This past week, I've been rereading The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. I'm mildly ashamed of that. See, they're not terribly good books. The main character is pretty much the biggest Mary Sue that ever lived, at least half of the plot is utterly ridiculous, and the world building makes pretty much no sense. Plus the covers pretty much broadcast to the world exactly what I'm reading - a vaguely silly fantasy story that wants so much to be Dark and instead is halfway to being a romance novel. Every time I read them, I tell myself that I shouldn't like them as much as I do.
But I love reading them. They're fun, they're mindless, and they have a happy ending. The bad people are killed in satisfying ways, the good people get properly rewarded, the estranged couple end up together. Plus, there are telepathic wolves and a honking big dragon. What more could anyone want out of a junk food book? Reading The Black Jewels Trilogy is like sitting around in my pajamas and eating a big bowl of ice cream - it's not terribly good for me and I'm sure there are more productive and improving things that I could be doing but, at the time, it's incredibly enjoyable.
So tell me about your junk food books. If you don't mind sharing your guilty pleasures, that is. 8)
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2 comments:
Ah! Enlightenment! What a feeling! Great blog entry. Now, I know what a Mary Sue is and AT LONG LAST I finally understand why my husband loves the Black Jewels Trilogy so much! The jacket blurbs sound romancy so I was completely at a loss, and a little unwilling to check them out, since "romancy" is not my cup of tea. But dragons, telepathic wolves, satisfying endings--now it all makes sense!
My favorite guilty pleasure is probably E. Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle. There are magic rings and castles and adventures and fairy princesses and living statues and (of course) plenty of magic-gone-wrong in hilarious and wonderful ways. E. Nesbit wrote to support her large family, so she worked hard to satisfy, amuse, and entertain her young readers. The Engchanted Castle is everything that is E. Nesbit (or Edward Eager, for that matter)--the quintessential magic-gone-wrong adventure story. Ahhh, satisfying.
constance--
Heh. I am glad to be of service. 8) And the Black Jewels trilogy is weirdly addictive. You know it's vaguely bad when you read it but it's so much fun you can't put it down.
I know that I read some E. Nesbit when I was younger but I don't think I've read The Enchanted Castle. I'll have to put it on my list.
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