Books and comics read in April 2022
Friday, 13 May 2022 12:51![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usuallyhatsAristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Team Queen - Tansy Rayner Roberts
Petty Treasons - Victoria Goddard
King of Scars - Leigh Bardugo
The Witness for the Dead - Katherine Addison
Lumberjanes: Parent's Day
Last Stand in Lychford - Paul Cornell
Lumberjanes: Time After Crime
The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming Book One: Theory - Sienna Tristen
Lumberjanes: Jackalope Springs Eternal
Concrete Rose - Angie Thomas
A-Force: Hypertime
Lumberjanes: Indoor Recess
The Lost Plot - Genevieve Cogman
Lumberjanes: X Marks the Spot
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K Le Guin
Lumberjanes: Birthday Smarty
Amongst Our Weapons - Ben Aaronovitch
Lumberjanes: Mind Over Mettle
Vidding: A History - Francesca Coppa
Saint Death's Daughter - CSE Cooney
The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman
Lumberjanes: Smitten in the Stars
Spear - Nicola Griffith
Critical Role: Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast
Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments - TL Huchu
Lumberjanes: Horticultural Horizons
The Fat Lady Sings - Jacqueline Roy
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
...oh dear. I don't know what happened here, but all the subtlety of characterisation I loved in the previous book seemed to have evaporated and, possibly as a result, the writing style seemed to have slipped from lyrical and thoughtful to trite and obvious. It wasn't completely awful (I finished it, after all!) but it was definitely a disappointment after the previous volume.
Content notes: some misgendering (challenged), homophobia, parental death
King of Scars
Really solid and very enjoyable entry into the Grishaverse. I didn't loved it as much as I loved the Six of Crows duology, but it did help me clarify why I love that duology so much more than the rest: partly I just like the setting more, but partly I think Bardugo is so much better at characterisation of PoV characters than secondary characters, so because all the main characters in Six of Crows are PoV characters, their relationships seem so much more vivid and real than in her other books in the universe, where there's usually only one or two PoV characters in each plotline.
Concrete Rose
This prequel to The Hate U Give is not quite the tour de force its predecessor was, but it's still extremely good. Angie Thomas is tremendously skilled at demonstrating how her character's intentions are constantly buffeted by the situations they exist in and the people around them, and at portraying secondary characters who are flawed or making terrible decisions without losing sight of them as full people who we would probably have just as much sympathy for as we do for the protagonist if it happened to be their heads we were in instead. Really excellent.
Content notes: death, grief, racism
Saint Death's Daughter
Absolutely loved this. The plot centres around a young necromancer coming into her power and into the person she wants to be, outside of the shadow of her terrible family, and starting to question everything she's been told her whole life. Ultimately it's about trying to treat people well, and, crucially, allowing other people to treat you well. So good, so much, so many emotions.
Content notes: gore, horrible deaths including of a small child (mostly but not exclusively in backstory), animal harm, consent issues, some suicide adjacent stuff. Which makes it sound really grim, but honestly it's not, it's ultimately a very kind and hopeful book.
I also read a ton of Lumberjanes, because my library got e-copies all of a sudden! I don't have much to say about the individual volumes, but despite the odd slight misstep here and there it remains a delight overall and I'm glad it exists.
Team Queen - Tansy Rayner Roberts
Petty Treasons - Victoria Goddard
King of Scars - Leigh Bardugo
The Witness for the Dead - Katherine Addison
Lumberjanes: Parent's Day
Last Stand in Lychford - Paul Cornell
Lumberjanes: Time After Crime
The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming Book One: Theory - Sienna Tristen
Lumberjanes: Jackalope Springs Eternal
Concrete Rose - Angie Thomas
A-Force: Hypertime
Lumberjanes: Indoor Recess
The Lost Plot - Genevieve Cogman
Lumberjanes: X Marks the Spot
A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K Le Guin
Lumberjanes: Birthday Smarty
Amongst Our Weapons - Ben Aaronovitch
Lumberjanes: Mind Over Mettle
Vidding: A History - Francesca Coppa
Saint Death's Daughter - CSE Cooney
The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman
Lumberjanes: Smitten in the Stars
Spear - Nicola Griffith
Critical Role: Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast
Our Lady of Mysterious Ailments - TL Huchu
Lumberjanes: Horticultural Horizons
The Fat Lady Sings - Jacqueline Roy
Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World
...oh dear. I don't know what happened here, but all the subtlety of characterisation I loved in the previous book seemed to have evaporated and, possibly as a result, the writing style seemed to have slipped from lyrical and thoughtful to trite and obvious. It wasn't completely awful (I finished it, after all!) but it was definitely a disappointment after the previous volume.
Content notes: some misgendering (challenged), homophobia, parental death
King of Scars
Really solid and very enjoyable entry into the Grishaverse. I didn't loved it as much as I loved the Six of Crows duology, but it did help me clarify why I love that duology so much more than the rest: partly I just like the setting more, but partly I think Bardugo is so much better at characterisation of PoV characters than secondary characters, so because all the main characters in Six of Crows are PoV characters, their relationships seem so much more vivid and real than in her other books in the universe, where there's usually only one or two PoV characters in each plotline.
Concrete Rose
This prequel to The Hate U Give is not quite the tour de force its predecessor was, but it's still extremely good. Angie Thomas is tremendously skilled at demonstrating how her character's intentions are constantly buffeted by the situations they exist in and the people around them, and at portraying secondary characters who are flawed or making terrible decisions without losing sight of them as full people who we would probably have just as much sympathy for as we do for the protagonist if it happened to be their heads we were in instead. Really excellent.
Content notes: death, grief, racism
Saint Death's Daughter
Absolutely loved this. The plot centres around a young necromancer coming into her power and into the person she wants to be, outside of the shadow of her terrible family, and starting to question everything she's been told her whole life. Ultimately it's about trying to treat people well, and, crucially, allowing other people to treat you well. So good, so much, so many emotions.
Content notes: gore, horrible deaths including of a small child (mostly but not exclusively in backstory), animal harm, consent issues, some suicide adjacent stuff. Which makes it sound really grim, but honestly it's not, it's ultimately a very kind and hopeful book.
I also read a ton of Lumberjanes, because my library got e-copies all of a sudden! I don't have much to say about the individual volumes, but despite the odd slight misstep here and there it remains a delight overall and I'm glad it exists.
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Date: 13 May 2022 12:04 (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 May 2022 21:23 (UTC)