Uncensored Canon Review (minor, unconnected/unexplained spoilers)
Name of Canon: Doctor Who
Length of Time To Complete: Half a week.
How Did You Watch It?: camwyn lent me the DVDs.
First Impressions (In a Sentence): Didn't look as much like British television as Torchwood did or I'm getting used to it.
Last Impressions (In a Sentence): ...I'm wondering if any of the million smut writers have ever had the Jacksmex interrupted by his, er, hidden weapon.
Favorite Characters (In the Beginning): The Doctor
Favorite Characters (By The End): The Doctor, Jack, and Rose
Least Favorite Character: Adam *strangles him and his opening head*
Overview: People have been on me for quite some time to watch this. In my defense, I tend to be obstinate when it comes to the ZOMGAWESOMECANON amongst Millimuns. I haven't read Dark Tower, there was a period when I couldn't stand Narnia, I held off on Firefly for so long, etc, etc, etc. That said, I enjoyed it. Like Torchwood, the FLAIL factor is high, though I think the general episode quality was better by a bit. Then again, they're less restricted with what they can do to some degree. I watched it with Sherri, who was half the fun (seeing her reaction when the Dalek floated was probably one of my highpoints of the week) especially during The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances where she was flipping back and forth between "awwww, just a little kid" and "OMG, CREEPY LITTLE KID!" and "...wow, Jack's kinda hot." But I enjoyed it. Liked the end of the season. Liked Rose more than I thought I would, though that was mostly at the end of the season. She bothered me a bit in a few spots but I'll readily admit that I'm a little colored by the ROSE!/ANTIROSE! craziness in fandom (not so much one way or the other but just... "calm down, people, she is one of MANY".
Continue to Watch?: Yes. Though I will miss Eccleston's EEEEEEEE grin.
Name of Canon: The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Length of Time To Complete: A week.
How Did You See It?: I was read excerpts by the author herself at a reading I went to mostly to see Naomi Novik. I'd seen the book before, though, and it kept haunting me so I finally picked it up at the Borders in Chicago that we stopped at before going to Panera. *waves at Sharky and Moonlup*
First Impressions (In a Sentence): Sort of Princess Bride-y and fantasy only in the sense that it's not our world or the places in it at all and has swords.
Last Impressions (In a Sentence): Sort of Princess Bride meets Torchwood (in the sense of random bisexual STUFF and boinking going on behind the scenes ALL the damn time but it's amusing).
Favorite Characters (In the Beginning): Kate
Favorite Characters (By The End): Kate, Alec, Richard, and Marcus
Least Favorite Character: Lord Ferris
Overview: The book is hard to describe, which is why I suppose there's so little description of the book itself online and about. It's not fantasy, as there's no magic or even a ghost, but it is a lovely little story and the writing is so personal and yet with this wonderful style to it. Kate, the main character, is delightfully practical in this utterly teenage-girl sort of way and I occasionally have issue with female main characters but Kate was utterly wonderful. The Mad Duke (that's Alec, btw) is so very much fun and he made me think, of all things, of a Liir given money and time and family but still broken and Richard is made entirely of love. Entirely. I use this this format so I can think about what I'm typing a little bit since usually I just SQUEEEE and tell people they have to read it. Even the form is failing me for this book, which totally had me screaming and bouncing and pushing my computer aside for a time to finish up the book because it's so very very good.
Highly highly recommended. Kate kicks a lot of ass in a lot of directions. Srsly, give it a read.
Continue to Watch?: Now I have to find Swordspoint and the rest of the Riverside'verse