Tag: comics

Stacking the Shelves

Posted May 2, 2015 by in General / 26 Comments

Is it Saturday again already? Whoa. I’ve been catching up on blog stuff all this week, thanks to the readathon — which is not a complaint.

Review copies

Cover of The Eye of Strife by Dave Duncan Cover of Cities and Thrones by Carrie Patel

I have finally got round to writing a review of The Buried Life, which will be up soon; Cities and Thrones is the sequel. You can still check out Carrie’s post here from her blog tour for The Buried Life, too! I got The Eye of Strife via LibraryThing; I’ve been meaning to read Dave Duncan for ages, so this should be interesting.

Won

Cover of Sword by Amy Bai Cover of Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

I’ve been interested in Sword for a while, so I picked it as my win in one of the readathon giveaways. <3 Dreams of the Golden Age was my pick for another win; that hasn’t arrived yet, which is probably good, because I need to reread After the Golden Age, and I think my partner has my copy.

Library

Cover of The Drowning City by Amanda Downum Cover of Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas Cover of The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley

Cover of The Deadly Sisterhood by Leonie Frieda Cover of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone and The Drowning City are both rereads, to get me back up to speed for the next book in the series/trilogy. Crown of Midnight is obvious, since I just read Throne of Glass (but I’m sorry, I just don’t love it as much as some of you guys seem to). I have The Deadly Sisterhood somewhere, but goodness knows where. And I just like Susanna Kearsley.

Bought

Cover of Of Noble Family by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of Silk, Marvel comic

Quite a contrast there between the covers, heh. I reaaally need to actually read the issues of Silk I have… I’ve been tearing through Kowal’s series lately, just in time for this last book. I’m excited!

Audiobooks

Cover of Among Others audiobook Cover of Rivers of London audiobook

Cover of Epigenetics audiobook by Richard Francis

I usually prefer to listen to audiobooks I’ve already read for myself, hence Among Others and Rivers of London (the latter of which I’d like to refresh my memory on anyway); Epigenetics: How Environment Shapes Our Genes is a new one for me, which I couldn’t really resist because epigenetics! Non-fiction! Science!

How’s everyone else been doing? Behaving yourselves?

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted April 18, 2015 by in General / 28 Comments

Good morning, folks! After a busy couple of weeks, I’ve been good this time. I had one library trip, and didn’t buy anything for myself when I went shopping. (Unless you count accessories for my Captain America teddy bear. Shush.)

Library books

 Cover of Curtsies & Conspiracies by Gail Carriger Cover of Heartless by Gail Carriger Cover of Timeless by Gail Carriger

Yes, you can clearly see what I’m in the mood for at the moment!

Aaaand comics. Two single issues, and the TPB of Ms Marvel, which my sister bought me. <3

Comics

Ms Marvel Thor Cover of Ms Marvel: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson

What’s everyone else been getting?

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Review – Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More

Posted April 11, 2015 by in Reviews / 5 Comments

Cover of Captain Marvel Higher Faster Further More by Kelley Sue DeConnickCaptain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More, Kelly Sue DeConnick, David Lopez

It’s no secret that I love Captain Marvel, so it’s probably not a surprise that I adored this, too. I love Carol and her stubborn determination to do what’s right, and the fact that she tries to do things that Captain America would approve of. I love her relationship with Rhodey (“I’m never gonna be the one who holds you down”!) and his acceptance of what she needs to do. I love the fact that she takes her cat into space with her, and I love her dumb banter in a fight.

I liked that this ties in with Guardians of the Galaxy, too — not in too obtrusive a way; you only need to know a couple of basic facts about the Guardians, mostly about Peter Quill and his father — so that we’ve got a sense of a whole universe, not just Earth’s problems.

Lopez isn’t my favourite artist for Captain Marvel, but the art is pretty good: clear, expressive, colourful.

Also, gotta love the casual queerness.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted April 11, 2015 by in General / 44 Comments

A somewhat acquisitive week for me! But at least I’m keeping from requesting loads of ARCs, given I have a challenge to meet that means reading 55 of them already… (Yes, that’s not even all my backlog. Just 30% of it. I am awful.)

Bought

Cover of Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers Cover of Changeless by Gail Carriger Cover of Blameless by Gail Carriger

24965354 Cover of One Night in Sixes by Arianne Thompson

The first three, well, I planned to get them anyway, since I’m enjoying both series. The Tanya Huff I’ve been eyeing for ages. And One Night in Sixes is a bookclub read, if I recall rightly.

