Reading Wednesday

[oyceter]

What I've read: I finished Alison Bechdel's Fun Home after seeing her at a City Arts & Lectures event. The event itself was great; Bechdel herself isn't all too talkative, but there was a short video clip of her creating a comic page and discussion of her process, which I hadn't been expecting and was really interesting. I don't have much to say about Fun Home yet, especially since I'm still in the middle of her next memoir about her mother, but it's definitely worth reading, and I kind of wish I had read her stuff before going to see her. Oh well! At least it was incentive to get some of her books!

I also finished Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London, which I like, but possibly not as much as everyone else. As most people have said, the voice is fantastic, as is the sense of place, but every time I was getting into it, more murder mystery details showed up and I would promptly lose track of what was going on. Clearly plot brain has disappeared again.

And then I waffled around a bit because I wasn't in the mood to read anything, but I finally got around to Meljean Brook's Tethered, a novella that continues the adventures of Yasmeen and Archimedes post-Heart of Steel. Alas and alack, Yasmeen/Archimedes still doesn't work for me. I think my issue is that Brook is trying so hard to reassure romance readers that a) Yasmeen is badass but can be in love with Archimedes at the same time and b) Archimedes doesn't want to dominate her but is also not weak and badass and very manly! And my reaction is that I don't actually need to be reassured about these things, and in fact, the reassurance makes me buy into it less. Seriously! I'm perfectly fine with kickass women who seem cold and unemotional and the guys who love them. I could care less about what it means for Archimedes' manliness because I don't measure manliness that way, and the endless arguments about who's protecting whom don't really interest me because I am okay with guys not driven by manly instinct to automatically protect their women. This basically made me want to reread bits of Megan Whalen Turner or Melina Marchetta's Lumatere books.

Instead, I read the sample chapter of Guardian Demon (last book of Brook's Guardian series), realized I don't remember what happened in the previous book at all, and then went on to reread Demon Marked, where the final hundred pages of plot really seem to come out of nowhere. I also reread two Guardian novellas, Ascension and Thicker than Blood. Ascension is just okay: while I like that the Big Misunderstanding was cleared up fairly easily, there wasn't much romantic tension for the rest of it. Also, props for heroine of color, though I wish a) she weren't blue by choice and b) Brook had more POC protags you see in their own cultural context. At least in this there's the mention that Radha guards over most of SE and S Asia?

Thicker than Blood is still my favorite of all of Brook's novellas—overall the Iron Seas ones have been disappointing and overly invested in skeevy set ups and the Guardian ones haven't been as good as the books. I am always a sucker for relationships with a past, and the whole "I was turned into a vampire and my family told everyone, including the guy I loved, that I was dead" is a great angst-filled premise that doesn't rely on the hero or heroine being stupid. I also love how Jake slowly figures out Annie is a vampire, as well as the little bits of Annie's relationship with her mom and with Cricket. And Lilith showing up is always good.

What I'm reading now: I'm still in the middle of Bechdel's Are You My Mother, which is an interesting experience because it has therapy and mothers, but Bechdel's relationship to her mother, problematic as it is, is very different from mine with my mother. (Me: I WISH my mom would not talk to me!) I also started Aaronovitch's Moon over Soho because I wanted to see how a few dangling threads at the end of Rivers of London were resolved, but now the mystery has hit and, predictably and sadly, I have lost interest.

What I'm reading next: Who knows! I feel like a fantasy + romance fun blend but don't like most paranormals and their more dominant than you heroes, but I can't really think of anything. I should also read vol. 2 of Wandering Son before it's due back at the library.

Comments

[oracne]

fantasy + romance fun blend

Martha Wells? I can't remember if you've tried her stuff. I always go back to Barbara Hambly, as well.

[oyceter]

I finished her Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy lately and I think I've read one or two of her one-offs. I didn't think Fall of Ile-Rien had that much romance in it though? Would you say there's more in the Raksura trilogy, Wheel of the Infinite, or Death of the Necromancer?

[oracne]

Wheel of the Infinite. Though there is also lots of fantasy. Plus, OLDER HEROINE!!!

I read your Ile-Rien posts. I remember them now. Not sure where I put my brain.

[estara]

THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Maskelle FOR EVAH!

[oyceter]

Yay, thanks for the rec!

Ha, no problem. My memory is like a sieve all the time.

[estara]

Also strong on the romance is Element of Fire.

I'd say
1: Wheel of the Infinite
2: The Death of the Necromancer (already established couple but great interaction)
3: The Element of Fire

are the most romantic subplots in order of Martha Wells books.

Then again Rachel Neumeier is doing a readthrough of all the books and she loves Ile-Rien, where the romance didn't work for me so well.
http://www.rachelneumeier.com/2013/04/08/recent-reading-city-of-bones-and-wheel-of-the-infinite/
http://www.rachelneumeier.com/2013/03/28/so-the-death-of-the-necromancer/
http://www.rachelneumeier.com/2013/03/26/recent-reading-the-fall-of-ile-rien/

[estara]

fantasy + romance fun blend ... have you read A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith yet? That's what came to my mind right away ^^. Or for a bit of an older heroine - mid-twenties - her Sasharia En Garde duology (Once a Princess, Twice a Prince)

[hebethen]

Hah, my mind also went to Sherwood Smith. I feel like what I've read of her fantasy tends to be too epic and full of harrowing interpersonal things to count as fun, but then again, I must keep in mind that some people ride roller coasters and watch horror movies for fun :P

[oyceter]

HEE! I hate roller coasters and horror movies too!

