Books and comics read in July 2019
Friday, 2 August 2019 11:17![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsBuilt: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures - Roma Agrawal
Dread Nation - Justina Ireland
The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal
Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach - Kelly Robson
The Black God's Drums - P. Djèlí Clark
Nimona - Noelle Stevenson
Saga vol 9
Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History - Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, Michael Witwer, Sam Witwer
Abbott
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Strong Poison - Dorothy L Sayers
Have His Carcase - Dorothy L Sayers
Gaudy Night - Dorothy L Sayers
Ms Marvel: Teenage Wasteland
Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy L Sayers
The Cruel Prince - Holly Black
Artificial Condition - Martha Wells
(this month's "I've forgotten how to like books and I need resetting" rereads: Good Omens and all the Harriet Vane books)
Dread Nation
I liked this very much, even though I'm, to put it mildly, not a zombies person. The premise (what if the American Civil War was interrupted by an outbreak of zombies?) is very well realised; the portrayal of how the racism of the period would manifest in this new situation was extremely clear eyed and thoughtful. The characters are also great: I was especially delighted by the (bi) heroine's aro ace best friend, obv, and I loved how the heroine was tough and sometimes harsh but had a fundamental core of justice and compassion for others - her instincts are always to be fair. I'll be keeping an eye out for the sequel.
The Calculating Stars
First off, I have to admit that this book lost a whole star for the excruciating rocket ship metaphors in all the sex scenes (once or twice might have been forgivable, but not EVERY TIME), and the offhand remark towards the beginning about how being a "healthy" couple means having a lot of sex.
Outside of that, this has a great premise - a catastrophic meteor strike means that the earth will soon become uninhabitable and therefore accelerates the space program and the participation of women therein - and the opening, concerning the initial meteor strike, is cracking, but I just didn't like it as much as I wanted to. The characterisation was pretty flat, and it really failed to demonstrate the main character Elma's passion for flight in general and space flight in particular. There's a moment when she's asked why she wants to go into space and all I could think was "...good question". I also felt like her marriage was being set up as an example of an amazing m/f marriage, but it was just... fine? He's supportive of her when it becomes staggeringly obvious that she needs it? Maybe I'd've liked it more without the rocket ship metaphors.
The treatment of race and racism also felt a bit shallow, though its heart was clearly in the right place and I appreciated that it acknowledged racism as a function of both individual and systemic prejudices - it just never quite went as deep as it could have done, and felt very centred on Elma's feelings and choices. And the fact that the most prominent brown character consistently speaks in broken English... did not help. (I do want to add at this point that Elma is Jewish, which complicates things, but the narrative very much seems to set her up as the privileged party when it talks about race without really acknowledging that complication, or so it seemed to me, though I may well have missed some nuances. I did really like the way her being Jewish was integrated into the story otherwise, though - it's casually part of who she is and the fabric of her life in a way that worked really well.)
The worldbuilding also didn't quite convince me that this was a world that had suffered such a major calamity - after the opening, everything seemed to be carrying on pretty much as normal, with some added stuff about the space program being international now, though it basically felt like an American space program with added non-American names here and there.
I did enjoy this book slightly more than I'm making it sound! But I do feel like it had some fundamental flaws that stopped me loving it like I wanted to.
Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach
This was a solid novella: interesting worldbuilding, good characters, decent plot. I really wish it had been a full novel, though. I feel like the extra space would have allowed the worldbuilding to breathe and helped build up the characters further, thus upping my level of investment. As it was, I enjoyed reading it, but ultimately found it a bit forgettable.
The Black God's Drums
Another novella that I wish had been longer! I think this one worked within its length constraints a bit better than the previous, though again more space would have helped it. I really enjoyed the AU!New Orleans-with-magic setting, and loved the main character, scrappy orphan Creeper, and Anna-Marie, the disabled bisexual airship captain she teamed up with. Their relationship was great and I'd love to see more of it. Overall this kind of felt like a prologue to a longer sequence, and I hope this turns out to be the case.
Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History
I thoroughly enjoyed this visually-focussed amble through the history of D&D, not least because it's very much where I am right now, fannishly speaking. It's true that it does err on the hagiographic side when it comes to 5th edition, but I feel like to a certain extent that's a natural side effect of it being the current edition. 5e is the only version I'm familiar with, though, and I love it a lot, so it's very likely that anyone with a strong preference for a different edition might be less forgiving of this aspect.
Ms Marvel: Teenage Wasteland
I just love this book so much? It has a great energy to it, and I'm sad I only have one more volume to go before the end of G Willow Wilson's run on it. I especially liked that Kamala's friends got to take the spotlight in the first few issues of this volume. My one criticism is that they should know that she's Ms Marvel - not only because it's crashingly obvious (although it is), but because the emotional throughlines of that storyline would have worked so much better if they did.
I'm also somewhat belatedly appreciating how well Ian Herring's colours have given this book a coherent visual identity across the various art styles. Not that any of the artists have been bad, in fact this book has been remarkably blessed iirc, but there have been some very different styles of art, and the colours have tied them together beautifully.
Didn't finish: Infomocracy
This was a soft DNF - there wasn't anything I really disliked about it (though I had slightly too many questions about one aspect of the worldbuilding to effectively suspend my disbelief), I just couldn't get into it. I might give it another try when I'm in a more receptive mood.
Dread Nation - Justina Ireland
The Calculating Stars - Mary Robinette Kowal
Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach - Kelly Robson
The Black God's Drums - P. Djèlí Clark
Nimona - Noelle Stevenson
Saga vol 9
Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History - Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, Michael Witwer, Sam Witwer
Abbott
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Strong Poison - Dorothy L Sayers
Have His Carcase - Dorothy L Sayers
Gaudy Night - Dorothy L Sayers
Ms Marvel: Teenage Wasteland
Busman's Honeymoon - Dorothy L Sayers
The Cruel Prince - Holly Black
Artificial Condition - Martha Wells
(this month's "I've forgotten how to like books and I need resetting" rereads: Good Omens and all the Harriet Vane books)
Dread Nation
I liked this very much, even though I'm, to put it mildly, not a zombies person. The premise (what if the American Civil War was interrupted by an outbreak of zombies?) is very well realised; the portrayal of how the racism of the period would manifest in this new situation was extremely clear eyed and thoughtful. The characters are also great: I was especially delighted by the (bi) heroine's aro ace best friend, obv, and I loved how the heroine was tough and sometimes harsh but had a fundamental core of justice and compassion for others - her instincts are always to be fair. I'll be keeping an eye out for the sequel.
The Calculating Stars
First off, I have to admit that this book lost a whole star for the excruciating rocket ship metaphors in all the sex scenes (once or twice might have been forgivable, but not EVERY TIME), and the offhand remark towards the beginning about how being a "healthy" couple means having a lot of sex.
Outside of that, this has a great premise - a catastrophic meteor strike means that the earth will soon become uninhabitable and therefore accelerates the space program and the participation of women therein - and the opening, concerning the initial meteor strike, is cracking, but I just didn't like it as much as I wanted to. The characterisation was pretty flat, and it really failed to demonstrate the main character Elma's passion for flight in general and space flight in particular. There's a moment when she's asked why she wants to go into space and all I could think was "...good question". I also felt like her marriage was being set up as an example of an amazing m/f marriage, but it was just... fine? He's supportive of her when it becomes staggeringly obvious that she needs it? Maybe I'd've liked it more without the rocket ship metaphors.
