Various books and a movie.
Oct. 10th, 2019 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flamebyrdI read some books! And watched a movie! And then I... never posted about any of them! This entry has been in the works since July.
Book: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
I'd seen this recommended in a few places and, most importantly, my local library had. It reminded me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch books (no surprise, since she has a quote on the cover) without the gender aspects. I enjoyed it a lot, as demonstrated by the fact that I read it all in one day.
Spoilers:
- I said above it was like Leckie without the gender parts... I think it would have been better with some, or at least some kind of acknowledgment that the author had thought beyond the gender binary in world building? The narrative was very concerned with establishing the gender of every character.
- I was so disappointed when Yskandr disappeared because I was very much enjoying the "investigating a murder with the victim's younger self providing insight/opinions" aspect of the plot.
- I wasn't very invested in the romance so I wasn't disappointed when it didn't last. And it was absolutely the right decision.
- It had some interesting things to say about Empire and the struggle to maintain pride in your own culture while also desiring their validation, which I am definitely not in a position to interrogate.
- I'm not sure I agree with all of the characters' decisions, ultimately, nor with the resolution of the main conflict, but that's okay.
Movie: Captain Marvel (2019)
I also enjoyed this. It was fun and took some unexpected turns. I felt like it could have leaned in on the 90s nostalgia fan service even more, which seems like a weird thing to say about a movie. Didn't exactly punch me right in the feelings, but that's okay.
Spoilers:
- I feel like it's almost a standard rule of fiction writing that the character with only one eye will have lost it to mundane circumstances (CLAMP works excepted)
- The "twist" with the Skrulls and the Kree sort of fell apart for me in the shower afterwards, at least in the sense that once Talos convinces (Dan)Vers that it's an unjust war and she's been lied to about the Skrulls, it's just assumed that everyone she knows already realises the truth about the war and that the Kree need to be defeated? I felt like it needed some more nuance there (although obviously we the audience already know that Ronan the Accuser is Bad News).
- I loved the aversion of the "prove your superiority to me in battle!" confrontation at the end!
Book: Thornfruit, by Felicia Davin.
I enjoyed this, with reservations.
Spoilers:
- This did not feel like a complete story! I realise it's part one of a series, but there was no resolution to anything at the end of this book. Guess I have to read the sequels for that.
- I don't know what's wrong with me recently, but I also wasn't feeling this romance.
- But other than that, I enjoyed it a lot! The monstrous jellyfish added a fantastic worldbuilding layer.
- I feel like there was a bit of a disconnect between Iriyat's narrative and the way she treated Alizhan. To draw a perhaps unnecessary comparison, in Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, we see how the way the protagonist treats her daughter is has come out of the she was treated as a child, but I didn't feel like there were any such parallels in Thornfruit.
Book: The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited (graphic novel)
I recently put on the podcast for this to keep my brain distracted while I did some tidying up, and blasted all the way through to the end of this arc before I remembered I'd recently bought the graphic novel version and hadn't read it yet. For me, this is the absolute worst way to approach an adaptation, because it means I spend too much time thinking about the changes and not enough enjoying it.
(This contains vague spoilers for the entire podcast, and specific spoilers for this book.)
- Carey P's Taako is really freaking cute, which is funny because Taako himself, while a great character that I enjoy a lot, is not especially *cute*.
- It's interesting to see what makes it in and what doesn't. Obviously with the loss of the meta layer* we lose some great jokes (my favourite part of Rockport Limited is where Travis just randomly decides to call Griffin out on his sleeping habits, in character as Magnus), but there's other little changes, mostly to make the continuity fit better with the things that are revealed much later.
- You see the above a lot with Lucretia, which is A+
- But for some reason it keeps the scene where Taako's umbrella is identified as an umbrastaff created by the Umbra Wizards?
- But it also introduces Merle's plant thing earlier, which I appreciate XD
- On the whole it's less mean-spirited than the podcast version, which is also good for me.
*In the podcast, eg. Travis controls Magnus and Travis talks to Griffin (the GM). In the graphic novels, Magnus talks to Griffin, and Travis doesn't exist.
Game: Gorogoa (iOS)
This game was very cool, not like anything I've ever played before. I enjoyed it, but it was a) very short, and b) I'm not really sure I understood what was happening in the story. Every time I got stuck I would come back later and realise it was I forgot to try pulling the top layer frame off a tile.
Book: Wayward Son, by Rainbow Rowell.
This is the sequel to Carry On, which I talked about here.
Spoilers and reactions:
- I finished this pretty quickly and I definitely wasn't hatereading, so it's not that I didn't enjoy it, but a lot of this just didn't seem to hang together right.
- Like, Penny has been long distance dating a boy from America for years and they've never talked about how magical society works in the US? And she didn't do even the most basic research before leaving? (And he was an exchange student at Watford and nobody ever asked him about this stuff? I've been the foreign student at an English school, everyone wants to know how your life is different. And also what spoilers you can give them for Neighbours.)
