begin with, but as Edward he annoys me tenfold. And the actor is very nice and good in his own right. I also felt that his character development was really well thought out.

The music is lovely.

I like the shells—it’s a nice occupation and reminds us that they are in Devon.

The wood-splitting scene, oddly enough. I thought I was going to hate it, but for once I totally bought it. Very strange. My powers of discernment must be going.

Anne cracks me up and reminds me of Josie Pye. Glad they put her in.

Loved Elinor right after Mrs. Jennings comes to see Marianne. The way she drinks the wine…I don’t know, something about that scene just tickled my funny bone.

I liked Marianne a lot. I felt like she brought a very different energy to the part than Kate Winslet did, but I bought her interpretation. I also liked Elinor even though I felt like she cracked, if you want to put it that way, a bit too early. But I think that’s the director, not the actress. It was a bit odd to have a dark-haired Elinor after seeing her as light for so long. And I liked Edward. Did I mention that?

I loved the way they played the scene just after Edward reveals that he is in fact not married. Elinor trying to hold it all together and keep going was really nice and very much in character.

Margaret of this version and Margaret of the 95 version were equally nice, although somewhat different. The 95 Margaret was more prone to inappropriate remarks and was a little more tom-boyish.

All in all, I thought it was really lovely and one that I’ll enjoy watching in the future.

Sorry about this--I'm overly excited about the new adaptations and I've been in a very JA mood the last few days.

Anyway, Rupert Penry-Jones' comment about "Those Austen People" tickled me to death. So, being me, I made user pics. If any of you would like them, feel free to grab one, but do credit me. I'm not sure if I'll post them in my graphics journal at all. Possible, but not definite.









If you could care less about JA, you can't be my friend anymore ignore this. I'll actually post something of more interest to you soon.

This is an utterly shameless plug for my forum The Reader's Corner. If you are a Christian girl who likes to read you should join it. Because we have cyber chocolate and lots of discussions about books and we even read them together sometimes. (This last one has kind of died--I think we picked the wrong book. Anyway, enough admin ramblings.)

So join. *glares in everyone's direction*

Incidentally, love my user pic. :D And if you know what I'm talking about you get cyber chocolate.