Reading review...

[fleetfootmike]

So - after a wee trip to Disney, I was Wikipedia-ing around the Florida theme park entries and found, in that way Wikipedia does to you; myself at a page for Cory Doctorow's Down and Out In The Magic Kingdom.

So I read it. And quite enjoyed it. So I thought I'd read Eastern Standard Tribe as well.

Hrm.

DAOITMK:

• written in alternate now and flashback scenes
• hero has male best friend and a girlfriend
• hero loses girlfriend to male best friend
• hero is betrayed by both in complex business deal
• hero has and loses a different girlfriend in flashback
• hero is ostracised by both and rest of society after trying to take them on
• hero wins through with help of another female character

EST:

• written in alternate now and flashback scenes
• hero has male best friend and a girlfriend
• hero loses girlfriend to male best friend
• hero is betrayed by both in complex business deal
• hero has and loses a different girlfriend in flashback
• hero is institutionalised by both and rest of society after trying to take them on
• hero wins through with help of another female character

Hrm: issues with relationships much, Cory? And could we write a different book next time?

I wonder if I should bother finishing Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, or can I guess how it ends? So far:

• written in alternate now and flashback scenes
• hero has and loses a different girlfriend in flashback
• ...

Comments

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

"And could we write a different book next time?"

Mee-yow. :) You mean break with the honourable tradition of (fill in long series of names of authors who garnered success and fame by writing the same book over and over again for years)?

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Or using the same book to extend series that never end?

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

And could we write a different book next time?

Well, he could. And then extend it to a trilogy. And then rewrite THAT six or eight times over twenty years. (*Pointedly does NOT look at Misty Lackey while composing Mad Libs*)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of David Eddings. Write a set of books. Then write it all again with an internal point that says "I know this is the same as last time". Then write the same story from the point of view of a different character. Repeat that. Then write the Codex which goes over the whole thing again.

The upsetting thing, it was good -- the first time...

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

Time for the generic Cory Doctorow Song-of-the-Book?

Your Girlfriend's Name Here

[rickbooth.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I no longer remember why I quite enjoyed Magic Kingdom and was bored enough with whatever I read second not to "pick up" another one, but that actually could have been it. I do remember being quite annoyed, though.