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Niggling Irritants
Jul. 11th, 2008 03:21 amI'm reading and, mostly, enjoying the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, as I noted on Sheroes.
But... niggling details that would be easy enough to have right are not right, even for a book set in the early 19th century.
Our heroes, in the first book, are at Gibraltar and discussing a trip to England and "it's more than 2000 miles." Except, it isn't. It's about 1100 to London, not 2000. Even Aberdeen is under 1500!
In the next book, we are in another location in which we receive information more swiftly than our hero thinks we should, because it is more than 2000 miles away! But... it's 1235 miles away, as the Dragon flies.
***********
In my last book before this series, Mammoth by John Varley, somebody remarks to our hero that he's very smart - after all, he was being considered for a Nobel Prize.
I would have been more convinced of everybody's intelligence, but for the fact that our hero is a mathematician - and there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics!
Grrrrrrr!
What niggling details have annoyed you in otherwise good writing?
But... niggling details that would be easy enough to have right are not right, even for a book set in the early 19th century.
Our heroes, in the first book, are at Gibraltar and discussing a trip to England and "it's more than 2000 miles." Except, it isn't. It's about 1100 to London, not 2000. Even Aberdeen is under 1500!
In the next book, we are in another location in which we receive information more swiftly than our hero thinks we should, because it is more than 2000 miles away! But... it's 1235 miles away, as the Dragon flies.
***********
In my last book before this series, Mammoth by John Varley, somebody remarks to our hero that he's very smart - after all, he was being considered for a Nobel Prize.
I would have been more convinced of everybody's intelligence, but for the fact that our hero is a mathematician - and there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics!
Grrrrrrr!
What niggling details have annoyed you in otherwise good writing?
