Twilight Streets
Jun. 23rd, 2008 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmSo Borders is finally carrying the Torchwood books, which means I can stop fighting with Amazon to get them. Hence, my review of Twilight Streets below. Spoilers ahoy:
I really had no idea what to expect. I've never really done the tie-in novel thing, and I felt a bit daft buying it (although the sales clerk totally grinned at me and that was awesome).
Anyway if you're into Jack/Ianto READ THIS BOOK, but be warned that Jack's kinda a dick to him through large swathes of it -- in fact they're both rather wrapped up in their drama about each other without talking to each other, and it has a pretty good payoff, but we'll get to that later.
The plot of the book itself starts out straightforward: There's an area of Cardiff Jack can't go into because there's some sort of barrier there that makes him ill and weak. Then it gets really complicated and there's possible futures and Bilis Manger and demons and light aliens and if you're absolutely sure what happened by the end of the book, you let me know -- not so you can explain it to me, but so I know to be really wary of how your mind works; this is one twisty plot.
Structurally, the book is incredibly well-done, but it makes the first 50 pages or so feel rather scattered, but after that you'll just inhale the thing.
There are a few instances of Welsh, not translated, and it doesn't really matter, but it drives me a little nuts since I don't know any Welsh and don't even know what the words people are saying should sound like.
The characterizations are pretty spot on, but Jack feels so closed off in the first half of the book it's really off-putting even to us the outside observers. Some of the banter sections are hilarious, although you can't always tell who is saying what. Owen gets some nice moments as does Gwen. Tosh is underwritten, although alternate future Tosh is the stuff of nightmares.
And Ianto! We get this rant from him in response to Gwen asking him if he likes Abba about being bisexual and how it sucks, and it's both really funny and really sad and rings really true despite being a choice that sort of surprised me. You also get the sense that he's really exhausted by dealing with Jack's bullshit, but wouldn't mind so much if everyone wasn't always making it a topic of conversation (which is also pretty funny). Also there's some definite discomfort and sharpness between Ianto and Gwen, which I thought was interesting and surprising as I view that as a fannon phenom and something that isn't really supposed to be there in canon, but there it is. Of course Ianto's having a bad week.
We get some glimpses of Jack's past (where in he seemed much better about showing affection for people -- what happened?) that are oddly not that interesting other than Jack's 'type' seems to involve efficiency, good service and blue eyes, which made me laugh every time it came up.
One of the most compelling parts of the book is this possible future that each of the team members is shown one by one. At first, when we see it from the perspective of Tosh and Owen it just seems a little ridiculous, but then we get Gwen, and after that Ianto and then Jack, and by the time you get the full picture of what happens in this world and what's done to Jack and how Ianto tries to undo it -- it's very disturbing and rather gutting.
I DID NOT EXPECT TO HAVE AN EMOTIONAL REACTION TO A TIE-IN NOVEL, THANKS.
Seriously, it rattled me.
And in that possible future? It's Jack and Ianto's love that saves the planet. I am not even joking. And it's fucking heartbreaking.
For those who've read it -- thoughts on the "He was Ianto" line? Because I'm going several different directions with it, as it was so unclear -- everything from some soul-mate craptasticness (I suppose Jack can have a soul as promiscuous as his dick, though), to Jack's brain just being really muddled at that moment in time, to Jack recognizing how alike he and Ianto have always been (which is my feeling about the characters, but I'm not sure it's in play here).
The only disappointment really? That once the world was saved, that the Team found their memory of what they'd been shown about the possible future fading. I think it would have been more interesting if they had had to live with the knowledge of what was averted, but that, I suppose, would have forced them all to communicate like functional human beings, and geez, we can't have that, now can we?
I really had no idea what to expect. I've never really done the tie-in novel thing, and I felt a bit daft buying it (although the sales clerk totally grinned at me and that was awesome).
Anyway if you're into Jack/Ianto READ THIS BOOK, but be warned that Jack's kinda a dick to him through large swathes of it -- in fact they're both rather wrapped up in their drama about each other without talking to each other, and it has a pretty good payoff, but we'll get to that later.
