Imagination

Now that all the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series had been made into films, I had thought that the genre is so over.
I was so wrong.
Reading these two books made me change my opinion.

Both are the first book (or one of the first books) written by young authors, so they are hardly perfect. But the richness of their imaginations truly wow-ed me.

最近旅をしていたりとかで移動時間がたくさんあって、前から読もうと思ってたNight Circusを読み始めたら止まらなくなりました。ミヒャエル・エンデやハリーポッター以来、ファンタジーといったら目を引くものがなかったけれど、やっぱり人間の想像力ってスゴイ。このサーカス、シルクドソレイユのような雰囲気でいて全然違う。でも何がスゴイって、ストーリーそのものではなくて(ストーリーはちょっとややこしい)作家の表現力。真夜中のディナーの集いの料理の数々。サーカスの装飾品、特にエントランスの魔法の時計、色や匂いやざわめきのすべてが自分を包み込むように迫ってくる。読めばわかると思う。すごい。
読みながら映画になっている姿が想像できたけど、できれば暫くは作らないで欲しいな。文章でこの映像の世界を味わって欲しい。

2点目のケムリと骨の娘、という本の方はもっとゴス好きなティーンエイジャー向けという感じなんだけど、やっぱり世界観がとてもリッチで奇妙で奥深くて、Amazonでオススメされただけのことはあると思う。ちょっと文体がゴテゴテしてるのが「若いなあ」と思わせるけど、でも面白い。

その前には、本屋大賞をとったという「謎解きはディナーのあとで」や小野不由美さんのゴーストシリーズも読みかけたけど、すっごく詰まらなかった。何でこんなのがベストセラー？

(Amazon.co.jp)
The Night Circus (Amazon.com)

This book was chosen as one of the Amazon's Best Book of 2011. I totally agree. It was probably the best I've read since the last of Harry Potter. The writing is magical, full of images and colors (and the lack of them), and the drama!
The story is a bit hard to follow. Until the halfway through, I wasn't able to connect the dots and had no idea how the pieces were coming together. But they did, in a very interesting way.

I hope they won't turn this book into a movie too soon. I want people to read it instead of watching the film first. Please.


(Amazon.co.jp)
Daughter of Bone and Smoke (Amazon.com)

This book is more like "if you like a vampire romance, you'll love this too" kind of book, but still, the world the author has created is pretty amazing. The storyline is very unusual yet well devised. I have only 2 complaints: that the writing style is a bit overly decorative (reminds me of Anne of Green Gables when Anne's writing was too dramatic), and that some details, such as angels having had to shave, seem awkward in the context of the whole mystical theme.

Nevertheless, the author is still pretty young, and very promising.