Books and comics read in February 2013
Friday, 1 March 2013 11:16![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats
Teen Titans: Team Building
The Story of the Stone Vol. 1: The Golden Days - Cao Xuequin
Black Lightning: Year One
Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed - Jim Al-Khalili
Heroines and Harridans - Sandi Toksvig
Hero - Perry Moore
Doctor Who: The Child of Time
A Brief History of Montmaray - Michelle Cooper
Swimming Home - Deborah Levy
A Web of Air - Philip Reeve
The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth
White Cat - Holly Black
Showcase Presents Teen Titans vol 2
Gladstone's School For World Conquerors (vol 1)
Batman: No Man's Land Vol 1
Zatanna: Shades of the Past
The New Brighton Archeological Society Book 1: The Castle of Galomar
Alias Ultimate Collection Vol 1
Teen Titans: Team Building
In which Dick decides that Damian needs more friends, and drops him off with the Teen Titans in the hope that this will help. Also there is some plot, but I was less interested in that
I was a bit wary of this, since I've not really been able to get into any Teen Titans stuff, but I enjoyed it a fair bit. Maybe I should give the series another chance? (Addendum: I wrote all these reviews as I went along. I am now considerably less enthused about reading more of ANYTHING DC, though I will probably read the Teen Titans volume I'd already borrowed eventually.) Rose was great, I want to see more of her. (...see previous addendum.) And I always love Damian. I'd already read the Red Robin crossover, but liked seeing it again (whatever else you can say about Red Robin, it had some good hugs in it). Marcus To should draw ALL the teen books.
Black Lightning: Year One
HI TINY ANISSA HI! Ok, now that's out of my system... I liked this Year One, which retells the origins of Jefferson Pierce, one of DC's first major black heroes. I had a few issues with how suddenly some characters reformed, but other than that it was a good story, well told - the voiceover trick worked well, and I especially liked that it was Lightning's wife who got the first, introductory one. Unexpected Talia was unexpected, but I liked her here (and actually understood her motivations/characterisation, which is too rare). Special mention, too, for Cully Hamner's smashing art.
Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed
I am still pretty perplexed by quantum, but I think that's ok. The book was very clear and readable, but it's just a hard set of concepts to get your head round however well it's explained. Some of it was familiar from AS Physics, which helped, and I also liked the last chapter on its applications, which was a bit more grounded. However, it was a bit depressing that the authors of all the mini-essays it contained were male, as were the authors of all (I think) of the recommended reading at the back, and only one female scientist was mentioned in the text (in a footnote, in the context of her proving someone more famous wrong and being ignored). This may well be an accurate representation of the field and not the book's fault, but either way it's a bit sad.
Heroines and Harridans
A funny, good-natured dash through an eclectic selection of fantastic women of history. Utterly charming. Recommended! Especially if you are already a Toksvig fan. As all right-thinking people are.
Hero
In which gay teenager Thom Creed tries to come to terms with his sexuality, his powers, and his disgraced father's legacy.
I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it just wasn't very good. :( I didn't think it was very well written (though it was readable; I finished it, after all, and read it pretty fast), it hit my embarrassment squick quite a lot, and it did that thing where it assumes that everyone's basically unpleasant, and it's rare to find anyone who isn't selfish or venal, which is a pet peeve of mine. (Also, I felt some of the treatment of the superhero characters was a little mean-spirited, especially given what close analogues some of them were to existing DC/Marvel characters.) I dithered for ages between giving it one star or two on Goodreads (LibraryThing let me give it one and a half), and eventually went with two, because having a gay main character in a superhero book has to count for SOMETHING, I just wish it had been a better superhero book.
Doctor Who: The Child of Time
I enjoyed this collection of Eleventh Doctor comics a whole lot: the stories were very varied, and Eleven's dialogue in particular was spot on. Anything that involves the Doctor flirting with Alan Turing is a-ok by me, and also there were robot Brontës with ray guns. The notes at the back were quite interesting, but I sort of wish I hadn't read them, because there was an infuriating amount of "let's put Amy in a quasi-school uniform, with STOCKINGS! Let's throw in lots of young women in their nighties and maybe get Amy to kiss one of them (nb she doesn't)! Let's give Amy a nurse's uniform! It's what MOFFAT would do!"... a) to be fair to the Moff, he hasn't really, and b) ugh. (It was a pretty heavy book, too, ow my thumbs.)
