incorrigibly frivolous (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
usuallyhats) wrote2013-03-01 11:16 am
usuallyhats) wrote2013-03-01 11:16 am
Entry tags:
- books,
- books: author: cao xuequin,
- books: author: deborah levy,
- books: author: emily m. danforth,
- books: author: holly black,
- books: author: jim al-khalili,
- books: author: michelle cooper,
- books: author: perry moore,
- books: author: philip reeve,
- books: author: sandi toksvig,
- comics,
- comics: batfamily,
- comics: dc,
- comics: marvel,
- dw: comics: the child of time,
- tv: doctor who
Books and comics read in February 2013
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.
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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
Me too, that winds me up so much, it seems like part of that whole I'm-cynical-aren't-I-cool thing.
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I really wanted Hero to be good. :( Hoping that The Posterchildren will fulfil my desire for queer superheroes instead!
it seems like part of that whole I'm-cynical-aren't-I-cool thing
*nodnodnod* and relatedly, the idea that darker = more grown up/sophisticated. D:
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Wow, that looks cool! I always see the good Kickstarters after they're finished!
YES, OMG, if I never hear the word 'gritty' again it will be too soon. Is it too hard to grasp that excellent storytelling can still be nice?
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I think I'd better consider White Cat - I didn't enjoy the other book of hers I've read beut you're the second person who has commented that this series was much better than the others. I think I might chose to plunge in!
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I didn't DISlike the earlier ones of hers I've read, exactly, just found them somewhat lacking, but White Cat was definitely a cut above the rest! I'd recommend giving it a go unless you really hated the other one.
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This sounds hilarious. Someone else was talking about the old Teen Titans the other day and was saying that in the really early issues, such things happened as: they thought Kori could actually pull off a civilian identity, so Dick told her to never be seen using her powers in street clothes. So when she sees Bad Things going down in a park, she just starts changing outfits in the middle of it so that she can go stop them, because that seems logical, yes? :P
I just read Team Building, too! Damian and Rose fighting zombies together was the cutest thing. I really miss when Damian had, like, a dozen big sisters he didn't actually want. (Did you read the latest Li'l Gotham where he gets to hang out with Katana?) :P
I haven't read any other Teen Titans, but now I want to. Although, grr, DC.
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Ahaha, awesome! Kory... civillian identity... how did they possibly think that would work? ♥ This was much older stuff I was reading, so no Kory as she hadn't been invented yet. :(
Did you read the latest Li'l Gotham where he gets to hang out with Katana?
I did! I'm not sure about the idea of slotting Katana in as one of the Batkids - she's a proper grown up already! - but other than that it was really cute. ♥
I keep going "ooh, that sounds like a cool comics thing" and then remembering about Damian and getting sad and angry again. :(
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Hahaha, Batman WOULD try to make a point out of it in the middle of saving everyone.
Kory... civillian identity... how did they possibly think that would work?
I have no idea. Maybe if she wore sunglasses all the time and pretended she'd had a really bad incident with a tanning salon? :P
I didn't think they were trying to make Katana a kid, necessarily. I mean, EVERYONE acts like a kid in Li'l Gotham, and I think there was something in Streets of Gotham where Katana helped the Batfamily and then Damian got a crush on her? So I assumed it was sort of a callback to that.
Yeah, DC is really bad at life choices these days. :/
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It was more the Thanksgiving issue, really, where I felt like she was being portrayed as being around the same age as Tim, though to be fair I'm probably a bit oversensitive due to her various recent animated appearances - she was definitely a teenager in Batman: the Brave and the Bold, and she's going to be Bruce's sidekick in Beware the Batman. I'd forgotten about her Streets of Gotham appearances, though! That makes me feel better about it.
It does feel a bit like every time I've reconciled myself to the reboot, DC somehow makes it worse. :(
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I am now imagining ridiculous arguments between Bruce and Dick.
Dick: "But I don't see why it's a problem if I take Kori to the zoo with my other friends...."
Bruce: "You honestly don't see why it would compromise your secret identity to be seen in public WITH A KNOWN ALIEN?"
Dick: "Well, what if I buy her some human clothes?"
Bruce: *facepalm*
Dick and Kori: *go to the zoo anyway*
Yeah, I don't know. The Thanksgiving one confused me--I couldn't figure out who anyone was, partly because I'd not read very much Batman yet back then, and partly because EVERYONE has black hair and changes their haircut all the time, so I didn't realize the ladies were Katana and Selina until it was pointed out to me. I wonder if he did that because they wouldn't let him put in Cass and Steph, or something.
Are they actively trying to chase away fans, or something? Or are they just very out of touch? Or is the larger fanboy segment of the following truly well pleased with these shenanigans?
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I wonder if he did that because they wouldn't let him put in Cass and Steph, or something.
I would not be surprised if that were the case, sadly. I wish we could have all of them!
I have no idea. I assume some people must be enjoying it all, because the comics seem to be selling ok...