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 04:48 pm (UTC)I'm no great scholar with the language, but I could have a go at helping you with that, once I pick up the book. Heck, it would be a good exercise for me...
Doing a transliteration of the pronunciation would be a bit trickier, but for the more-common words, you could try BBC Wales' Online Dictionary, as it includes little sound files for the common words. Unfortunately, it won't deal well with tenses, but it can untangle mutations, with which the bloody language is riddled. Suffice it to say that nine letters at the beginning of a word *routinely* change to other letters, depending on some rules that are making my head hurt...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 04:51 pm (UTC)I've been casually playing with it for over a year, but have buckled down in the past couple of months as I've *got* to get off the baby-talk/pidgin plateau on which I'm stuck...
no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 04:59 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, I have a hard time concentrating on the lessons during my commute, but, if naught else, the babble of Radio Cymru makes for interesting white noise on the train.
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Date: 2008-06-23 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-23 11:59 pm (UTC)I swear, I don't know which language is worse with remembering to use vowels, Welsh or Polish! :)
I never tried to learn Welsh, though there are a couple Welsh words I like just cuz of how cool they look/sound that I've encountered in sci-fi/fantasy like Cerridwen and Llewellyn :) I did however attempt to start learning Scots Gaelic. Then I decided I liked struggling with Italian better, at least in Italian for the most part there's only ONE way to pronounce a letter!