Thief of Songs, by M.C.A. Hogarth

[rowyn]

Thief of Songs is set in a fantasy world, where humans have four sexes: male, female, hermaphrodite, and neuter. The latter two are created due to the effects of magic in the setting. The story feels like a poly triad romance to me, with one member of the triad being asexual romantic. The emphasis is on the sexual-and-romantic relationship between the male and hermaphrodite members of the triad, though.

One thing that I like in a romance novel is a lot of romance: while I want some obstacles for the characters to overcome on their way to happily-ever-after, I also want to spend some time watching the protagonists actually being happy together and in love.

In this respect, Thief truly delivers. There's plenty of intense emotion and lots of tender, touching scenes. If anything, the story is too light on conflict. The book has a large cast of different people, and while they all have distinct personalities, almost all of them get along amiably and civilly. Even when characters representing conflicting sides air their grievances, in most cases they quickly come to accord. It is, on the one hand, delightful to hang out with this assortment of reasonable, well-behaved individuals. On the other, it feels too facile, and the pacing in the second half felt slow due to a lack of urgency.

There were a few other things that niggled at me about the book, but overall I had a splendid time with it. The protagonists are charming. Both of them are composers, and there're some splendid lyrical declarations of feeling that would feel over-the-top in most characters but that fit right. The setting is well-described, with enough detail to convey a good mental image and not so much as to overwhelm. Likewise, I enjoyed the descriptions of the composers at work, which included enough musical details for verisimilitude but not so many as to feel like jargon, accompanied by judicious use of metaphor to convey a sense of the composition. Overall, I'll rate it an 8*, and look forward to reading more in the series.

* A long time ago, someone noted that my actual range of ratings has been 5-9 even though the theoretical range is 1-10, and suggested that therefore my 5 = 1 star and a 9 = 5 stars. But I actually rated this book as 5 stars on Amazon, mostly because Amazon's ratings suffer from the kind of grade inflation that makes 4 stars translate to "meh, it's okay" instead of "this was good!" So I figured I'd try to stick to their implied norms.

Comments

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Yay, you liked it! :D

[rowyn]

I did! I predict you will have many other happy readers, too. :)

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I hope so! I wrote the sort of book I would enjoy reading even though I wasn't sure if it would come across as too conflict-light, and the last time I did that it became my current bestseller (Mindtouch). :)

I have more books planned in this series!

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

When I was a kid (9, 10, 11?) my older brother pointed out that in all stories (books, tv, whatever) there is a conflict, an obstacle to overcome. Well, yes, this is obvious, but it wasn't to kids like us - I think my brother figured this out on his own before learning it in language arts.

Anyway, upon hearing my brother declare that, and defend it, I immediately determined that one day I would write a conflict-free story.

I haven't written it yet.

I think even if/when I should, TPTB will declare it a prose poem or something.

But I had this idea of writing a series of really happy stories where only nice things happen.

Y'know, current pop culture is so dark and dystopian and violent and hyper-sexualized I think maybe there's an audience for something more Norman-Rockwellish (wo the 1940's-50's white middle-class patriarchal heterosexual limits).

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it's telling that my bestselling series is low conflict, feel-good, 'milk and cookies and best friends forever' fiction... and that overwhelmingly, people leave reviews giving it five stars while confessing their perplexity because 'nothing happens'.

They're wrong: lots of things happen. But we've gotten so desensitized by the drama/violence levels in most of our entertainment that our brutalized senses don't necessarily register anything less extreme.

But that we need such stories I see every day on my sales dashboard in the morning. Day after day, that series outsells everything else.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

lots of things happen

Like in our lives. That most ppl wouldn't think worth writing about. But if you write about even ordinary events in an engaging way, ppl will enjoy reading it.

Now I will prolly have to check out this series just to see if I can figure out the lots of things that happen in them are :-)

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Here's a link, you can read a sample see if it's up your alley. :)

And you're right. One of my favorite series is the Anne of Green Gables series, and that's just a long stretch of pastoral moments, interrupted by gorgeous descriptions of landscapes. I loved those books. They taught me that to dwell on the "mundane" is not the sin that lots of geeks seem to think it is, and this is a useful lesson for someone who grew up soaked in geek culture. :)

[rowyn]

IIRC, Alltoseek read the Anne of Green Gables books too. For some reason, I never did. I don't know why; usually I devoured anything that was paper and in the house.

[archangelbeth]

(I remember SJ commenting that he was reading Queen of Roses -- years ago, this was -- and even though the most that had "happened" was a security 'bot being pushed over, he was still liking it...

The "action-adventure" genre has kind of schlooped into everything, hasn't it...)

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Wow, QoR had a serious adventure plot! How did he miss it? o_O

[archangelbeth]

Well, he was early-ish in the book at the time... On the other hand, the protagonist is essentially Sessile and works through remotes, so it's kind of hard to have a heart-pounding, car-chase-style "adventure" plot, y'know? ^_^

[rowyn]

There's a Japanese narrative style that doesn't involve conflict. I don't have a good understanding of how it works, but it seems to be more like "things happen in two different parts, and then for the climax the two parts are brought together and compliment each other in a way that makes more sense of both."

I am sure I am mangling that horribly. But I think it is actually possible to write a conflict-free story that maintains interest, even for a Western audience. Even if I don't know how to do it myself. @_@