Adaptation and Foretold (YA genre fiction)
Adaptation by Malindo Lo (Adaptation #1)
See the first reviewer on Amazon for a brief summary of each story. I checked this one at solely for Malindo Lo's short story, and man did she ever deliver. I'm going to group works by how much I liked them.
The cream of the crop:
When I read Malindo Lo's Ash, I was really reminded of a rough Robin McKinley. I think "One True Love" really shows how Lo's writing has grown. I also liked the romance in it a lot more too, haha. I'm sure there's something very intelligent to be said about how extreme expectations of heteronormativity (straight-as-default) allows for female queerness to go undetected.
I also think there're some pretty strong Utena parallels, but IDK if Lo has ever seen the TV show. Princess decides to become a prince and save a princess of color. Princess of color who is trapped by circumstances is more vicious than appears. Although I prefer "One True Love"'s ending much more as the two get to literally ride off into the sunset.
"The Chosen One" is about a bastard princess' quest to save her ailing sister. There're Courtship Trials! Handsome giants! The romance centers around people of "monstrous" beauty! Loving sisters! Chosen One tropes subverted?! Mix well and read with pleasure!
Going to check out other stuff by these authors:
Ok, so I'm actually pretty familiar with Meg Cabot, and usually I hate rotating 1st person POV. But this was actually a very fluffy and satisfying read. Although I haven't read anything by Cabot recently, I don't think I've ever read anything by her I didn't like. (Actually I checked out her adult vampire book, but I don't think I actually read it?)
Another thing I tend to steer clear of are male narrators, especially 1st person. But the narrator of "This is a Mortal Wound" is so darn infectious. He probably was the most charismatic narrator of the whole anthology.
Just ok:
"Improbable Futures" has a solid premise: What happens when a conwoman who tells the future, begins telling fortunes that are true? (Ok, well the premise is kind of like Ghost minus ghosts actually, haha) Minus points for the whole exotic g*ypsy trope, but IDK how this plays into the traveling carnival atmosphere which is a trope unto itself that I'm unfamiliar with. Also, I feel the sexual abuse is shoehorned in? Like, something about the way fortune telling and self-determination mash up didn't quite work for me.
How to describe my feelings about "The Killing Garden"? I think the 1st person narration wasn't the wisest choice. Our narrator is a woman who is the court assassin (I got a Mid Eastern vibe from the story? That also might've been because the premise reminded me of Phantom of the Opera). So you're in the mind of a killer, and it's not as dark and gritty a place as I thought it would be. That may be because of this being a YA anthology, but when I follow a killer as hero I pretty much expect depressingness. I think this issue could've been alleviated if this had not been writing; I think this actually would've been much better as a comic book. These issues make me hesitant to read Ryan's other works as I have the impression they are also "dark."
I skimmed these:
"The Mind Is a Powerful Thing" by Matt de la Pena
"Death for the Deathless" by Margaret Stohl
"Fate" by Simone Elkeles
"Homecoming" by Richelle Mead
Out-right did not like:
"Burned Bright" by Diana Peterfreund
"The Angriest Man" by Lisa McMann
Up next on my reading list is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe or The God of Small Things. (Lol, yeah you can see I'm being ambitious by attempting The Canon yet again).
Originally posted on DW with
comments.
- This is probably one of the few times I'm going to say this: loved the romance, could've dumped everything else about it.
- I like Lo's makeout scenes, lol. But IDK about Amber always being associated with candy. That might be a writing tic, or it might actually have plot purposes. I'm not sure which.
- Yay Asian leading man!
- Yay local geography I'm familiar with!
- Boo boring cover art!
- This is not a suspense or thriller novel. Sure there are government conspiracies, but there's not that sense of paranoia about. So IDK why it was marketed as such; all of these things are mechanism to support the romance I think.
- LOL at people not recognizing that when the flap mentions the main character meeting a "beautiful and mysterious girl", it means female love interest.
- Some of the themes here really remind me of Octavia Butler's Dawn, but much lighter.
- Calling it now, OT3 ending. She's setting it up with Reese's father.
