it's hard to know when to give up the fight
Since the Mets won on Monday and I watched, I figured I would see if I could do it again, but then they were down 7-1 in the sixth, so I put the tennis on. After Serena won, I turned back to see what had happened and the Mets were up 8-7 in the top of the 9th! I don't even know, you guys. But their magic number is now 19.
This morning I got my period, 6 days early. It's been barely three weeks since I last had it, after not getting it for almost two months. I liked it better when it had settled into a regular 29 day cycle. Stupid uterus. Stupid hormones.
Anyway, even though Monday was a holiday and that usually throws me off, today I remember that it is Wednesday, and on Wednesdays we wear pink talk about books!
What I've just finished
Buckle up, 'cause I've got some stuff to talk about.
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. This is delightfully charming and I highly recommend it. An AU Regency romance/magical adventure novel with two non-white characters as protagonists which is both great screwball fun and on point about the skeevy racial and imperialist/colonialist (not to mention sexist) politics of the time. It features Prunella Gentleman, a powerful and pragmatic witch who wants to learn about magic (forbidden to upper class women of the time) but knows she won't get anywhere without marrying well first, Mak Genggang, a powerful Malaysian witch who is awesome and hilarious, and Zacharias Whyte, the first black Sorcerer to the Crown, who is not very popular for a variety of reasons. Zacharias is a sweetie, though he fades a little in comparison with Prunella and Mak Genggang. Overall, a quick, joyful read.
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett (and others?). I admit, I expected Granny Weatherwax to die, and I'd had that spoiler confirmed before I started reading, but I didn't think the book would start with her death, and the bulk of it would be dealing with the aftermath. I definitely teared up more than once reading about it.
Anyway, Granny picks Tiffany as her successor, and the elves are aware that Granny's gone and they are making incursions into the Disc, and there's also a boy (I was going to say kid but then you might think I was referring to Mephistopheles the goat) who wants to be a witch, and the bulk of the book is about Tiffany striving to make it all work. There are lots of fun cameos and callbacks, a few unexpected character turns (who knew Mrs. Earwig had it in her?), and a lot of Tiffany reaffirming that Granny made the right choice. ♥TIFFANY♥
As I said on Goodreads, is this a four star book? I don't really know. It's a little thin in spots and could have used more fleshing out, but given the givens, I'm glad it exists, and it leaves Tiffany, and Discworld, in a good place.
Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure by Jason Fry, which is not, as I expected/hoped, about Luke finding a khyber crystal and building his new lightsaber after ESB, but is about how he learns to use Anakin's lightsaber while illegally visiting an abandoned Jedi temple. It's fine (it's mostly a long training montage in book form, which is the less fun version of a training montage, but at least you get to supply your own soundtrack), but I don't feel like it revealed anything new about Luke. And every time he's like, "I'm using my father's lightsaber! I'm going to make him proud!" I winced. All I could think of was that graphic where Obi-Wan gives Luke the lightsaber and it's captioned "This was your father's lightsaber. He murdered 30 children with it." Sorry not sorry? (Also, apparently there's a whole tangent in Chuck Wendig's new book about Anakin's lightsaber showing up on the black market after ESB, and just for that I want to read that book, even though I have bounced hard off Wendig's style previously; that's why I didn't purchase it [if I'm spending $13.99!!! for an ebook - which you know I think is outrageous - I want to make sure I'm going to enjoy it] but instead I'm on the hold list for it at the library. Hopefully I get to read it before the freaking movie comes out.)
Anyway, this was the weakest of the three new (middle-grade - also not what I was expecting) novels about the OT trio, and yet somehow the most expensive. Idek.
Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens:Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo Adventure by Greg Rucka, was the one I was most excited about because Rucka! He's my favorite comics writer! Writing one of my all-time favorite characters! But I wish it had been aimed at a slightly older audience, because while it did give us some new information about Han and Chewie (mostly about how/why they ended up sticking around the Alliance after ANH and not paying off the bounty in a timely fashion, plus at least one character who will likely show up in TFA), it was not as deep as it could have been. Still, if you enjoy Han Solo novels, this is a fun one. (Though I wonder what Rucka would do with a Leia story. IJS.)
Journey to Star Wars: Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castelluci and Jason Fry. Now this is what I'm talking about! This was the best of the three because it did show us Leia making hard choices and having to think about the ramifications of those choices and what she could and couldn't live with. It showed her leading a team and struggling between the good of the team vs. the good of the people they come in contact with vs. the overall good of the Alliance (and the galaxy as a whole), and her decisions had consequences! There were definite stakes here that there weren't in the other books, because even though you know Leia is going to make it out alive (since it's set between ESB and RotJ), you don't know what terrible things might happen to everyone else, and even if you don't end up caring about the new characters, you do care about the effect their fates have on Leia (at least, I do). Plus, this is a book that remembers that Leia was tortured in ANH in addition to watching her planet get blown up, and it does a good job of portraying her dealing with that, as well. ♥LEIA♥
Oh! The art for all three - covers and some interior pages - is done by Phil Noto in his usual lovely style.
If you're going to read one of these, make it the Leia one. (I know no one who's going to bother to read these is going to read just one, but I figured I'd throw it out there. Or buy the Leia one and borrow the other two. Whichever. But read the Leia one last, because the other two don't measure up.)
What I'm reading now
Gunpowder Alchemy by Jeannie Lin, which was mentioned by one of you? It's steampunk set in 19th c. China, with Chinese protagonists, so I guess what Ken Liu calls silkpunk? I'm just under halfway in and I'm enjoying it.
