and this old world is a new world and a bold world
Brooklyn Nine Nine: Coral Palms Part 2
I have never been the biggest Andy Samberg fan, though this show has made me warm to him considerably, but is there anybody at being enthusiastic and terrified at the same time? His "our country is broken" was HILARIOUS and true. The prison break stuff was also hilarious, as was the Newlywed Game as an interrogation technique. I believe no one can beat it! Though they gave it a shot. Plus, Maya Rudolph was ON FIRE in that movie theatre scene. And then all the stuff with the Nine Nine back in Brooklyn was fun too. <333
What I'm reading Wednesday:
What I've just finished
Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, books 2 and 3 of her Grisha trilogy. I enjoyed each one a little more than the previous one, but that is mostly due to the introduction of the best character in those books, i.e., Nikolai. As soon as Sturmhond showed up I knew he had to be the younger prince, but even if he wasn't, he was still the most entertaining thing these books had going.
I will say that I liked that Mal had to sacrifice himself, and that both their hands were on the knife to do so, and then they got their happy ending anyway, even if I never really warmed to Alina. I feel like the real solution was a poly relationship somewhat like the one Nikolai was proposing, except with more warmth between Mal and Nikolai, but I can see why that might not work out for a king who needs an undisputed heir.
I don't know what the actual fandom is like, but the glimpse I had of it on Goodreads made me rapidly back away. I mean, people can ship what they like, I don't really care (I mean, I'll judge, but silently) but there was no way canon was going to go there (even if I was side-eying it for how it woobiefied the Darkling) and yet the outrage that it didn't was potent. smh.
And then I spent yesterday reading Crooked Kingdom, set in the same world but a sequel to Six of Crows. I loved these two books pretty much unreservedly - they might be my favorite thing I've read all year - because they are heist books, a genre I dearly love, so the scope is slightly smaller (though there is still a touch of saving the world, but only as an afterthought, and only because it might impact their revenue stream) and also because Kaz and Inej's relationship hits SO MANY of my buttons.
OH MY GOD, I literally gasped out loud and clutched my chest when he said, "I would come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting." AND THEN HE BUYS OUT HER INDENTURE, OUTFITS HER SHIP, AND REUNITES HER WITH HER PARENTS. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Also, that scene where he tends her wounds and they both have to fight against their unwillingness to be touched, NNNGGGGGHHHH. SO GREAT.
Now I want ALL the fic where Inej is the scourge of slavers everywhere and she occasionally comes back to Ketterdam to have really fraught encounters with Kaz where they slowly overcome their issues to have hot makeouts. IJS. I think that is the sum total of my yuletide request for these two now.
I mean, I enjoyed the plot a lot, too - it had a lot of moving pieces but I never felt like anything happened that I couldn't have figured out except for the money going to the Shu instead of the Ravkans - that was a surprise and also, I didn't expect Matthias to die. Poor Matthias. Though I suppose he couldn't really have gone to Ravka - I don't see that ending well for him either. Poor Nina. She'll have waffles and Zoya to comfort her, I guess.
You still have to sort of handwave the age thing - I just think of them as in their 20s instead of teens - but I enjoyed them tremendously. Crooked Kingdom does spoil the Grisha trilogy a little, and now I also want a story where Nikolai hires Kaz and he has to get the band back together to pull off some amazing heist in Ravka, but I don't think it matters a great deal.
And now I can finish the next draft of my yuletide letter. *g*
I also read the new(ish? it came out a year ago) middle grade novelization of Star Wars: A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy by Alexandra Bracken, which is nice mostly because it gives you a lot more Leia, from her POV even (though it uses the phrase "flipping a table" in her narration, and though I can easily imagine Leia wanting to flip a table and actually flipping a table, I can't quite get to the point of believing she'd use the phrase itself *hands*). I read it because I couldn't figure out when she became a senator, and it's not really clear even in the book, but the stuff in Just a Little Bit of History Repeating about the Emperor congratulating her on her pretty face (and her being a sensation on the holonet) comes from here.
And on the bus this morning, I read Star Wars #23, which I enjoyed, though I wish they'd clear up whether Mon Mothma knows who Luke and Leia's parents are, because of anyone still kicking around who isn't Artoo, she would have enough info to guess! Especially given her reaction to their ludicrous plan in this issue - "I'd say anyone else was insane but I trust Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker to pull it off!" Come on!
(I mean, I still have to wonder what her reaction was when Leia was debriefed after the battle of Yavin and was like, "Luke Skywalker, the crazy pilot who destroyed the Death Star, brought Obi-Wan Kenobi to rescue me" - I mean, sure, the Empire can erase as much official history as it wants to, but it can't wipe out people's memories and Mothma was there. I mean, I'll accept that nobody ever questioned anything about Artoo and Threepio's ownership, as obviously Bail was good friends with Padme and there at her death, but come on! It's like, if someone said to you, "Eisenhower and this kid named McArthur showed up to rescue me," wouldn't you be like, "...!!!"?)
And huh, was there no new Darth Vader comic in September? Was that supposed to happen? Comics, your ways remain a mystery to me.
What I'm reading now
I'm rereading Crooked Kingdom right now, since I just finished it last night.
What I'm reading next
Ah! I don't know what I'll read in between, but the second Magnus Chase book comes out next Tuesday, so that's definitely next.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/874730.html.
people have commented there.
