The Return of Reading Wednesday
What did you finish reading
L'aigle et le safran, by Sen: (You can buy it online or read it online. I'm reading the paper version, but the online version should normally be the same.) I LOVED THIS! It's been ages since I read something in French that gripped me this much. My only regret is that I wish the political aspect of the plot had gotten a little more spotlight, because a couple of things seemed to come (almost) out of nowhere. I would also say that I regret the "on opposite sides of the war" thing didn't last as long as it did, but I have Official Authorisation From The Artist TM to bug the author at JapanExpo to convince her to write something with more of that dynamic.
Also, the little bonus comic at the end was lovely.
I have also read and/or skimmed through about 15 volumes of La Geste des Chevaliers-Dragons and I am still conflicted over how I feel about the series. On the one hand, I'm not a big fan of the premise (only female virgins can kill dragons), but on the other, some of the stories told within that framework are excellent. I like volume 6 (Par-delà les montagnes) parts of which reminds me of the Valladolid debate, and several others whose names I can't remember right now (except two, but they deserve their own paragraphs).
My favourite is volume 11, Toutes les mille et une lunes, because the art is absolutely fabulous (armour that looks like actual armour! breathtaking, sweeping backgrounds, detailed artwork that never feels overloaded, body language! expressive faces!), the story is amazing (intricate plot, excellent character work, A++ use of worldbuilding) and the author(s? I can never remember if Ange is a group pseudonym or not) have remembered lesbians exists! I also like it because it takes place entirely in one place that is completely cut out from the rest of the world and every single character appearing is a woman. The fact that it's so isolated allows me to pretend that the entire virginity thing is superstitious bullshit (especially since thethe books are... kind of fuzzy on what counts as virginity. Lesbian sex apparently doesn't count, except everyone acts as if it does.) Being able to do that means I get to enjoy a story entirely about warrior women having political machinations and the young girls caught in the crossfire without being bothered by the gender essentialist aspect of the premise. (Especially since Le Collège Invisible is implied to take place in the same universe (...somehow) and the successors of the Dragon Knights there include men.)
Basically, every three years or so -- every 1001 days as the title suggests -- all the chapters of the Order of Dragon Knights send a delegation to the Fort, a castle right slam bang in the middle of the fucking desert. This time, Farida, Matriarch of her branch of the Order, has taken Amarelle, Letty and Isorel as her pupils, "the pride of her order". All three girls are honoured and excited to be there! This doesn't last very long, because the Dame Ancienne (Ancient Matriarch, I guess, but it's her title, not a description. She's the elected leader of the entire Order) has decided to submit the pupils to series of tests, the first of which kills Isorel. During this test, Amarelle and Letty save Hessei's life. Then there's Soriko... I could say more, but definitely read this book okay, it is great. If you're curious, of all six characters mentionned here, all are female, 2 are non white (Farida and Hessei) and at least two are queer; Amarelle and Soriko enter a sexual and romantic relationship when they're older, but you only know this if you read the book in which it happens. Nevertheless, I thought the fact that they weren't the straightest people ever were well telegraphed by the text in this book and there is a significant lesbian relationship that I didn't have the space to cover because ahve you seen how long this is already? and I'm only on page, like 15. (The lesbians appear before page 15, btw.)
I would absolute rec this book of the series to everyone, because it's great! And that last line is epic ("Cette guerre qu'on croyait courte... Elle allait durer mille ans." Dude. DUDE. I am so here for this!) And I just really like it. There's a trailer! It gives a good idea of the artwork, mostly and every single shot in the 0:57 to 1:17 sequence is plot important (there are a lot of shots, because this story has a great plot), including one I wish wasn't included, because it's very very spoilery. The other shots are also spoilery, but only if you know what they refer to.
The other volume I really like is volume 12, Ellys, because the art is also great, as is the story. It's a story that a lot more low-key, or maybe low-stakes. Where the other one is ALL POLITICAL DRAMA ALL THE TIME, this is a story on a smaller scale. It's about Ellys, who used to be a Dragon Knight, ten years ago. She's now married to a minor lord somewhere. said lord's brother wants to have her repudiated/divorced/thrown out/whatever so he can inherit, instead of whatever children she might have. There's a hilarious scene where the brother tries to convince the lord that his wife (Ellys) and his best friend are sleeping together and the lord is having none of it, because he knows his wife and he knows his best friend and he knows neither of them would do such a thing. It was very refreshing to read, instead of the very cliché "he believes it because he has zero trust in the people he claims to love". While this inter-personal drama is going on, Ellys is convinced that a dragon has appeared and is trying to convince her husband to send a delegation to the Order so they can send some Dragon Knights to take care of it. The borther takes this as an opportunity to undermine Ellys, so when it turns out she is right, there is a dragon (this is not a spoiler, btw, said dragon appears on the first page) it's too late to send a message to the Order. I won't say more, but I would definitely rec this one too! As a quieter look at what the author(s?) can do.
