December media

[nrgburst]

 Books

Well, I only read 20 books this year, which is a far cry from my usual, but I have discovered that I can read ebooks again if they are on my iPad, since the text is as big as a regular book! Still, I started December with another re-read of a paper book, this time borrowed from my kiddo's English teacher:
 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is a classic for a reason. I especially liked how things are kept PG in the romance and gore front, and how much is left implied and unsaid. It's funny reading it now and noticing more about the structure of the narrative instead of just going with the story. 

 Solo Leveling 1-5 by Chugong

I read the other four earlier this year and then got number 5 this month, which actually catches me up to where I am in the webcomic! Like the other four, the dialogue is weak but the worldbuilding and action sequences are amazing. Also, there are more anti-Japanese plot elements in this one, which the webcomic has been smart to change. It's odd to read depictions of Japanese as cackling, dishonourable villains who do things like shirk showing up for work (LOL as if), but I wonder if this is somewhat common in Korean media? I understand the reasons for resentment of Japanese due to history, but it's weird to read a story about South Koreans having to save Japan - like I can imagine Ryan Reynolds helming a satire where Canadian superheros swoop in and save America somehow, but it would be self aware as such, you know? Anyway, I am going to read books 6 and 7 when they come out this year, I'm sure, and just keep ignoring the author's anti-Japan message.

   Iron and Magic, Magic Triumphs and Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

I admit I skipped Iron and Magic for ages because I just did not feel like reading another woobie villain get a "redemption" arc that was more about garnering sympathy for a cool, hot asshole than him actually taking steps to change his behaviour and redeem himself to those he's wronged. But it made Magic Triumphs (and to some extent Blood Heir) make zero sense in the parts where Hugh D'ambray showed up after his dramatic heel turn loyalty switch in this book, so I finally read it and ahhhh it has one of my favourite tropes done right (fake marriage!) and it is actually one of my favourites out of their books now! It has a proper redemption arc, so maybe I should have trusted Ilona Andrews in the first place, hehe. Anyway, once I finished it, I re-read Magic Triumphs and Blood Heir again too, just so that it wouldn't remain in my head as a !!! WTF personality transplant interruption in the story. I can understand why they planned Iron and Magic as its own series, set in the middle of the KD timeline, but damn, I wish they would get around to finishing it already now! 😅

 Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews

This finally released in its full form on Dec. 13th and oooh, what a final chapter! Now we will be waiting a billion years for the next FrInnday adventure but oooh, I am so, so glad about one of the reveals (and very sad about another one, ow.). 😭

 A Deal with the Elf King by Elise Kova

I was recced this by somebody who raved about it in the TFOTA discord, and it was okay, but really not great. I really dislike a "tell-don't-show" kind of narrative where the heroine describes situations in ways that conflict directly with what was described earlier. Like, no girl, stop trying to convince me that MC had actually had you madly in love when your actual description of your interactions were all bewildered and reluctant. Lots of coincidences; lots of caricatures instead of characters, lots of the heroine wildly spinning the narrative to herself/the reader, and leaving me going WTF. Not going to continue reading the series or this author - this felt like a first novel, but apparently this isn't her first book?

  Neon Gods and Electric Idol by Katee Robert

These are modernized Greek Myth retellings as kinky romance/fantasy books that my sister recced. I started and gave up on the third (Wicked Beauty) halfway through and I don't plan on finishing it. The first is the best of the lot, and stays way closer to the Persephone/Hades story with some clever references (her safeword is "Pomegranate" and a trio of puppies is adopted, one of which is named Cerberus, for example). I expected to like the second one better (Eros/Psyche was always my favourite Greek myth because you see them both strive to protect/love each other) but it doesn't take much from the original except Aphrodite on the warpath against Psyche and a quickie marriage to Eros. Honestly, I don't get how the dripping hot wax was not a part of this book given how the first book embraces kink, but it was a lot tamer and I was a bit disappointed. I wanted Psyche to go on quests and Eros to actually be useful instead of just a hot bad boy. Spoiler: these don't happen, but the plot resolves okay.
Book #3 is about how Helen manages to involve herself with established couple Achilles and Patroclus while they are all competing for the position of Ares, and while I normally like a action-y tournament style plot, the excessive group sex takes way more focus, but it's not well written? You often have no idea how they are managing to do things and I got more and more annoyed by the tell-don't show about their Emotions (because of course, all of this is happening in the span of a few days and meaningful interactions are few because they just have sex all the time). I am assuming they all win somehow and end up a throuple but I can't be arsed to grind through the rest of the book and find out. Future books in this series also don't focus on the characters that interest me, so I doubt I'll be reading more in this series.

