![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraA Case of Possession, KJ Charles, second Charm of Magpies (of three). I found this less compelling than the first one but there's a nice confession-of-love scene, and I liked the further development of the world and the challenges their relationship faces. Definitely reading the third.
Deathless Divide, Justina Ireland, sequel to Dread Nation (and last; they are a duology). I didn't think this was as strong as the first one - the first one is very much a big idea book with a definite thing to say, and this one felt more like "what else can I do with these fun characters". Which is legit, but the throughline wasn't as tight. Although I suspect that some of the "let's put Black people back into Western-genre tropes" would hit harder if I had seen more Westerns and had been more aware of whitewashing while watching them.
(I'm trying now to think of what Westerns I've even seen. Listening to the The Good the Bad and the Ugly theme song a zillion times probably doesn't count. High Noon. Butch Cassidy. Blazing Saddles. At least one Wyatt Earp movie in the 90s and maybe more than one (apparently there were in fact two Wyatt Earp movies back to back in '93 and '94). Dances with Wolves, I guess, although I remember nothing about that, I'm just reading the wikipedia page on Westerns now. Maverick. Wild Wild West. Would we count Zorro? I loved the Guy Williams Zorro as a kid. There's a lot of horse riding and you can't get much further west than Los Angeles. Unless I guess you go north and then there's a bunch more west. Like Reno. Always enjoyed that factoid.)
Deathless Divide, Justina Ireland, sequel to Dread Nation (and last; they are a duology). I didn't think this was as strong as the first one - the first one is very much a big idea book with a definite thing to say, and this one felt more like "what else can I do with these fun characters". Which is legit, but the throughline wasn't as tight. Although I suspect that some of the "let's put Black people back into Western-genre tropes" would hit harder if I had seen more Westerns and had been more aware of whitewashing while watching them.
(I'm trying now to think of what Westerns I've even seen. Listening to the The Good the Bad and the Ugly theme song a zillion times probably doesn't count. High Noon. Butch Cassidy. Blazing Saddles. At least one Wyatt Earp movie in the 90s and maybe more than one (apparently there were in fact two Wyatt Earp movies back to back in '93 and '94). Dances with Wolves, I guess, although I remember nothing about that, I'm just reading the wikipedia page on Westerns now. Maverick. Wild Wild West. Would we count Zorro? I loved the Guy Williams Zorro as a kid. There's a lot of horse riding and you can't get much further west than Los Angeles. Unless I guess you go north and then there's a bunch more west. Like Reno. Always enjoyed that factoid.)