- I only kept reading for the romance that I heard about, otherwise I would've quit the book in the first chapter.
- Similarly, I don't get the buzz about Amber being a ~bad girl~ who makes a questionable decision at the end. But that might also be because once you take away the creepy patriarchal stuff associated with the Bad Boy, I can't find the figure recognizable.
- I've always had a problem with Lo's balance of plot and romance; in her novels it's always been one or the other for me. Her more recent short stories though...
- Not sure I'll read the sequel, but I really want the Oankali sexytimes romance.
See the first reviewer on Amazon for a brief summary of each story. I checked this one at solely for Malindo Lo's short story, and man did she ever deliver. I'm going to group works by how much I liked them.
The cream of the crop:
- "One True Love" by Malinda Lo
- "The Chosen One" by Saundra Mitchell
When I read Malindo Lo's Ash, I was really reminded of a rough Robin McKinley. I think "One True Love" really shows how Lo's writing has grown. I also liked the romance in it a lot more too, haha. I'm sure there's something very intelligent to be said about how extreme expectations of heteronormativity (straight-as-default) allows for female queerness to go undetected.
I also think there're some pretty strong Utena parallels, but IDK if Lo has ever seen the TV show. Princess decides to become a prince and save a princess of color. Princess of color who is trapped by circumstances is more vicious than appears. Although I prefer "One True Love"'s ending much more as the two get to literally ride off into the sunset.
"The Chosen One" is about a bastard princess' quest to save her ailing sister. There're Courtship Trials! Handsome giants! The romance centers around people of "monstrous" beauty! Loving sisters! Chosen One tropes subverted?! Mix well and read with pleasure!
Going to check out other stuff by these authors:
- "Gentlemen Send Phantoms" by Laini Taylor
- "Out of the Blue" by Meg Cabot
- "This Is a Mortal Wound" by Michael Grant
Ok, so I'm actually pretty familiar with Meg Cabot, and usually I hate rotating 1st person POV. But this was actually a very fluffy and satisfying read. Although I haven't read anything by Cabot recently, I don't think I've ever read anything by her I didn't like. (Actually I checked out her adult vampire book, but I don't think I actually read it?)
Another thing I tend to steer clear of are male narrators, especially 1st person. But the narrator of "This is a Mortal Wound" is so darn infectious. He probably was the most charismatic narrator of the whole anthology.
Just ok:
- "Misery" by Heather Brewer
- "Improbable Futures" by Kami Garcia
- "The Killing Garden" by Carrie Ryan
"Improbable Futures" has a solid premise: What happens when a conwoman who tells the future, begins telling fortunes that are true? (Ok, well the premise is kind of like Ghost minus ghosts actually, haha) Minus points for the whole exotic g*ypsy trope, but IDK how this plays into the traveling carnival atmosphere which is a trope unto itself that I'm unfamiliar with. Also, I feel the sexual abuse is shoehorned in? Like, something about the way fortune telling and self-determination mash up didn't quite work for me.
How to describe my feelings about "The Killing Garden"? I think the 1st person narration wasn't the wisest choice. Our narrator is a woman who is the court assassin (I got a Mid Eastern vibe from the story? That also might've been because the premise reminded me of Phantom of the Opera). So you're in the mind of a killer, and it's not as dark and gritty a place as I thought it would be. That may be because of this being a YA anthology, but when I follow a killer as hero I pretty much expect depressingness. I think this issue could've been alleviated if this had not been writing; I think this actually would've been much better as a comic book. These issues make me hesitant to read Ryan's other works as I have the impression they are also "dark."
I skimmed these:
"The Mind Is a Powerful Thing" by Matt de la Pena
"Death for the Deathless" by Margaret Stohl
"Fate" by Simone Elkeles
"Homecoming" by Richelle Mead
Out-right did not like:
"Burned Bright" by Diana Peterfreund
"The Angriest Man" by Lisa McMann
Up next on my reading list is Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe or The God of Small Things. (Lol, yeah you can see I'm being ambitious by attempting The Canon yet again).
Originally posted on DW with
comments.