OTOH, I am watching Game of Thrones now, so I feel almost anything in comparison will be much fluffier and less depressing...

[hebethen]

LOL, that's true, especially with Crown Duel and its sequel!

[oracne]

The Inda books are harrowing but a LOT more humane than GoT!

[estara]

But that really depends which of her books you read. She's got fun middle grade romps in the CJ books or Spy Princess, she's got middle grade to YA shenaningans in Wren's world, she's got the YA at various different ages of Sartorias-deles like Crown Duel, Posse of Princesses (romantic fantasies) or military coming-of-age (A Stranger to Command), she's got New Adult romps like Sasharia en Garde in Sartorias-deles or in an alternate historical European timeline in Coronets & Steel and its follow-ups or the kingdom-level intrigue plus angsty romance/coming of age of The Trouble with Kings, there's the truly gritty historical epic stuff like the Inda series and Banner of the Damned.

Basically, while there are certain things that repeat, like her focus on Sartorias-deles or the love of using letter-writing or diary writing as a framing device, there are very different explorations of her world available.

I just picked the two that might be most appropriate for fantasy + romance fun ^^

[oyceter]

Sweet, thanks for the titles!

[oyceter]

Oooo, good idea! I haven't read a lot of Smith, but fantasy + romance is definitely the vibe I got off of Crown Duel.

[lnhammer]

Yup -- I just reread it. Fluffy fantasy adventure with romance.

---L.

[estara]

the two I mentioned have a similar vibe ^^ to CD - I did a more in depth answer on hebethen's comment.

[jinian]

I just reread A Brother's Price, which seems to fit fantasy + romance fun.

[oyceter]

Oooo, and it's now in ebook. It took me forever finding a print copy, and of course I have left it elsewhere...

[metaphortunate]

I really enjoyed that book!

[oracne]

That one is so cute! I should re-read! ...in my copious free time....

[jesse_the_k]

I adore Bechdel's art a bushel and a peck. If you can find it, there's an omnibus edition of Dykes to Watch Out For, a novel of les Ian feminism 1975 - 1997. Brilliant!

[oyceter]

I saw at the lecture!! Was sooo tempted to get it. Now it is on my wishlist ^_^.

[jesse_the_k]

It weighs no lie 10 pounds: if you see it in paperback don't get it.

And autocorrect undercut my message, that was "lesbian" life — context, thankfully, helps.

I had the good fortune to read it every other week, as she wrote it. Truly opened my mind to so many things — sex positivity, trans* issues, queer as opposed to lesbian. Also confirmed so many things — people going to Central America on agricultural solidarity trips! demonstrations in US! bookstores as both capitalist and community builders.

I am excite.

[oyceter]

Oh, that is really awesome! One of the coolest parts about the lecture was also seeing various audience members prefacing questions with how important Dykes to Watch out for was to them.

[vass]

Would you generally recommend Meljean Brook? A friend lent me her copy of Demon Angel, and it's in the to read pile, and if more than one person whose literary taste I know likes her, I'll bump it up higher.

[oyceter]

I think she's one of the best of the crop of paranormal romance/urban fantasy right now, but your taste may vary, depending on how much you can take of paranormal romances.

It's still more in the realm of romance, especially since each book has a main couple, but Brook loves comics and fantasy and you can really tell from her worldbuilding, which is pretty cracktastic and complicated. I also like that she tries to subvert a lot of romance tropes and tends to have strong heroines, and bonus points for the women being the main movers and shakers in the Guardians series.

Demon Angel is really good in places (the heroine is a halfling demon and isn't great with ethics! She is still my fav of the series) and really flawed in terms of pacing and infodumping. Pretty much every recommends that you skip Demon Moon (second of the Guardian series), and the main plot really kicks off with book 3 (Demon Night... I can't keep any of the titles straight). My favs are probably Demon Angel (bk 1), Demon Night (bk 3, has heroine who is a recovering alcoholic), and Demon Marked (bk 7, has another halfling demon heroine).

She's also started the Iron Seas series, which I like better in terms of worldbuilding, but doesn't have the overarching plot that Guardians does. Warning: Iron Duke (bk 1) has really rapey scenes and I HATE THE HERO. I feel it is skippable! Riveted (bk 3) has POC as both hero and heroine, the hero has prosthetic limbs, they are nice to each other, and there are non-evil lesbians!

Basically, the worldbuilding doesn't feel quite as deep as a lot of the fantasy I like, but it's much better than most paranormals I've read. I tend to like her heroines a lot. Though she is still much fonder of the domineering hero than I am... Still, she's probably one of the romance authors I read the most and am most excited about, esp. if you're only looking at paranormals.

[vass]

Thanks! I do read some paranormal romance, although it's not a big draw for me and I'm choosy about het romance in general. (I like Marjorie Liu's Dirk and Steele books, but they seem to be giving dimishing returns the longer the series goes on.) I think I'll bump this novel up higher.

[oyceter]

In that case, I'd definitely rec Meljean Brook! Sigh, I kind of with Liu would write more Dirk & Steele but I suspect she's mostly invested in comics now. Which is also good, just in a different way!