I made it, faculties mostly intact

[slowfox]

Yes, I managed to make to the end of Breaking Down, and have thus finished Stephanie Meyer's sparkly vampires fic^* quartet. As a general rule of thumb, I'd venture to suggest that when viewing the series as a whole, it starts poorly, gets progressively worse, and the less said about the ending, the better.

To cleanse the palette, I then read A Dog Called Grk by Joshua Doder; P borrowed it from the library the other week and absolutely loved it. He therefore insisted on extending the loan specifically so that I could read it. The titular hound, Grk, belongs to the children of the Stanislavian Ambassador to Great Britain. The Ambassador and his family are abducted by the military during a coup, leaving Grk in Blighty.

Grk befriends Tim, our 12-year-old protagonist, who takes it upon himself to ensure that Grk is reunited with his proper owners. Even when said owners are in prison, 1,000 miles away.

It's a fun read, with a strange blend of politics for a kiddies' book, and I think it probably hits its target demographic (10 - 13 year olds) spot on.




* allusion to sugar-high fanfiction.net crack!fic wholly intentional

Comments

[ms_katonic]

Twilight being rubbish - not really news, but you get full points for reading all of it. *applauds*

[ex_simon644]

I told you so!

[slowfox]

I had to read it in sections, bracing myself... and just when you think it couldn't possibly get any worse, Meyer pulls out all the stops and plumbs entirely new depths.

I am so tempted to do some kind of spoof on Twiglet - specifically an al-fresco Edward/Bella sex scene, in the sunlight, where Bella's mind is wondering, like that conundrum about the light in the fridge when the door's closed, if Edward's still sparkly where the sun's not striking him... if you follow... :-P

[slowfox]

I do feel that that was no small accomplishment on Meyer's part - sustaining momentum in any direction is a pretty impressive feat...

[ex_simon644]

Especially as she managed to sustain momentum downwards from such a low starting point. You do not realise how much worse it could get until she manages to demonstrate it.

[slowfox]

I rather feel that Bella Swann gives Mary Sues a bad name...