What I'm reading next
Dunno. I have Court of Fives by Kate Elliott, but also a hundred other things on my iPad, so we'll see.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/777451.html.
people have commented there.
This morning I got my period, 6 days early. It's been barely three weeks since I last had it, after not getting it for almost two months. I liked it better when it had settled into a regular 29 day cycle. Stupid uterus. Stupid hormones.
Anyway, even though Monday was a holiday and that usually throws me off, today I remember that it is Wednesday, and on Wednesdays we wear pink talk about books!
What I've just finished
Buckle up, 'cause I've got some stuff to talk about.
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. This is delightfully charming and I highly recommend it. An AU Regency romance/magical adventure novel with two non-white characters as protagonists which is both great screwball fun and on point about the skeevy racial and imperialist/colonialist (not to mention sexist) politics of the time. It features Prunella Gentleman, a powerful and pragmatic witch who wants to learn about magic (forbidden to upper class women of the time) but knows she won't get anywhere without marrying well first, Mak Genggang, a powerful Malaysian witch who is awesome and hilarious, and Zacharias Whyte, the first black Sorcerer to the Crown, who is not very popular for a variety of reasons. Zacharias is a sweetie, though he fades a little in comparison with Prunella and Mak Genggang. Overall, a quick, joyful read.
The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett (and others?). I admit, I expected Granny Weatherwax to die, and I'd had that spoiler confirmed before I started reading, but I didn't think the book would start with her death, and the bulk of it would be dealing with the aftermath. I definitely teared up more than once reading about it.
Anyway, Granny picks Tiffany as her successor, and the elves are aware that Granny's gone and they are making incursions into the Disc, and there's also a boy (I was going to say kid but then you might think I was referring to Mephistopheles the goat) who wants to be a witch, and the bulk of the book is about Tiffany striving to make it all work. There are lots of fun cameos and callbacks, a few unexpected character turns (who knew Mrs. Earwig had it in her?), and a lot of Tiffany reaffirming that Granny made the right choice. ♥TIFFANY♥
As I said on Goodreads, is this a four star book? I don't really know. It's a little thin in spots and could have used more fleshing out, but given the givens, I'm glad it exists, and it leaves Tiffany, and Discworld, in a good place.
Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure by Jason Fry, which is not, as I expected/hoped, about Luke finding a khyber crystal and building his new lightsaber after ESB, but is about how he learns to use Anakin's lightsaber while illegally visiting an abandoned Jedi temple. It's fine (it's mostly a long training montage in book form, which is the less fun version of a training montage, but at least you get to supply your own soundtrack), but I don't feel like it revealed anything new about Luke. And every time he's like, "I'm using my father's lightsaber! I'm going to make him proud!" I winced. All I could think of was that graphic where Obi-Wan gives Luke the lightsaber and it's captioned "This was your father's lightsaber. He murdered 30 children with it." Sorry not sorry? (Also, apparently there's a whole tangent in Chuck Wendig's new book about Anakin's lightsaber showing up on the black market after ESB, and just for that I want to read that book, even though I have bounced hard off Wendig's style previously; that's why I didn't purchase it [if I'm spending $13.99!!! for an ebook - which you know I think is outrageous - I want to make sure I'm going to enjoy it] but instead I'm on the hold list for it at the library. Hopefully I get to read it before the freaking movie comes out.)
Anyway, this was the weakest of the three new (middle-grade - also not what I was expecting) novels about the OT trio, and yet somehow the most expensive. Idek.
Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens:Smuggler's Run: A Han Solo Adventure by Greg Rucka, was the one I was most excited about because Rucka! He's my favorite comics writer! Writing one of my all-time favorite characters! But I wish it had been aimed at a slightly older audience, because while it did give us some new information about Han and Chewie (mostly about how/why they ended up sticking around the Alliance after ANH and not paying off the bounty in a timely fashion, plus at least one character who will likely show up in TFA), it was not as deep as it could have been. Still, if you enjoy Han Solo novels, this is a fun one. (Though I wonder what Rucka would do with a Leia story. IJS.)
Journey to Star Wars: Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castelluci and Jason Fry. Now this is what I'm talking about! This was the best of the three because it did show us Leia making hard choices and having to think about the ramifications of those choices and what she could and couldn't live with. It showed her leading a team and struggling between the good of the team vs. the good of the people they come in contact with vs. the overall good of the Alliance (and the galaxy as a whole), and her decisions had consequences! There were definite stakes here that there weren't in the other books, because even though you know Leia is going to make it out alive (since it's set between ESB and RotJ), you don't know what terrible things might happen to everyone else, and even if you don't end up caring about the new characters, you do care about the effect their fates have on Leia (at least, I do). Plus, this is a book that remembers that Leia was tortured in ANH in addition to watching her planet get blown up, and it does a good job of portraying her dealing with that, as well. ♥LEIA♥
Oh! The art for all three - covers and some interior pages - is done by Phil Noto in his usual lovely style.
If you're going to read one of these, make it the Leia one. (I know no one who's going to bother to read these is going to read just one, but I figured I'd throw it out there. Or buy the Leia one and borrow the other two. Whichever. But read the Leia one last, because the other two don't measure up.)
What I'm reading now
Gunpowder Alchemy by Jeannie Lin, which was mentioned by one of you? It's steampunk set in 19th c. China, with Chinese protagonists, so I guess what Ken Liu calls silkpunk? I'm just under halfway in and I'm enjoying it.
What I'm reading next
Dunno. I have Court of Fives by Kate Elliott, but also a hundred other things on my iPad, so we'll see.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/777451.html.
people have commented there.