psocoptera

these books could not be more different

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:00:33 GMT

The Star-Touched Queen, Roshani Chokshi. The opening of this was terrific - starts in a kind of classic YA set-up (although in a neat India-esque fantasy kingdom instead of Generic Faux-medieval Europe) but rapidly escalates/pivots until we're somewhere else entirely. I didn't think the rest of the book quite lived up to that opening, but I still enjoyed it - some good imagery, an unusual and funny talking animal sidekick, and a much more ambitious and original story than some YA bothers to try to tell. Very flowery language - we're definitely in the, like, Romantic/epic register here vs realistically developed characterization - but I thought it was worth it for the interesting setting and story. Would maybe rec to fans of Holly Black's Faerie books or N.K. Jemisin's Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. This was a 2017 Norton nominee (2016 book).

The Steerswoman, Rosemary Kirstein. This is a classic from 1989, the start of a series still in progress (four so far, two more in theory). Amusingly, Kirstein spoiled the main plot for me while speaking on a panel at Readercon, although I had already pretty much figured it out (and if I hadn't read a 1989 book yet I have only myself to blame). This starts off looking a lot like General Faux-medieval Fantasy Europe but It's Not, although we're only starting to see the whole picture of that as of this book, and I'm not sure if I'm going to read more of them to develop it further or not. I don't know, I really like the concept, and I think I probably would have *adored* it if I had actually read it back in the 90s, but it felt a little clunky to me? (In a way that makes me second-guess my reaction, like, would I cut a male character more slack with all of the "Rowan brilliantly counted the number of things and ascertained their number, she observed observationally" narration? I would like to think NOT AT ALL, but I can't prove that.) Anyways, my younger self would have been thrilled by a book where the hero bangs on about rationality and honesty and she's a woman, and my current self is pleased for another entry in my collection of books by women authors I can bring up in any possible conversation about SF, so, hey. (Niven, Heinlein, Vinge.) (Two female leads and 7 stories on AO3, o femslash fans.)

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more things I read for the Hugos

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 22:28:52 GMT

Rivers of London aka Midnight Riot, Ben Aaronovitch. Fun! I like this sort of thing (police procedural + geek discovers magic) and look forward to reading more in the series at some point. I wouldn't call it unmissable or anything but it was a fast read I wanted to keep reading.

Deadpool. I guess technically I watched this rather than read it. Did not enjoy (and am left baffled by how much my mother loved this movie (???)).

Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey. So technically I didn't read this either, in that I started reading the pdf excerpt they gave me in the packet and it seemed to be missing lines at many of the page breaks, to the point where I found it unreadable. Also did the thing of describing what all the women looked like and none of the men and tralala life is too short to read dude authors who piss me off in the first chapter. Feel free to make the case for this book in a comment if you think it's worthy of a second chance; I am queued for it at the library so might get a readable copy one of these days.

Alien Stripper Boned From Behind By The T-Rex, Stix Hiscock. This was pleasantly not bad! I mean, I don't think it deserves a Hugo, but it was competently-written porn-comedy. The pole-dancing scene with the nipple lasers was fun. I thought there was a little too much dick (did dinosaurs even have dicks? come on, you're writing xeno, sexualize the cloaca) but it was better than watching Deadpool.

Ms. Marvel Vol 5: Super Famous. A strong installment of a terrific series. Ms. Marvel reminds me of Buffy at its best in how it literalizes issues, except with a much more diverse and interesting cast.

Paper Girls Vol 1. Super-compelling in characters, premise, and pacing; I can't wait to read volume 2.

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it came from the packet, part 1

Wed, 31 May 2017 17:00:00 GMT

Things I have read for Hugo purposes:

The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle. I have to respect "white people are the real horror" as a theme but this didn't grab me as a story. (The POV switch away from the sympathetic first character kind of killed the momentum, alas, although I can see why LaValle didn't think he could do the whole thing from his POV.)

Penric and the Shaman, Lois McMaster Bujold. I didn't feel like this did anything that she hadn't already done better in Hallowed Hunt.

"Your Orisons May Be Recorded", Laurie Penny. Good gimmick but I have no strong reaction here.

"Blue Monday", Laurie Penny. Also enh.

The Jewel and her Lapidary, Fran Wilde. A bunch of authors I respect seem really into Wilde and I just don't get it. Here, she obviously had an ending she wanted to get to but I totally didn't understand the logic that was supposed to make it necessary? And (SPOILER)( Read more... )

Infomocracy, Malka Older. A kickass near-future novel with interesting political mechanics, an awesome action scene, appealing characters, the works. On the one hand it is weird to be reading about election shenanigans that don't seem to have a lot of catastrophic real-world consequences, on the other hand it was delightfully escapist. Recommended. Minor spoiler:( Read more... )

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