would you ask for something like another chance?
Oh my god, every time I read someone characterizing Steve as the obedient soldier who just follows orders, I want to reach through the internet and slap them upside the head and tell them to rewatch the movies. He breaks the law trying to enlist. He's ordered to report to Alamagordo and he goes on tour with the USO instead. He's told that no rescue operation is planned for Bucky et al., so he GOES AWOL to rescue them (admittedly, he then turns himself in to his superior officer when he gets back but that is the clearest example ever of "it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission"). And then in Avengers, despite being all, "Just follow orders" to Tony and Bruce, he goes off and breaks into the secure weapons lockers and discovers what exactly Phase 2 is. Later, he commandeers a Quinjet to go fight the Chitauri (okay, this is with Fury's tacit permission, but I don't think that mattered to him one way or another at that point). What about this behavior says unquestioning obedience to orders? He follows orders when they track with what he thinks the right thing is, and when they don't, he ignores them in favor of doing what he thinks is right or necessary. Especially if it involves throwing himself out of a plane or getting shot at. (Now I see where Bucky gets his terrible planning skills from.)
Anyway. I haven't finished a story in weeks but yesterday I started two new ones, one of which is a fix-it of sorts for the end of the "Widow Hunt" arc and I realized last night who exactly it is who will help Natasha out when all the men are bumbling around trying to figure out what to say when she asks questions about the memories she's missing. Hopefully I can write it without descending into a screed about how no, the men don't get to make decisions for the ladies getting to know about what traumas were inflicted on them while brainwashed. Ugh. Brubaker, you did so well on so many things, but this paternalistic bullshit of men making decisions for the ladies for their own good without informing said ladies is infuriating.
Speaking of Winter Soldier, I guess it's time for the Wednesday reading meme:
What I just finished reading
Winter Soldier 16, which was mostly set-up, which is why I didn't post about it, but I have hope that this won't suck, and maybe Bucky will get to interact with other people.
The Naming of the Beasts, the fifth (and final?) Felix Castor book. I liked it a lot - better than the fourth one. I really liked how they used the theme of names and naming throughout the book, since it was something that had been building all through the series - and how it tied up the Asmodeus storyline, while still leaving things open for more stories, especially with how the rules seem to be changing etc. and whether there really is going to be some kind of epic confrontation between the living and the dead.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire, which is really enjoyable. I like Verity, the protagonist, well enough, though I thought her narrative voice was unfortunately generic. Maybe I'm just tired of novels in first person? At least ones that don't really have a distinctive style (the Felix Castor books, for example, have a nice hardboiled rhythm to the narrative). I do want to know more about Verity's family and her world (even if the NYC in the book didn't really feel like the city I know; on the plus side, NO VAMPIRES. YAY.), though, so I picked up the second book, which I guess came out fairly recently?
Which neatly segues into What I'm reading now
Midnight Blue-Light Special, the sequel to Discount Armageddon, which ups the ante significantly for Verity and her associates. just started it on the train this morning, so I don't have much to say.
I also opened up Cotillion, which is one of the Heyers I haven't read, because
skygiants mentioned it recently, and it's one of the ones I picked up when they were all on sale for $2.99 or whatever.
What I'm reading next
Whatever comics come out today, plus the ones I managed to download before the Marvel free #1s thing went belly up (NO PET AVENGERS THOUGH. GRAR. I better get it when they fix this mess.). As for books, I dunno. I have a bunch queued up on the old kindle/iPad, but we'll see what mood I'm in when I'm done with the above.
I'll say this - the one upside to the lack of fic that's of interest to me lately has meant my novel-reading has kicked into high gear. (on the downside, it means I spend more time reading and no time writing. *hands* Everything's a trade-off, I guess.)
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/551784.html.
people have commented there.
Anyway. I haven't finished a story in weeks but yesterday I started two new ones, one of which is a fix-it of sorts for the end of the "Widow Hunt" arc and I realized last night who exactly it is who will help Natasha out when all the men are bumbling around trying to figure out what to say when she asks questions about the memories she's missing. Hopefully I can write it without descending into a screed about how no, the men don't get to make decisions for the ladies getting to know about what traumas were inflicted on them while brainwashed. Ugh. Brubaker, you did so well on so many things, but this paternalistic bullshit of men making decisions for the ladies for their own good without informing said ladies is infuriating.
Speaking of Winter Soldier, I guess it's time for the Wednesday reading meme:
What I just finished reading
Winter Soldier 16, which was mostly set-up, which is why I didn't post about it, but I have hope that this won't suck, and maybe Bucky will get to interact with other people.
The Naming of the Beasts, the fifth (and final?) Felix Castor book. I liked it a lot - better than the fourth one. I really liked how they used the theme of names and naming throughout the book, since it was something that had been building all through the series - and how it tied up the Asmodeus storyline, while still leaving things open for more stories, especially with how the rules seem to be changing etc. and whether there really is going to be some kind of epic confrontation between the living and the dead.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire, which is really enjoyable. I like Verity, the protagonist, well enough, though I thought her narrative voice was unfortunately generic. Maybe I'm just tired of novels in first person? At least ones that don't really have a distinctive style (the Felix Castor books, for example, have a nice hardboiled rhythm to the narrative). I do want to know more about Verity's family and her world (even if the NYC in the book didn't really feel like the city I know; on the plus side, NO VAMPIRES. YAY.), though, so I picked up the second book, which I guess came out fairly recently?
Which neatly segues into What I'm reading now
Midnight Blue-Light Special, the sequel to Discount Armageddon, which ups the ante significantly for Verity and her associates. just started it on the train this morning, so I don't have much to say.
I also opened up Cotillion, which is one of the Heyers I haven't read, because
skygiants mentioned it recently, and it's one of the ones I picked up when they were all on sale for $2.99 or whatever.
What I'm reading next
Whatever comics come out today, plus the ones I managed to download before the Marvel free #1s thing went belly up (NO PET AVENGERS THOUGH. GRAR. I better get it when they fix this mess.). As for books, I dunno. I have a bunch queued up on the old kindle/iPad, but we'll see what mood I'm in when I'm done with the above.
I'll say this - the one upside to the lack of fic that's of interest to me lately has meant my novel-reading has kicked into high gear. (on the downside, it means I spend more time reading and no time writing. *hands* Everything's a trade-off, I guess.)
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/551784.html.
people have commented there.