Outside of a Dog: Monette, Sarah: (03) The Mirador

Oyce

Oyce wrote on July 16, 2007 at 8:44 PM:

I'm so jealous that you got your hands on Mirador! I'm glad to hear that Mildmay actually gets to deal a little with his angst; I love Mildmay angst, but really. The last book just didn't let up on the guy.

I'm really looking forward to this now.

Kate

Kate wrote on July 16, 2007 at 8:51 PM:

I hope you like it as much as I did!

Kaye

Kaye wrote on July 17, 2007 at 12:18 AM:

Those moaning noises you hear are me, agonizing over the three-week wait remaining before I can read this. :( I am glad to hear about the Teverii, since I liked Stephen in the first two books.

Hi, by the way! I found this blog by LJ-surfing, and I like your reviews.

Kate

Kate wrote on July 17, 2007 at 7:10 AM:

Welcome, Kaye, and sorry your comment got trapped in the spam filters (an IP lookup service thought your IP was a spam haven).

I'd always kind of liked Stephen, too; even through Felix's eyes it seemed that he was competent, no small thing for Melusine.

fidelio

fidelio wrote on July 18, 2007 at 11:30 AM:

I'm glad someone besides me is a Teverius fan--it was nice to see Shannon as something other than a petulant boytoy, and I was hoping it wasn't just the middle-aged civil servant in me that thought Stephen deserved a litle more credit for what he was dealing with.
A question, since it tugs on my brain, and I'm interested in your thoughts about it:
Vf vg cbffvoyr gung gur crefba jub sbhaq Qhypvarn Grirevn'f obql jnf ure qnhtugre Ivpgbevn? Qvq fur cnggre nybat gb ure zbgure'f ebbz gb jngpu ure trg qerffrq sbe gur cnegl, nf yvggyr tveyf bsgra qb? Ubj qbrf FUR srry nobhg svaqvat bhg ure zbgure qvqa'g ernyyl xvyy urefrys? Ivpgbevn fgevxrf zr nf fhpu n flzcngurgvpnyyl haflzcngurgvp punenpgre (vs gung znxrf nal frafr ng nyy) nyy guebhtu gurfr obbxf--V jnf ernyyl vzcerffrq jvgu ure qrpvfvba va gur svefg bar gb pnfg nfvqr nyy Pnonyyvar grnpuvat naq trg evq bs gur cunagbzr--orpnhfr vg arrqrq qbvat.

I also loved the return of Simon and Rinaldo.

I didn't get as little out of Gideon as you seem to have--but I got more of him through Mehitabel and Mildmay than from Felix--possibly because of the way each of these were interacting with him. V jbaqre jurer gurl raqrq hc ohelvat uvz--naq vs fbzrbar ohg n ynolevagu ba uvf gbzofgbar. Nyfb, juvyr Gunqqrhf znl or qrrcyl eryvrirq gung Tvqrba naq uvf xabjyrqtr bs Gunqqrhf' cnfg vf qrnq naq tbar, whfg ubj onqyl unf Gunqqrhf' perqvg jvgu gur erfg bs gur Pnonyyvarf (Tvnapneyb qbrf abg fgevxr zr nf orvat jvyyvat gb chg hc jvgu vqvbgf vs ur qbrfa'g unir gb) orra nssrpgrq ol nyy guvf--ur jnf ba cerggl guva vpr jvgu gur Grirevv--jr xarj sebz gur svefg obbx gung Ivpgbevn qbrfa'g zhpu yvxr uvz (lrf, V xabj Sryvk jnf fhssrevat sebz qrzragvn jura ur znqr gung bofreingvba, ohg ur jnf cerggl creprcgvir va uvf qrzragvn), naq V tbg gur vzcerffvba Fgrcura jnf ernql gb srrq uvz gb gur Xnyyvcubear gurer ol gur raq bs gur yngrfg obbx.

Also, I really warmed up to young Septimus, and the girl who didn't want him.

Kate

Kate wrote on July 18, 2007 at 11:45 AM:

fidelio: I think Shannon was particularly dis-served by the very quick start to _Melusine_, because it's really not until now that I got any sense of why he and Felix were together for so long, besides the superficial.

I don't have any particular thoughts about your first spoiler-protected question, though it's a good one and I'd like to know more about that character.

As for your second, don't know, but (ROT13): v guvax gur xnyyvcubear vf gbb avpr gb unir gunqqrhf srq gb ure. v qb ubcr fbzrguvat fhvgnoyr bpphef, gubhtu.

fidelio

fidelio wrote on July 18, 2007 at 12:03 PM:

V frrz gb erpnyy fur'f qhovbhf nobhg gur jvfqbz bs rngvat jvmneqf, naljnl.

Poodlerat

Poodlerat wrote on August 4, 2007 at 1:57 AM:

I just finished The Mirador (I'd been waiting to read/comment on your review until I had) and I pretty much agree with everything you said.

I sort of feel the same way you did about Gideon, but it didn't really bother me. I felt like I got everything I could have from Mildmay and Mehitabel's perspectives, and I didn't really expect more from Felix's narration, since he seems rarely to think about other people at all, especially outside of the ways they affect him.

And you're right---I definitely feel less urgency to read Summerdown than I did to read The Virtu after I finished M�lusine. But I hope Summerdown is released early in 2008....

smills47

smills47 wrote on August 4, 2007 at 4:59 PM:

Hello, I haven't commented at your site before, but have enjoyed reading your reviews.

I've just finished a first read-through of The Mirador--checked out from my public library(!!). Was just curious about the small matters from the beginning that you mention, and that I missed: the one thing that I did notice was (spoiler) gur ybhq pbng gung jnf n tyrrshy wbxr ng gur ortvaavat naq n fnq eryvp ng gur raq.

What blew me away were the ways in which the climax (spoiler) obgu rpubrq naq jnf gur bccbfvgr bs gur pyvznk bs Gur Ivegh.

I confess I love Gideon; I think maybe one reason he's so difficult to get a handle on is that most of his life is interior, i.e. the life of the mind, and we don't really get to see that.

Kate

Kate wrote on August 5, 2007 at 8:58 PM:

Poodlerat: about Gideon: I recognized the POV issue, and I don't say that the book should have done something differently; it just had a sub-optimal result when it came to my reaction.

smills47: welcome.

As for the small things, yes, that, and also (ROT13) sryvk syvegvat, naq zvyqznl naq zruvgnory gnyxvat nobhg ure bgure ybiref.

I don't suppose you'd care to expand, about the climax? I think I can see something like what you'd mean, but I'm not sure.

If it would be too long to ROT13, feel free to drop a link to a post elsewhere.

smallsizenun

smallsizenun wrote on August 7, 2007 at 7:50 PM:

Thanks! (the other small things).

Re the climax and other stuff, I posted a comment at the_mirador:

http://community.livejournal.com/the_mirador/16598.html?view=144342#t144342

Kate

Kate wrote on August 8, 2007 at 10:43 PM:

Thanks for the link--that was really helpful. *off to comment there*