The stories that stay

[dolorosa_12]

Thirty Day Book Meme Day 19: Still can't stop talking about it

I mean, most of the things I'm fannish about are books, and most of those books are old! In the case of some of my most beloved fandoms of the heart, I've been thinking and talking about those books for close to twenty-five years, and show no signs of stopping. I posted a not completely exhaustive list at the last friending meme I ran:

I'm both extremely multifannish, but extremely loyal to the fandoms in which I'm invested. Most of my fandoms are small, Yuletide-eligible book fandoms: Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Sally Lockhart Mysteries books, The Pagan Chronicles series by Catherine Jinks, Galax Arena and the Space Demons trilogy by Gillian Rubinstein, pretty much everything Victor Kelleher has ever written, the Bone Season series by Samantha Shannon, the Romanitas trilogy by Sophia McDougall, the books of Kate Elliott, Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows duology, Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle, S. A. Chakraborty's Daevabad series, Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy, The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton, Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver and Uprooted, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and a whole lot of mythology, folk tales and fairytales.

Talk to me about any of those books, and I'll keep talking!


20. Favorite cover.
21. Summer read.
22. Out of print.
23. Made to read at school.
24. Hooked me into reading.
25. Never finished it.
26. Should have sold more copies.
27. Want to be one of the characters.
28. Bought at my fave independent bookshop.
29. The one I have reread most often.
30. Would save if my house burned down.

Comments

[laurenthemself]

The Space Demons trilogy and Galax-Arena, but we never ever talk about Terra-Farma.

[dolorosa_12]

Terra Farma, what Terra Farma? ;)

On a more serious note, Presh and Allyman are my favourite characters from Galax Arena, so there was no way I was going to enjoy Terra Farma! The book was perfect as a standalone, and I have always been baffled as to why Rubinstein felt the need to write a sequel.

The Space Demons trilogy is amazing. I reread it a few months ago, and it's still just as good.

[laurenthemself]

It still makes me mad that the sequel was so bad.

I've got to reread Space Demons; I was always so fascinated with the idea of the Skymaze.

[dolorosa_12]

It really was so, so bad, and I've wondered if Rubinstein was forced to write it due to publisher pressure, because I think it was her last book aimed at children — after that she went on to write Japanese-inspired fantasy novels aimed at adults under the Lian Hearn pseudonym. And she told me, back when I was a book-reviewer for The Canberra Times and interviewing her about one of her Lian Hearn books, that she had made the decision only to write for adults because her children had grown up and she felt disconnected from the experiences of children as a result.