Reading roundup: RoL GN #4 + Philosopher's Flight

[hamsterwoman]

1. Ben Aaronovitch, Detective Stories (RoL comic #4) -- also the last currently-out thing in terms of in-universe chronology, the only one taking place after The Hanging Tree. Unlike the first three books, it's a collection of short stories (four individual ones) linked by the framing narrative of Peter's final interview in the process of getting

Comments

[cyanshadow]

I was already considering seeking Philospher's Flight out based on the short summary I got through K (magic as science! interesting historical backdrop! and while I don't think magic school is quite as big a reader kink of mine as it is of yours, it's definitely a solid plus :D), but with this more detailed summary I maaaay have just gone ahead and put myself on the library hold list. :D

... Speaking of ~magic schools, have I ever mentioned All Men of Genius (Lev A.C. Rosen) to you? IIRC it's more of a "steampunk school", but it's very handwavy, magic-y science. XD It was the book that taught me that I will not automatically like every "girl disguises herself as a boy" school novel -- I intellectually appreciated the fact that it's perhaps the first time I've ever seen an invocation of this trope with a girl who's got a very firmly feminine gender identity and actually kind of dislikes the disguise, but ... it made the book less fun for me. XD

[hamsterwoman]

I'm eagerly looking forward to what you think of this book! (I'm also pleased that you can already put a hold on it at your library, since it's not out for another month or so, I think?) I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

(I'm also curious to know what The Discourse (tm) will make of it. I've already seen a review from the other side, as it were, that went like, "this is a great story but why all the social justice stuff", and now I'm curious if The Discourse will take issue with a male author writing a (cis white) male protagonist co-opting the struggle of minorities, or something like that.)

have I ever mentioned All Men of Genius (Lev A.C. Rosen) to you?Not by name/author, I think, because they're distinctive enough I'd probably remember! But I think the feminine gender identity with a Polly Oliver trope came up when we were talking about Leviathan et al. That does sound interesting -- I'll have to keep an eye out

[cyanshadow]

(I'm also pleased that you can already put a hold on it at your library, since it's not out for another month or so, I think?)

Me too, since it makes it a lot easier to avoid forgetting about something completely. :D

You can put a hold on something as soon as it's in the system, which I think they do as soon as they decide to order the book vs when it actually arrives; if it's not in the system yet, you can put in a request, and if they decide to get the book, everyone who requested it is automatically put on the hold list.

(I might have gone ahead and put in a request for Spinning Silver. :D)

And yeah, that summary was very intriguing! Rumplestiltskin has never been one of those fairy tales that had a particular draw for me, but this sounds like it might be a really interesting take (probably more interesting to me than the tale itself t b h) if it's done well. :D

(and not the horribly botched everything of Blood of Tyrants :P)

... Yeah let's hope for ... not that. XD

[hamsterwoman]

Our library holds work very similarly, but it seems like the only books that make it into the system before release are highly anticipated ones, like sequels to popular series or whatnot.

(probably more interesting to me than the tale itself t b h)

Same! It's not one of my favorite fairy-tales either.

[meathiel]

I really have to get the RoL graphic novels one of these days ...

[hamsterwoman]

They're definitely fun stories, and contribute to the overall canon... but I wish there was a better way to read them. The $/pages ratio really annoys me, and I'm sure it's worse for an international order...

[meathiel]

I can get them on the German Amazon so it's not too bad ... but still ... it's a lot of money for the number of pages, you are right!

[meathiel]

I just thought I need a RoL icon ... and came across this art. Do you know it?

http://agarthanguide.tumblr.com/post/120320345286/wow-so-ive-been-slowly-working-on-this-for-the

[blakmagjick]

Can't wait to read Philosopher's Flight...it was awesome that she sent it to me too! :D

[hamsterwoman]

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

(And, yes, it was totally awesome of ms_geekette to share with us! :D)

[ms_geekette]

Oooh, there's going to be a sequel! I am very excited! :-D

Although, I feel some things have been spoiled with his chapter headings about Robert participating in future Cups. I hope he doesn't kill Essie in order to give Robert some man pain. One thing that I didn't mention in my review was Miller's dedication where he talked about writing male protagonists all the time. Having a male protagonist with a lot of female secondary characters is not quite the same thing as writing a female protagonist. That kinda rubbed me the wrong way. I still liked the book a lot, though. As I mentioned to you, it was one of my favorites for last year.

[hamsterwoman]

His publisher page mentions "The Philosopher's War", which I assume is a sequel.

Having a male protagonist with a lot of female secondary characters is not quite the same thing as writing a female protagonist.

Definitely not the same! But I actually liked the dynamic of the book as it is, the male protagonist surrounded mostly by very cool female secondary characters. And there are few enough female protagonists written by male writers I enjoy that I'm not sure a female-protagonist book would've worked as well for me in this case.

Thanks again for introducing me to this book -- I had a ton of fun with it, as you can tell :)

[ms_geekette]

Hmm, if you click on the book, it has July 2019 listed for the audiobook, which could mean nothing. The only way I could see him making that date is if he already had the book written or mostly written, since I doubt the publisher would rush the book like GRRM's publisher does.

You're right about the book not having the same impact if it was a female protagonist, but I dunno, it sounded like Miller thought he'd earned a gold star or something for throwing in some female characters. XD I did like his female characters a lot, so I'd like to see what he'd do with a female protagonist.

And I'm glad I finally recced a book that you read and liked! Ha

[hamsterwoman]

It wouldn't surprise me if he did have the next part written, and the publisher just decided to break it into two books (or even three books, since I'm guessing there's a post-war thing, too, which deals with the erosion of philosopher rights)

it sounded like Miller thought he'd earned a gold star or something for throwing in some female characters. XDI see what you mean from the dedication, yeah -- based on that I would've kind of expected a female-protagonist story, too. But since I actually liked the story he wrote, I can't say the dedication bothered me much, personally

[giallarhorn]

Ohh, I'll have to check out Philosopher's Flight! It sounds interesting enough by the premise, and I don't know the last time I saw a book that had magic in it alongside Fourier transform, which seems interesting enough to take a stab at it.

[hamsterwoman]

Well, the Fourier transforms are only briefly mentioned -- maybe even in just one of the "primary document" epigraphs -- which, to be fair, is about as much as I want to read about Fourier transforms :P But I did find the blend of magic and science delightful, and hope you will too, if you do check out the book!