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schneefinkSome reviews of recent media before I hopefully disappear into a metaphorical cave for a week to study before my next exam; I say hopefully because I already made dumb decisions like staying up late to read fic the last two nights. Ah well. I do need breaks at some points, and I plan to get regular fresh air too.
I watched Project Hail Mary in a theater with friends on Tuesday: two of us had read the book and the other three knew nothing at all about it, which made it extra fun to hear their reactions afterwards. I read the book a few months ago, and unlike the book the movie did live up to all the good things I'd heard about it. That was great. I really like how they adapted it (yes they cut some fun stuff/good additional info but overall I thought they did a great job), I liked the designs and the visuals, it was at times very exciting and dramatic and emotional and funny, and I had a fantastic time.
I've already seen some great fanart on Tumblr and look forward to more of it, fingers crossed.
Only four people of my TTRPG group had time two weeks ago so for a few hours we tried out Sunderfolk (Steam link), a multiplayer turn-based tactical RPG where you play as animals.
I had a lot of fun! I played an arcanist raven with teleportation powers, I loved that. I could do damage as well but my most effective moves were teleporting my allies (a rogue (weasel), a pyromancer (salamander), and a vanguard (kangaroo rat)) into better positions. The story so far is rather simple, you defend the settlement against the ogres, do side-quests and help gather resources for the rebuild; I'm not sure how much I'm meant to think about the implications (like that the animals came from above and with their bright lights took away living spaces from the ogres that are now starving) but I look forward to seeing where it goes.
We're only halfway through act 1 chapter 2, but we already have a date set for next time. This time we had three of us on the couch and one joining online, next time all four will be able to attend in person, even better.
About a week later, same scenario, only four people from my TTRPG group had time – different people this time so we started a new campaign. This time I played the bat bard, and they're absolutely adorable. Gameplay-wise unfortunately I enjoyed the bard much less; we only got to level 3 so maybe it gets better later? The other player who played for the second time also enjoyed his second choice (antelope ranger) much less than his first (pyromancer). There are currently no active plans to continue, but we might if we happen to have that group again.
Dragonoak by Sam Farren #1 + #2, The Complete History of Castelir and The Sky Beneath The Sun:
Rowan, exiled from her village since they discovered she is a necromancer, runs away with a dragon knight and becomes entangled in conflicts spanning multiple kingdoms and races.
My (now ex-)gf recommended this trilogy to me, so I wanted to like it; and maybe that puts it into the category of "would have liked it more if not for my high hopes/expectations," idk. There were parts I liked, prominent among them the amount of queer characters; unfortunately it was neither the pacing nor most of the characters.
In book one Rowan starts her an adventure with an impulsive decision, and that apparently scares her so much that she decides not to make any decision again. I'm exaggerating, of course, but her lack of curiosity about what's going on is really frustrating and makes it hard to become invested in her or the story. At one point another character has to insist for no good reason that she attends an important meeting that she has no place in just so the reader knows what is going on. And because I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, I wasn't invested in the romance either.
The start of book 2 does point out how Rowan's passivity and fear leads to her letting people die, but that then gets overshadowed by her "friend" deciding to torture her for her own good to awaken her powers, oof, which of course leads to Rowan being even more traumatized. And then that "friend" tags along on their travels and Rowan refuses to see her, which, fair, but we also don't hear anything about how the others interact with her and it makes the rest of the cast feel more like set dressing. At least they talk at some point but that too seems more like a set-up for something later. Rowan's fast friendship with Kondo-Kana the legendary necromancer also made me roll my eyes – oh they have a ~connection as necromancers, how convenient. There are many interesting situations and elements set up and very few of them get any kind of satisfactory pay-off. Yes it is the middle book but still.
(If I hadn't broken up with my gf I would have read the third book for sure, in the hopes that a lot will be resolved there, now I'm not sure if I will but it is definitely lower on my list.)
The Dementia Cascade by L. Lynn Gray (tassosss) #1 + #2, The Dementia: A Space Adventure and Surviving Peace:
Four generation ships fly in formation, still several generations from their target planet; when there are suddenly massive technical issues, solving them requires cooperation, which is made difficult by social and political conflicts.
Like many books with multiple PoVs book 1 had some I enjoyed a lot, some I was neutral about, and some I liked less (I'm currently quickly frustrated by characters with ideological blinkers.) I liked book 2 even better: fortunately for me it focuses on my favorite characters from book 1, and also the most difficult political situation. Namely, Jacks and Antony on Peace, that had a violent uprising deposing a corrupt authoritarian leader in book 1 and the consequences of that in book 2. I really liked the fallout in book 2 especially, all the different groups with different expectations. I also appreciated just how traumatized Jacks and Antony were from being hunted, captured, tortured and everything else. I really like their relationship and how they're alternately ~clinging to each other and ~lashing out at other times. I liked that each "side" had many different sides, there was some black and white but mostly grey, and I liked the confrontations e.g. between Jacks and Izzy.
The ending was I think another case of only a bit of a let-down because of high expectations set earlier: the surprise emergency ice (and the glossed-over distribution thereof) was fine, but I think I was hoping for a different answer to "how do you carry on in a closed community after the other community members did All That" than "miraculously find somewhere else to move to so you at least get some distance." I'm not sure there is a better one, to be fair, not in the short term or not one that wouldn't require an even bigger miracle. I think I might have more/better thoughts about it if I took the time but pretty sure I just wouldn't end up posting anything. (I wonder if I would see the ending differently if this was a middle book of a series (which it might be, idk) so I would expect that it's just a temporary situation.)
