What's Elizabeth Reading? ...Weis and Hickman

I finished Bones of the Dragon a couple days ago and couldn't help thinking that something was not quite right with this book.  It's not that it was confusing, terribly written, uninteresting, or hyped up on drugs; I kept trying to figure it out, but was having trouble putting my finger on just what was wrong.

I realized what was up when I was talking with my sister about Harry Potter.  She was laughing at the memory of me bawling while reading the seventh Harry Potter book.  I remember crying worst when (spoiler alert for any hermit who hasn't read it) Fred died -- I was sitting in my bed next to a box of tissues, crying so hard I couldn't read.

And that's what is wrong with Weis and Hickman's Bones of the Dragon: I was not emotionally involved in the story.  Not many books make me cry, and I don't need them to.  It's just that a couple prominent characters died and I didn't care.  The story was wonderful, the writing was fine, and I checked the library only to discover that it doesn't have the sequel, much to my disappointment.

A good story will make me feel like if I died and saw one of the characters in Heaven, nothing would be amiss.  The characters need to be real, and the reader needs to connect with them and care about them.

Does that ruin the book?  No, but it means it isn't anything special you need to hunt down and read, no matter how far that hunting trip takes you.  As I mentioned in my last post, this book follows Celtic mythology more than most fantasy novels, and it does it well.  The world Weis and Hickman have created works, and I didn't find myself pushed out of the story because of an error in their reasoning or plot.

Next adventure for me: Washington, D.C.  I leave on Tuesday.  I'm going to pack a couple books, but I won't be living there long enough to find a library and convince them to give me a library card.  Something makes me think the Library of Congress won't let me check out books. :-p  Weis and Hickman did get me thinking about mythology, though, and how it is used in fantasy.  So what do you think -- Should I spend my summer reading myths?  If anyone has a myth recommendation, I'm open to suggestions. :-)