So far the only one I own is volume 11, Toutes les mille et une lunes, but I think I'm going to buy volume 12, Ellys, maybe. I just wish the cover looked like the inside art, because the inside art is gorgeous. The cover... is not.
Currently reading
Still stalled on The Art of War, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Les Fleurs du Mal, Métronome and Ghosts of Cannae.
Made some progress on Rome's Revolution!
Mostly i'm excited because I've started reading The Grass-King's Concubine! I'm on page 10, though so there's not much I can say, except that I'm liking it so far and want to find out more about the Other Place the protagonist saw.
What are you reading next? (aka the to-read list)
As I said last time, now that I've finished L'aigle et le safran, I'm going to start reading Métronome again. On the other hand, I really want to finish Rome's Revolution as soon as possible.
Books that I have already: Pyramids of London, by Andrea K Höst, Prisoner (Echo's Wolf, Book 1) (Werewolf Marines 2) by Lia Silver, Darkness Over Cannae by Jenny Dolfen, Taking Stock by Scott Bartlett (yuleswap book 1), February by Lisa Moore (yuleswap book 2), The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan, The Skull Throne, by Peter V. Brett,Hostage by Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown.
Books that are out and that I haven't got: Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, by Garth Nix, Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, Melting Stones and Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce, The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, The Beginning Place by Ursula Le Guin, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, the last two books of Kate Eliott's Spiritwalker trilogy, The Missing Queen by Samhita Arni, Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed, whatever's out of the Craft Sequence series and Chroniques du Pays des Mères by Elisabeth Vonarburg.
Books that aren't out yet (and when they're out): The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (Autumn 2015), The Sleeping Life (Eferum, #2) by Andrea K. Höst (2015), Benjamin January #14 by Barbara Hambly (no idea), the Tris book by Tamora Pierce (2015), , The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, Dogs of Peace by Ada Palmer and whatever Jenny Dolfen's next project is.
Books what I'm not sure if I want to read them: City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett: Still IDK.
Additions to the list (*looks at ever growing list to read* *looks at diminshing time to read* *sobs*): The next two Masqué books (I forgot to add those earlier) and the Romanitas trilogy, by Sophia Mc Dougall, on a rec from
dolorosa_12 .
This entry was originally posted at http://dhampyresa.dreamwidth.org/82048.html and has
comments over there.
L'aigle et le safran, by Sen: (You can buy it online or read it online. I'm reading the paper version, but the online version should normally be the same.) I LOVED THIS! It's been ages since I read something in French that gripped me this much. My only regret is that I wish the political aspect of the plot had gotten a little more spotlight, because a couple of things seemed to come (almost) out of nowhere. I would also say that I regret the "on opposite sides of the war" thing didn't last as long as it did, but I have Official Authorisation From The Artist TM to bug the author at JapanExpo to convince her to write something with more of that dynamic.
Also, the little bonus comic at the end was lovely.
I have also read and/or skimmed through about 15 volumes of La Geste des Chevaliers-Dragons and I am still conflicted over how I feel about the series. On the one hand, I'm not a big fan of the premise (only female virgins can kill dragons), but on the other, some of the stories told within that framework are excellent. I like volume 6 (Par-delà les montagnes) parts of which reminds me of the Valladolid debate, and several others whose names I can't remember right now (except two, but they deserve their own paragraphs).
My favourite is volume 11, Toutes les mille et une lunes, because the art is absolutely fabulous (armour that looks like actual armour! breathtaking, sweeping backgrounds, detailed artwork that never feels overloaded, body language! expressive faces!), the story is amazing (intricate plot, excellent character work, A++ use of worldbuilding) and the author(s? I can never remember if Ange is a group pseudonym or not) have remembered lesbians exists! I also like it because it takes place entirely in one place that is completely cut out from the rest of the world and every single character appearing is a woman. The fact that it's so isolated allows me to pretend that the entire virginity thing is superstitious bullshit (especially since thethe books are... kind of fuzzy on what counts as virginity. Lesbian sex apparently doesn't count, except everyone acts as if it does.) Being able to do that means I get to enjoy a story entirely about warrior women having political machinations and the young girls caught in the crossfire without being bothered by the gender essentialist aspect of the premise. (Especially since Le Collège Invisible is implied to take place in the same universe (...somehow) and the successors of the Dragon Knights there include men.)