A Brief History of Montmaray
I picked this up because I'd heard it was like I Capture The Castle, but with an adventure plot. This turned out to be completely accurate! It wasn't as good as I Capture The Castle, but that's a very high bar to set, and I really loved it nevertheless. Well drawn characters, exciting plot... I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
Swimming Home - Deborah Levy
Mostly this was not that interesting to me - it hit all the usual litfic tropes and themes (everything is Meaningful! or everything is Meaningless and this is in itself Meaningful! Also middle aged people are miserable and self-regarding and intermittently mean), which don't really do anything for me. The description was excellent - clear, precise, evocative - so that lifted it a little, but overall I found the characters and plot so thin and distant, it was impossible to really engage with.
A Web of Air - Philip Reeve
I love this series. It draws you in with its delightfully inventive version of the world post some kind of disastrous technological crash (referred to as the Downsizing), full of brilliant details (like Rada, the goddess of actors and the theatre), and then it STABS YOU IN THE HEART WITH FEELINGS. Great stuff.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth
From amazon: When Cameron Post's parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they'll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
I loved this book. It was beautifully written, complex and painful, and the heroine was very well drawn. Excellent.
White Cat - Holly Black
From amazon: In a world where magic is illegal and his family is branded criminal, Cassel doesn't fit in. He has no magical talent - just a gift for getting into trouble.
This has been on my radar for ages, but I never got round to reading it, because I didn't really click with Holly Black's other books, and I could never remember which book was the first in the trilogy (see also: Alastair Reynolds. Publishers! LABEL YOUR SEQUELS AND TRILOGIES.). But then the library were doing a thing whereby if you borrowed three books on National Libraries Day you went into a draw to win an ereader, and I needed a third thing, and there it was, so I borrowed it and I read it and it was awesome THE END.
Showcase Presents Teen Titans vol 2
I can't remember why I reserved this collection of late 60s/early 70s Teen Titans comics, but it turned up for me from the library so I read it. It started off well, bursting with energy, fun, and entertaining seventies slang and outfits (and, sadly, some seventies unthinking sexism and racism at times). I got rather bogged down towards the middle, though, with a long story involving the Titans, minus Robin, plus Hawk and Dove, spending a lot of time in civvies, thus making it impossible for me to tell them apart (except for Donna, of course). It picked up again after that - I liked the story where teenagers take over Gotham and send a list of demands including things like "sort out the rubbish collections" and "clean up the schools" (and Batman's response was basically "...this seems reasonable") - but the Romeo and Juliet story was just odd, even by comics standards.
Batman: No Man's Land vol 1
I'm glad I'd already read Greg Rucka's excellent novelisation when I read this, because otherwise I'd've been a bit lost. I did nevertheless like it a lot, especially getting all the street level stories of Gothamites trying to survive. Unfortunately Bruce is a bit terrible in it. He really should have given Babs a heads-up on what Helena was up to, and also an explanation of the fact that she isn't (really) being Batgirl (at least, I don't think that's how Helena thinks of herself), she was instead stepping up as the Bat in his absence. Because he is TERRIBLE. I'm probably being overly influenced by the fact that I know where this is going - as much as I love Cass, which is quite a ridiculous amount, Bruce shutting Helena out, taking her batsuit and giving it to Cass is pretty awful. What I would really like to see is Helena explaining what's going on to Barbara, and the two of them together setting up Cass as Batgirl - Helena's suit, Barbara's name. That would've been awesome. Anyway. Also Azrael had some nice moments with Babs. (I keep forgetting he exists. (Existed?) Sorry Azrael.)
Zatanna: Shades of the Past
Like the previous volume, I liked but didn't love this. The writing took a noticeable dip towards the end when Paul Dini stopped writing it, which was a little disappointing. And the art was a bit variable - Cliff Chiang's issues were awesome, but that did make the rest look less good by comparison, even the bits that were fine. I did really like Zatanna's palindromic adventure, though.
Alias Ultimate Collection Vol 1
In which ex-superhero Jessica Jones is working as a private investigator...
Well this was just excellent. I held off on reading it for a bit because it looked like it was going to be a bit on the dark side (as opposed to the Dark Side), which it was, but it was so well written I didn't mind. It wasn't that cynical kind of dark where everyone is horrible: it was just full of people being people, and sometimes messing up and making bad choices, and sometimes getting it right. And it was most certainly not unremitting - there were plenty of moments of joy and humour, especially the J. Jonah Jameson bit, which made me giggle tremendously. I really liked Jessica, she felt very authentic, and I also appreciated that although there was a lot of history there that I didn't know, it didn't matter that I didn't know it, because the writing was good enough to convey all I needed to know about her and her relationships regardless. I liked the art a lot too: the style really suited the story, and there were some interesting panel layout choices that were clearly done to tell the story, not to be showy. A+ comic.
Short version: this month I particularly recommend Heroines and Harridans, The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Alias: Ultimate Collection Vol. 1. Plus Philip Reeve in general.
