incorrigibly frivolous (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
usuallyhats) wrote2018-11-01 08:51 pm
usuallyhats) wrote2018-11-01 08:51 pm
Books and comics read in October 2018
Landmarks - Robert Macfarlane
The Seventh Bride - T Kingfisher
Han Solo - Marjorie Liu
Night and Silence - Seanan McGuire
Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse
Tess of the Road - Rachel Hartmann
Doctor Who: Mission: Impractical - David A. McIntee
Cream Buns and Crime - Robin Stevens
A Seditious Affair - KJ Charles
A Case of Possession - KJ Charles
Doctor Who: Time and Relative - Kim Newman
The Wicked and the Divine: Rising Action
The Wicked and the Divine: Imperial Phase, Part 1
The Wicked and the Divine: Imperial Phase, Part 2
The Ninth Flame - Jen Williams
Spectred Isle - KJ Charles
Hamilton's Battalion - Alyssa Cole, Courtney Milan and Rose Lerner
Things A Bright Girl Can Do - Sally Nicholls
(I briefly experimented with cross-posting these to Goodreads, but then the editor of the Critical Role comic I read last month commented on my review to tell me my opinions were wrong, so definitely don't want to do that anymore.)
Han Solo
I love Han Solo so much and his characterisation here was pretty much perfect for the gap between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back: being a good person while pretending he's not, aware that he's lying to himself but not quite ready to stop. This comic might not really be worth five stars, objectively speaking, but I have never pretended to be objective and I am definitely having five stars worth of emotions right now.
Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse
This was super cute, but also, wow, heteronormativity in children's media is certainly a thing.
Tess of the Road
I think this book was a bit overhyped by the time I got to it, sadly. I was expecting a transcendent reading experience, but it was just... fine. I liked what it was doing, it mostly did it well (though I felt like I could see the wheels turning in the background to provide Tess with exactly the experience she needed for that stage of her emotional journey a few times), but it didn't set my world on fire.
Also the unexpected male love interest was introduced at a point where I was already having a bad day and feeling more than usually despairing about the crushing ubiquity of romance narratives, so I had to put the book on pause for a bit at that point and read something else for a while instead. :/
Doctor Who: Time and Relative
This was a bit darker than I prefer, and the writing style tipped into pretentiousness from time to time, but I nevertheless really liked it. Getting Susan's point of view was excellent, and I feel like it really captured the alienation of being a teenage girl.
Things A Bright Girl Can Do
I really enjoyed this YA novel about three teenage suffragettes in WWI. The style was mostly charmingly brisk, with a few slips into abrupt here and there, and I appreciated how committed it was to complication and to leaving some loose ends. The threads about gender and sexuality were handled pretty well - there's one character who might have identified as non-binary if she'd been aware that was an option (although, also, she might not have), and her relationship to her gender and gender markings was treated sympathetically by both the narrative and the characters, even though the latter didn't have the vocabulary and concepts available to us. I could have done with slightly more on class, though I very much appreciated what it did do on that front. It was also a shame that, a couple of brief appearances aside, all the characters were white. But overall, recommended.
The Seventh Bride - T Kingfisher
Han Solo - Marjorie Liu
Night and Silence - Seanan McGuire
Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse
Tess of the Road - Rachel Hartmann
Doctor Who: Mission: Impractical - David A. McIntee
Cream Buns and Crime - Robin Stevens
A Seditious Affair - KJ Charles
A Case of Possession - KJ Charles
Doctor Who: Time and Relative - Kim Newman
The Wicked and the Divine: Rising Action
The Wicked and the Divine: Imperial Phase, Part 1
The Wicked and the Divine: Imperial Phase, Part 2
The Ninth Flame - Jen Williams
Spectred Isle - KJ Charles
Hamilton's Battalion - Alyssa Cole, Courtney Milan and Rose Lerner
Things A Bright Girl Can Do - Sally Nicholls
(I briefly experimented with cross-posting these to Goodreads, but then the editor of the Critical Role comic I read last month commented on my review to tell me my opinions were wrong, so definitely don't want to do that anymore.)
Han Solo
I love Han Solo so much and his characterisation here was pretty much perfect for the gap between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back: being a good person while pretending he's not, aware that he's lying to himself but not quite ready to stop. This comic might not really be worth five stars, objectively speaking, but I have never pretended to be objective and I am definitely having five stars worth of emotions right now.
Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse
This was super cute, but also, wow, heteronormativity in children's media is certainly a thing.
Tess of the Road
I think this book was a bit overhyped by the time I got to it, sadly. I was expecting a transcendent reading experience, but it was just... fine. I liked what it was doing, it mostly did it well (though I felt like I could see the wheels turning in the background to provide Tess with exactly the experience she needed for that stage of her emotional journey a few times), but it didn't set my world on fire.
Also the unexpected male love interest was introduced at a point where I was already having a bad day and feeling more than usually despairing about the crushing ubiquity of romance narratives, so I had to put the book on pause for a bit at that point and read something else for a while instead. :/
Doctor Who: Time and Relative
This was a bit darker than I prefer, and the writing style tipped into pretentiousness from time to time, but I nevertheless really liked it. Getting Susan's point of view was excellent, and I feel like it really captured the alienation of being a teenage girl.
Things A Bright Girl Can Do
I really enjoyed this YA novel about three teenage suffragettes in WWI. The style was mostly charmingly brisk, with a few slips into abrupt here and there, and I appreciated how committed it was to complication and to leaving some loose ends. The threads about gender and sexuality were handled pretty well - there's one character who might have identified as non-binary if she'd been aware that was an option (although, also, she might not have), and her relationship to her gender and gender markings was treated sympathetically by both the narrative and the characters, even though the latter didn't have the vocabulary and concepts available to us. I could have done with slightly more on class, though I very much appreciated what it did do on that front. It was also a shame that, a couple of brief appearances aside, all the characters were white. But overall, recommended.
no subject
ARGH!
definitely dont do this, people.