Books and comics read in June 2021
Thursday, 22 July 2021 17:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhats(I definitely didn't forget I hadn't posted this yet /o\)
Fire Logic - Laurie J Marks
Cinderella is Dead - Kalynn Bayron
Black Water Sister - Zen Cho
Finna - Nino Cipri
Die: Split the Party
Upright Women Wanted - Sarah Gailey
Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas
Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E Butler - Lynell George
Hugo packet time! I've already read or decided not to read a fair bit of what's in it this year, mostly what's left is the comics, the novellas, a couple of Lodestars and a few other bits and pieces. I really love Hugo packet time; the ritual of downloading everything, seeing what's there and organising it all nicely is very pleasing to me.
Fire Logic
This is in many ways a very traditional fantasy novel, but also everyone's queer. It feels like a very quiet book in some ways, despite the dramatic upheavals that take place across the narrative, because it's very focused on its protagonists and how they change and grow as a result of what happens in the plot. I really liked it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
(Content notes: grief, abuse, violence, addiction)
Black Water Sister
This novel about a young queer woman moving to Malaysia with her family (where they come from, but she hasn't seen since she was a toddler), only to find herself haunted by the ghost of her grandmother, is a bit darker than Zen Cho's previous novels, but I still enjoyed it very much. It has her usual fantastic talent for dialogue, and I found myself really liking the fact that the ending isn't neat but leaves room for nuance and complexity: the lines between victims and villains in this book aren't always straightforward, and that's a strength.
(Content notes: domestic abuse, attempted rape)
Die: Split the Party
Look, between the RPG stuff and the imaginative landscapes shaped by literary works, this comic is hitting me where I live, and I am into it. Also I will never get tired of Stephanie Hans's art.
(content notes: pet death, torture, consent issues)
Beowulf: A New Translation
I don't have the scholarly background to assess how this works as a translation of Beowulf, but I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's pacey and entertaining, and the mixture of modern slang and archaic vocabulary has a confidence to it that made my heart lift.
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
This was a lot of fun but not massively substantial? I did really like that it tried to engage with ideas about power, prejudice and control, but I don't think it went far enough for me. Also the main villains had the same name as a brand of soap has over here, which kept throwing me out. It did remind me a bit of a lesser Diana Wynne Jones, though, and it was a really entertaining read overall.
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E Butler
This is less a straightforward biography and more an attempt to evoke the ways in which Octavia Butler lived in the world. It was fascinating and beautifully written, and I enjoyed it very much.
Didn't finish: Ring Shout - P. Djèlí Clark
This was very good, it just had more gore/horror than I could cope with.
Fire Logic - Laurie J Marks
Cinderella is Dead - Kalynn Bayron
Black Water Sister - Zen Cho
Finna - Nino Cipri
Die: Split the Party
Upright Women Wanted - Sarah Gailey
Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas
Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T. Kingfisher
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E Butler - Lynell George
Hugo packet time! I've already read or decided not to read a fair bit of what's in it this year, mostly what's left is the comics, the novellas, a couple of Lodestars and a few other bits and pieces. I really love Hugo packet time; the ritual of downloading everything, seeing what's there and organising it all nicely is very pleasing to me.
Fire Logic
This is in many ways a very traditional fantasy novel, but also everyone's queer. It feels like a very quiet book in some ways, despite the dramatic upheavals that take place across the narrative, because it's very focused on its protagonists and how they change and grow as a result of what happens in the plot. I really liked it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.
(Content notes: grief, abuse, violence, addiction)
Black Water Sister
This novel about a young queer woman moving to Malaysia with her family (where they come from, but she hasn't seen since she was a toddler), only to find herself haunted by the ghost of her grandmother, is a bit darker than Zen Cho's previous novels, but I still enjoyed it very much. It has her usual fantastic talent for dialogue, and I found myself really liking the fact that the ending isn't neat but leaves room for nuance and complexity: the lines between victims and villains in this book aren't always straightforward, and that's a strength.
(Content notes: domestic abuse, attempted rape)
Die: Split the Party
Look, between the RPG stuff and the imaginative landscapes shaped by literary works, this comic is hitting me where I live, and I am into it. Also I will never get tired of Stephanie Hans's art.
(content notes: pet death, torture, consent issues)
Beowulf: A New Translation
I don't have the scholarly background to assess how this works as a translation of Beowulf, but I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It's pacey and entertaining, and the mixture of modern slang and archaic vocabulary has a confidence to it that made my heart lift.
A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking
This was a lot of fun but not massively substantial? I did really like that it tried to engage with ideas about power, prejudice and control, but I don't think it went far enough for me. Also the main villains had the same name as a brand of soap has over here, which kept throwing me out. It did remind me a bit of a lesser Diana Wynne Jones, though, and it was a really entertaining read overall.
A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E Butler
This is less a straightforward biography and more an attempt to evoke the ways in which Octavia Butler lived in the world. It was fascinating and beautifully written, and I enjoyed it very much.
Didn't finish: Ring Shout - P. Djèlí Clark
This was very good, it just had more gore/horror than I could cope with.
no subject
Date: 22 Jul 2021 17:34 (UTC)I shall go and look for Fire Logic.
Thanks for the gore/horror warning on Ring, Shout - I'd be planning on reading that as I've loved the rest of P. Djèlí Clark's stuff that I've read, but I also cannot deal with gore/horror so I'll skip it!
no subject
Date: 28 Jul 2021 15:18 (UTC)Ring Shout is so good, but just that bit too much for me alas. I'm looking forward to picking up his new novel though!
no subject
Date: 28 Jul 2021 15:20 (UTC)Yes, I've got his new novel on my wishlist.
no subject
Date: 22 Jul 2021 20:00 (UTC)no subject
Date: 28 Jul 2021 15:19 (UTC)Also the antibacterial handwash villains were very difficult to take seriously!
I wish I could have just find-and-replaced them a different name! /o\
no subject
Date: 23 Jul 2021 00:13 (UTC)I've heard this is wonderful!
This was very good, it just had more gore/horror than I could cope with.
Oh, same, and I'm sad about it, because the premise is great, the characters are great. I just don't know if I can handle the gore.
no subject
Date: 28 Jul 2021 15:21 (UTC)It's really good! A lot of excellent imagery that's really stayed with me, and I really liked what it did with the central relationship.
I really wanted to finish Ring Shout, it was so good! I just couldn't quite manage it.