Sporadic reading post
Recently read:
* VE Schwab - A Darker Shade of Magic
- Fantasy set in several alternative versions of London of varying degrees of magic-ness. There was a giant war in the past which led to the Londons being mostly sealed off from each other, and the protagonist is one of the few people who can still move between them, a kind of wizard messenger. He meets up with a rather hectic female sidekick and there is a mystery and lots of adventures. This book is well paced and exciting, and while it's not the most memorable thing I've ever read, I will certainly be looking forward to more from this author.
* Be-Papas - Utena
- the manga version of the amazing Utena. (If you haven't seen it, oh you must. It is beautiful and weird and magic and ambiguous.) The ending is different to the anime ending in some ways, and similar in others, and just as weird and allegorical.
* Thomas Olde Heuvelt - The Day The World Turned Upside Down
- an interesting thing happens (the direction of gravity reverses) but this is unexplored and unexplained because the author would rather instead expound solely on the protagonist's massive MANPAIN on being dumped. Spare me.
* G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jake Wyatt - Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal
- superhero comics are not generally my thing but oh, I do like this. There's a bit of a hand-wavey event and Kamala Khan, ordinary Muslim teenager, develops super-powers (specifically, the power to change shape - become large or small, look like someone else, extend limbs, etc. - and super-healing). Kamala's quite a closeted teenager; she's the weird Muslim one at school and her family are quite stifling. There are obvious and nicely-addressed parallels between teenage rebelliousness/growing up and coming to grip with her new powers, and an overall theme of working out who the hell you want to be. I'll be putting this second on my ballot - Saga has more story; this is very much a character introduction, albeit a great one. I will be looking out for more of this!
* Kurtis J. Weibe & Roc Upchurch - Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery
A party of kick-ass female adventurers in a D&D-alike setting. The characters are a nice mix of shapes/sizes/backgrounds/etc., and well characterised, and there's lots of hints of interesting back-story. However the whole thing feels very "look at my comic with cool stuff in it! see how cool it is!" and there are lots of not-in-universe jokes (e.g. a character is summoned by her summoning stone and says "one sec, gotta take this") which jarred for me. OTOH there's an interesting mystery brewing by the end of the volume, so if I find it coming to mind again then I may seek out more. We shall see.
Currently reading: Jo's What Makes This Book So Great, which I am savouring because it is lovely.
Coming soon: something from the endless expanses of my to-read pile, who can say what?
Also!
Ann Leckie is sending me a packet of ducks :-D
http://ann-leckie.dreamwidth.org/230350.html
comments at Dreamwidth
* VE Schwab - A Darker Shade of Magic
- Fantasy set in several alternative versions of London of varying degrees of magic-ness. There was a giant war in the past which led to the Londons being mostly sealed off from each other, and the protagonist is one of the few people who can still move between them, a kind of wizard messenger. He meets up with a rather hectic female sidekick and there is a mystery and lots of adventures. This book is well paced and exciting, and while it's not the most memorable thing I've ever read, I will certainly be looking forward to more from this author.
* Be-Papas - Utena
- the manga version of the amazing Utena. (If you haven't seen it, oh you must. It is beautiful and weird and magic and ambiguous.) The ending is different to the anime ending in some ways, and similar in others, and just as weird and allegorical.
* Thomas Olde Heuvelt - The Day The World Turned Upside Down
- an interesting thing happens (the direction of gravity reverses) but this is unexplored and unexplained because the author would rather instead expound solely on the protagonist's massive MANPAIN on being dumped. Spare me.
* G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jake Wyatt - Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal
- superhero comics are not generally my thing but oh, I do like this. There's a bit of a hand-wavey event and Kamala Khan, ordinary Muslim teenager, develops super-powers (specifically, the power to change shape - become large or small, look like someone else, extend limbs, etc. - and super-healing). Kamala's quite a closeted teenager; she's the weird Muslim one at school and her family are quite stifling. There are obvious and nicely-addressed parallels between teenage rebelliousness/growing up and coming to grip with her new powers, and an overall theme of working out who the hell you want to be. I'll be putting this second on my ballot - Saga has more story; this is very much a character introduction, albeit a great one. I will be looking out for more of this!
* Kurtis J. Weibe & Roc Upchurch - Rat Queens Volume 1: Sass and Sorcery
A party of kick-ass female adventurers in a D&D-alike setting. The characters are a nice mix of shapes/sizes/backgrounds/etc., and well characterised, and there's lots of hints of interesting back-story. However the whole thing feels very "look at my comic with cool stuff in it! see how cool it is!" and there are lots of not-in-universe jokes (e.g. a character is summoned by her summoning stone and says "one sec, gotta take this") which jarred for me. OTOH there's an interesting mystery brewing by the end of the volume, so if I find it coming to mind again then I may seek out more. We shall see.
Currently reading: Jo's What Makes This Book So Great, which I am savouring because it is lovely.
Coming soon: something from the endless expanses of my to-read pile, who can say what?
Also!
Ann Leckie is sending me a packet of ducks :-D
http://ann-leckie.dreamwidth.org/230350.html