- It was grimly amusing how at the very beginning Simon was miserable while Baz and Penny were fine, and once they got to the USA Simon was happy and the other two were miserable.
- It felt like it walked back a lot of things I liked about Carry On, like how magical society was secret but still integrated with "Normal" society, and how there were non-humans at Watford (which seemed like a dig at Harry Potter's human superiority complex). This seemed to be drawing attention to all the problems the Mage had originally been trying to solve with his coup (while also repeatedly calling him evil for talking to vampires).
- Speaking of vampires, I really wanted some more reaction from Baz to the knowledge that vampires are not inherently bloodthirsty murderers. I want them all to wallow in that for a while.
- I still find Agatha deeply fascinating. I've never read a character who so desperately wants to be Like Other Girls before.
- There's definitely some interesting character development for all of them. Things don't end, therapy doesn't fix everything, these are important themes.
- Simon was struggling so hard, and he was simultaneously taking Baz for granted while being completely insecure about their relationship, and it was very difficult to read. Poor kid.
- Baz is still a little bundle of crankiness and shame and Desperately In Love With Simon and I think that's adorable.
- ETA: Aside for all the poor innocent pets Baz murdered in the course of this book, which I was legitimately upset about.
- It was nice to see the narrative give Penny some flaws and really flesh them out, but it means she was basically flailing around with bad judgement for the rest of the story, which was less fun.
- Shepard was really fun once I got used to him. I liked the snatches of outside POV we got on the trio from him (including the ongoing thread where he tried to figure out which, if any, were dating). And after the reveal at the end I have so many questions.
- I liked Lamb so I was disappointed at his betrayal. Pfah. Maybe the mages are right about vampires. (I do not actually think this.)
- There's this one moment where they name the next town they're staying in, Scottsbluff, and I sat up straight, all "I've been there!" and then it just... failed to describe anything about it, and I was so disappointed.
- Look, all I want out of a roadtrip story is a) snark about the music on the radio, b) tourist traps, c) weird diners and interaction with the locals there, and d) rundown motels. I feel like it delivered on a) and not much else.
- I am going to reluctantly read the sequel when it comes out because the ending resolved so little between Baz and Simon, but I don't know how much longer I can keep going.
Book: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
I'd seen this recommended in a few places and, most importantly, my local library had. It reminded me of Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch books (no surprise, since she has a quote on the cover) without the gender aspects. I enjoyed it a lot, as demonstrated by the fact that I read it all in one day.
Spoilers:
- I said above it was like Leckie without the gender parts... I think it would have been better with some, or at least some kind of acknowledgment that the author had thought beyond the gender binary in world building? The narrative was very concerned with establishing the gender of every character.
- I was so disappointed when Yskandr disappeared because I was very much enjoying the "investigating a murder with the victim's younger self providing insight/opinions" aspect of the plot.
- I wasn't very invested in the romance so I wasn't disappointed when it didn't last. And it was absolutely the right decision.
- It had some interesting things to say about Empire and the struggle to maintain pride in your own culture while also desiring their validation, which I am definitely not in a position to interrogate.
- I'm not sure I agree with all of the characters' decisions, ultimately, nor with the resolution of the main conflict, but that's okay.
Movie: Captain Marvel (2019)
I also enjoyed this. It was fun and took some unexpected turns. I felt like it could have leaned in on the 90s nostalgia fan service even more, which seems like a weird thing to say about a movie. Didn't exactly punch me right in the feelings, but that's okay.
Spoilers:
- I feel like it's almost a standard rule of fiction writing that the character with only one eye will have lost it to mundane circumstances (CLAMP works excepted)
- The "twist" with the Skrulls and the Kree sort of fell apart for me in the shower afterwards, at least in the sense that once Talos convinces (Dan)Vers that it's an unjust war and she's been lied to about the Skrulls, it's just assumed that everyone she knows already realises the truth about the war and that the Kree need to be defeated? I felt like it needed some more nuance there (although obviously we the audience already know that Ronan the Accuser is Bad News).
- I loved the aversion of the "prove your superiority to me in battle!" confrontation at the end!
Book: Thornfruit, by Felicia Davin.
I enjoyed this, with reservations.
Spoilers:
- This did not feel like a complete story! I realise it's part one of a series, but there was no resolution to anything at the end of this book. Guess I have to read the sequels for that.
- I don't know what's wrong with me recently, but I also wasn't feeling this romance.
- But other than that, I enjoyed it a lot! The monstrous jellyfish added a fantastic worldbuilding layer.
- I feel like there was a bit of a disconnect between Iriyat's narrative and the way she treated Alizhan. To draw a perhaps unnecessary comparison, in Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, we see how the way the protagonist treats her daughter is has come out of the she was treated as a child, but I didn't feel like there were any such parallels in Thornfruit.
