>> it's kind of like her characters are just there. They don't really seem to connect to each other or to me.<<
Oh, THIS.
Yeah, after I posted this, I went in my sleep-deprived haze to deal with a sinkful of dishes, and I was thinking about A Memory Called Empire, which was the last book I blogged, and Cyteen, which I'm re-reading as part of a read-along. And wow, some contrasts there!
In Memory, Three Seagrass and Twelve Azalea are a woman and a man who are just friends; Three Seagrass doesn't go for guys. In Night, Haimey and Connla are in the same kind of relationship, on paper. But in Memory, you can feel the history! They call each other by old nicknames (Reed and Petal), make references to old incidents and things they know about each other: "You would never think that anyway, Petal." In Night, Haimey and Connla are friends. They like each other. And that's about it! It's a static snapshot, not a living history.
And then there's Justin's trauma in Cyteen, and Grant trying to help him with it even though he is in a subservient position, as an azi. And there's Haimey's trauma, and Singer trying to help her with it even though he's in a subservient position as an AI. And again, in Night, it's a flat little card of notes, and in Cyteen it's a living, breathing, aching symbiosis.
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Oh, THIS.
Yeah, after I posted this, I went in my sleep-deprived haze to deal with a sinkful of dishes, and I was thinking about A Memory Called Empire, which was the last book I blogged, and Cyteen, which I'm re-reading as part of a read-along. And wow, some contrasts there!
In Memory, Three Seagrass and Twelve Azalea are a woman and a man who are just friends; Three Seagrass doesn't go for guys. In Night, Haimey and Connla are in the same kind of relationship, on paper. But in Memory, you can feel the history! They call each other by old nicknames (Reed and Petal), make references to old incidents and things they know about each other: "You would never think that anyway, Petal." In Night, Haimey and Connla are friends. They like each other. And that's about it! It's a static snapshot, not a living history.
And then there's Justin's trauma in Cyteen, and Grant trying to help him with it even though he is in a subservient position, as an azi. And there's Haimey's trauma, and Singer trying to help her with it even though he's in a subservient position as an AI. And again, in Night, it's a flat little card of notes, and in Cyteen it's a living, breathing, aching symbiosis.