Sunday 17 March 2013

Shalee lhaih 2013: Shiaghtin 11

Jerrey un shiaghtin jeig ny Shallee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

Farlander (Col Buchanan)

Va mee treishteil dy nee skeeal taitnyssagh fansee v'ayn, agh daag mee jeh dy leah. Shen er y fa dy vel Buchanan son screeu dy "dorraghey", shen dy ghra, lane drogh-reddyn nagh row mee son lhaih orroo. Dy shickyr, lught caggee olk jannoo tranlaase er cagh, ta mee ainjyssagh rish y lheid. Agh aght ennagh, cha ghow mee monney taitnys jeh'n skeeal hene v'ayn. Cha row eh er, er lhiam, soilshaghey dy cruinn as dy liauyr cre'n aght ren ad marroo pobblaght y balley. Ny cur wheesh geill da fer smooinaghtyn er goaill sleab er egin. Jus, va ram jeh'n lheid 'sy chied cabdil ny ghaa, as cha row aitt erbee, ny karracteyr feer anaasoil, ny coloayrtys feer schlei, as myr shen er lhiam dy nagh beagh cormid y skeeal ry-heet taitnyssagh dou. S'treih shen.

Bakuman y.l. 13 (Ōba Tsugumi, Obata Takeshi)

Ym-lioar aitt, sheeynt as lane anaase. T'ad boirey dy kinjagh er ny deanyn as saase t'ad er nyn reih, as shen creeney. T'ad ooilley tayrn cooyl voish y cheilley beggan er veggan, agh fy-yerrey ta reddyn dy mie reesht. As va aase Hiramaru (aase aigney as ambee) noi my yerkallys, as feer vie lhiam. Ta eddyr-obbraghey as cormid ny karracteyryn taitnyssagh foast. Yn un red nagh by vie lhiam, shen y skeeal noa ta çheet rish ec jerrey ny lioar - cha mie lhiam lheid y skeeal er chor erbee, as s'treisht lhiam nagh bee monney jeh ry-heet, agh cha nel shen bentyn rish mieys Bakuman hene.

Twisting the Rope (R. A. MacAvoy)

Skeeal quaagh dy liooar. Ta blass fansee er nish as reesht - t'eh jeeaghyn dy vel pooar neughooghyssagh ec Long (as eshyn ny veishteig ayns cummey deiney, rere ny lhaih mee er y roie-lioar), as ta fys ny ennaghtyn quaagh ec sleih ny keayrtyn (chammah's bree aigney y phaitçhey Jude). Ny yei shen, t'eh bentyn rish seihll ainjyssagh son y chooid smoo, ga dy vel mee shickyr my she y seihll ain t'ayn, ny lhieggan elley jeh raad ta stoo ny h-Eash Noa firrinagh as fys ec cagh er shen. By vie lhiam ny karracteyryn as yn aght screeuee, as ghow mee taitnys jeh'n 'olliaght whaagh v'ayn, agh shegin dou gra nagh row feaysley ny folliaght wheesh vie as va mee jerkal. Ta MacAvoy ceau brat feddyn magh harrish brat feddyn magh, as ta breag geiyrt er breag, as fy-yerrey cha nel monney fondagh faggit 'sy skeeal. T'eh jannoo skeeal Agatha Christie ass skeeal folliaght phisagagh, as er lhiam nagh nee caghlaa rea v'ayn. T'ad ooilley goaill rish gyn boirey dy vel fer jeu ny ghunver, as myr shen shegin dou er gredjal dy row pooar neughooghyssagh jannoo orroo, agh er y fa nagh row y chooish shen feer vaghtal, cha dod mee goaill rish shen dy aashagh.

Bakuman y.l. 14 (Ōba Tsugumi, Obata Takeshi)

Ny jeeagh orryms myr shen.

