hasty attempt to catch up
Jan. 4th, 2016 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furyofvissarionI'm going to try to be more careful to mark spoilers, just a heads-up (I mostly just think of this as a place where I mark down things I've read, not as something someone else might read, eep!).
Boring Girls - Sara Taylor. There's a lot I didn't like about this YA novel, & the writing is really bad, & yet I can't stop thinking about it: what experiences & cultures the author drew from, why I wanted so badly there to be a different ending for these girls, why it must've been so cathartic to write as a revenge fantasy (& why I wanted it to be more than that). It's about two teenage girls who start a metal band, & the misogyny in the music scene (I suspect Taylor, aka Chibi of the Birthday Massacre, writes from her own experiences as a woman in music), & it's... instead of finding riot grrrl & other girls to bolster them & help them fight back, especially when sexual violence happens, it turns into a kind of obvious & yet still horrifying revenge fantasy, & the girls have nowhere to go in the end. There is no redemption, no grace, no sense that things might've gone better or that they'll get any better once the book ends. Which, you know, has a certain realism about it, but like I said, I really wished for a different ending -- I think there could've been a still-gritty ending that was realistic but still less bleak. Not that every story needs (or can have) a happy ending, natch! I guess it just didn't feel like a narratively-satisfying unhappy ending!
Kitty Saves the World - Carrie Vaughn. The last Kitty book! While I was really bummed that the series was ending, I think this was a good place for it. The oh-shit-o-meter was cranked to 11, &... yeah. Not perfect (nothing is perfect!), but gave me a lot of what I wanted!
Cold Steel - Kate Elliott. This took me longer to get into than I was expecting, given that there are feisty girl cousins who are best friends having adventures & things. It's because the obvious love interest is so v. v. obnoxious at first, & he's meant to be, but I was kept waiting too long for the part where things become more complicated & you might not actually need to hate him. Anyway, I appreciate alternate histories that highlight the accomplishments of people of color!
Sorcerer to the Crown - Zen Cho. First in a trilogy about England's first black Sorcerer Royal & the extremely magically talented biracial Indian woman he meets that proceeds to wreak havoc (in his life, & in general) in all kinds of fun ways. This is really wonderful -- seriously, everything good you've read about this book is true. Not only is it utterly delightful & frothy & lovely, it also says v. pointed things about race & colonialism & gender (& from the POV of people negatively affected), which shouldn't feel as refreshing & rare as it did.
House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Bodard. Post-apocalyptic Paris, dangerous magic, fallen angels. I think I liked the idea of this book more than the book itself -- there were good bits, but somehow it didn't click w/me like I wanted it to (& I think the author deserved a better editor). I did really appreciate that the book also dealt w/colonialism though!!
Soloplay - Miranda Baker. Utter smutty fluff about a shy woman who ends up becoming a playtester for a sex toy company. Needs the usual sort of deliberate disregard for tired gender roles, etc. (though it's... not as bad as it could be, I guess?), & a queer relationship at the start ends up being, yes, just a way to get the protagonist a bit less sexually troubled before she goes off to meet the man of her dreams. If you can put these things aside (& it's a fairly big if), this is kind of hilariously amazing.
Boring Girls - Sara Taylor. There's a lot I didn't like about this YA novel, & the writing is really bad, & yet I can't stop thinking about it: what experiences & cultures the author drew from, why I wanted so badly there to be a different ending for these girls, why it must've been so cathartic to write as a revenge fantasy (& why I wanted it to be more than that). It's about two teenage girls who start a metal band, & the misogyny in the music scene (I suspect Taylor, aka Chibi of the Birthday Massacre, writes from her own experiences as a woman in music), & it's... instead of finding riot grrrl & other girls to bolster them & help them fight back, especially when sexual violence happens, it turns into a kind of obvious & yet still horrifying revenge fantasy, & the girls have nowhere to go in the end. There is no redemption, no grace, no sense that things might've gone better or that they'll get any better once the book ends. Which, you know, has a certain realism about it, but like I said, I really wished for a different ending -- I think there could've been a still-gritty ending that was realistic but still less bleak. Not that every story needs (or can have) a happy ending, natch! I guess it just didn't feel like a narratively-satisfying unhappy ending!
Kitty Saves the World - Carrie Vaughn. The last Kitty book! While I was really bummed that the series was ending, I think this was a good place for it. The oh-shit-o-meter was cranked to 11, &... yeah. Not perfect (nothing is perfect!), but gave me a lot of what I wanted!
Cold Steel - Kate Elliott. This took me longer to get into than I was expecting, given that there are feisty girl cousins who are best friends having adventures & things. It's because the obvious love interest is so v. v. obnoxious at first, & he's meant to be, but I was kept waiting too long for the part where things become more complicated & you might not actually need to hate him. Anyway, I appreciate alternate histories that highlight the accomplishments of people of color!
Sorcerer to the Crown - Zen Cho. First in a trilogy about England's first black Sorcerer Royal & the extremely magically talented biracial Indian woman he meets that proceeds to wreak havoc (in his life, & in general) in all kinds of fun ways. This is really wonderful -- seriously, everything good you've read about this book is true. Not only is it utterly delightful & frothy & lovely, it also says v. pointed things about race & colonialism & gender (& from the POV of people negatively affected), which shouldn't feel as refreshing & rare as it did.
House of Shattered Wings - Aliette de Bodard. Post-apocalyptic Paris, dangerous magic, fallen angels. I think I liked the idea of this book more than the book itself -- there were good bits, but somehow it didn't click w/me like I wanted it to (& I think the author deserved a better editor). I did really appreciate that the book also dealt w/colonialism though!!
Soloplay - Miranda Baker. Utter smutty fluff about a shy woman who ends up becoming a playtester for a sex toy company. Needs the usual sort of deliberate disregard for tired gender roles, etc. (though it's... not as bad as it could be, I guess?), & a queer relationship at the start ends up being, yes, just a way to get the protagonist a bit less sexually troubled before she goes off to meet the man of her dreams. If you can put these things aside (& it's a fairly big if), this is kind of hilariously amazing.