(I also signed up for the newsletter to get the short story about Hope but that was disappointing, not really anything significantly new or interesting there.)
I watched Project Hail Mary in a theater with friends on Tuesday: two of us had read the book and the other three knew nothing at all about it, which made it extra fun to hear their reactions afterwards. I read the book a few months ago, and unlike the book the movie did live up to all the good things I'd heard about it. That was great. I really like how they adapted it (yes they cut some fun stuff/good additional info but overall I thought they did a great job), I liked the designs and the visuals, it was at times very exciting and dramatic and emotional and funny, and I had a fantastic time.
I've already seen some great fanart on Tumblr and look forward to more of it, fingers crossed.
Only four people of my TTRPG group had time two weeks ago so for a few hours we tried out Sunderfolk (Steam link), a multiplayer turn-based tactical RPG where you play as animals.
I had a lot of fun! I played an arcanist raven with teleportation powers, I loved that. I could do damage as well but my most effective moves were teleporting my allies (a rogue (weasel), a pyromancer (salamander), and a vanguard (kangaroo rat)) into better positions. The story so far is rather simple, you defend the settlement against the ogres, do side-quests and help gather resources for the rebuild; I'm not sure how much I'm meant to think about the implications (like that the animals came from above and with their bright lights took away living spaces from the ogres that are now starving) but I look forward to seeing where it goes.
We're only halfway through act 1 chapter 2, but we already have a date set for next time. This time we had three of us on the couch and one joining online, next time all four will be able to attend in person, even better.
About a week later, same scenario, only four people from my TTRPG group had time – different people this time so we started a new campaign. This time I played the bat bard, and they're absolutely adorable. Gameplay-wise unfortunately I enjoyed the bard much less; we only got to level 3 so maybe it gets better later? The other player who played for the second time also enjoyed his second choice (antelope ranger) much less than his first (pyromancer). There are currently no active plans to continue, but we might if we happen to have that group again.
Dragonoak by Sam Farren #1 + #2, The Complete History of Castelir and The Sky Beneath The Sun:
Rowan, exiled from her village since they discovered she is a necromancer, runs away with a dragon knight and becomes entangled in conflicts spanning multiple kingdoms and races.
My (now ex-)gf recommended this trilogy to me, so I wanted to like it; and maybe that puts it into the category of "would have liked it more if not for my high hopes/expectations," idk. There were parts I liked, prominent among them the amount of queer characters; unfortunately it was neither the pacing nor most of the characters.
In book one Rowan starts her an adventure with an impulsive decision, and that apparently scares her so much that she decides not to make any decision again. I'm exaggerating, of course, but her lack of curiosity about what's going on is really frustrating and makes it hard to become invested in her or the story. At one point another character has to insist for no good reason that she attends an important meeting that she has no place in just so the reader knows what is going on. And because I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, I wasn't invested in the romance either.
The start of book 2 does point out how Rowan's passivity and fear leads to her letting people die, but that then gets overshadowed by her "friend" deciding to torture her for her own good to awaken her powers, oof, which of course leads to Rowan being even more traumatized. And then that "friend" tags along on their travels and Rowan refuses to see her, which, fair, but we also don't hear anything about how the others interact with her and it makes the rest of the cast feel more like set dressing. At least they talk at some point but that too seems more like a set-up for something later. Rowan's fast friendship with Kondo-Kana the legendary necromancer also made me roll my eyes – oh they have a ~connection as necromancers, how convenient. There are many interesting situations and elements set up and very few of them get any kind of satisfactory pay-off. Yes it is the middle book but still.
(If I hadn't broken up with my gf I would have read the third book for sure, in the hopes that a lot will be resolved there, now I'm not sure if I will but it is definitely lower on my list.)
The Dementia Cascade by L. Lynn Gray (
tassosss) #1 + #2, The Dementia: A Space Adventure and Surviving Peace: Four generation ships fly in formation, still several generations from their target planet; when there are suddenly massive technical issues, solving them requires cooperation, which is made difficult by social and political conflicts.
Like many books with multiple PoVs book 1 had some I enjoyed a lot, some I was neutral about, and some I liked less (I'm currently quickly frustrated by characters with ideological blinkers.) I liked book 2 even better: fortunately for me it focuses on my favorite characters from book 1, and also the most difficult political situation. Namely, Jacks and Antony on Peace, that had a violent uprising deposing a corrupt authoritarian leader in book 1 and the consequences of that in book 2. I really liked the fallout in book 2 especially, all the different groups with different expectations. I also appreciated just how traumatized Jacks and Antony were from being hunted, captured, tortured and everything else. I really like their relationship and how they're alternately ~clinging to each other and ~lashing out at other times. I liked that each "side" had many different sides, there was some black and white but mostly grey, and I liked the confrontations e.g. between Jacks and Izzy.
The ending was I think another case of only a bit of a let-down because of high expectations set earlier: the surprise emergency ice (and the glossed-over distribution thereof) was fine, but I think I was hoping for a different answer to "how do you carry on in a closed community after the other community members did All That" than "miraculously find somewhere else to move to so you at least get some distance." I'm not sure there is a better one, to be fair, not in the short term or not one that wouldn't require an even bigger miracle. I think I might have more/better thoughts about it if I took the time but pretty sure I just wouldn't end up posting anything. (I wonder if I would see the ending differently if this was a middle book of a series (which it might be, idk) so I would expect that it's just a temporary situation.)
(I also signed up for the newsletter to get the short story about Hope but that was disappointing, not really anything significantly new or interesting there.)
