It's still funny whenever anyone decides to haul out a One Of Ollies Archnemeses, though.
God, yes. Whatever else I may think of Meltzer's stories, I think he nailed it with the line about Ollie's best enemy being himself; I don't know if that's the reason he's never really assembled any kind of compelling rogue's gallery, but it's certainly a convincing rationale. More from the external POV than the internal, although there's a decent argument to be made that Ollie just doesn't have the focus to make a proper vendetta with. And certainly Dixon's attempt to manufacture an important bad guy in Kotero was a failure. (And how does Connor know what he looked like in Hate Crimes, anyway? I could actually see that being one of the stories Ollie told him--although at times I wonder just why Ollie, who was making a concerted effort to lose himself, was so into telling Connor all about his old times--but surely there were no visual aids involved?)
Although man, she's NOT good at writing romance that doesn't come across as creaptastic. Even when there's not quasi-incest involved.
Let's see, what was in that one--Star of Danger, no romance that I remember, Winds of Darkover, with the mind-control and the incest and yeah, check (although for all that I think Winds is one of the lesser entries in the canon, I'm really rather fond of both those couples), and The Bloody Sun, which...hmmm. Now, I adore TBS, I cherish Jeff, and I'm pretty damned fond of Elorie, too. (Although my real darling in that novel is Auster. Why yes, arrogant jerks do push my buttons. Not news, I'm sure. ;) But...okay, I can see your point. I don't, actually, have issues, because I think the unchallenged-authority and fragile-child parts of Elorie's personality manage to strike a balance where it isn't in fact creepy for her to be taking up with Jeff. I think she would have adjusted badly to the Terran Empire, but then I'm not sure Jeff would have handled his reentry much better; the "world sacrificed for love" aspect applies to both of them. But still. Yes.
Good world-building, though.
It's kind of patchy in places--I don't think we ever wound up with a good explanation for why such a profoundly sexist culture started only using women as Keepers, for example. But it's very...vivid, I think is the word I'm looking for.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2005-08-23 05:38 pm (UTC)God, yes. Whatever else I may think of Meltzer's stories, I think he nailed it with the line about Ollie's best enemy being himself; I don't know if that's the reason he's never really assembled any kind of compelling rogue's gallery, but it's certainly a convincing rationale. More from the external POV than the internal, although there's a decent argument to be made that Ollie just doesn't have the focus to make a proper vendetta with. And certainly Dixon's attempt to manufacture an important bad guy in Kotero was a failure. (And how does Connor know what he looked like in Hate Crimes, anyway? I could actually see that being one of the stories Ollie told him--although at times I wonder just why Ollie, who was making a concerted effort to lose himself, was so into telling Connor all about his old times--but surely there were no visual aids involved?)
Although man, she's NOT good at writing romance that doesn't come across as creaptastic. Even when there's not quasi-incest involved.
Let's see, what was in that one--Star of Danger, no romance that I remember, Winds of Darkover, with the mind-control and the incest and yeah, check (although for all that I think Winds is one of the lesser entries in the canon, I'm really rather fond of both those couples), and The Bloody Sun, which...hmmm. Now, I adore TBS, I cherish Jeff, and I'm pretty damned fond of Elorie, too. (Although my real darling in that novel is Auster. Why yes, arrogant jerks do push my buttons. Not news, I'm sure. ;) But...okay, I can see your point. I don't, actually, have issues, because I think the unchallenged-authority and fragile-child parts of Elorie's personality manage to strike a balance where it isn't in fact creepy for her to be taking up with Jeff. I think she would have adjusted badly to the Terran Empire, but then I'm not sure Jeff would have handled his reentry much better; the "world sacrificed for love" aspect applies to both of them. But still. Yes.
Good world-building, though.
It's kind of patchy in places--I don't think we ever wound up with a good explanation for why such a profoundly sexist culture started only using women as Keepers, for example. But it's very...vivid, I think is the word I'm looking for.