Lunchtime reading

[ksmith]

"Kings and corporations scribbled IOUs on the backs of napkins and promised to sort everything out once the heat was off."

Back to reading BLINDSIGHT by Peter Watts--it's lunch break, ok?--and enjoying the hell out of it. Tracking the POV changes, or the changes that turn out not to be, is proving a bit of a challenge, but I still like it a lot and frankly, I usually don't go in for harder SF.

Funny how you can come to care for characters. Putting someone in a vulnerable position doesn't always do it--I've read crying and wailing and death in the wings and set the book aside after a few chapters. Niceness is not, Not, NOT a prerequisite. Don't need to want to have a beer with them. Need to want to *read* about them. Two completely different things.

Maybe it's the internal tension, and the hint of frustration. Resignation. Anger. It's inexplicable as any other sort of attraction, when you come right down to it, and why shouldn't it be.

Must go read now...

Comments

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Watts' work is so dark, but I still find it immensely appealing. His characters are twisted in really intriguing ways, and he's such a plausibility freak. The work he does on selling the vampire in BLINDSIGHT is mind-bending.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

His descriptions are so spare, but he gives you just enough.

Like I said, it could fall apart at the end, but so far, I'm liking it.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of it when you're finished.