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Space Opera, Abbott
May. 24th, 2019 04:43 pmSpace Opera, Catherynne Valente, up for Best Novel. I really enjoyed this - it was sweet and sometimes extremely funny and had one bit that was one of the best scenes I've read in anything in awhile. (Spoilers ( Read more... )) I think I had read a lukewarm review of this somewhere that was like "it's just a rehash of Hitchhiker's Guide" but you know what, Douglas Adams has been gone long enough that there are actual adults who were born after he died, and Pratchett's gone, so why shouldn't Valente step into the absurdist British sff niche. Now I have a book by a woman to talk about if we want to talk about Hitchhiker's, as part of my ongoing "have works by a woman to talk about in any conversation about sff I might have" project. (And also I don't remember Adams ever making me cry, although, honestly, it's been so long I couldn't say. Valente totally got me. Inevitably in public, of course, sigh.)
(Also I was very pleased when she namechecked Adam Lambert specifically because the whole time I was reading it I was thinking about Astolat's Stargate:Atlantis/American Idol crossover where they need a singer. I don't know if this makes any sense without knowing both SGA and AI fanon for context but I love it, so here's a link: Far Far Away.)
Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, drawn by Sami Kivelä, up for Best Graphic Story. This did so much right on paper - bi Black woman reporter embedded in a web of interesting relationships, battling racism and the supernatural in 1972 Detroit - and yet I just didn't care that much. Part of it is probably that this was very much Traditional American Comics, with the pacing and art thereof, and I'm not sure I actually *like* Traditional American Comics, or at least not as much as I like indie comics and manga-influenced comics and stuff like that. Part of it was that the main character was admirable and interesting but hard for me to identify with, in the sense of having some kind of emotional conflict I could feel engaged with, or having a sense of what made her tick beyond her righteousness/determination/etc. I mean, like, there was this thing about how she had to have her exactly two brandies a day, that I kind of thought was going to turn into more of a thing about routine or control or some kind of character thing, but it didn't really. And then finally and maybe most damningly, this sort of thing tends to work much better for me if it's funny. Watchmen and V for Vendetta and Bitch Planet all come to mind as working in the Traditional Comics idiom but they're all full of (dark, dark) jokes. Abbott is straightforward and earnest and just lacks that bite of humor that would really make it memorable, alas.
(Also I was very pleased when she namechecked Adam Lambert specifically because the whole time I was reading it I was thinking about Astolat's Stargate:Atlantis/American Idol crossover where they need a singer. I don't know if this makes any sense without knowing both SGA and AI fanon for context but I love it, so here's a link: Far Far Away.)
Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, drawn by Sami Kivelä, up for Best Graphic Story. This did so much right on paper - bi Black woman reporter embedded in a web of interesting relationships, battling racism and the supernatural in 1972 Detroit - and yet I just didn't care that much. Part of it is probably that this was very much Traditional American Comics, with the pacing and art thereof, and I'm not sure I actually *like* Traditional American Comics, or at least not as much as I like indie comics and manga-influenced comics and stuff like that. Part of it was that the main character was admirable and interesting but hard for me to identify with, in the sense of having some kind of emotional conflict I could feel engaged with, or having a sense of what made her tick beyond her righteousness/determination/etc. I mean, like, there was this thing about how she had to have her exactly two brandies a day, that I kind of thought was going to turn into more of a thing about routine or control or some kind of character thing, but it didn't really. And then finally and maybe most damningly, this sort of thing tends to work much better for me if it's funny. Watchmen and V for Vendetta and Bitch Planet all come to mind as working in the Traditional Comics idiom but they're all full of (dark, dark) jokes. Abbott is straightforward and earnest and just lacks that bite of humor that would really make it memorable, alas.
