may 2007 books

[jinian]

I'm actually slightly less absurdly behind on this than I thought. Comments are even shorter than usual.

Orphans of Chaos, John C. Wright. Interesting introduction to trilogy with a number of magical paradigms and a hierarchy of gods. A couple of moments of feminist and liberal rage over the protagonist's ideas about her sexuality and political beliefs, but overall I liked this a whole lot.

Fugitives of Chaos, John C. Wright. In which the entire issue of Amelia's kink is dropped, damn it. Grr. However, the rest is teen sex comedy (1/4) + supernatural intrigue (1/4) + my kink, magic-geeking (1/2), so I was entertained rather well actually.

Feeling Sorry for Celia, Jaclyn Moriarty. Very good, slightly madcap epistolary novel about changing friendships and crushes. I wasn't happy with its failure to challenge the idea that your best friend should Just Know what's going on with you, but it's a good book.

Dreamhunter and Dreamquake, Elizabeth Knox. Distant tone, some magic-geeking, surprisingly high interest.

The Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall. From gwyneira. Charming, and didn't make me crazy though I kept thinking it would.

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls, Elise Primavera. Mildly entertaining Oz fanfic.

The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin. Pure thriller? Feminist indictment of the idea that choice is completely free from social influence? Combination of both?

The Great Good Thing, Roderick Townley. From coffeeandink. I think I'd like it better on rereading; I expected a different pace somehow. Good stuff regardless, but I didn't love it and I think that potential's in there.

Whales on Stilts, M.T. Anderson. Bookstore shelf. Over-the-top pulpy fun.

Flora Segunda, Isabeau S. Wilce. The decisive rec was by rushthatspeaks; borrowed from boxofdelights. This is wonderful. I'm reminded of one of eub's old book reviews that referred to California-in-disguise defeating evil; this is clearly California in disguise, but it's by way of the lens used in other fantasy novels to distort medieval Europe into Fantasyland. And the gender roles are marvelous.

Magic's Child, Justine Larbalestier. I liked this better than the preceding two because it had more about the nature of magic.

Agnes Quill: an Anthology of Mystery, Dave Roman et al. From coffeeandink, and I agree with everything she said about it (but can't be bothered to dig up the link).
Birds of Prey 1, Dixon & Gorfinkel et al. Enh.
Fables: Wolves (v8), Bill Willingham et al. Script highly annoying; actually I am BORED by the Bigby/Snow romance for the most part and found this stage of it a little disgusting. Still female. This volume was slight in general, unfortunately; absent great and swoony interest in the romance, I found little of my preferred Fables goodness, in which well-known characters do things one wouldn't expect of them. Cinderella as tiny spy, yes, Mowgli on a manhunt, sure, but there wasn't much else for me.
Fray, Joss Whedon et al. Fairly good story about a future Slayer a la Buffy, her difficult family relationships, and her training and motivation to fight. One bit near the end fell flat because I don't think she was suddenly that ruthless where there was little sign of it before.
I Love Led Zeppelin, Ellen Forney. Mostly full-page comics from when she was writing regularly for The Stranger, but some longer stories I hadn't seen before.
Runaways: Parental Guidance (#13-18), Vaughan et al. I seem to have missed a whole alien-marriage plot point. Unfortunately I am really not interested enough now to go back for it. Probably dropping the series.

Comments

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

failure to challenge the idea that your best friend should Just Know what's going on with you

Coz, you know, every important realtionship is totally effortless and easy AT ALL TIMES. *hug*

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Obviously. I actually do think the character needed a new friend, but the way they talked about it should have been a bit different.