The treatment of race and racism also felt a bit shallow, though its heart was clearly in the right place and I appreciated that it acknowledged racism as a function of both individual and systemic prejudices - it just never quite went as deep as it could have done, and felt very centred on Elma's feelings and choices. And the fact that the most prominent brown character consistently speaks in broken English... did not help. (I do want to add at this point that Elma is Jewish, which complicates things, but the narrative very much seems to set her up as the privileged party when it talks about race without really acknowledging that complication, or so it seemed to me, though I may well have missed some nuances. I did really like the way her being Jewish was integrated into the story otherwise, though - it's casually part of who she is and the fabric of her life in a way that worked really well.)
The worldbuilding also didn't quite convince me that this was a world that had suffered such a major calamity - after the opening, everything seemed to be carrying on pretty much as normal, with some added stuff about the space program being international now, though it basically felt like an American space program with added non-American names here and there.
I did enjoy this book slightly more than I'm making it sound! But I do feel like it had some fundamental flaws that stopped me loving it like I wanted to.
Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach
This was a solid novella: interesting worldbuilding, good characters, decent plot. I really wish it had been a full novel, though. I feel like the extra space would have allowed the worldbuilding to breathe and helped build up the characters further, thus upping my level of investment. As it was, I enjoyed reading it, but ultimately found it a bit forgettable.
The Black God's Drums
Another novella that I wish had been longer! I think this one worked within its length constraints a bit better than the previous, though again more space would have helped it. I really enjoyed the AU!New Orleans-with-magic setting, and loved the main character, scrappy orphan Creeper, and Anna-Marie, the disabled bisexual airship captain she teamed up with. Their relationship was great and I'd love to see more of it. Overall this kind of felt like a prologue to a longer sequence, and I hope this turns out to be the case.
Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History
I thoroughly enjoyed this visually-focussed amble through the history of D&D, not least because it's very much where I am right now, fannishly speaking. It's true that it does err on the hagiographic side when it comes to 5th edition, but I feel like to a certain extent that's a natural side effect of it being the current edition. 5e is the only version I'm familiar with, though, and I love it a lot, so it's very likely that anyone with a strong preference for a different edition might be less forgiving of this aspect.
Ms Marvel: Teenage Wasteland
I just love this book so much? It has a great energy to it, and I'm sad I only have one more volume to go before the end of G Willow Wilson's run on it. I especially liked that Kamala's friends got to take the spotlight in the first few issues of this volume. My one criticism is that they should know that she's Ms Marvel - not only because it's crashingly obvious (although it is), but because the emotional throughlines of that storyline would have worked so much better if they did.
I'm also somewhat belatedly appreciating how well Ian Herring's colours have given this book a coherent visual identity across the various art styles. Not that any of the artists have been bad, in fact this book has been remarkably blessed iirc, but there have been some very different styles of art, and the colours have tied them together beautifully.
Didn't finish: Infomocracy
This was a soft DNF - there wasn't anything I really disliked about it (though I had slightly too many questions about one aspect of the worldbuilding to effectively suspend my disbelief), I just couldn't get into it. I might give it another try when I'm in a more receptive mood.
no subject
Date: 2 Aug 2019 12:04 (UTC)This might be my favourite ever opening line of a review.
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Date: 2 Aug 2019 13:06 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2 Aug 2019 13:36 (UTC)Thoughts on Martha Wells? I keep seeing her name pop up...
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Date: 2 Aug 2019 14:02 (UTC)Same with Lucky Peach. It didn't feel like it really had an ending, tbh.
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Date: 5 Aug 2019 08:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Aug 2019 08:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 5 Aug 2019 08:44 (UTC)I really enjoyed the two Murderbot novellas I've read, and am about a fifth into the first Raksura book, which I also like a lot, so definitely positive so far! I definitely recommend the Murderbot novellas; the only reason I haven't read them all is that I'm iffy on buying ebooks from Tor between the library embargo and how expensive their novellas are.
no subject
Date: 5 Aug 2019 08:45 (UTC)Yeah, agree. I liked what was there, but it really needed more.
no subject
Date: 5 Aug 2019 16:53 (UTC)no subject
Date: 17 Aug 2019 07:19 (UTC)