The plot of the book itself starts out straightforward: There's an area of Cardiff Jack can't go into because there's some sort of barrier there that makes him ill and weak. Then it gets really complicated and there's possible futures and Bilis Manger and demons and light aliens and if you're absolutely sure what happened by the end of the book, you let me know -- not so you can explain it to me, but so I know to be really wary of how your mind works; this is one twisty plot.
Structurally, the book is incredibly well-done, but it makes the first 50 pages or so feel rather scattered, but after that you'll just inhale the thing.
There are a few instances of Welsh, not translated, and it doesn't really matter, but it drives me a little nuts since I don't know any Welsh and don't even know what the words people are saying should sound like.
The characterizations are pretty spot on, but Jack feels so closed off in the first half of the book it's really off-putting even to us the outside observers. Some of the banter sections are hilarious, although you can't always tell who is saying what. Owen gets some nice moments as does Gwen. Tosh is underwritten, although alternate future Tosh is the stuff of nightmares.
And Ianto! We get this rant from him in response to Gwen asking him if he likes Abba about being bisexual and how it sucks, and it's both really funny and really sad and rings really true despite being a choice that sort of surprised me. You also get the sense that he's really exhausted by dealing with Jack's bullshit, but wouldn't mind so much if everyone wasn't always making it a topic of conversation (which is also pretty funny). Also there's some definite discomfort and sharpness between Ianto and Gwen, which I thought was interesting and surprising as I view that as a fannon phenom and something that isn't really supposed to be there in canon, but there it is. Of course Ianto's having a bad week.
We get some glimpses of Jack's past (where in he seemed much better about showing affection for people -- what happened?) that are oddly not that interesting other than Jack's 'type' seems to involve efficiency, good service and blue eyes, which made me laugh every time it came up.
One of the most compelling parts of the book is this possible future that each of the team members is shown one by one. At first, when we see it from the perspective of Tosh and Owen it just seems a little ridiculous, but then we get Gwen, and after that Ianto and then Jack, and by the time you get the full picture of what happens in this world and what's done to Jack and how Ianto tries to undo it -- it's very disturbing and rather gutting.
I DID NOT EXPECT TO HAVE AN EMOTIONAL REACTION TO A TIE-IN NOVEL, THANKS.
Seriously, it rattled me.
And in that possible future? It's Jack and Ianto's love that saves the planet. I am not even joking. And it's fucking heartbreaking.
For those who've read it -- thoughts on the "He was Ianto" line? Because I'm going several different directions with it, as it was so unclear -- everything from some soul-mate craptasticness (I suppose Jack can have a soul as promiscuous as his dick, though), to Jack's brain just being really muddled at that moment in time, to Jack recognizing how alike he and Ianto have always been (which is my feeling about the characters, but I'm not sure it's in play here).
The only disappointment really? That once the world was saved, that the Team found their memory of what they'd been shown about the possible future fading. I think it would have been more interesting if they had had to live with the knowledge of what was averted, but that, I suppose, would have forced them all to communicate like functional human beings, and geez, we can't have that, now can we?
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 04:01 pm (UTC)As for the "He was Ianto" line, I don't think that it was anything more than Jack acknowledging Ianto's awesomeness. Sort of a "that's my Ianto" I know he won't give up on me. Or at least that's the way I took it upon first reading.
And the scene - you know THAT scene - I could barely read it through the tears!
The thing that interested me about Jack's past and his relationship is that TPTB have really pushed the agenda that Gwen is speeshul and made Jack feel again since his situation after the Doctor and all that jazz, but in this book that clearly isn't the case.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 04:04 pm (UTC)God, that's such a normal venacular, it didn't even occur to me. You're probably right, and that's exactly not the sort of thing that would ever occur to me, because I don't express myself like that.
I know the books are debatably canon, but I really did feel like this should go a long way to assuaging everyone who is worried the Jack/Ianto mess won't be an enduring plot point in the program.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 07:21 pm (UTC)