Comments for Active Voice

Comment on Wired by Brittanny

Brittanny — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:32:17 +0000

I just finished the last book and I enjoyed the book but hate the ending. I agree it should have been more. She should just write a 4th one. There are so many unanswered questions plus the ending needed more. Where is the final resolve for all the characters? You build Lia up and then blah.

Ugh another ending i’ll never get back.

Comment on Four Mini-Reviews to Start 2013 by Review: Team Human | The Literary Omnivore

Review: Team Human | The Literary Omnivore — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:01:25 +0000

[...] Human when it came out last year on Tor.com and on io9, but it wasn’t until I saw it reviewed by Becky over at Active Voice. At first blush, it had seemed a little too on-the-nose parody of Twilight, and the cover… well, [...]

Comment on Active Voice Discussion #1: Most Despised Tropes by tawg

tawg — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 02:10:14 +0000

Do you dislike child abuse in all YA books, or just the ones where the abuse describe jars given the rest of the tone? I’ve read a few YA books that really focus on the abuse and the experiences, and while they certainly left me in need of a long hug, they did have a lot of worth as a text. But I completely agree that a scene of abuse can really shake me more than I think was intended because it seems so out of place with the rest of the tone.

A trope that I HATE is a female character being set up as strong and independent, so of course her male love interest needs to “put her in her place” and also assault her by touching her in ways that she objects to, and then of course THEY FALL IN LOVE. I know this is the characterisation arc of nearly every romance novel ever, and I am so sick of it. Ugh.

Comment on The Diviners by carolyn

carolyn — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 16:00:51 +0000

Love this book so much! I enjoyed all the 20s slang and atmosphere, even though it’s not a period I usually give a damn about. I thought Bray did an amazing job bringing the era and the characters to life.

Two comments: first, do we think Evie is an alcoholic? Because she kind of really seemed that way at times. And second, re: the relationship that develops at the end – I thought it was pretty clear that it wasn’t going to last. It was very adolescent, at least on Evie’s side – like, we’re here, we’re hot, we may as well use each other. So I’m not too worried about how convincing it is, because I don’t think it matters.

Comment on The Diviners by The Literary Omnivore

The Literary Omnivore — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:34:42 +0000

I’ve not read the book, so I can offer nothing, but I do want to point out that author Genevieve Valentine’s next book is a retelling of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” set in the 1920s, so it’s on your roaring ’20s-loving radar.

Comment on Active Voice Discussion #1: Most Despised Tropes by Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:01:36 +0000

@Jenny: Oh, that makes me crazy too! Teachers and child psychologists get this treatment a lot, too. I stopped reading this book because the teacher was so unrealistically evil. Like, yes, there are bad ones, but the vast majority are not Severus Snape. @Literary Omnivore: I don't think I've ever read a girl-disguised-as-a-boy book (which will absolutely be on my Favorite Tropes list) from the point of view of the dude she likes. Ew. What is the point? P.S. I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO SAYS MARIAN IS BORING, SHE IS GREAT.

Comment on Active Voice Discussion #1: Most Despised Tropes by The Literary Omnivore

The Literary Omnivore — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:25:08 +0000

As a preteen girl, I hated it when I read historical novels whose teen male protagonists start getting wibbly over one of their friends, and then it's revealed that said friend was a girl in disguise all along! Then, I hated it because I had been promised boys making out. Now, I hate it because a.) I've been promised boys making out, b.) her story sounds much more interesting to me than his, and c.) you seriously couldn't write a single interesting female character who works within her historical context? I mean, I love and adore heroines who engage "in a little subterfuge", as Mrs. Bradley calls it, but it's really a symptom of a lot of femmephobia in YA lit these days (seriously, A. C. Gaughen defends her decision to make Will Scarlet a girl in Scarlet by saying that she just could never fathom Robin Hood falling in love with a character so passive as Marian—and, apparently, the only way to be not passive is to be an emotionally unavailable person who gets in fights all the time, THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION) and authors feeling unsure that people will identify or sympathize characters who aren't like them. I also hate romance narratives where the woman clearly says "No", but the man and the narrator sort of wink at the audience that "Oh, it's only a matter of time!". The fifth issue of Fables ends that way and it makes me want to rage. I have more, but I think that's enough for now.

Comment on Active Voice Discussion #1: Most Despised Tropes by Jenny

Jenny — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:19:02 +0000

Oo. Your website shows up my comment as I’m writing it. That is sort of scary and unnerving if you don’t realize what’s happening. I had three go-rounds of thinking I’d hit Enter prematurely and trying to figure out how to edit/delete my comment.

Anyway, your thing about child abuse reminded me: it is my absolute peeviest pet peeve when all the child protection workers in all of fiction (including movies and like all television shows ever) are malicious and evil and will take your child away for NO REASON. I seriously do not understand why a group of people whose job it is to stop child abuse are so consistently vilified. I read a book recently (but then I got cross and stopped) where the child protection worked threatened the plucky protagonist that she would MAKE a reason to take her away if the kid didn’t stop, like, I don’t know, being plucky in some way (I can’t remember because the whole thing was SO DUMB).

Comment on Four Mini-Reviews to Start 2013 by The Literary Omnivore

The Literary Omnivore — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 13:18:09 +0000

I had to skip the review of Bitterblue, because I haven't read it yet and I have very high hopes for it and, in fact, I'm requesting it from the library right now. And Team Human looks delightful, and confirmation that it mocks Twilight without mocking young women is a relief. Onto the list it goes!

Comment on Bookathon: Graceling by Active Voice » Four Mini-Reviews to Start 2013

Active Voice » Four Mini-Reviews to Start 2013 — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 18:53:37 +0000

[...] this was my favorite of Cashore’s trilogy (though I probably ought to reread Graceling under less frantic circumstances), though it still had its ups and downs for me. While I felt like Bitterblue was better in terms of [...]