Book: The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited (graphic novel)
I recently put on the podcast for this to keep my brain distracted while I did some tidying up, and blasted all the way through to the end of this arc before I remembered I'd recently bought the graphic novel version and hadn't read it yet. For me, this is the absolute worst way to approach an adaptation, because it means I spend too much time thinking about the changes and not enough enjoying it.
(This contains vague spoilers for the entire podcast, and specific spoilers for this book.)
- Carey P's Taako is really freaking cute, which is funny because Taako himself, while a great character that I enjoy a lot, is not especially *cute*.
- It's interesting to see what makes it in and what doesn't. Obviously with the loss of the meta layer* we lose some great jokes (my favourite part of Rockport Limited is where Travis just randomly decides to call Griffin out on his sleeping habits, in character as Magnus), but there's other little changes, mostly to make the continuity fit better with the things that are revealed much later.
- You see the above a lot with Lucretia, which is A+
- But for some reason it keeps the scene where Taako's umbrella is identified as an umbrastaff created by the Umbra Wizards?
- But it also introduces Merle's plant thing earlier, which I appreciate XD
- On the whole it's less mean-spirited than the podcast version, which is also good for me.
*In the podcast, eg. Travis controls Magnus and Travis talks to Griffin (the GM). In the graphic novels, Magnus talks to Griffin, and Travis doesn't exist.
Game: Gorogoa (iOS)
This game was very cool, not like anything I've ever played before. I enjoyed it, but it was a) very short, and b) I'm not really sure I understood what was happening in the story. Every time I got stuck I would come back later and realise it was I forgot to try pulling the top layer frame off a tile.
Book: Wayward Son, by Rainbow Rowell.
This is the sequel to Carry On, which I talked about here.
Spoilers and reactions:
- I finished this pretty quickly and I definitely wasn't hatereading, so it's not that I didn't enjoy it, but a lot of this just didn't seem to hang together right.
- Like, Penny has been long distance dating a boy from America for years and they've never talked about how magical society works in the US? And she didn't do even the most basic research before leaving? (And he was an exchange student at Watford and nobody ever asked him about this stuff? I've been the foreign student at an English school, everyone wants to know how your life is different. And also what spoilers you can give them for Neighbours.)
- It was grimly amusing how at the very beginning Simon was miserable while Baz and Penny were fine, and once they got to the USA Simon was happy and the other two were miserable.
- It felt like it walked back a lot of things I liked about Carry On, like how magical society was secret but still integrated with "Normal" society, and how there were non-humans at Watford (which seemed like a dig at Harry Potter's human superiority complex). This seemed to be drawing attention to all the problems the Mage had originally been trying to solve with his coup (while also repeatedly calling him evil for talking to vampires).
- Speaking of vampires, I really wanted some more reaction from Baz to the knowledge that vampires are not inherently bloodthirsty murderers. I want them all to wallow in that for a while.
- I still find Agatha deeply fascinating. I've never read a character who so desperately wants to be Like Other Girls before.
- There's definitely some interesting character development for all of them. Things don't end, therapy doesn't fix everything, these are important themes.
- Simon was struggling so hard, and he was simultaneously taking Baz for granted while being completely insecure about their relationship, and it was very difficult to read. Poor kid.
- Baz is still a little bundle of crankiness and shame and Desperately In Love With Simon and I think that's adorable.
- ETA: Aside for all the poor innocent pets Baz murdered in the course of this book, which I was legitimately upset about.
- It was nice to see the narrative give Penny some flaws and really flesh them out, but it means she was basically flailing around with bad judgement for the rest of the story, which was less fun.
- Shepard was really fun once I got used to him. I liked the snatches of outside POV we got on the trio from him (including the ongoing thread where he tried to figure out which, if any, were dating). And after the reveal at the end I have so many questions.
- I liked Lamb so I was disappointed at his betrayal. Pfah. Maybe the mages are right about vampires. (I do not actually think this.)
- There's this one moment where they name the next town they're staying in, Scottsbluff, and I sat up straight, all "I've been there!" and then it just... failed to describe anything about it, and I was so disappointed.
- Look, all I want out of a roadtrip story is a) snark about the music on the radio, b) tourist traps, c) weird diners and interaction with the locals there, and d) rundown motels. I feel like it delivered on a) and not much else.
- I am going to reluctantly read the sequel when it comes out because the ending resolved so little between Baz and Simon, but I don't know how much longer I can keep going.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-11 08:19 pm (UTC)I also liked Lamb. I wanted him to be a good guy.
And like you, I find Agatha a very interesting character. There just wasn't enough of her and I don't quite know who she is. (Which is, I guess, the point!)
no subject
Date: 2019-11-12 12:05 am (UTC)The sections from Agatha's point of view are so interesting because she keeps saying she wants to be normal, and you can sense what she thinks normal is from the people she associates with, but you also get the impression that she doesn't really respect that life. But she doesn't get enough time on screen for me to make sense of that!
no subject
Date: 2019-11-20 06:53 pm (UTC)Agatha is a fascinating character. We need more of her!