Comics

Captain Marvel Spider-woman

Looks like a tie-in event for Captain Marvel? Might not be so fond of that… And I am getting tired of seeing Carol looking terrified/helpless on covers. Spider-woman looks fun, though.

How’s everyone else doing? Up to anything interesting?

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Review – Lumberjanes vol. 1

Posted April 8, 2015 by in Reviews / 10 Comments

Cover of Lumberjanes vol 1Lumberjanes vol. 1, Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen

Not gonna lie, Lumberjanes was one of the first things I added to my list when I finally gave up and got a Scribd subscription. Volume one contains just the first four issues, while Scribd has about nine, so I imagine I’ll review the rest en masse sometime. Anyway, these first four issues are just enough to get a taste of Lumberjanes: quirky art, a great cast of characters who come in all shapes, sizes and colours, and a fun setting. There’s not time for much more than a taste, and it seemed to be over all too fast, but it is fun.

I especially love Mal and Molly. Their relationship is cute but casual, and low key enough that overzealous parents probably won’t even notice. The character designs are great; it took me a while to learn each girl’s name, because so far they haven’t focused on any one character for an issue or anything like that, but each girl has her own look, abilities and way of dealing with the world. You’ve gotta love that April’s pretty and fashion conscious… and capable of arm-wrestling a stone statue and winning.

I’m looking forward to reading more Lumberjanes; I might even subscribe to it once I’ve caught up with everything Scribd has, because it’s just cute.

Rating: 4/5

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Female Authors Only Month

Posted April 6, 2015 by in General / 6 Comments

For a long time, one of my goals has been to spend a month reading only female authors. It’s prompted by projects like Lilit Marcus‘ year of reading only books by women. I have too many commitments to review books and read for book clubs, etc, etc, to go for a whole year, but a month seems to be a reasonable goal and one (looking at Mount TBR) I can accomplish easily — perhaps even without missing male authors very much at all. Scrolling through my blog, I review a lot of books by women: Joe Abercrombie and Guy Gavriel Kay, even Tolkien, can all stand being sidelined for a month around here.

There’s nothing actually wrong with reading works by male writers, even if they are the archetypical white old men. Many of their books are deserving, many of them say things that people need to hear, or say things in a unique way. But the market is saturated with male writers, while female writers are still often relegated to genre, sidelined, bypassed for awards, etc.

There are issues of intersectionality, too: it’s important to read books by transgender people, people with disabilities, people of colour, working class people, queer people. There are all kinds of voices that need to be heard, need more space available to be heard in, and many of those voices are male. I think a month of reading only books by people of colour, or only books by people who identify as disabled, would be just as valuable. Even reading books by men which never made bestseller lists, or something like that. It’s just not my intent right now.

So, from 1st May to 31st May, this blog will review only books by female authors. (That’s how far in advance I’m scheduled — April is full.) Once I’ve finished reading Traitor’s Blade and The State of the Art, I’ll have no books on the go by men, and so the month of reading female authors only will commence. I might give you updates on how it’s going and what I’ve been reading, so you can see what reviews are coming up in May!

But a request to all of you, too: I want to read books by queer women, trans women, women of colour, Native American women… all kinds of women, in summary. Look through my TBR and STS posts and highlight someone you think I should read now now now, or suggest someone new. I’m especially looking for comics by women — I’m aware of Gail Simone, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Noelle Stevenson, Fiona Staples, Emma Rios… Gimme more!

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Review – Red Sonja: The Art of Blood and Fire

Posted April 4, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Red Sonja volume 2 by Gail SimoneRed Sonja: The Art of Blood and Fire, Gail Simone, Walter Geovani

Gail Simone’s run on Red Sonja continues to make the She-Devil about a lot more than tits and ass and the male gaze. Her relationships with other women are important, but here we also see how she relates to the rather male-oriented world around her. I love that it makes no excuses for what Sonja is like — low on hygiene, high on hedonism, low on distinction, high in violence… And she’s a character you can love anyway, because there are things she cares about, regrets that she has, and she clearly inspires people around her in many ways. Despite her faults, she has friends, and she knows exactly who she is.

