I’m a reader of eclectic taste. I read fantasy, mystery,
historical fiction, classics, occasionally sci-fi… you get the picture. Today,
I want to examine four wildly different books that I loved and see what made me
like them so much.
The books are:
Mistborn by
Brandon Sanderson – Epic fantasy/heist – A group of mismatched thieves plot to
steal the Dark Lord’s gold. (Another pitch I’ve heard for this one is “What if
the hero of prophesy failed?” but it doesn’t really cover the plot of the
book.)
Five Flavors of Dumb
by Antony John – Contemporary YA – A deaf girl becomes the manager of a local
rock band.
Shades of Milk and
Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal – Historical fantasy – Essentially a Jane
Austen-esque story with magic.
Anything by Terry Pratchett, with emphasis on Going Postal and Monstrous Regiment (yes, that’s more than one book, but whatever) –
Fantasy/comedy/thoughts on human nature – Going
Postal: A con man is offered the chance to mend his ways by reviving the
failed post office of Anhk Mor Pork. Monstrous
Regiment: A girl cuts off her hair and joins the military, where she and
her regiment have many adventures. (That sounds like a pretty bland pitch, but
the book is so good.)
Things I liked about Mistborn:
-
The characters and character development.
Sanderson’s characters felt very real and relatable.
-
The magic systems.
-
The plotting/plot twists.
Things I liked about Five
Flavors of Dumb:
-
The characters. Flawed, but real and likable.
-
The premise. A deaf girl becomes manager of a
rock band? I couldn’t just let this sit on the shelf. I had to know what
happened.
-
The lack of anything too inappropriate. One
character clearly wanted to be inappropriate with another, and there was one
case of strong swearing, but beyond that, it wasn’t bad. I’m very wary of
contemporary YA because I’m afraid that every time I get to a kissing scene I’m
going to have to skip over a couple pages. (Although Steampunk paranormal
murder mysteries are proving to be a problem too…)
Things I liked about Shades
of Milk and Honey:
-
The magic system and how Kowal incorporated it
into the everyday lives of the characters and society.
-
The story. It was like reading a Jane Austen
story, sans weird grammar and punctuation, but with magic. I don’t fancy myself
a romance reader, but for some reason Austen and Austen-esque stories pull me
in. My guess is because I like the characters.
-
Flawed but likeable characters.
Things I like about
Terry Pratchett’s books:
-
The humor. All the books I listed above have
spots of hilarity, but Pratchett blows them out of the water. Clever humor,
silly puns… he does it all.
-
The characters. Who can forget people like Moist
Von Lipwig, Lord Vetinari, and Sam Vimes? Or the recurring side characters like
Sargent Angua, C.M.O.T Dibbler, and Death? Each one is unique his his/her own
way, and so very fun to read about.
-
The setting. Most of the Discworld novels take
place in the city of Anhk Mor Pork, which could count as a character all on its
own. It’s rich with different people and customs and quirks (which he uses to
discuss human/troll/vampire/werewolf/etc. nature).
-
The thoughts on human nature/examination of the
world and how it works. In the space of a paragraph you can go from talking
about something ridiculous to something deep and profound. It’s wonderful. And
it isn’t jarring. Everything weaves in together.
-
In the case of Going Postal, the premise. The idea of a criminal being put in
charge of the post office is too good to pass up.
Okay, now that I have that list, let’s compare.
The first thing I notice is that I like well-developed,
real-sounding characters. This does not come as a surprise. People with hopes
and dreams, flaws and conflict are much more fun to read about than goal-less,
personality-less, perfect people doing nothing (or doing something boring/cliché.)
I also like humor. Again, not surprising. Though I didn’t
list it for every book, humor had its place in all of them. Another example of
my liking humor is in the character of Marcus from Dan Wells’ Partials. According to Wells, no one
liked Marcus when the book came out, and everyone liked the character Samm. I
always liked Marcus more than Samm because Marcus is funny (and he’s a nice
guy.)
Each of these books has a “Gee-whiz factor” in them.
(Something about the premise/plot that grabs you by the collar and says “Hey!
Read me!”) For Going Postal it was
the idea that a criminal gets put in charge of the post office; for Five Flavors of Dumb it was the idea
that a deaf girl becomes the manager of a rock band; for Mistborn it was that second elevator pitch about the hero of
prophesy failing; for Shades of Milk and
Honey it was the idea of Jane Austen with magic. To add a less extreme
example, the “gee-wiz factor” of Gone
Away Lake is the idea of two kids exploring and hearing stories about the
old town that a swamp has now taken over. It’s not as “gee-whizzy” as the
others, but it doesn’t need to be.
Something else I didn’t mention for each book but applies to
all is that they were well written. I like well written books with plots that keep
me hooked.
I also like cool magic systems and worldbuilding.
I think this all boils down to the advice/observations you
hear all the time: People like well written, occasionally funny books about
real-sounding people and interesting, creative premises.
Now I can use the information I gathered to improve my own
writing. I don’t know how I’ll use it, but it’ll be there when I figure it out.
What are some recurring things you see in the books you like?
