Arcanum 101 reaction post
Jan. 8th, 2011 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juliekarasikOnce upon a time, I was a teeny little Mercedes Lackey fan. Forget the many different kinds of fail, which 14 year old me was blissfully unaware of. Forget the repetitive plotlines, strangely similar main characters, and self inserts that would make the kids on ff.net blush. I had just started high school and I thought her books were very cool, and the Diana Tregarde books especially so, and Children of the Night just the coolest thing ever. (A witch solves magical crimes and winds up with a vampire boyfriend. If Twilight had hit when I was that age, I would have been all over it. Just sayin'.)
But the books didn't sell that well (at least compared to the Heralds series) and at some point, some fans who apparently possessed a more fragile grasp on reality than an imaginative 14 year old decided that Lackey wasn't making up fictional stories about super powerful witches, she *actually was* a super powerful witch, or at least knew someone who really was a super powerful witch, and the Di Tregarde books were some kind of wacky Roman a Clef. Long story short, she vowed publicly that the series was dead.
So, imagine my surprise when her recent anthology has one of those never published Diana stories that my little teenage self would have really really loved to get her hands on.
I considered doing the snark and nitpicking on twitter, but this is a bit easier. So, I give you snark and nitpicking, more or less in order:
Di's grandma has a completely new nickname. #continuityfail #yesiampickingnits
Bashing us over the head with 70's reference points? Check.
Heavy foreshadowing for main character's future career path? Check.
Um, did Diana just muse about a non-existent anti-guardian conspiracy? Srsrly? Misty dear, your meta is so very.
I wish I could go back in time and give this to wee!me, who would just enjoy it. Sadly, I am just a black pit of snark.
I don't remember this 'verse being so comic bookish. ::leafs though old copy of CotN::. Oh, I guess it was.
As character background this is cute. As an actual story where I'm interested in finding out hat happens next... not so much.
I spent money on this. What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, I was trying to recapture my sense of childhood wonder.
Lots of wigs, lots of very large shoes, deep voice, something "off" about the anatgonist... oh god, we're gearing up for some trans!fail, aren't we?
Oh god, please please tell me she's not having the anatgonist trying for gender reassignment via black magic. That's just too failtastic for words. Also, Silence of the Lambs did this already, without magic.
Fuck. I hate it when I'm right.
Also, Di didn't see this coming? With all those anvil-tastic hints strewn about, you'd think it would have been impossible to miss.
And now she's putting the antagonist's gender in quotes. Y'know, I was warned about the transfail, but really didn't think it was this failtastic. Kinda wishing I'd bought the hardcopy, just so I'd have the satisfaction of tossing it across the room.
Ok universe, lesson learned. This was not worth paying money for. I get it.
But the books didn't sell that well (at least compared to the Heralds series) and at some point, some fans who apparently possessed a more fragile grasp on reality than an imaginative 14 year old decided that Lackey wasn't making up fictional stories about super powerful witches, she *actually was* a super powerful witch, or at least knew someone who really was a super powerful witch, and the Di Tregarde books were some kind of wacky Roman a Clef. Long story short, she vowed publicly that the series was dead.
So, imagine my surprise when her recent anthology has one of those never published Diana stories that my little teenage self would have really really loved to get her hands on.
I considered doing the snark and nitpicking on twitter, but this is a bit easier. So, I give you snark and nitpicking, more or less in order:
Di's grandma has a completely new nickname. #continuityfail #yesiampickingnits
Bashing us over the head with 70's reference points? Check.
Heavy foreshadowing for main character's future career path? Check.
Um, did Diana just muse about a non-existent anti-guardian conspiracy? Srsrly? Misty dear, your meta is so very.
I wish I could go back in time and give this to wee!me, who would just enjoy it. Sadly, I am just a black pit of snark.
I don't remember this 'verse being so comic bookish. ::leafs though old copy of CotN::. Oh, I guess it was.
As character background this is cute. As an actual story where I'm interested in finding out hat happens next... not so much.
I spent money on this. What the hell was I thinking? Oh yeah, I was trying to recapture my sense of childhood wonder.
Lots of wigs, lots of very large shoes, deep voice, something "off" about the anatgonist... oh god, we're gearing up for some trans!fail, aren't we?
Oh god, please please tell me she's not having the anatgonist trying for gender reassignment via black magic. That's just too failtastic for words. Also, Silence of the Lambs did this already, without magic.
Fuck. I hate it when I'm right.
Also, Di didn't see this coming? With all those anvil-tastic hints strewn about, you'd think it would have been impossible to miss.
And now she's putting the antagonist's gender in quotes. Y'know, I was warned about the transfail, but really didn't think it was this failtastic. Kinda wishing I'd bought the hardcopy, just so I'd have the satisfaction of tossing it across the room.
Ok universe, lesson learned. This was not worth paying money for. I get it.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-08 06:00 pm (UTC)Burning Water was always my favourite Di Tregard book. I blame it for the beginning of a life-long fondness for Quetzacoatl.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-09 02:11 am (UTC)