Ta'n ym-lioar shoh cruinnaghey dy slane er irree ellyneyr noa: shenn ard-jeeaneyder Muto Ashirogi (shen ard-yillyn y skeeal) ta son eiyrt orroo. T'eh caarjoil as oney dy liooar, dy baghtal, agh t'ad feddyn magh dy leah nagh vel eh lane 'irrinagh. Ta'n ellyneyr aeg croghey er possan eddyr-voggyl ta cur eieyn as coyrle da, as myr shen t'eh jannoo obbyr vie, agh er lesh Muto Ashirogi as adsyn elley ta feddyn magh, cha nel shen kiart er chor erbee. Ta caggey ellynagh as fallsoonagh lostey nyn mast'oc. Share lhiam, foddee, yn aght so-chredjue ta saaseyn as ymmyrkey Tohru jannoo assee da beggan er veggan, gyn y skeeal çheet dy vel moralagh dree.


The end of week eleven of the Reading Project. Here's what I've read this week:

Farlander (Col Buchanan)

I was hoping this would be an enjoyable fantasy story, but I ended up abandoning it after a couple of chapters. Apparently Buchanan wanted grimdark for his fantasy, which is to say it's full of grim depressingness I had no interest in reading. Okay, fine, an evil army that crushes everyone, I'm au fait with that sort of thing. But somehow, I couldn't get any pleasure out of the story itself. I didn't feel he needed to go on about the precise way they'd murdered the population of a town, or dwell on one of the oppressors as he contemplated raping a slave. I mean, the first couple of chapters were full of this stuff, while there was no humour at all, the characters weren't especially interesting (aging assassin, adoptee-to-be, feisty love interest, dead pet existing only to show character of owner), the conversation wasn't particularly scintillating. I just felt the balance of the story wouldn't be remotely in my favour. Shame.

Bakuman y.l. 13 (Ōba Tsugumi, Obata Takeshi)

A fun volume, tense and interesting. The lads spend most of it worrying and wondering about their goals and the methods they've chosen, and quite rightly too. The protagonists start to draw apart from each other, but it works out in the end (and the drawing apart is partly down to already-established character traits). Hiramaru's personal and mental growth was unexpected, but welcome. The interaction of the characters remains a pleasure, and the art's still great. The only thing I didn't particularly like was the new manga introduced at the end of the story (by an unknown author) but I can't exactly hold that against Bakuman itself.

Twisting the Rope (R. A. MacAvoy)

A strange book. It's got a bit of the fantastical about it, with hints of supernatural power about Long (I believe the first book established this firmly) and others showing a touch of the pyschic. There's also some fairly obvious psychic influence at the mysterious child Jude. Despite that, it's set in the world pretty much as we know it; I couldn't work out to what extent New Agey stuff was supposed to be established reality, or whether it's just basically our world. I enjoyed the characters and the style, and the mystery that was growing up. I've got to say, though, the ending didn't do as much for me. MacAvoy layers lots of revelations, as well as a string of lies, making this shift a bit suddenly from a sort of supernatural story to an Agatha Christie-style string of "Aha!"s. The actual solution was a bit convoluted, and involved the reader (and all the characters) accepting some degree of pyschic influence from Jude, but that whole side of things was a bit vague. That made it hard for me to follow their shrugging acceptance that one of them was (basically) a murderer.

Bakuman y.l. 14 (Ōba Tsugumi, Obata Takeshi)

Yes, yes, I know.

This volume focuses entirely on the ar- of a new -rival, an old fan of Muto Ashirogi (the protagonists) who wants to follow in their footsteps. Apparently friendly and outspoken, he turns out to be rather less candid that he seems. In fact, he's taken Muto Ashirogi's calculated artistry and taken it to a whole new level, using a whole range of dubious methods to garner attention and create his stories; for him, professional pride is just a conceit that gets in the way of success. Muto Ashirogi, and his editor, are appalled by the idea, and an artistic war breaks out between him and Muto. I particularly liked the interplay of emotions here - the artists won't reveal his secret out of honour, while his inexperienced editor is crushed into compliance, under the threat of losing a promising artist (and internet sensation) to another magazine. I also loved the slick and entirely believable way that Tohru's own methods and behaviour slowly sabotage his early success, without the story getting moralistic about things.

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