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justanorthernlightConsider Phlebas (Culture Series #1) by Iain M Banks (reread/audiobook) -
I originally read Consider Phlebas in print around 2014 or so, and revisiting it definitely reminded me why the prevailing advice is to skip it when getting into the Culture series for the first time. The plot is slow, meandering, dark, and gory, and most of the characters (including the protagonist) are utterly unlikable. Also, if I had one shot with a time machine I would use it specifically to prevent myself from reading that one particularly gross side-chapter for the first time so it never had a chance to enter my brain (if you've read it, you know the one I'm talking about).
Still, I really like the worldbuilding of the series, and it was interesting to go back to the beginning and refresh my memory of certain things. As an audiobook it was pretty good, but I had a hard time understanding a couple of the character accents (it's one narrator doing different voices, and a couple were difficult to understand), but fortunately I remembered enough from my first read-through to keep up with the plot.
Shatterglass (The Circle Opens #4) by Tamora Pierce (reread) -
Another reread, the 4th and final book of the Circle Opens quartet. All four books follow the same formula: one of the four mages from the Circle of Magic quartet finds themself in a new city where the acquire a mage-student that needs teaching and get involved in solving some kind of crime. This time it's Tris's turn.
The mystery Tris has to solve is a textbook serial-killer-targeting-sex-workers plot, but since this is a middle grade novel published in 2003, it couldn't mention actual sex workers, and the women being killed are merely "entertainers." Combined with some of the other elements (Tris is trying to navigate a foreign culture with rigid religious enforcement and a caste system), I felt like it was trying to engage with some concepts that can't be "kidded" down and still be effective. And all of that doesn't even include the plotlines surrounding Tris learning new and dangerous magic herself or teacher her student how to control his powers, and it just felt like none of the elements had any space to breathe. I would call it an interesting concept with poor execution.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller -
As the title indicates, this is a retelling of the Iliad from Patroclus's perspective, with an emphasis on a secret (and more illicit than is historically accurate) romance between Achilles and Patroclus. It was interesting, but it fell a bit flat for me, particularly in its attempts to retcon away certain aspects of canonical sexual violence (particularly surrounding Briseis) in an attempt to make Patroclus (and to a lesser extent Achilles) align more closely with modern morals than any of the other characters (and also to make Achilles & Patroclus 100% gay, rather than bi/pan). It just didn't quite work for me.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Volume 7: A Rogue's End (Doctor Aphra #37-40, Annual #3, and material from Star Wars: Empire Ascendant #1 written by Simon Spurrier, art by Caspar Wijngaard & Elsa Charretier) -
The quality of Star Wars comics (and other media, to be fair) really varies from author to author. Kieron Gillen, who created Aphra and wrote the first several volumes of this series is currently my second favorite SW comics author after Charles Soule, but since Spurrier took over around volume 3 this series has been solidly meh, the plot has been repetitive, and this finale is... anticlimactic.
The formula since Volume 3 has been an external force pushing Aphra towards an objective, while she runs across a person she starts to feel some kind of positive human connection with. The theme for the past five volumes has been "Being near Aphra puts Character B in danger, because Aphra is Such A Monster, Not So Different™ from Vader or Triple Zero or that dude from the cantina scene in ANH," and it's basically the same here. There's no real resolution, Aphra's friends get away (again), she has one final confrontation with Vader (again), then rides off the sunset to avoid contact with any friends at all to keep them safe, until the next go-rounds because if Aphra doesn't have a friend/ally to care about there's very little story to be had...
Anyways, finishing this series was one of my New Year's Resolutions, so yay that that is done. There is a currently ongoing sequel series (set post-ESB I believe) written by Alyssa Wong that I'm slightly interested in trying, but I have not read anything by Alyssa Wong before so no idea if it's any better
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Sarah Kuhn (Audiobook Original) -
This is a full-cast audiobook adaptation (basically an audio play) of the Darth Vader 2015 comics series by Kieron Gillen, narrated from Aphra's POV. Overall I enjoyed it (as I enjoyed the original comics). Some of the voice actors for canon characters were kind of meh (Boba Fett's American accent was a bit of a surprise, lol), but I liked the more detailed dive into Aphra's college days and her relationship with Sana. I didn't like the resolution of the framing device, but other than that it was solid.
