The Stolen Child

The last time I read a "Newsweek" recommended book, I was sorely disappointed.  The Historian was long, boring and repetitive.  But I'm a glutton for punishment, so I requested The Stolen Child, by Keith Donahue, at the library.

The premise is simple.  Told in alternating viewpoints, it follows a hobgoblin masquerading as a human child, and the human child-turned-changeling as each adapts to his new life.  Compared to (and blurbed by the author of) The Time Traveler's Wife, The Stolen Child is the same sort of accessible SF/F, meaning there is no expansive world building and the story is grounded in the familiar.  Frankly, this is why I prefer contemporary fantasy nowadays.  [Most] Writers of S&S fantasy get so wound up in building their worlds, they forget that the characters themselves find their fantastical world very hum-drum.  Result: unrealistic characterization.

Anyway, the verdict--I liked this book.  Unlike the aforementioned The Time Traveler's Wife, the book wasn't several hundred pages too long.  I liked Time Traveler, but chunks of that book were unnecessary.  At 319 pages, The Stolen Child is downright breezy in the realms of buzz-worthy books.

I read it in a couple of days, a first for quite some time.  Lately nothing interests me and I've bailed on every one of the last five books I tried to read.  It's not perfect, but somehow, still engrossing.

Planned on doing loads of writing on Saturday afternoon.  Then Gheri got stung by a big, black ant.  Besides comforting her all afternoon (she cries, non-stop), I had to declare jihad on all ants.  Slaughter isn't good for creativity.

Wrote about 700 words...phooey.  Still at work on various art projects, coloring mostly.

Tuesday, meh.

Garden pics at the blog.