The Story of the Stone Vol. 1: The Golden Days - Cao Xuequin
Black Lightning: Year One
Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed - Jim Al-Khalili
Heroines and Harridans - Sandi Toksvig
Hero - Perry Moore
Doctor Who: The Child of Time
A Brief History of Montmaray - Michelle Cooper
Swimming Home - Deborah Levy
A Web of Air - Philip Reeve
The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth
White Cat - Holly Black
Showcase Presents Teen Titans vol 2
Gladstone's School For World Conquerors (vol 1)
Batman: No Man's Land Vol 1
Zatanna: Shades of the Past
The New Brighton Archeological Society Book 1: The Castle of Galomar
Alias Ultimate Collection Vol 1
Teen Titans: Team Building
In which Dick decides that Damian needs more friends, and drops him off with the Teen Titans in the hope that this will help. Also there is some plot, but I was less interested in that
I was a bit wary of this, since I've not really been able to get into any Teen Titans stuff, but I enjoyed it a fair bit. Maybe I should give the series another chance? (Addendum: I wrote all these reviews as I went along. I am now considerably less enthused about reading more of ANYTHING DC, though I will probably read the Teen Titans volume I'd already borrowed eventually.) Rose was great, I want to see more of her. (...see previous addendum.) And I always love Damian. I'd already read the Red Robin crossover, but liked seeing it again (whatever else you can say about Red Robin, it had some good hugs in it). Marcus To should draw ALL the teen books.
Black Lightning: Year One
HI TINY ANISSA HI! Ok, now that's out of my system... I liked this Year One, which retells the origins of Jefferson Pierce, one of DC's first major black heroes. I had a few issues with how suddenly some characters reformed, but other than that it was a good story, well told - the voiceover trick worked well, and I especially liked that it was Lightning's wife who got the first, introductory one. Unexpected Talia was unexpected, but I liked her here (and actually understood her motivations/characterisation, which is too rare). Special mention, too, for Cully Hamner's smashing art.
Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed
I am still pretty perplexed by quantum, but I think that's ok. The book was very clear and readable, but it's just a hard set of concepts to get your head round however well it's explained. Some of it was familiar from AS Physics, which helped, and I also liked the last chapter on its applications, which was a bit more grounded. However, it was a bit depressing that the authors of all the mini-essays it contained were male, as were the authors of all (I think) of the recommended reading at the back, and only one female scientist was mentioned in the text (in a footnote, in the context of her proving someone more famous wrong and being ignored). This may well be an accurate representation of the field and not the book's fault, but either way it's a bit sad.
Heroines and Harridans
A funny, good-natured dash through an eclectic selection of fantastic women of history. Utterly charming. Recommended! Especially if you are already a Toksvig fan. As all right-thinking people are.
Hero
In which gay teenager Thom Creed tries to come to terms with his sexuality, his powers, and his disgraced father's legacy.
I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it just wasn't very good. :( I didn't think it was very well written (though it was readable; I finished it, after all, and read it pretty fast), it hit my embarrassment squick quite a lot, and it did that thing where it assumes that everyone's basically unpleasant, and it's rare to find anyone who isn't selfish or venal, which is a pet peeve of mine. (Also, I felt some of the treatment of the superhero characters was a little mean-spirited, especially given what close analogues some of them were to existing DC/Marvel characters.) I dithered for ages between giving it one star or two on Goodreads (LibraryThing let me give it one and a half), and eventually went with two, because having a gay main character in a superhero book has to count for SOMETHING, I just wish it had been a better superhero book.
Doctor Who: The Child of Time
I enjoyed this collection of Eleventh Doctor comics a whole lot: the stories were very varied, and Eleven's dialogue in particular was spot on. Anything that involves the Doctor flirting with Alan Turing is a-ok by me, and also there were robot Brontës with ray guns. The notes at the back were quite interesting, but I sort of wish I hadn't read them, because there was an infuriating amount of "let's put Amy in a quasi-school uniform, with STOCKINGS! Let's throw in lots of young women in their nighties and maybe get Amy to kiss one of them (nb she doesn't)! Let's give Amy a nurse's uniform! It's what MOFFAT would do!"... a) to be fair to the Moff, he hasn't really, and b) ugh. (It was a pretty heavy book, too, ow my thumbs.)
A Brief History of Montmaray
I picked this up because I'd heard it was like I Capture The Castle, but with an adventure plot. This turned out to be completely accurate! It wasn't as good as I Capture The Castle, but that's a very high bar to set, and I really loved it nevertheless. Well drawn characters, exciting plot... I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
Swimming Home - Deborah Levy
Mostly this was not that interesting to me - it hit all the usual litfic tropes and themes (everything is Meaningful! or everything is Meaningless and this is in itself Meaningful! Also middle aged people are miserable and self-regarding and intermittently mean), which don't really do anything for me. The description was excellent - clear, precise, evocative - so that lifted it a little, but overall I found the characters and plot so thin and distant, it was impossible to really engage with.
