[Nerwen]

Well, I started to read Ashling, the second sequel to Obernewtyn, a fantasy for teenagers. I read the first book when I was a teenager, and liked it, but I don't know if I can be bothered with this one. Maybe it's just that I'm too old and too cynical these days.

I mean, the first instalment wasn't exactly original– your standard neo-medieval post-apocalyptic fare, complete with psychic mutants. (The Chrysalids must vie with LotR for the title of Most Frequently Ripped-off SF Novel.) All the same, if my memory's not playing me false, it wasn't too bad and the really cliched stuff stayed in the background.

With this one it's taken over... all the mutants now have silly Capitalised Names for their various "Talents"– in fact Everything Is In Capitals– and the story's going round and round in circles and seems likely to end exactly where the first book left off.... you know the kind of thing.

*sigh*

Oh, and there's a character named Angina(!), and it's not meant to be a joke.