...is Satan's favourite Christmas drink...

Ok, here's the deal. What DIDN'T you like about SR or thought hmmm?

For example:

Is the Croquet/Superhoop a Quidditch pastiche?
Does J pack too much/little in?
When they goe to the Cloning Labs is it a bit like Wolverine going to his base in X-men2? See also X-files "black oil", Elieen 4 etc..
Was there enough toast?
Not enough trousers?



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The Xanadu revival starts HERE

I liked it, but I did feel the formula's becoming more apparent now. I also felt some of the threads were dealt with in a fairly peremptory manner.

I'm not sure - the books have always been pretty tightly plotted, so the artificialness of parts doesn't worry me. I'm looking forward to something different though, I got the impression that Mr Ff has felt a bit tied into finishing it to really, really enjoy the writing of it.

I could be totally wrong though.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Well, since you didn't ask; if it is to be Satan's favourite drink, then it should be 'Advocaat'. Strictly speaking and all that. And what if it is 'a bit like'...etc., or 'that reminds of that bit in'...If we are still in the 8-plot format, [See WOLP.] then this WILL happen. I'm still enjoying the ride; that's all that bothers me. Selfish, or what? What?

I wasn't awfully thrilled by the croquet game, but them, whenever I come to a description of a tennis match or a hockey game in my Chalet School books, I tend to skip it too. I do like croquet, mostly because it affords magnificent opportunities to cheat, and settle petty family grievances.

And it did seem like a mad scramble to tie up as many loose ends as possible, but I suppose people will ask for loose ends to be tied.

I enjoyed the first three more, and I expect if Jasper gets to write more stand alone books in the future then I'll enjoy those immensely too.

Hmm, WoLP was the book that I struggled to read twice, doing the guide for this one was immensely more pleasurable.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Does anyne remember the Scottish football manager, 'Dick Advocaat'. I always thought it was some sort of Dutch version of a popular jocular term for smegma...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

No, it's not and Advocaat is something your Granny would drink. The Devil's drink is Absinthe:-)

Well I am so glad that I've had the correct spelling of Advocaat pointed out to me. I didn't expect this thread to snowball.

I'm now off to have a pint of LARGUR



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The Xanadu revival starts HERE

Har, har!

That's funny; I'm going to a Cthulhu cultist's party, so I'm off to have a pint of LLOIGOR.



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"Whisky-wa-wa," I breathed - she was dressed as Biffo the Bear.

I found the book to be on par with the rest of the series. There were a few points at which I thought "Now this has got to be the climax of the story, it'll wind down from here," then it didn't. It was a bit of a struggle to understand some things, for instance; Alan. I didn't remember Alan. Or Friday, for that matter. I was surprised by the news that this book existed and immediately went to my local library, found the book on order and placed a hold on it. However, I hadn't read TN3 in so long that I'd forgotten some important points, eg, offspring. The one thing Fforde doesn't do well is reiterate basic character facts from previous stories, which is one of the very few reasons I put him behind Terry Pratchett on my all-time best fiction writers list.
He addressed this in the special features, of course, mentioning how he wanted to get away from how interconnected the books are; I think this is a great idea. When one has to wait a year or two between books and one doesn't re-read them, one is likely to forget things like that. :)
For those of you who said "I enjoyed x more," where x is any of the others or all of the others, I'd like to point out that when TN3 came out, there was a similar thread (or threads) where people mainly said "Yeah, it was pretty good, but I enjoyed x more because...." I think that every time Fforde comes out with another TN book there will be a similar reaction, unless they really do become more like Pratchett's books; very easily read completely out of order after you read the first one.

Yeah, it wasn't the best. I think the POA has been the best yet in the series. It had a suprising ending because of how Harry finds out more about his parents. But in the OotP we get more of Prof. Lockheart, and I think he's the best secondary character so far. Apparently he's the only one the author based on an actual person!

To give Pratchett full credit, you can start anywhere and still go. I've read about 15 Pratchetts and I read Color of Magic 11th.

LLoigor ia ALMOST an anagram of Gorilla, a point that the author would probably wish we hadn't noticed.
I've just read 'Going Postal' for the 4th time.

And now, I'm half way through 'The Eyre Affair' for the 6th time.
I'm rather tempted, [but only a little bit] to write a concordance of names, with a short biographical note, so we can find them more easily.

Only 6? Boffin, that's disappointing! You should easily be in the double digits by now. Just kidding, I'll make allowances for you since you did offer to do the name concordance

And another thing.
How can croquet be a quidditch pasty, erm, oh sorry, pastiche, when croquet pre-dates Quidditch by lots of years; Chrono me no guards; slip me no times.
Be honest; come clean; spill the beans, and let that poor little cat out of that bag, at once!

I'm half way through 'The Eyre Affair' for the 6th time.

Coming clean.........

I don't actually own a copy of TEA. *hides*

I have bought copies for several friends, but whenever *I* want to read it I check it out from the library. So I'm not at 6 yet, but I think it's about time to read it again.

I'll help you make the concordance! I love lists. Perhaps that would force me to buy my own copy for reference purposes.

About SR, I enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps I'll notice more flaws if I read it again, but on first read I tend to absorb myself in the story too much to be analytical. No I don't think the croquet is a quidditch take-off. Although I was a bit surprised at Thursday's winning the game. It was almost too straightforwardly dramatic for the TN series. I kept expecting some random twist instead. However I have no complaints and I was so happy about Landon coming back that I had to go back and reread that part.

What is this thread about again; it's getting dreadfully hard to follow.....
Best Regards,
~Antonio Salieri~
PS. Once again just getting my 1.7426905435788 cents in...