fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5282 ]

[ SECRET POST #5282 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5282 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 22 secrets from Secret Submission Post #755.
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.

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05. https://i.imgur.com/L6i0dxp.png

"Fanfiction for a show that doesn't exist" is pretty scathing honestly.

Hey, I love fanfiction. Part of the appeal is we already know the world/characters so we can get right to the story. But if we don't learn about the the world/characters than we can't really have a story, you know? It's like reading a wikipedia article. Gee thanks I guess. That's not very satisfying!

"Fanfiction for a show that doesn't exist" is pretty scathing honestly.

It's certainly scathing, but I don't think it applies to Gideon the Ninth. Muir spends a lot of page time on the worldbuilding and on establishing/developing the characters.

What I think OP and some of the other commenters are actually objecting to, is that Gideon is the viewpoint character and she 1) has grown up on a backwater planet and is uninformed about off-planet politics, 2) is in the dark about a number of important things that have happened on her own planet, often because they occurred when she was quite young and nobody talks about them, and 3) isn't a particularly reflective character--she's much more of a doer than a thinker. All of those are strong character choices, but they also mean that the reader doesn't get very many helpful info dumps, and instead has to puzzle out the underlying historical and sociopolitical contexts along with Gideon.

Interesting.

The worst part were the weird meme references. Even if I was enjoying a scene, nearly quoting a meme would jerk me out of the book and leave me totally cold.

Oh no, that sounds awful. :(

NAYRT

It's not for everybody, but I actually enjoyed the writing style a lot. I read a fair amount of 19th century literature, which often has a strong authorial voice, and Gideon the Ninth felt like a similar reading experience to me, only featuring a 21st century voice rather than a 19th century one.

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(Anonymous) - 2021-06-23 18:59 (UTC) - Expand

First, "reads like fanfiction" is neither an insult nor a compliment. It's a neutral descriptive statement. It's a matter of taste whether you want to read that or not.

Second, in my opinion, the first 50 pages or so of Gideon The Ninth is the weakest part of the book, and I can see how you'd say that if all you read is the opening section. So I get where you're coming from if that's all you've read. I don't think it's representative of the book as a whole, though.

I agree. I actually started the audio book this morning after reading the paperback last year. The beginning is certainly rough, rougher than I remember in terms of character, idk if it's largely the acting in the audiobook, but oof Harrow comes off as a cartoonish villain; but 50 pages is nothing as far as this book is concerned.
I know a lot of people quit early because it's confusing and nothing is explained, but pushing past that and on into the meat of things is so worth it imo.
I completely understand why people put it down, but I can't help but feel they're missing out.

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meadowphoenix - 2021-06-23 03:29 (UTC) - Expand

Huh, I thought the ending was the weakest part, while the beginning grabbed my attention and got me invested in Gideon almost immediately. (I never did warm to Harrow, I'm afraid.) Though I agree that the beginning isn't representative of the book as a whole--I definitely wasn't expecting the country house-style murder mystery plot later in the book!

More gay goths for me, then.

it's a pity bc this is on my bookshelf to read :(

I mean, you may not agree with OP? I really liked it. Many other people really liked it. (And I'm not "young readers today," I'm in my sixties.)

You should read it! I've read it and I think that the first little bit is a little rough, but once you get into the actual plot and the mystery starts unfolding then it's a very very fun read. You may end up loving it! Never know until you try

Different strokes. I love these books because of all the times they make me facepalm as well as when they make me laugh and cry.

Not every book is for everyone and that’s okay?

the author was a prolific homestuck fic writer, so it makes sense

oh yikes that makes this an automatic No for me for sure

thaaaaat explains a lot actually. I enjoyed the books! But that explains a lot.

Everything I've read about this series makes me recoil, so here's to yet another person (people) saying it's not worthwhile. Ta!

It took me like 150+ pages before I started to enjoy this book, but then I did actually think it was a lot of fun after that. But it's also super weird, and honestly a book shouldn't take that long to get good, so I can't really fault anyone for giving up.

Same. It was so try-hard.

I think it had its flaws (like, the author loves to use five words when one will do) but overall I think getting past the clunky opening into the meat and potatoes of the book is VERY worth it. Obviously different strokes for different folks, but I think it's a lovely book well worth the read

"Fanfiction for a show that doesn't exist" actually sounds intriguing as a concept. It makes me think of those fake anthropology books about alien cultures or tomes of languages that don't really exist. But I suppose that like those things, how interesting it really is would all be in the execution.

Zen Cho has described her novella The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water as being "like a fanfic of an imaginary wuxia series where everyone is queer". I wasn't blown away by the book myself (though some of my friends really loved it), but it's an interesting read, and despite that description it works perfectly well as a self-contained story.

Would you be able to specify more what you mean by that?

As for teh book itself - I had problems getting into it at first (but for me the weakest part is the section where they arrive at the house and we get to be introduced to too many characters at once, not the very beginning), but I had fun with it in the end. But I bounced hard off the sequel which decided to be too complicated for its own good.

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