Thursday, April 17, 2008

Enchanted Inc... let us discuss!

Woo hoo! The deadline is here. Today is the first ever WWR book club discussion. I'm excited, are you? :)

I won't say much about the book here. I shall save it for the comments so as not to spoil anyone for this fun read. So...

- What did you think of Enchanted Inc.?
- What did you think of the heroine, Katie, and her voice?
- Did the 1st person POV work for you? Were you able to gather enough of a feel for the other characters?
- Ms. Swendson made an interesting flip in terms of the archetypal personalities of the two main men, Owen and Rod. How did you feel about this?
- As a non-New Yorker, how well do you think Ms. Swendson did at capturing the feel of the Big Apple (with or without the addition of magic)?
- What are your thoughts on this alternate, yet very similar, world in which the characters live?

Wow, I actually came up with a few questions. Feel free to answer or ignore them, but definitely tell me what you thought.

3 comments:

barb said...

Now that you've put up the official discussion post, I'm all intimidated and can't think of what I want to say. Figures.

To address a couple of your questions:

I used to completely hate 1st person POV. Lately, I've started enjoying it, but only if it is part of something that is well-written. (I've noticed that a lot of "chick lit" books are written in 1st person.)

I really liked Katie. She was smart, but she didn't immediately figure everything out all on her own and have all of the answers.

I love the book. I hated how it ended because when I started reading, I didn't know it was part of a series. When I realized there were only a few pages left, all I could think was, "BUT THEY HAVEN'T GOTTEN TOGETHER YET! WHAT GIVES?" *g*

I am definitely recommending this book to everyone I know who enjoys a fun read.

Bridget Locke said...

All righty then! Enchanted, Inc. is one of those stories that I really enjoyed. I can't even remember what prompted me to buy it, but I did and spent most of my time giggling.

I like how Katie's view is. She's cosmopolitan enough to get by in NY, but she's still small town enough to be kind of naive too. I actually really related to her character (being single, having friends set up disastrous blind dates, etc).

I thought Owen was a hottie. I wish we knew why Rod was so insecure and why exactly Owen's powers are so powerful, but I'm thankful Shanna doesn't do the too easy info-dump and just lets us make up our own minds.

I really, really liked the 2nd book in the series. The third one pissed me off, so here's hoping #4 will make up for that one. :)

Shannon said...

Barb- Don't be intimidated, it's only me!!! :)

I really loved this book. I thought Shanna took a fresh, unique perspective on the magical world. The fact that Katie is so powerful because she lacks even a drop of magic? Completely different than any books that I have read. She blended the chick lit and fantasy genres beautifully.

While I usually am not a huge fan of 1st person POV, I liked Katie and the way her mind worked so much, that I tended to forget the POV.

barb, you are right, no real HEA in this book. I, on the other hand, had been lent the first three books by my best friend Ellen. I knew going into it that the story arch would continue. I read books 1 and 2 back to back. Ellen had warned me that the third book ends on a cliffhanger, so I still have not read it. I knew I would go crazy waiting for the next installment (and at the time it was still a bit unsure as to whether or not the 4th book would be released.)

I love Owen. I agree, Bridget Locke, he's a total hottie. Something about the sweet, quiet guy who is uber powerful... yummy! The thing is, I have developed this major soft spot for Rod, too. I wish his character would find the strength to just be himself. He is such a nice guy, all he needs is to take pride in what he has. Take care of his hair, get a new skin care regime, and let his real personality shine through.

I LOVED that Merlin has been brought out of retirement. Very clever. The bad guy is great in that, while magical, he is doing the sort of white collar crime that happens every day. OK, the outcome would be more harmful, but the root of the crime is a very "normal" one.

I am so glad that the 4th book is hitting stores soon. Tell everyone about these books! We want Shanna to write some more!