 The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

After so many bad reads, I went with one that was pretty much guaranteed to be a good one, and UGH. LOVE KATE QUINN. I devoured this in a day. I love how thoroughly researched this book is, and how fully realized all the characters are, with believable motivations. Like how the heroine's terrible husband just kept refusing to sign the paperwork for divorce (which was a straightforward thing in Russia at the time), because while he didn't want to be married to her, he didn't want anybody else to either. And can you believe there is a love triangle where everybody treats everybody with respect and understanding, and the way it played out was beautiful? Highly recommend if you like historical fiction. 

 The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This was promising at first, but I don't think I will finish the series. I was interested in the idea put forth by the title (oooh, an evolutionary arms race between competing species!) and the first part of the book is pretty good. It's a dystopian setting, where an elite silver blooded people lives in luxury while most of the (red blooded) population are basically serfs. 
Honestly, I liked it at first - the looming threat of conscription for the Reds, how the main character had a learned skill of pickpocketing; how they all have to watch the elite "Silvers" battle with their powers on Fridays to keep the Reds frightened and subservient, a la Hunger Games; how there seems to be a merchant class path for those in the lower classes. The further I got into the book though, the more annoyed I got by the romance subplot (yet another love triangle, this time with heroine and brothers that are also princes. At one point somebody states how appalled she is that the fate of the plot rests on the status of stupid teenage romance, and I was like: you and me both, honey.). I also disliked the cavalier approach to worldbuilding more and more, when the genetics should have been the most interesting part! The plot also skipped over some of the promising things that had interested me, only to sub them with Speshul Powers for The Chosen Girl being way more important than anything else she might do with her brain or the skills she'd learned to survive in the first place. 🙄
The whole thing about the Red Queen hypothesis is that it is slow because it is an evolutionary hypothesis, with process over generations.  However, this book obviously wants the drama of a superpowers vs. superpowers clash for teenagers but doesn't really care about how genetics work, and ugh, I am too pedantic to not cringe about it. The series might get better with more worldbuilding, but I doubt this author is going to do so. While I was recording this book on my goodreads though, I saw a review that recommended Red Rising instead, so I'm going to try that next.


TV

Kiddo and I finally finished The Mentalist, and also watched Wednesday and Willow over the holidays. Things we noticed: traditional TV series are sooooo loooong and also very PG compared to the usual streaming content! They had me calling for them only on the Red John episodes because they were getting so tired of all the case of the week eps. I didn't get why they had the leads get together in the final seasons though - it seemed to me more like they were platonic soulmates than hot for each other? I just didn't feel it, IDK. My fave was Cho anyway, and I am rather gutted that they killed a major character in S7, so I might look for fix-it fic for that. :( 
Wednesday was pretty good, but I didn't like the teeny romance bit again. We both thought she was obviously way more emotionally worked up over her roommate Enid than any stupid guy? So why do the obligatory heterosexual nonsense when Wednesday is a nonconformist by nature? Ugh. Lots of iconic lines though - this canon would probably be a fun one to write for!
Willow is about as well plotted as the original movie, which is to say: not very because every character is an absolute dumbass and makes terrible decisions consistently. The Jade/Kit romance is actually cute though! 

I am planning to watch Andor and Interview with The Vampire next when I have time/mental space to focus on a show, although my hubby has been binging 911 so I might watch it too before season 6 hits streaming so we can watch a show together again. I've been rewatching Castle as my "while doing chores" show because after The Mentalist, I wanted to watch a series where the leads had actual romantic chemistry. It's so funny to see so many actors who got famous afterwards on other shows guest starring! I remember it really lost the plot in its later seasons though, so I probably won't watch all the way through, but I'm probably going to keep going until S4 or 5. 

Whew! I've been seeing snowflake posts pop up, but I will try to comment and post later! Just wanted to jot this all down while I still remember!

Comments

[verdande_mi]

Of the books I only familar with The Graveyard book, which I enjoyed a lot when I read it, two years ago? Three perhaps? I want to read more of Gaiman.