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Sep. 12th, 2011 05:24 amDear sinus headache, possible infection,
GO AWAY.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
me
GO AWAY.
Thank you.
Sincerely yours,
me
Sep. 12th, 2011
I caved and used part of my Amazon gift card to buy Cecile and Marie-Grace's book set. If you wondered what this set with a game was like, I'll tell you: Don't bother. The game is lame. Seriously, with a decent printer and a fair imagination, you could create a much better game. I thought they'd forgotten the bits and pieces (the board folds out from the back of the case for the books) but no. They're two pieces of flimsy cardboard slipped into a blink-and-you'll-miss it sleeve on the case.
The books themselves are fairly long, comparatively speaking to the older Historical books. Not as long as the Girl of the Year books (they do have to cram a year's worth of awesome into one or two books, not six) but still longer than the older books. The downside is that there are precious few pictures. At first I thought I was imagining things. But no. I went back and I think one of Cecile's books has six pictures, at least one of which is duplicated in Marie-Grace's book.
I know I'm old enough that I shouldn't be whining about a lack of pictures in my book series, but I used to love looking at the pictures in the AG books and wishing they'd create whatever outfit, or going through the catalog and looking at the line-up of modern dolls and thinking, "This one would work as __'s friend."
Yeah. That never happens. Cecile has a friend, Monet, who is mentioned frequently, but is NEVER seen. Not even in one of those little portraits in the front of the book under the Friends and Family section. NEVER.
The average book has 4 pictures. Odds are good one of them is going to be recycled from the book right before or right after, which feels like a rip-off. Also? The art, and I feel bad saying this, is bad. There are a couple of really pretty pictures, but for the most part? No. NO. NO. I remember when the artist info was leaked and people flocked to her website. She's talented, so what the fuck happened? Oh, and I checked my copy of Meet Molly and she's got ten illustrations, numerous pictures of Susan and Linda (her best friends), and cute little extra pictures that aren't essentially copied in each and every book in her series.
Content wise, I enjoyed them. It felt a little weird that each girl only gets half a traditional series and for friends, these girls rarely see each other 'on camera.' You hear them go on and on about how they volunteer together at the orphanage, but they're always so surprised to see one another that it never actually feels true. They might go quite a bit, but never together.
If you like your historical books filled with epidemics, this is the series for you. I think the first two books (essentially the same story split into two versions) set-up your series and then by book 2 of Marie-Grace's, we head right into Yellow Fever. There's a body count, man, and I've got to say that Marie-Grace? Yeah. She's the bringer of the plagues. Cholera takes out half her family the last time they were in New Orleans, and when she and her father return? BAM. Yellow Fever epidemic hits. You do not want this girl in your town, people are going to die. :p
I enjoyed myself, but I do wish they'd made six books for each girl, even if they insisted on switching back and forth for the entire time. (That gimmick actually worked quite well, if you wondered.) I may or may not have sniffled in parts and immediately wanted shiny things upon reading their significance in the stories.
The books themselves are fairly long, comparatively speaking to the older Historical books. Not as long as the Girl of the Year books (they do have to cram a year's worth of awesome into one or two books, not six) but still longer than the older books. The downside is that there are precious few pictures. At first I thought I was imagining things. But no. I went back and I think one of Cecile's books has six pictures, at least one of which is duplicated in Marie-Grace's book.
I know I'm old enough that I shouldn't be whining about a lack of pictures in my book series, but I used to love looking at the pictures in the AG books and wishing they'd create whatever outfit, or going through the catalog and looking at the line-up of modern dolls and thinking, "This one would work as __'s friend."
Yeah. That never happens. Cecile has a friend, Monet, who is mentioned frequently, but is NEVER seen. Not even in one of those little portraits in the front of the book under the Friends and Family section. NEVER.
The average book has 4 pictures. Odds are good one of them is going to be recycled from the book right before or right after, which feels like a rip-off. Also? The art, and I feel bad saying this, is bad. There are a couple of really pretty pictures, but for the most part? No. NO. NO. I remember when the artist info was leaked and people flocked to her website. She's talented, so what the fuck happened? Oh, and I checked my copy of Meet Molly and she's got ten illustrations, numerous pictures of Susan and Linda (her best friends), and cute little extra pictures that aren't essentially copied in each and every book in her series.
Content wise, I enjoyed them. It felt a little weird that each girl only gets half a traditional series and for friends, these girls rarely see each other 'on camera.' You hear them go on and on about how they volunteer together at the orphanage, but they're always so surprised to see one another that it never actually feels true. They might go quite a bit, but never together.
If you like your historical books filled with epidemics, this is the series for you. I think the first two books (essentially the same story split into two versions) set-up your series and then by book 2 of Marie-Grace's, we head right into Yellow Fever. There's a body count, man, and I've got to say that Marie-Grace? Yeah. She's the bringer of the plagues. Cholera takes out half her family the last time they were in New Orleans, and when she and her father return? BAM. Yellow Fever epidemic hits. You do not want this girl in your town, people are going to die. :p
I enjoyed myself, but I do wish they'd made six books for each girl, even if they insisted on switching back and forth for the entire time. (That gimmick actually worked quite well, if you wondered.) I may or may not have sniffled in parts and immediately wanted shiny things upon reading their significance in the stories.