Hey everyone! If you were curious about how my year’s goals are going, you can swing by my resolutions update here. If you just want to see what I’ve acquired this week, well, read on. It’s not actually a big haul; instead of splitting them up into sections, I’ll just list them together this week, I think!
Super thanks to the publisher for Knight’s Shadow — I requested it based on being halfway through Traitor’s Blade, and I’m looking forward to it.
Hey everyone! I’ve had a busy week, but I promise it’s mostly library books. I was very tempted in Hatchard’s in St Pancras, but I elected to note down the titles and try to get them from the library instead. And lo and behold, they came through for me. I did buy two books, but only spent £5 on them; I had a £10-off for Waterstone’s!
Bought
I belatedly realised that several people I know (including the guy running the Cardiff SF/F book club) really hated Cannonbridge. Still, at the very least it’ll give me something to tear into, right? I was very unsure about getting Finn Fancy Necromancy, since the title makes it sound very silly, but flicking through convinced me to give it a try…
Library
Can you guess where I spent most of my time hanging out in Hatchard’s…? Although to be fair, I’ve wanted to read The Tale of Duelling Neurosurgeons for a couple of weeks now. Neurology! The Connie Willis books are for a reading challenge/book group. I haven’t been a major fan of Willis in the past, but I’m willing to try again.
Comics
So, I think that’s it. How’s everyone else doing? I should put up my update on this year’s progress with my resolutions soon, but how are you doing?
Hmmm, I’ve had a bit of a busy week for acquisitions, compared to what I’ve read. Time to buckle down and get on with it, I think! I’m still within the bounds of my resolutions though, whew. How’s everyone doing?
Bought/received
I do love Claire North’s work, even if I found her last book disappointing. A Darkling Sea I’ve picked up based on a recommendation, and The Buried Giant is a) by Ishiguro and b) contains Arthurian stuff. Of course I got it on release day!
Received to review
Maybe I should’ve finished the first book before requesting this, but hush.
Comics
Is that a different artist on Spider-woman? Or just the cover? I should go and look. Anyway, yay!
Also, how about that Avengers trailer? Omg, Bruce/Natasha. <3
I keep saying that you just have to look at my current pull list to know that there are plenty of awesome female (super)heroes in comics. So hey, here’s my pull list!
And TPBs I regularly get…:
Aaaand ones I’m looking forward to? Now that Spider-Gwen’s out, I guess that has to be Chuck Wendig and Adam Christopher’s rewrite of The Shield.
So, dudes: you were sayin’?
Hey everyone! I’ve been very good this week, and have nothing really new to report — just an ARC, and some titles from my pull list. I’m impressed by how long I’m keeping up my resolutions this year! How’s everyone else doing?
Review copy
I found the last book a little too predictable in theme, plot and character, so I’m hoping this breaks the mould a little. I have loved Maitland’s books, but I fear she may be stuck in a rut… One more chance, and then I’ll give her books a rest for a while. Still, excited to get the ARC!
Pull list
Working on a post to go up soon about my pull list, and how people lie when they say there’s no cool female superheroes… (Not, Marvel, that I’m saying there’s enough. Did you seriously put back the date of your Captain Marvel movie for Spider-man? Really? I’ve seen Spider-man. I need you to have the guts to give us a female superhero front and center. Black Widow would work too.)
And just to finish up, here’s a photo of the bunny in total relaxation, since I’m currently staying with her and my partner!
Quite a busy week! But I’m still sticking to my goals, fear not.
Bought
A Darker Shade of Magic was, of course, a pre-order; I had Half a King as an ARC and never got to it, so now I have the paperback; my sister bought me Impulse because we both love a bit of space opera. Obviously it sounds rather Star Trek-ish, but it could be fun anyway.
Received to review
One word: eeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Library
I’m going away! I had to stock up! Annihilation is so weird; I had to grab the next two to see if there are any answers… Susanna Kearsley, I read and liked The Rose Garden not long ago, so I’ve grabbed some more of her work.
Comics
Tell me again about the lack of female superheroes?
So there we go! Quite a busy week for me… How’s everyone else been doing? Any exciting acquisitions?
I think this would be a nice one to go viral: a post in which we celebrate the tropes we love instead of griping about the ones we don’t (which are, no doubt, someone else’s favourites). So thanks to Kaja from Of Dragons and Hearts, here is a post about tropes which are, so to speak, my cup of tea.*
*I may be British, but I don’t actually like tea. Chamomile tea or fruit teas, maybe. Mostly not.
Fatale: Death Chases Me, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips
Someone recommended me this, based on the fact that I like noir fiction and I enjoyed Brubaker’s run on Captain America. It’s a mix of noir and horror, and just on those grounds, I don’t think it really worked for me. The femme fatale trope can be fun, but I never really got into this. Maybe it’s a bit too much of a mash-up of genres for me? And I didn’t feel that they used the form to best effect: there were so many text boxes telling me what was going on, and everything was so dark and dingy I wasn’t really keeping track of characters properly.
There was some gorgeous art, mind you, and I can imagine some people falling over themselves for this one. But not me.
Rating: 3/5
How’s everybody now? I really need to post an update on the #ShelfLove challenge — I’ll probably schedule that for Wednesday, since Sunday is going to be about celebrating the things I love in fiction, a la Kaja’s ‘Totally My Cup of Tea‘ post. In short: I’m still doing well. No books bought by me this week, though my Valentine’s gift from my partner was one (one!) book which I’ve been wanting for a while… Tahdah!
I’ve also had quite a few review copies this week, which was cause for plenty of squee:
And if anyone is mouthing off about the lack of female superheroes, they should just take a look at my pull list — this is stuff that came out just this week.
Which reminds me that I should post about my pull list sometime. And see if I can get hold of some more comics featuring Anya Corazon/Spider-girl. Not long till the first issue of Spider-Gwen!
Lest we forget, I’ve also been to the library. I worked out how many library books I had last week and went on the attack this week, but somehow I always seem to find another book I want.
The Mary Stewarts and Michael Moorcock I’ve read before, but I’m trying to take in all of Elric so I’m starting from the beginning, and Mary Stewart is just comfort reading for me. The Galaxy Game I received a while ago as a review copy and didn’t get round to, so I’m making sure to show my interest now. And Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a book I’ve meant to read for a while, and even own — somewhere.
How’s everyone doing? Still sticking to your resolutions and behaving yourselves now 2015’s in its second month?
Sailor Twain, Mark Siegel
I wasn’t a fan of the art at first, and the main character remained kind of distractingly comical-looking for me, but it grew on me. The charcoal look is great, suits the setting perfectly, and for all that Sailor Twain himself looks a little odd, some of the characters are beautifully done. Including, of course, the mermaid. Funnily enough, I read this just the day before I read Brubaker’s Fatale: Death Chases Me, and the whole enchantment aspect seemed pretty similar; a shared theme bridging two dissimilar graphic novels.
The mythology… I could wish it was delved into a little more. We get what we need to know and no more, and I still had plenty of questions — it felt like the rules were made up for the story, rather than the story bending to the rules, which is a pet peeve of mine, really. You’ll always convince me more easily by writing out your rules and then constraining your story within them.
It’s a very quick read, for all that it looks really chunky, and some of the character backstories are really interesting. I don’t know, though; I found myself wishing for more depth, in the end.
Rating: 3/5