schneefink (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
schneefink) wrote2024-06-09 07:53 pm
schneefink) wrote2024-06-09 07:53 pm
3 books and 2 movies
I read Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh for Hugo voting preparation and enjoyed it a lot. This is one of those books that I have so many messy thoughts about that it was very hard to start writing a review at all. I wrote some notes and stopped, and now a few weeks later when I sit down to finish I have predictably already forgotten some details.
- I have to interpret the ending that the remains of the Wisdom really are just a tiny fraction of it, with a fraction of its former abilities that definitely don't include time travel. Everything else feels like a cop-out.
- Speaking of ~cop-out. There's no one specific thing around the ending that I can point to and say this one was too much in terms of improbably rescues, but there were just so many of them – like Lin surviving, and Sparrow coming to Kyr's rescue, and everyone on the station choosing to evacuate – that it came reeeally close to breaking suspension of disbelief for this genre. It almost made it feel like a genre shift, even, which was odd.
- Speaking of the evacuation at the end though: there's no way everyone had a change of heart that quickly. This seems like a great set-up for a planned mutiny, especially since there's precedent. It was a bit odd that Kyr didn't even seem concerned about that, but then it makes sense she didn't want to think of it. I really hope Sif and Harriman and the others kept that in mind though.
- It happened several times that right when I was thinking "I enjoy this a lot but I really wonder about X" and then X happened shortly afterwards, that was neat. One of those things was "what about the other adults on the station?" It would have been one thing if Jole had "only" been a charismatic power-hungry tyrant, but it was even harder to sympathize with them considering they all must have known what happened with Ursa and what Jole was planning for Kyr. (Experiencing personal injustice was what kickstarted Kyr breaking out of her brainwashing; I briefly wondered how much more of an internal struggle she'd have had if Jole was "just" a fanatic tyrant.)
- No no-genocide option is presented. Either humans or majo are wiped out. It's not presented as inevitable, just as a result of these existing biases and choices. And the story wouldn't have worked the same way if a clear "better" option was achievable; and the story itself doesn't try to justify the destruction of the Earth as "it was them or us," but, idk. Still left a sour aftertaste. The focus also narrows at the end, or at least it does so more clearly, from the whole conflict to simply Gaea station, and it absolutely makes sense, but there's many threads still loose.
- Having memories of the other timeline and having to learn to live with that, and who gets those memories and who doesn't, is interesting.
- Avi is the most fascinating character. He kept surprising me, and he kept making terrible choices but in very plausible and understandable ways, and I really liked his and Kyr's relationship. Kyr did the same.
I had more thoughts but they're even more jumbled and I'm already worried that these are nonsense so I'm going to stop here.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi was very much the opposite kind of book, as in, it was an enjoyable read and didn't really leave any lasting impression. The talking cats and dolphins were fun, and I always appreciate richer-than-should-be-allowed people getting a comeuppance. It's a good novel for what it is, I definitely don't want to be the kind of snob that says books need to have some kind of deeper meaning or message or interesting idea, buuut I still expected more of a Hugo-nominated novel somehow *facepalm* even though we already know very well that the Hugos are nothing more than a popularity contest. Me being dumb.
I also read Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, who is nominated for the Astounding Award for best new writer. I'd misremembered and thought it was YA, so I was surprised that the main characters were two adults and a child (and a god), but I liked that. I'm always interested in worldbuilding with gods. I would have enjoyed it even more if one of the characters, Elo, hadn't seemed really flat to me for some reason, which made the climax less dramatic. Not a book that really stood out but I enjoyed it enough that I'm interested in where the story is going.
I'm currently reading "The Saint of Bright Doors" and after that I'll read "Translation State" and then I'll have at least read all the books from that one category. I'll see how much time I have after that. Having a hard time focusing on books atm.
I went to see Furiosa in the cinema with a friend last week. I expected a movie with cool action scenes with a plot/setting that is not so stupid that it detracts from that, and that's what I got. Not as big and dramatic as Fury Road, but e.g. the was cool.
