Three Days, Three Books...
Just finished three thought-provoking books in a small span of time, and I'm feeling gushy.
They dealt in gender roles/policing, marriage, magic, Gods, warriors, architectural abstracts, art, slavery, revenge, self-discovery, philosophy,astronomy, wars, race, murder and mystery. The first two were from a Scifi-fantasy trilogy of books, and the last one was a random graphic novel of nonlinear proprtions.
Series:
The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
2. The Broken Kingdoms
Rich, rich, writing, with engaging characters, overarching themes and amazing details. The protagonist is a woman of color, and it deals with major racial issues/viewpoints of the marginalized. Far too much, I've skimmed over major scifi-fantasy, because it was always the same euro-centric, Aryan mash of amazing White People With Powers on Horses, so to actually have a book be as diverse and well-thought out as this one, with such a great, fresh perspective, filled a literary hole I didn't even know I'd had in terms of my reading desires. The second book is less 'majestic' and UMPH-filled, but is just as forceful in its quiet, seemingly mundane way. The lore and stories alone in the universe she created are amazing, and I can't wait for the third and final book(Late 2011! D: )
Graphic Novel:
3. Asterios Polyp By David Mazzucchelli
On the surface, a douche-y tale about a douche. Underneath, the douche has motivation, he learns the Big Lesson(maybe), and gets called out on his shit in huge and minuscule ways. Abstract drawings, non-linear storytelling, and irregular panels lend a stream-of-consciousness effect to the whole thing, which makes sense, as the self-proclaimed narrator doesn't even really exist. Or does he? At the heart of the novel, it's about the douche realizing there's more to life than him and pure dichotomies. The surprisingly astute buxom Wiccan-landlady was a nice touch, too. ;D
They dealt in gender roles/policing, marriage, magic, Gods, warriors, architectural abstracts, art, slavery, revenge, self-discovery, philosophy,astronomy, wars, race, murder and mystery. The first two were from a Scifi-fantasy trilogy of books, and the last one was a random graphic novel of nonlinear proprtions.
Series:
The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin
1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
2. The Broken Kingdoms
Rich, rich, writing, with engaging characters, overarching themes and amazing details. The protagonist is a woman of color, and it deals with major racial issues/viewpoints of the marginalized. Far too much, I've skimmed over major scifi-fantasy, because it was always the same euro-centric, Aryan mash of amazing White People With Powers on Horses, so to actually have a book be as diverse and well-thought out as this one, with such a great, fresh perspective, filled a literary hole I didn't even know I'd had in terms of my reading desires. The second book is less 'majestic' and UMPH-filled, but is just as forceful in its quiet, seemingly mundane way. The lore and stories alone in the universe she created are amazing, and I can't wait for the third and final book(Late 2011! D: )
Graphic Novel:
3. Asterios Polyp By David Mazzucchelli
On the surface, a douche-y tale about a douche. Underneath, the douche has motivation, he learns the Big Lesson(maybe), and gets called out on his shit in huge and minuscule ways. Abstract drawings, non-linear storytelling, and irregular panels lend a stream-of-consciousness effect to the whole thing, which makes sense, as the self-proclaimed narrator doesn't even really exist. Or does he? At the heart of the novel, it's about the douche realizing there's more to life than him and pure dichotomies. The surprisingly astute buxom Wiccan-landlady was a nice touch, too. ;D