Books and comics read in October 2020
Monday, 2 November 2020 14:29![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsFaith: California Scheming
Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight - Aliette de Bodard
Star Wars: The Last Command - Timothy Zahn
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow - Natasha Pulley
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire - Akala
Division Bells - Iona Datt Sharma
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow
This is a sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, picking up with Thaniel and Mori a few years later. It's beautifully written, absorbing, and deeply, deeply frustrating. So much of the angst and some of the plot could have been resolved so easily if Mori had actually communicated anything to anyone at any point! And sure, he finds it hard to trust and confide in people, and that's legit; and sure, Thaniel doesn't really communicate his desperate need for affection and validation, due to his equally desperate need to not impose or be in any way a burden. But I feel like when you invite your lover, who you've been living with for years, back to your ancestral home, it's polite to mention, at the very least, that YOU HAVE A WIFE AND SHE LIVES THERE. And it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that you should also mention to said wife that (skip) the reason you let her best friend be murdered for The Greater Good is that she was terminally ill and she asked you to make sure her death meant something. THANIEL DESERVED BETTER. TAKIKO DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER.
And I just... I have no time for "this dude has to do terrible things for The Greater Good, woe is him", especially when the book then ties itself in knots to explain why they weren't actually as bad as they seemed and everyone should have just trusted him, even though he didn't really give anyone much of a reason to trust him.
There are a lot of things to like about this book: the writing is beautiful and rich, it's very atmospheric, the characters are wonderfully drawn. I adored Six and her relationship with Thaniel - every scene with them was gold. But that wasn't enough to make up for how much I hated some of its choices.
Division Bells
An extremely delightful m/m romance novella, with all of the author's usual excellence at making me Feel Things. It has a wonderful groundedness, as is always the case with Iona's work: the situation and the characters all feel deeply real, even the minor ones, and it's easy to believe that they all have rich, full lives outside their appearances on the page. It's heartfelt, emotional and also very funny in places. I loved it a lot.
Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight - Aliette de Bodard
Star Wars: The Last Command - Timothy Zahn
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow - Natasha Pulley
Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire - Akala
Division Bells - Iona Datt Sharma
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow
This is a sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, picking up with Thaniel and Mori a few years later. It's beautifully written, absorbing, and deeply, deeply frustrating. So much of the angst and some of the plot could have been resolved so easily if Mori had actually communicated anything to anyone at any point! And sure, he finds it hard to trust and confide in people, and that's legit; and sure, Thaniel doesn't really communicate his desperate need for affection and validation, due to his equally desperate need to not impose or be in any way a burden. But I feel like when you invite your lover, who you've been living with for years, back to your ancestral home, it's polite to mention, at the very least, that YOU HAVE A WIFE AND SHE LIVES THERE. And it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that you should also mention to said wife that (skip) the reason you let her best friend be murdered for The Greater Good is that she was terminally ill and she asked you to make sure her death meant something. THANIEL DESERVED BETTER. TAKIKO DESERVED SO MUCH BETTER.
And I just... I have no time for "this dude has to do terrible things for The Greater Good, woe is him", especially when the book then ties itself in knots to explain why they weren't actually as bad as they seemed and everyone should have just trusted him, even though he didn't really give anyone much of a reason to trust him.
There are a lot of things to like about this book: the writing is beautiful and rich, it's very atmospheric, the characters are wonderfully drawn. I adored Six and her relationship with Thaniel - every scene with them was gold. But that wasn't enough to make up for how much I hated some of its choices.
Division Bells
An extremely delightful m/m romance novella, with all of the author's usual excellence at making me Feel Things. It has a wonderful groundedness, as is always the case with Iona's work: the situation and the characters all feel deeply real, even the minor ones, and it's easy to believe that they all have rich, full lives outside their appearances on the page. It's heartfelt, emotional and also very funny in places. I loved it a lot.
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Date: 2 Nov 2020 21:37 (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 Nov 2020 10:37 (UTC)