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Wednesday reading
Jul. 10th, 2013 10:44 pmCracked Up To Be, Courtney Summers. Wow, I really liked how depressing this was! Yes, sometimes things legitimately suck. I guess it had to end on a hopeful boy-note, whatever.
Bunny Drop v5, Yumi Unita. As I suspected, only tiny Rin holds my interest. Adolescent Rin and boring childhood-friend romance are a huge yawn. Forty-year-old Daikichi is somewhat worth reading about, but mostly I'm over this manga.
Wandering Son v4, Takako Shimura. Still pretty good translation and wonderful printing of the lovely watercolors. There's an amazing chapter where everyone is completely miserable, because being a middle schooler is hard, and something about it really touched me -- you see individual angst so frequently in YA, but rarely is it this clear that everyone is going through stuff.
Earth Girl, Janet Edwards. This has all the flaws Ladybusiness!Jodie said. Invisible disability as metaphor for racial passing (and I read it very clearly as that) is pretty dodgy -- plus the romance is pasted on and annoying. The future Earth archeology and hypercompetent heroine are Heinlein-juvenile-style gold, though, and I really enjoyed those bits despite the patchiness of the book overall. Amusingly, Betans are sexually liberal here as well as in Bujold: coincidence, homage, or something inherently slutty about the letter?
This Is Not a Game, Deep State, Walter Jon Williams. Reread because Wim is taking them away. :) Modern thrillers about internet-based augmented-reality games interacting with real-life murder, espionage, and special ops -- a great premise that works better in the first of these, mostly because of the love interest in the second one. I expect a certain papery quality to characters in this genre, but when the main character seems a bit more real than the others I admit I want her interest in someone to make sense to me, and it doesn't, he's just there. The internet references are also more specific in the second and therefore dated. I'll read the third one if it appears before me.
Reading now: Star Rigger omnibus, Jeffrey Carver. This is exactly the space opera I was looking for. The main character is SPECIAL, MISUNDERSTOOD, and DISRESPECTED, she gets into trouble and gets herself out, and meets a DRAGON and an AI parrot and alien friends. So far so cheesily awesome!
Nth reread of Crown Duel following first reread of Banner of the Damned, which I love with all my heart.
Bunny Drop v5, Yumi Unita. As I suspected, only tiny Rin holds my interest. Adolescent Rin and boring childhood-friend romance are a huge yawn. Forty-year-old Daikichi is somewhat worth reading about, but mostly I'm over this manga.
Wandering Son v4, Takako Shimura. Still pretty good translation and wonderful printing of the lovely watercolors. There's an amazing chapter where everyone is completely miserable, because being a middle schooler is hard, and something about it really touched me -- you see individual angst so frequently in YA, but rarely is it this clear that everyone is going through stuff.
Earth Girl, Janet Edwards. This has all the flaws Ladybusiness!Jodie said. Invisible disability as metaphor for racial passing (and I read it very clearly as that) is pretty dodgy -- plus the romance is pasted on and annoying. The future Earth archeology and hypercompetent heroine are Heinlein-juvenile-style gold, though, and I really enjoyed those bits despite the patchiness of the book overall. Amusingly, Betans are sexually liberal here as well as in Bujold: coincidence, homage, or something inherently slutty about the letter?
This Is Not a Game, Deep State, Walter Jon Williams. Reread because Wim is taking them away. :) Modern thrillers about internet-based augmented-reality games interacting with real-life murder, espionage, and special ops -- a great premise that works better in the first of these, mostly because of the love interest in the second one. I expect a certain papery quality to characters in this genre, but when the main character seems a bit more real than the others I admit I want her interest in someone to make sense to me, and it doesn't, he's just there. The internet references are also more specific in the second and therefore dated. I'll read the third one if it appears before me.
Reading now: Star Rigger omnibus, Jeffrey Carver. This is exactly the space opera I was looking for. The main character is SPECIAL, MISUNDERSTOOD, and DISRESPECTED, she gets into trouble and gets herself out, and meets a DRAGON and an AI parrot and alien friends. So far so cheesily awesome!
Nth reread of Crown Duel following first reread of Banner of the Damned, which I love with all my heart.