A Web of Air - Philip Reeve
I love this series. It draws you in with its delightfully inventive version of the world post some kind of disastrous technological crash (referred to as the Downsizing), full of brilliant details (like Rada, the goddess of actors and the theatre), and then it STABS YOU IN THE HEART WITH FEELINGS. Great stuff.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post - Emily M. Danforth
From amazon: When Cameron Post's parents die suddenly in a car crash, her shocking first thought is relief. Relief they'll never know that, hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
I loved this book. It was beautifully written, complex and painful, and the heroine was very well drawn. Excellent.
White Cat - Holly Black
From amazon: In a world where magic is illegal and his family is branded criminal, Cassel doesn't fit in. He has no magical talent - just a gift for getting into trouble.
This has been on my radar for ages, but I never got round to reading it, because I didn't really click with Holly Black's other books, and I could never remember which book was the first in the trilogy (see also: Alastair Reynolds. Publishers! LABEL YOUR SEQUELS AND TRILOGIES.). But then the library were doing a thing whereby if you borrowed three books on National Libraries Day you went into a draw to win an ereader, and I needed a third thing, and there it was, so I borrowed it and I read it and it was awesome THE END.
Showcase Presents Teen Titans vol 2
I can't remember why I reserved this collection of late 60s/early 70s Teen Titans comics, but it turned up for me from the library so I read it. It started off well, bursting with energy, fun, and entertaining seventies slang and outfits (and, sadly, some seventies unthinking sexism and racism at times). I got rather bogged down towards the middle, though, with a long story involving the Titans, minus Robin, plus Hawk and Dove, spending a lot of time in civvies, thus making it impossible for me to tell them apart (except for Donna, of course). It picked up again after that - I liked the story where teenagers take over Gotham and send a list of demands including things like "sort out the rubbish collections" and "clean up the schools" (and Batman's response was basically "...this seems reasonable") - but the Romeo and Juliet story was just odd, even by comics standards.
Batman: No Man's Land vol 1
I'm glad I'd already read Greg Rucka's excellent novelisation when I read this, because otherwise I'd've been a bit lost. I did nevertheless like it a lot, especially getting all the street level stories of Gothamites trying to survive. Unfortunately Bruce is a bit terrible in it. He really should have given Babs a heads-up on what Helena was up to, and also an explanation of the fact that she isn't (really) being Batgirl (at least, I don't think that's how Helena thinks of herself), she was instead stepping up as the Bat in his absence. Because he is TERRIBLE. I'm probably being overly influenced by the fact that I know where this is going - as much as I love Cass, which is quite a ridiculous amount, Bruce shutting Helena out, taking her batsuit and giving it to Cass is pretty awful. What I would really like to see is Helena explaining what's going on to Barbara, and the two of them together setting up Cass as Batgirl - Helena's suit, Barbara's name. That would've been awesome. Anyway. Also Azrael had some nice moments with Babs. (I keep forgetting he exists. (Existed?) Sorry Azrael.)
Zatanna: Shades of the Past
Like the previous volume, I liked but didn't love this. The writing took a noticeable dip towards the end when Paul Dini stopped writing it, which was a little disappointing. And the art was a bit variable - Cliff Chiang's issues were awesome, but that did make the rest look less good by comparison, even the bits that were fine. I did really like Zatanna's palindromic adventure, though.
Alias Ultimate Collection Vol 1
In which ex-superhero Jessica Jones is working as a private investigator...
Well this was just excellent. I held off on reading it for a bit because it looked like it was going to be a bit on the dark side (as opposed to the Dark Side), which it was, but it was so well written I didn't mind. It wasn't that cynical kind of dark where everyone is horrible: it was just full of people being people, and sometimes messing up and making bad choices, and sometimes getting it right. And it was most certainly not unremitting - there were plenty of moments of joy and humour, especially the J. Jonah Jameson bit, which made me giggle tremendously. I really liked Jessica, she felt very authentic, and I also appreciated that although there was a lot of history there that I didn't know, it didn't matter that I didn't know it, because the writing was good enough to convey all I needed to know about her and her relationships regardless. I liked the art a lot too: the style really suited the story, and there were some interesting panel layout choices that were clearly done to tell the story, not to be showy. A+ comic.
Short version: this month I particularly recommend Heroines and Harridans, The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Alias: Ultimate Collection Vol. 1. Plus Philip Reeve in general.