I've never booklogged Diane Duane's A Wizard Abroad, so I might as well say something briefly about it after listening to the audiobook.
This is the fourth book in the series, in which Nita goes to Ireland. It's something of an interlude between the first three books and the continuing developments that start in the next, and has always felt somewhat to me like an excuse to write about Ireland, where the author moved a few years before this book was published. It's not a bad book (at least not to this non-Irish person whose culture and history aren't being appropriated left and right), but it is a letdown after High Wizardry.
As for the audiobook, Christina Moore, as always, does a very nice job narrating. In particular, she manages the Irish accents well—or, at least, as they're described in the text, which specifies numerous regional differences.
- categories: books » sf and fantasy » Young Wizards ; audiobooks
- all posts about Diane Duane (10 total)
Comments:
#1 :: greythistle wrote on December 28, 2006 at 11:50 PM:
#2 :: Kate wrote on December 29, 2006 at 7:04 AM:
greythistle: I agree, though I think _Alone_ is pretty good on its own.
Thanks for the information both about the book and TypeKey. I thought I'd got it working, but it had always been fiddly, so I'll take another look this weekend.
#3 :: Emmet wrote on January 9, 2007 at 12:22 PM:
As appropriations go, speaking as someone irish-born who lived there the first twenty years of my life, the mythological suff is borderline OK but the feel for contemporary Ireland is screamingly, teeth-gratingly bad. or rather, hugely obviously "USAn who has fallen in love with Ireland" rather than actually Irish. I think my blood pressure will benefit a great deal from not rereading it, put it that way.
#4 :: Kate wrote on January 9, 2007 at 12:30 PM:
the feel for contemporary Ireland is screamingly, teeth-gratingly bad
Are you able to articulate how, or would that also harm your blood pressure?
#5 :: David Tate wrote on January 11, 2007 at 12:48 PM:
I think none of the post-High Wizardry books really matches what Deep and High manage to achieve....
Interesting. I quite liked A Wizard Alone, probably better than High. But then I have a Personal Aversion regarding most depictions of cute e-life, magical or no.
#6 :: Michael I wrote on January 15, 2007 at 9:17 AM:
About Diane Duane and her "feel for contemporary Ireland". According to the bio on her website she's lived in Ireland since 1988. Specifically her current residence is "in the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains" in County Wicklow.
(Note that "A Wizard Abroad" is set largely in County Wicklow although Diane did take some liberties with the geography of the place.)
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As appropriations go, it's not bad--speaking as another non-Irish person but somewhat well-read in the background material.
I think none of the post-High Wizardry books really matches what Deep and High manage to achieve....
Incidentally, though I'm signed into TypeKey, something between it and steelypips is failing to communicate properly. TypeKey thinks you don't support the feature. (Perhaps you already know this, in which case apologies; it's been awhile since I commented here.)