some stuff I have read
Lafcadio Hearn, Kwaidan. One of those books that I kept wanting to read until I was actually reluctant to do so, a strange phenomenon. Enjoyable Japanese traditional ghost stories for most of the way through, followed by a few scholarly reflections on themes in Japanese literature, and by themes I mean insects.
Martha Wells, The Serpent Sea. Fine adventurous fantasy in a fun world with fairly believable alien societies. I think the gender roles could be a bit more interesting, but they aren't bog-standard at least.
Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy. I remain somewhat boggled by a book with two female authors having four main characters who are all men. Two of them have a cute gay romance, but it's still a massive Bechdel fail. The feminine person with the largest number of lines and references is undoubtedly the titular Havemercy, who is a sorcerous clockwork dragon. Others include a vicious shrew (we have stopped being literal here), a whore whose breasts have been insulted, and a foreigner who has consensual sex and is publicly called a whore. If you can get past all that and don't demand a lot of worldbuilding, there's a decent magical mystery and some fun characters in here.
Carrie Vaughn, After the Golden Age. The daughter of two superheroes is a normal human who goes into forensic accounting. Of course, this doesn't mean that she's not involved in major events, and being raised by people with a higher calling is difficult. Clear, engaging writing that goes somewhere rather different than I thought it would (though I called the romance early on).
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Martha Wells, The Serpent Sea. Fine adventurous fantasy in a fun world with fairly believable alien societies. I think the gender roles could be a bit more interesting, but they aren't bog-standard at least.
Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy. I remain somewhat boggled by a book with two female authors having four main characters who are all men. Two of them have a cute gay romance, but it's still a massive Bechdel fail. The feminine person with the largest number of lines and references is undoubtedly the titular Havemercy, who is a sorcerous clockwork dragon. Others include a vicious shrew (we have stopped being literal here), a whore whose breasts have been insulted, and a foreigner who has consensual sex and is publicly called a whore. If you can get past all that and don't demand a lot of worldbuilding, there's a decent magical mystery and some fun characters in here.
Carrie Vaughn, After the Golden Age. The daughter of two superheroes is a normal human who goes into forensic accounting. Of course, this doesn't mean that she's not involved in major events, and being raised by people with a higher calling is difficult. Clear, engaging writing that goes somewhere rather different than I thought it would (though I called the romance early on).
This entry was originally posted at http://jinian.dreamwidth.org/489477.html. Respond wherever you like.