wednesday reads n' things
ETA, and argh, I can't believe I forgot to post this: Tor has a collection of short fiction by women for free download in honor of International Women's Day, and unlike their e-book club you don't have to be in the US or Canada (I think): Nevertheless, She Persisted.
What I've recently finished reading:
The Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. The one in which a half-kitsune orphan girl raised in a temple and a cursed-sword wielding samurai trained from birth to be emotionless go on a road trip across fantasy-Japan and fight monsters and fall in love. Two stars on Goodreads means "it was okay," and that's how I felt about it; I probably wouldn't have finished were it not an audiobook, though I liked the fantasy-Japan monsters and culture, and the ronin Okami who is fantastic comic relief and reminded me a bit of Varric from Dragon Age. Weirdly paced, a rather peculiar MacGuffin, and although things came together near the end, I felt as though a lot of threads were not obviously going places until then.
Irritations: Tatsumi was hit by the stupid stick early on, though (again) the presumable reason for this is revealed near the end. The writing is repetitive, with a lot of boring angsty introspection, and Kagawa overuses the verb "stated" (characters "state" their dialogue rather too frequently) and also uses "greet" frequently, always intransitively, which just sounds wrong to me. (That is: "Hello, samurai," the woman greeted.)
It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I don't feel inclined to seek out the next book.
What I'm reading now:
I'm almost done with Imagine the Ocean by
Damkianna, the ATLA AU in which Katara is the Avatar. Also I've started The Flight of the Heron by D. K. Broster, and it's got a definite Sutcliff vibe, what with the scenery porn (though I'm a bit offended that Windham hates mountains! How can one hate mountains??) and the close male friendships and the slight edge of the numinous that could be supernatural or could be simple coincidence.
What I'm watching now:
B wanted to watch Peaky Blinders, which I think I'd suggested a while back but neither of us knew anything about other than that it was about a 1920s era street gang (and I think for some reason I thought it was set in New York rather than Birmingham). I was instantly riveted! I didn't realize the story would be so deep and intricate, with strong threads of politics (Communists! Romani!) and set very firmly within the post-WWI trauma of both the men who fought and England as a whole. Also, it's beautifully filmed, conveying the essential grittiness of a working-class industrial city in an almost elegant way.
And Alfred the Great and Brian de Bois-Guilbert are both in it! Uh, I mean, David Dawson and Sam Neill. And of course Cillian Murphy's cheekbones. My favorite character so far (we've seen the first 4 eps of S1) is Aunt Polly, the iron matriarch behind the Shelby family.
What I'm playing now:
Uh, games? I have started both 1bitHeart and Dishonored, but haven't done much with either. I've also been poking at the Jaws of Hakkon DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Crossposted from isis at Dreamwidth where there are
comments. | Comment at Dreamwidth
What I've recently finished reading:
The Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. The one in which a half-kitsune orphan girl raised in a temple and a cursed-sword wielding samurai trained from birth to be emotionless go on a road trip across fantasy-Japan and fight monsters and fall in love. Two stars on Goodreads means "it was okay," and that's how I felt about it; I probably wouldn't have finished were it not an audiobook, though I liked the fantasy-Japan monsters and culture, and the ronin Okami who is fantastic comic relief and reminded me a bit of Varric from Dragon Age. Weirdly paced, a rather peculiar MacGuffin, and although things came together near the end, I felt as though a lot of threads were not obviously going places until then.
Irritations: Tatsumi was hit by the stupid stick early on, though (again) the presumable reason for this is revealed near the end. The writing is repetitive, with a lot of boring angsty introspection, and Kagawa overuses the verb "stated" (characters "state" their dialogue rather too frequently) and also uses "greet" frequently, always intransitively, which just sounds wrong to me. (That is: "Hello, samurai," the woman greeted.)
It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I don't feel inclined to seek out the next book.
What I'm reading now:
I'm almost done with Imagine the Ocean by
Damkianna, the ATLA AU in which Katara is the Avatar. Also I've started The Flight of the Heron by D. K. Broster, and it's got a definite Sutcliff vibe, what with the scenery porn (though I'm a bit offended that Windham hates mountains! How can one hate mountains??) and the close male friendships and the slight edge of the numinous that could be supernatural or could be simple coincidence.
What I'm watching now:
B wanted to watch Peaky Blinders, which I think I'd suggested a while back but neither of us knew anything about other than that it was about a 1920s era street gang (and I think for some reason I thought it was set in New York rather than Birmingham). I was instantly riveted! I didn't realize the story would be so deep and intricate, with strong threads of politics (Communists! Romani!) and set very firmly within the post-WWI trauma of both the men who fought and England as a whole. Also, it's beautifully filmed, conveying the essential grittiness of a working-class industrial city in an almost elegant way.
And Alfred the Great and Brian de Bois-Guilbert are both in it! Uh, I mean, David Dawson and Sam Neill. And of course Cillian Murphy's cheekbones. My favorite character so far (we've seen the first 4 eps of S1) is Aunt Polly, the iron matriarch behind the Shelby family.
What I'm playing now:
Uh, games? I have started both 1bitHeart and Dishonored, but haven't done much with either. I've also been poking at the Jaws of Hakkon DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Crossposted from isis at Dreamwidth where there are
comments. | Comment at Dreamwidth