[ SECRET POST #4152 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4152 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.
[Mercedes Lackey]


__________________________________________________



03.
[Inspector Javert]


__________________________________________________



04.
[DJ Khaled and his wife Nicole Tuck]


__________________________________________________



05.
[Scarlett Johansson at the Met Gala]


__________________________________________________



06.
[John Mulaney]


__________________________________________________



07.
[Disney's Sword in the Stone]








Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 13 secrets from Secret Submission Post #594.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

02. https://i.imgur.com/GhCzxZS.jpg
[Mercedes Lackey]

[(Anonymous)]

I kind of like the Elemental Masters series. It's hit or miss, particularly in later books, but the concept is clever.

Even better... it's not about fucking Mags. I am SO sick of that character, and she just keeps milking him.

[initiala]

I'm working through the Valdemar books for the first time (trying to in chronological order, hoo boy is that hard to track down... and I started with Talia)

My biggest gripe so far is that it took me halfway through Elspeth's first book to get to an "ooooooooo, ok now this is interesting" point where I'm hooked. It's been a few months but I feel like Talia's was that way too. Once we get through the worldbuilding, we get to the plot. Both are great! I like the worldbuilding! I like the plot! But let's... mix them? A little more?

Eh, these ones were written like 20 years ago.

[(Anonymous)]

The Last Herald Mage trilogy is my favorite, but it'll rip your heart out. :( I'm in the middle of reading the Talia books now and you're right... Lackey starts off heavy with world building and leaves plot till later. Her novels tend to climax really abruptly, too.

[(Anonymous)]

I never got into her non-Valdemar novels either, but then I gave up when her novels spent more time preaching than exploring the plot.

[(Anonymous)]

The woman is almost 70 and the 500 Kingdoms were written for an imprint of Harlequin. So, to me, they're pretty hit and miss. I think as she's gotten deeper into her other series she's gotten really repetitive. Elemental Masters is "retelling" fairy tales in Edwardian/Victorian/The First Great War settings. And she got really, really stuck into the vaudeville show aspect of them for a while. Then she tried some Germanic aspects and these "Hunters" and that didn't work at all. Then 500 Kingdoms is supposed to be subverting/fracturing fairy tales and that is really hit or miss. (The Fairy Godmother, One Good Knight, Beauty Asleep and Beauty & The Werewolf were moderately successful. The others, not as much IMO.) And she keeps reusing the same fairy tales across the 2 series. But she's not really doing anything that different with them?

I have a fondness for stuff outside of Valdemaar if only because I wrote a "Fractured" fairy tale book myself as I was tired of her magic slinger protags and I wanted a sword swinger more like Gina. (The Dawn Warrior if any one is interested, it's on Amazon.)

Apparently, I have opinions.

[alwaysbeenasmiler]

I liked the Elemental Master's series as well-- but the romance novels-- are just that, romance novels inspired by fairy tales-- and while they are a diverting read; it's hard for them to reach epic status that the Valdemar novels have done.

[(Anonymous)]

Really? I'm the opposite, I love her other works, but I just can't get into the Valdemar books. I liked The Black Gryphon well enough, but it felt kinda stiff to me, and the White Gryphon bored me. To each their own?

[(Anonymous)]

I prefer the books that deal with the Heralds. Didn't care for the gryphon ones either.

[(Anonymous)]

I actually prefer things she wrote with other people. It seemed the other authors reined her in a bit and she didn't go so...over the top.

Or maybe it's just the books she wrote with Andre Norton.

[(Anonymous)]

A) that art is really pretty. illustrator?
b) I have only read one of her books, the one in San Francisco with the Fire Elemental/sort Beauty & Beast thing with a Crowley sex magic disciple? Casual racism thrown in (I guess to highlight the mentality of the day?). Other than that last bit, I rather enjoyed it.

[(Anonymous)]

Can you elaborate on the casual racism? I think I've read that one but it's been years.

[(Anonymous)]

Nayrt, but I've read that one, and there's open mention of the racism against Chinese people that existed at the time, with a bit of time spent inside the head of one of the villainous characters who is grossly racist and unpleasant all around himself. I recall it being extremely obvious that you were supposed to see this as BAD, though.

[(Anonymous)]

That's what I recall, too. The anon who originally mentioned it made it sound like the author's casual racism, which is a completely different thing.

[(Anonymous)]

OP

oh, no I didn't mean the author was racist, I meant that the racism in the book pointed to the mentality of the time and place.