2023 Reading Goal Progress: 44 of 50 total books, 14 of 7 nonfiction.
I originally read Consider Phlebas in print around 2014 or so, and revisiting it definitely reminded me why the prevailing advice is to skip it when getting into the Culture series for the first time. The plot is slow, meandering, dark, and gory, and most of the characters (including the protagonist) are utterly unlikable. Also, if I had one shot with a time machine I would use it specifically to prevent myself from reading that one particularly gross side-chapter for the first time so it never had a chance to enter my brain (if you've read it, you know the one I'm talking about).
Still, I really like the worldbuilding of the series, and it was interesting to go back to the beginning and refresh my memory of certain things. As an audiobook it was pretty good, but I had a hard time understanding a couple of the character accents (it's one narrator doing different voices, and a couple were difficult to understand), but fortunately I remembered enough from my first read-through to keep up with the plot.
Shatterglass (The Circle Opens #4) by Tamora Pierce (reread) -
Another reread, the 4th and final book of the Circle Opens quartet. All four books follow the same formula: one of the four mages from the Circle of Magic quartet finds themself in a new city where the acquire a mage-student that needs teaching and get involved in solving some kind of crime. This time it's Tris's turn.
The mystery Tris has to solve is a textbook serial-killer-targeting-sex-workers plot, but since this is a middle grade novel published in 2003, it couldn't mention actual sex workers, and the women being killed are merely "entertainers." Combined with some of the other elements (Tris is trying to navigate a foreign culture with rigid religious enforcement and a caste system), I felt like it was trying to engage with some concepts that can't be "kidded" down and still be effective. And all of that doesn't even include the plotlines surrounding Tris learning new and dangerous magic herself or teacher her student how to control his powers, and it just felt like none of the elements had any space to breathe. I would call it an interesting concept with poor execution.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller -
As the title indicates, this is a retelling of the Iliad from Patroclus's perspective, with an emphasis on a secret (and more illicit than is historically accurate) romance between Achilles and Patroclus. It was interesting, but it fell a bit flat for me, particularly in its attempts to retcon away certain aspects of canonical sexual violence (particularly surrounding Briseis) in an attempt to make Patroclus (and to a lesser extent Achilles) align more closely with modern morals than any of the other characters (and also to make Achilles & Patroclus 100% gay, rather than bi/pan). It just didn't quite work for me.
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Volume 7: A Rogue's End (Doctor Aphra #37-40, Annual #3, and material from Star Wars: Empire Ascendant #1 written by Simon Spurrier, art by Caspar Wijngaard & Elsa Charretier) -
The quality of Star Wars comics (and other media, to be fair) really varies from author to author. Kieron Gillen, who created Aphra and wrote the first several volumes of this series is currently my second favorite SW comics author after Charles Soule, but since Spurrier took over around volume 3 this series has been solidly meh, the plot has been repetitive, and this finale is... anticlimactic.
The formula since Volume 3 has been an external force pushing Aphra towards an objective, while she runs across a person she starts to feel some kind of positive human connection with. The theme for the past five volumes has been "Being near Aphra puts Character B in danger, because Aphra is Such A Monster, Not So Different™ from Vader or Triple Zero or that dude from the cantina scene in ANH," and it's basically the same here. There's no real resolution, Aphra's friends get away (again), she has one final confrontation with Vader (again), then rides off the sunset to avoid contact with any friends at all to keep them safe, until the next go-rounds because if Aphra doesn't have a friend/ally to care about there's very little story to be had...
Anyways, finishing this series was one of my New Year's Resolutions, so yay that that is done. There is a currently ongoing sequel series (set post-ESB I believe) written by Alyssa Wong that I'm slightly interested in trying, but I have not read anything by Alyssa Wong before so no idea if it's any better
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra by Sarah Kuhn (Audiobook Original) -
This is a full-cast audiobook adaptation (basically an audio play) of the Darth Vader 2015 comics series by Kieron Gillen, narrated from Aphra's POV. Overall I enjoyed it (as I enjoyed the original comics). Some of the voice actors for canon characters were kind of meh (Boba Fett's American accent was a bit of a surprise, lol), but I liked the more detailed dive into Aphra's college days and her relationship with Sana. I didn't like the resolution of the framing device, but other than that it was solid.
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2023 Reading Goal Progress: 44 of 50 total books, 14 of 7 nonfiction.
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Date: 2023-10-06 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-07 12:16 am (UTC)