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Magic Bites & Magic Burns
Jun. 1st, 2015 06:51 pmI finished reading these two urban fantasies by Ilona Andrews. They're about a super powerful woman with a secret past and every magical guy tries to shag her. That kind of genre. The threats of sexual violence do get repetitive and boring, and it's on the horror movie end of the gore and guts and graphic descriptions of awful things happening to children, but then she kills things with big swords so, you know, swings and roundabouts.
I like the worldbuilding so far, which has Tech and Magic be two different rulesets that change over at random. Seems like more fun for a game, where it could be actually random, than for a book, where it's just plot convenient so whichever is worst happens. The shapeshifters are either completely about control or completely lose themselves, and just one mistake is a catastrophic shift in their biochemistry so they change sides and kill everything until they're stopped. Vampires are epically unsexy, being a specialised sort of zombie that's remote controlled by necromancers. Necromancers are creepy greasy power hungry ... the magical equivalent of nouveau riche where they all try and act like they've had it for centuries but they're really spotty oiks. And then there's the law enforcement types, who are so Good Of The Many that they'll kill the people who ask them for help if said people happen to be a bit threatening. Which sets up the Mercenaries as a reasonable alternative, as law enforcement that won't kill you. And Our Heroine is, of course, all tangled up with being important to all of them and demonstrating her superiority to all sides. Fun if you're in the mood.
Actually that's about all I have to say about them.
I'd like better a story about someone who studied for their small powers and applied their handful of magics carefully because that's all they've got. The ones about people born most powerful who get to level up every book and use their new trick every book are just less satisfying somehow.
Guess I should write it then.
I like the worldbuilding so far, which has Tech and Magic be two different rulesets that change over at random. Seems like more fun for a game, where it could be actually random, than for a book, where it's just plot convenient so whichever is worst happens. The shapeshifters are either completely about control or completely lose themselves, and just one mistake is a catastrophic shift in their biochemistry so they change sides and kill everything until they're stopped. Vampires are epically unsexy, being a specialised sort of zombie that's remote controlled by necromancers. Necromancers are creepy greasy power hungry ... the magical equivalent of nouveau riche where they all try and act like they've had it for centuries but they're really spotty oiks. And then there's the law enforcement types, who are so Good Of The Many that they'll kill the people who ask them for help if said people happen to be a bit threatening. Which sets up the Mercenaries as a reasonable alternative, as law enforcement that won't kill you. And Our Heroine is, of course, all tangled up with being important to all of them and demonstrating her superiority to all sides. Fun if you're in the mood.
Actually that's about all I have to say about them.
I'd like better a story about someone who studied for their small powers and applied their handful of magics carefully because that's all they've got. The ones about people born most powerful who get to level up every book and use their new trick every book are just less satisfying somehow.
Guess I should write it then.