know that I still remain true
So I finished all four books in Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series (a fifth book - of course - is due in March 2012). and despite the lax editing, which led to some jarring mistakes being left in, I enjoyed them a lot. I can't really separate them out into separate books because I read the first three as an omnibus on my iPad, and then went right into the fourth. But I enjoyed the way she integrates werewolves and vampires into the world, the shifts in history to account for their presence, and the way they shape society, and society tries to shape them. I especially liked Lord Akeldama, the old dandy vampire with the intelligence network of hot young men, and Professor Lyall, the Beta of the main pack of werewolves, whom I pictured as a lycanthropic Agent Coulson, forever having to deal with (i.e. clean up after) the drama of the outsize personalities around him.
Alexia, the heroine, is also quite entertaining. I like that she has a lot of the qualities of a typical romance novel heroine, but also is a lot more pragmatic and a lot more believably flawed than most.
I was sad Madame Lefoux became an explicit antagonist in the last book, because I was kind of hoping Alexia would take up with her on the side, because as much as I like Alexia/Conall, I found it a lot harder to forgive his behavior in book three, where he repudiates her after discovering she's pregnant (supposedly, werewolves and vampires can't reproduce biologically, so he believes that she's cheated on him. While this response is suitable for the time period, it's still repugnant, even if he does regret it and grovel about it afterwards; he needed to be more "I should have believed her"! rather than "I guess she really was telling the truth, so I forgive her.")
Also, I'm not sure why Biffy and Lord Akeldama couldn't continue their relationship after Biffy gets turned into a werewolf - I must have missed something about how werewolves and vampires can't be together - so I'm sad for them. On the other hand, I would like some Professor Lyall/Biffy now, as they each try to help the other get over losing their loves. (While I was unsurprised that Lyall had been disappointed in love, as the saying goes, I had expected his unavailable lover to be Conall, not Alexia's father, so good on Carriger for surprising me.) I wonder if that might be a yuletide possibility. Hmm...
I found these books fun and easy to read, with a likeable female heroine (who has female friends who get to participate in adventures too), and which continues the romance on after the main couple has gotten together, to deal with their life as a married - and still adventure-having - couple. I don't think they're groundbreaking or life-changing, but they're a good commuting or beach read.
This afternoon, I read Catwoman: Selina's Big Score by Darwyn Cooke, and I appreciate the people who recommended it to me, because it was indeed right up in my wheelhouse. It opens with Selina presumed dead (believed to have been murdered by Catwoman) and looking for a big score to restart her life. She gets hooked into a possible job by Chantel, a gangster's moll who's looking to get out of the life, and ends up teaming up with an old lover whom she'd double-crossed. I didn't love the art, though Selina looks fantastic, and it does have a nice retro feel and kinetic quality that works with the story. The writing is tight and spare and hard-boiled, just the kind of neo-noir that I enjoy. Highly recommended, if you like heist stories that are a little more noir than Ocean's Eleven.
I really need to get me a Catwoman icon. Hmm...
***
While I'm wary of a one-man operation, the guy from Pinboard does seem interested in our patronage, and has put up a survey to find out what features fandom would most like to see rolled out over there. There's a post here with a link to the survey and some explanation as to what was and wasn't included and why.
Speaking of surveys, and people who really don't want fangirl monies, the DC survey on the new 52 appears to be rejecting some people (women) for some reason (gender?). It accepted mine, and I listed myself as a Caucasian, 40-year-old woman within a particular income bracket. It does not appear to be accepting of people outside the US, but if that were me, I would totally lie on that particular field. Drop in NY as the state and 10028 (UES) as the zip code and be done with it. I don't think it will be of any use? But they did ask, so they shouldn't complain when they get told.
***
Ugh, I have been putting it off all day, but I suppose it's time to go and clean out the fridge. If you don't hear from me, assume the leftovers got me!
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/375919.html.
people have commented there.
Alexia, the heroine, is also quite entertaining. I like that she has a lot of the qualities of a typical romance novel heroine, but also is a lot more pragmatic and a lot more believably flawed than most.
I was sad Madame Lefoux became an explicit antagonist in the last book, because I was kind of hoping Alexia would take up with her on the side, because as much as I like Alexia/Conall, I found it a lot harder to forgive his behavior in book three, where he repudiates her after discovering she's pregnant (supposedly, werewolves and vampires can't reproduce biologically, so he believes that she's cheated on him. While this response is suitable for the time period, it's still repugnant, even if he does regret it and grovel about it afterwards; he needed to be more "I should have believed her"! rather than "I guess she really was telling the truth, so I forgive her.")
Also, I'm not sure why Biffy and Lord Akeldama couldn't continue their relationship after Biffy gets turned into a werewolf - I must have missed something about how werewolves and vampires can't be together - so I'm sad for them. On the other hand, I would like some Professor Lyall/Biffy now, as they each try to help the other get over losing their loves. (While I was unsurprised that Lyall had been disappointed in love, as the saying goes, I had expected his unavailable lover to be Conall, not Alexia's father, so good on Carriger for surprising me.) I wonder if that might be a yuletide possibility. Hmm...
I found these books fun and easy to read, with a likeable female heroine (who has female friends who get to participate in adventures too), and which continues the romance on after the main couple has gotten together, to deal with their life as a married - and still adventure-having - couple. I don't think they're groundbreaking or life-changing, but they're a good commuting or beach read.
This afternoon, I read Catwoman: Selina's Big Score by Darwyn Cooke, and I appreciate the people who recommended it to me, because it was indeed right up in my wheelhouse. It opens with Selina presumed dead (believed to have been murdered by Catwoman) and looking for a big score to restart her life. She gets hooked into a possible job by Chantel, a gangster's moll who's looking to get out of the life, and ends up teaming up with an old lover whom she'd double-crossed. I didn't love the art, though Selina looks fantastic, and it does have a nice retro feel and kinetic quality that works with the story. The writing is tight and spare and hard-boiled, just the kind of neo-noir that I enjoy. Highly recommended, if you like heist stories that are a little more noir than Ocean's Eleven.
I really need to get me a Catwoman icon. Hmm...
***
While I'm wary of a one-man operation, the guy from Pinboard does seem interested in our patronage, and has put up a survey to find out what features fandom would most like to see rolled out over there. There's a post here with a link to the survey and some explanation as to what was and wasn't included and why.
Speaking of surveys, and people who really don't want fangirl monies, the DC survey on the new 52 appears to be rejecting some people (women) for some reason (gender?). It accepted mine, and I listed myself as a Caucasian, 40-year-old woman within a particular income bracket. It does not appear to be accepting of people outside the US, but if that were me, I would totally lie on that particular field. Drop in NY as the state and 10028 (UES) as the zip code and be done with it. I don't think it will be of any use? But they did ask, so they shouldn't complain when they get told.
***
Ugh, I have been putting it off all day, but I suppose it's time to go and clean out the fridge. If you don't hear from me, assume the leftovers got me!
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/375919.html.
people have commented there.