The art is mostly lovely, though some of the variant covers do veer back to the tits and ass version of Sonja, I think. And the… ‘chibi-fied’ ones just made me wince. C’mon, don’t infantilise this powerful woman who would hate to be portrayed that way…

Sonja’s adventures continue to be more episodic and disconnected than cohesive. It’s not a superhero story with a massive arc and a need to obsessively buy loads of tie-in comics. Which is good, I think.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted April 4, 2015 by in General / 38 Comments

First StS of a new month! I can’t believe I’ve (mostly) been sticking to my resolutions so far… This has been a busy week, but I promise, I’m still sticking to my resolutions like glue.

Received to review

Cover of Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds

Making my sister burningly jealous! Alastair Reynolds was the author who got her back into reading when I handed her Century Rain; she hasn’t looked back since, and she’s read that one at least three times. I’ve read this already, but it’s actually a while before the review goes up… I’ve gotten awfully ahead of myself with scheduling!

Bought

Cover of Od Magic by Patricia McKillip Cover of The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip Cover of Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip

Cover of In the Forests of Serre by Patricia McKillip Cover of The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip Cover of The Just City by Jo Walton

25050340 Cover of Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan

I’ve been meaning to buy the SF Gateway Omnibuses of McKillip’s work for a while. Now I have them (thanks, Mum). I got The Mirror World of Melody Black because I loved The Universe vs Alex Woods, and Voyage of the Basilisk because I didn’t get round to my ARC in time. Also, I now have The Just City, which I didn’t own yet. I swear I’m gonna get a review up for it soon.

Library

Cover of Master And God by Lindsey Davis Cover of Ringworld by Larry Niven Cover of Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson

Cover of The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino Cover of On Such A Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

I’ve been meaning to try Lindsey Davis for aaaages. This one is apparently a standalone, according to someone I was on duty with at the library, so that’s where I’m going to start — since we don’t have the first Falco book. Gah. Anyway, the others are mostly fairly random picks, except for Ringworld which is another upcoming read for the SF/F Book Club in Cardiff.

Comics

Spider-Gwen Operation S.I.N

Yay Spider-Gwen!

And to finish off, a couple of things I’ve added to my lists lately on Scribd and Blloon.

Cover of The Sanctuary Seeker by Bernard Knight Cover of Trance by Kelly Meding Cover of Get in Trouble by Kelly Link

So yeah, as usual, I have plenty on my plate. What’s anyone else been getting? Are you gonna make me expand my never ending to read list…?

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Review – Tomb Raider: Season of the Witch

Posted April 2, 2015 by in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Tomb Raider: Season of the Witch by Gail SimoneTomb Raider: Season of the Witch, Gail Simone, Nicolas Daniel Selma

I never got into Tomb Raider as a kid — though it helps I didn’t have any games consoles until I was a teen — but I recently played the reboot and loved it. The survival aspects were great, and I needed to think tactically about taking out enemies, etc, etc. Season of the Witch doesn’t, in my opinion, bring anything really new to the story. It deepens the stories around some of the relationships, but in many ways the actual plot is a re-run in miniature of the game — without such high stakes, it seemed; there weren’t many characters to lose anymore.

You’ve got to love, though, the tension between Reyes and Lara, and the way that plays out; but especially the deep friendship between Lara and Sam. I hope that remains an essential part of the series.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Daredevil vol. 1

Posted March 29, 2015 by in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of Daredevil volume 1 by Mark WaidDaredevil volume 1, Mark Waid, Paolo Rivera, Marcos Martin

I don’t really know much about Daredevil, beyond the fact that his real name is Matt Murdock, and that he’s blind. This comic makes a reasonable introduction, though it’s a bit obvious that it is an introduction — there’s a lot of ‘as you know, Bob’ type exposition about how Matt can see, his limitations and his background. Apparently this takes a turn out of a gritty trend for Matt, which it sort of flags up in the story by Matt going on about how he has to do this to cope. It feels a bit clumsy, in that sense.

Some of the art is really great, though: the way they represent Daredevil’s senses, the way they bring across the insouciance of the character, etc. The plot itself seemed similar to She-Hulk’s, in a way: they’re both lawyers, both now trying to integrate their superhero identities with that and having problems. It wasn’t a bad plot, but it didn’t feel particularly new and fresh and startling; it definitely felt like just a primer on Daredevil and what he can do. State of the Daredevil.

Okay, and I did read it in one go, but not enough to make me love the character (unlike, for example, Kelly Sue’s Captain Marvel or the new elements introduced to the team in Gillon’s Young Avengers, which were also Marvel Now titles).

Rating: 3/5

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