I have never been the biggest Andy Samberg fan, though this show has made me warm to him considerably, but is there anybody at being enthusiastic and terrified at the same time? His "our country is broken" was HILARIOUS and true. The prison break stuff was also hilarious, as was the Newlywed Game as an interrogation technique. I believe no one can beat it! Though they gave it a shot. Plus, Maya Rudolph was ON FIRE in that movie theatre scene. And then all the stuff with the Nine Nine back in Brooklyn was fun too. <333
What I'm reading Wednesday:
What I've just finished
Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo, books 2 and 3 of her Grisha trilogy. I enjoyed each one a little more than the previous one, but that is mostly due to the introduction of the best character in those books, i.e., Nikolai. As soon as Sturmhond showed up I knew he had to be the younger prince, but even if he wasn't, he was still the most entertaining thing these books had going.
I will say that I liked that Mal had to sacrifice himself, and that both their hands were on the knife to do so, and then they got their happy ending anyway, even if I never really warmed to Alina. I feel like the real solution was a poly relationship somewhat like the one Nikolai was proposing, except with more warmth between Mal and Nikolai, but I can see why that might not work out for a king who needs an undisputed heir.
I don't know what the actual fandom is like, but the glimpse I had of it on Goodreads made me rapidly back away. I mean, people can ship what they like, I don't really care (I mean, I'll judge, but silently) but there was no way canon was going to go there (even if I was side-eying it for how it woobiefied the Darkling) and yet the outrage that it didn't was potent. smh.
And then I spent yesterday reading Crooked Kingdom, set in the same world but a sequel to Six of Crows. I loved these two books pretty much unreservedly - they might be my favorite thing I've read all year - because they are heist books, a genre I dearly love, so the scope is slightly smaller (though there is still a touch of saving the world, but only as an afterthought, and only because it might impact their revenue stream) and also because Kaz and Inej's relationship hits SO MANY of my buttons.
OH MY GOD, I literally gasped out loud and clutched my chest when he said, "I would come for you. And if I couldn't walk, I'd crawl to you, and no matter how broken we were, we'd fight our way out together-knives drawn, pistols blazing. Because that's what we do. We never stop fighting." AND THEN HE BUYS OUT HER INDENTURE, OUTFITS HER SHIP, AND REUNITES HER WITH HER PARENTS. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Also, that scene where he tends her wounds and they both have to fight against their unwillingness to be touched, NNNGGGGGHHHH. SO GREAT.
Now I want ALL the fic where Inej is the scourge of slavers everywhere and she occasionally comes back to Ketterdam to have really fraught encounters with Kaz where they slowly overcome their issues to have hot makeouts. IJS. I think that is the sum total of my yuletide request for these two now.
I mean, I enjoyed the plot a lot, too - it had a lot of moving pieces but I never felt like anything happened that I couldn't have figured out except for the money going to the Shu instead of the Ravkans - that was a surprise and also, I didn't expect Matthias to die. Poor Matthias. Though I suppose he couldn't really have gone to Ravka - I don't see that ending well for him either. Poor Nina. She'll have waffles and Zoya to comfort her, I guess.
You still have to sort of handwave the age thing - I just think of them as in their 20s instead of teens - but I enjoyed them tremendously. Crooked Kingdom does spoil the Grisha trilogy a little, and now I also want a story where Nikolai hires Kaz and he has to get the band back together to pull off some amazing heist in Ravka, but I don't think it matters a great deal.
And now I can finish the next draft of my yuletide letter. *g*
I also read the new(ish? it came out a year ago) middle grade novelization of Star Wars: A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy by Alexandra Bracken, which is nice mostly because it gives you a lot more Leia, from her POV even (though it uses the phrase "flipping a table" in her narration, and though I can easily imagine Leia wanting to flip a table and actually flipping a table, I can't quite get to the point of believing she'd use the phrase itself *hands*). I read it because I couldn't figure out when she became a senator, and it's not really clear even in the book, but the stuff in Just a Little Bit of History Repeating about the Emperor congratulating her on her pretty face (and her being a sensation on the holonet) comes from here.
And on the bus this morning, I read Star Wars #23, which I enjoyed, though I wish they'd clear up whether Mon Mothma knows who Luke and Leia's parents are, because of anyone still kicking around who isn't Artoo, she would have enough info to guess! Especially given her reaction to their ludicrous plan in this issue - "I'd say anyone else was insane but I trust Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker to pull it off!" Come on!
(I mean, I still have to wonder what her reaction was when Leia was debriefed after the battle of Yavin and was like, "Luke Skywalker, the crazy pilot who destroyed the Death Star, brought Obi-Wan Kenobi to rescue me" - I mean, sure, the Empire can erase as much official history as it wants to, but it can't wipe out people's memories and Mothma was there. I mean, I'll accept that nobody ever questioned anything about Artoo and Threepio's ownership, as obviously Bail was good friends with Padme and there at her death, but come on! It's like, if someone said to you, "Eisenhower and this kid named McArthur showed up to rescue me," wouldn't you be like, "...!!!"?)
And huh, was there no new Darth Vader comic in September? Was that supposed to happen? Comics, your ways remain a mystery to me.
What I'm reading now
I'm rereading Crooked Kingdom right now, since I just finished it last night.
What I'm reading next
Ah! I don't know what I'll read in between, but the second Magnus Chase book comes out next Tuesday, so that's definitely next.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/874730.html.
people have commented there.