Basically, every three years or so -- every 1001 days as the title suggests -- all the chapters of the Order of Dragon Knights send a delegation to the Fort, a castle right slam bang in the middle of the fucking desert. This time, Farida, Matriarch of her branch of the Order, has taken Amarelle, Letty and Isorel as her pupils, "the pride of her order". All three girls are honoured and excited to be there! This doesn't last very long, because the Dame Ancienne (Ancient Matriarch, I guess, but it's her title, not a description. She's the elected leader of the entire Order) has decided to submit the pupils to series of tests, the first of which kills Isorel. During this test, Amarelle and Letty save Hessei's life. Then there's Soriko... I could say more, but definitely read this book okay, it is great. If you're curious, of all six characters mentionned here, all are female, 2 are non white (Farida and Hessei) and at least two are queer; Amarelle and Soriko enter a sexual and romantic relationship when they're older, but you only know this if you read the book in which it happens. Nevertheless, I thought the fact that they weren't the straightest people ever were well telegraphed by the text in this book and there is a significant lesbian relationship that I didn't have the space to cover because ahve you seen how long this is already? and I'm only on page, like 15. (The lesbians appear before page 15, btw.)
I would absolute rec this book of the series to everyone, because it's great! And that last line is epic ("Cette guerre qu'on croyait courte... Elle allait durer mille ans." Dude. DUDE. I am so here for this!) And I just really like it. There's a trailer! It gives a good idea of the artwork, mostly and every single shot in the 0:57 to 1:17 sequence is plot important (there are a lot of shots, because this story has a great plot), including one I wish wasn't included, because it's very very spoilery. The other shots are also spoilery, but only if you know what they refer to.
The other volume I really like is volume 12, Ellys, because the art is also great, as is the story. It's a story that a lot more low-key, or maybe low-stakes. Where the other one is ALL POLITICAL DRAMA ALL THE TIME, this is a story on a smaller scale. It's about Ellys, who used to be a Dragon Knight, ten years ago. She's now married to a minor lord somewhere. said lord's brother wants to have her repudiated/divorced/thrown out/whatever so he can inherit, instead of whatever children she might have. There's a hilarious scene where the brother tries to convince the lord that his wife (Ellys) and his best friend are sleeping together and the lord is having none of it, because he knows his wife and he knows his best friend and he knows neither of them would do such a thing. It was very refreshing to read, instead of the very cliché "he believes it because he has zero trust in the people he claims to love". While this inter-personal drama is going on, Ellys is convinced that a dragon has appeared and is trying to convince her husband to send a delegation to the Order so they can send some Dragon Knights to take care of it. The borther takes this as an opportunity to undermine Ellys, so when it turns out she is right, there is a dragon (this is not a spoiler, btw, said dragon appears on the first page) it's too late to send a message to the Order. I won't say more, but I would definitely rec this one too! As a quieter look at what the author(s?) can do.
So far the only one I own is volume 11, Toutes les mille et une lunes, but I think I'm going to buy volume 12, Ellys, maybe. I just wish the cover looked like the inside art, because the inside art is gorgeous. The cover... is not.
Currently reading
Still stalled on The Art of War, The Kick-Ass Writer, La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, Les Fleurs du Mal, Métronome and Ghosts of Cannae.
Made some progress on Rome's Revolution!
Mostly i'm excited because I've started reading The Grass-King's Concubine! I'm on page 10, though so there's not much I can say, except that I'm liking it so far and want to find out more about the Other Place the protagonist saw.
What are you reading next? (aka the to-read list)
As I said last time, now that I've finished L'aigle et le safran, I'm going to start reading Métronome again. On the other hand, I really want to finish Rome's Revolution as soon as possible.
Books that I have already: Pyramids of London, by Andrea K Höst, Prisoner (Echo's Wolf, Book 1) (Werewolf Marines 2) by Lia Silver, Darkness Over Cannae by Jenny Dolfen, Taking Stock by Scott Bartlett (yuleswap book 1), February by Lisa Moore (yuleswap book 2), The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan, The Skull Throne, by Peter V. Brett,Hostage by Sherwood Smith and Rachel Manija Brown.
Books that are out and that I haven't got: Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, by Garth Nix, Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie, Melting Stones and Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce, The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, The Beginning Place by Ursula Le Guin, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, the last two books of Kate Eliott's Spiritwalker trilogy, The Missing Queen by Samhita Arni, Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed, whatever's out of the Craft Sequence series and Chroniques du Pays des Mères by Elisabeth Vonarburg.
Books that aren't out yet (and when they're out): The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (Autumn 2015), The Sleeping Life (Eferum, #2) by Andrea K. Höst (2015), Benjamin January #14 by Barbara Hambly (no idea), the Tris book by Tamora Pierce (2015), , The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard, Dogs of Peace by Ada Palmer and whatever Jenny Dolfen's next project is.
Books what I'm not sure if I want to read them: City of Blades, by Robert Jackson Bennett: Still IDK.
Additions to the list (*looks at ever growing list to read* *looks at diminshing time to read* *sobs*): The next two Masqué books (I forgot to add those earlier) and the Romanitas trilogy, by Sophia Mc Dougall, on a rec from
dolorosa_12 .
This entry was originally posted at http://dhampyresa.dreamwidth.org/82048.html and has
comments over there.