And months ago (I think - time is weird) I went with friends to see The Boy and the Heron, which I also enjoyed a lot. It was gorgeous, I liked the worldbuilding with many fun elements that didn't need to be fully explained, and the atmosphere and story worked well for me.
- I have to interpret the ending that the remains of the Wisdom really are just a tiny fraction of it, with a fraction of its former abilities that definitely don't include time travel. Everything else feels like a cop-out.
- Speaking of ~cop-out. There's no one specific thing around the ending that I can point to and say this one was too much in terms of improbably rescues, but there were just so many of them – like Lin surviving, and Sparrow coming to Kyr's rescue, and everyone on the station choosing to evacuate – that it came reeeally close to breaking suspension of disbelief for this genre. It almost made it feel like a genre shift, even, which was odd.
- Speaking of the evacuation at the end though: there's no way everyone had a change of heart that quickly. This seems like a great set-up for a planned mutiny, especially since there's precedent. It was a bit odd that Kyr didn't even seem concerned about that, but then it makes sense she didn't want to think of it. I really hope Sif and Harriman and the others kept that in mind though.
- It happened several times that right when I was thinking "I enjoy this a lot but I really wonder about X" and then X happened shortly afterwards, that was neat. One of those things was "what about the other adults on the station?" It would have been one thing if Jole had "only" been a charismatic power-hungry tyrant, but it was even harder to sympathize with them considering they all must have known what happened with Ursa and what Jole was planning for Kyr. (Experiencing personal injustice was what kickstarted Kyr breaking out of her brainwashing; I briefly wondered how much more of an internal struggle she'd have had if Jole was "just" a fanatic tyrant.)
- No no-genocide option is presented. Either humans or majo are wiped out. It's not presented as inevitable, just as a result of these existing biases and choices. And the story wouldn't have worked the same way if a clear "better" option was achievable; and the story itself doesn't try to justify the destruction of the Earth as "it was them or us," but, idk. Still left a sour aftertaste. The focus also narrows at the end, or at least it does so more clearly, from the whole conflict to simply Gaea station, and it absolutely makes sense, but there's many threads still loose.
- Having memories of the other timeline and having to learn to live with that, and who gets those memories and who doesn't, is interesting.
- Avi is the most fascinating character. He kept surprising me, and he kept making terrible choices but in very plausible and understandable ways, and I really liked his and Kyr's relationship. Kyr did the same.
I had more thoughts but they're even more jumbled and I'm already worried that these are nonsense so I'm going to stop here.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi was very much the opposite kind of book, as in, it was an enjoyable read and didn't really leave any lasting impression. The talking cats and dolphins were fun, and I always appreciate richer-than-should-be-allowed people getting a comeuppance. It's a good novel for what it is, I definitely don't want to be the kind of snob that says books need to have some kind of deeper meaning or message or interesting idea, buuut I still expected more of a Hugo-nominated novel somehow *facepalm* even though we already know very well that the Hugos are nothing more than a popularity contest. Me being dumb.
I also read Godkiller by Hannah Kaner, who is nominated for the Astounding Award for best new writer. I'd misremembered and thought it was YA, so I was surprised that the main characters were two adults and a child (and a god), but I liked that. I'm always interested in worldbuilding with gods. I would have enjoyed it even more if one of the characters, Elo, hadn't seemed really flat to me for some reason, which made the climax less dramatic. Not a book that really stood out but I enjoyed it enough that I'm interested in where the story is going.
I'm currently reading "The Saint of Bright Doors" and after that I'll read "Translation State" and then I'll have at least read all the books from that one category. I'll see how much time I have after that. Having a hard time focusing on books atm.
I went to see Furiosa in the cinema with a friend last week. I expected a movie with cool action scenes with a plot/setting that is not so stupid that it detracts from that, and that's what I got. Not as big and dramatic as Fury Road, but e.g. the
spoiler
Bullet Farm escapeAnd months ago (I think - time is weird) I went with friends to see The Boy and the Heron, which I also enjoyed a lot. It was gorgeous, I liked the worldbuilding with many fun elements that didn't need to be fully explained, and the atmosphere and story worked well for me.