2016 read #67: The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar.

The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar
194 pages
Published 2015
Read from August 28 to August 29
Rating: ★★ out of 5

Humor that doesn't land, farce that never achieves momentum, fantasy that isn't the least fantastic, choppy little scenes that go nowhere and add nothing we don't already know, two dimensional characters that wouldn't be out of place in a recent rom-com, capped with outsize praise from prominent authors on the back cover -- why, it must be another Martin Millar novel!

It feels like it's been ages since I first (and last) read Millar, though it's only been about three years. I was far more forgiving of his schtick back then -- either that or in a more genial mood. Perhaps "zany farce with fantasy elements" felt fresher to me then. I was generous in my review of The Good Fairies of New York, but in the years since, I've come to think of it as disposable and cloying when I thought of it at all. I only picked up Buttercups and Daisies for two reasons: one, I haven't read much this month, and I wanted a brief book to bolster my numbers; two, Jo Walton's Just City duology (1, 2) left me primed for more atypical fantasy centered on the Classical Greeks. Well, maybe there was a third reason, a faint inclination to give Millar a second chance.

If I erred in the direction of generosity last time, this time I'm probably erring in favor of being snippy. In all fairness, this wasn't a bad book, or even unpleasant to read at any point, but then again, it failed to stir much of a reaction at all. It was just so generic. The farcical bits about mechanical phalluses being required props in Athenian comedy were mildly amusing, but the rest could have taken place in any time period, against any backdrop, and not lost or gained anything. I entertained myself with casting a Buttercups and Daisies rom-com, perhaps set in a mid-size city with a theater scene, possibly Minneapolis. Jason Bateman could probably tap his put-upon (and not so secretly arrogant) everyman thing to play Millar's Aristophanes, Gwendoline Christie would be the inevitable choice du jour for Bremusa the humorless Amazon, Tony Revolori could fit as the optimistic orphan poet Luxos, any number of effervescent young Manic Pixie types could be typecast as Metris, the titular nymph -- which just shows how cardboard and uninspired her character was. Millar (going by all two of his books that I've read) seems to have a thing for Manic Pixie leads. The one in Good Fairies was better; at least she had a colostomy bag and motivations of her own.