Tag: Marvel

Stacking the Shelves

Posted June 20, 2015 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

This week, I got some major goals done — the book I was ghostwriting was finished (well, one of them), I got a lot of transcription work done, and I got an assignment done. So I was allowed some books, and much deserved they were. Also, one of them was bought with a voucher my mother gave me a few weeks(!) ago. Aaand then was Support Tor Day (warning: link to Vox Day’s blog; no, he isn’t supporting Tor, he’s calling for a boycott, which to me is tantamount to asking all reasonable people to support them).

Plus, Susanna Kearsley sent me an Amazon voucher to make up for me getting smacked with a customs charge for a book she sent me. I don’t have that book in my hands yet, but I do have a couple of her others. I had some of these from the library, but…

Cover of Uprooted by Naomi Novik Cover of Across the Wall by Garth Nix 23213811

Cover of Mariana by Susanna Kearsley Cover of The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas Cover of Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Cover of Hammered by Elizabeth Bear Cover of The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher Cover of The Sin Eater's Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

Cover of The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley Cover of Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang Cover of A Companion to Wolves by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette

Excite!

Comics

Ms Marvel

I’m not sure how I feel about this event, but still. Ms Marvel. Yay.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted June 13, 2015 by Nicky in General / 8 Comments

I continued my very good behaviour this week by not buying anything. I did grab the trade of Thor: Goddess of Thunder, but I already has the single issues, so I’m counting it as a gift for my partner, who I will be with by this evening! Whoop. So I just have comics this week, including the new Carol Corps one from Kelly Sue, which I nearly missed but for a random tweet about it.

Captain Marvel & The Carol Corps Silk Spider-gwen

Nope, there are no female heroes in comics, nope, don’t know what you’re talking about…

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 2, 2015 by Nicky in General / 15 Comments

This week’s theme is books you’d like to see as movies/tv shows. The proviso here is that I would want appropriate casting, e.g. not a white man for Ged or Patriot.

  1. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin. Shush. There hasn’t been one. Doesn’t exist.
  2. Captain Marvel. Sooner than planned, please. And keep in the recent bit about her dating Rhodey!
  3. Young Avengers. You’ve got all the ingredients ready, Marvel. Dooo iiiiiittttt.
  4. Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas. It could be really epic, and it’d require a female lead who could do stunts and would need a good range of acting skills.
  5. A Natural History of Dragons, Mary Brennan. I’m not sure how well it’d translate to the big screen, but again, it’d require a female lead and it’d be a little bit like Walking With Dinosaurs, only dragons and fiction.
  6. The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell. Do Arthur right!
  7. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. In the right hands, it would be beautiful.
  8. Sunshine, Robin McKinley. Female lead who is both a reluctant hero type and a baker. Interesting vampire lore, gorgeous imagery. It’d be amazing, right?
  9. Farthing, Jo Walton. Could serve as a timely warning to a country embracing conservatism right now, too.
  10. Bloodshot, Cherie Priest. Weird found-family dynamics, kickass female lead, ex-Navy SEAL drag queen? Okay, there’d be so many ways for them to mess it up, but we’re talking an ideal world here, and it would be so very right.

Gaah, gimme them. Nowww.

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Stacking the Shelves

Posted May 16, 2015 by in General / 35 Comments

Another week where I’ve been a bit naughty! I have just adjusted my book budget to take other stuff into account, though, so I had the leeway. Thankfully. I hate failing at any challenge! But first…

For review

Cover of The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton

It was listed as just a preview excerpt, but what I downloaded seems to be the full file. I am immensely excited about this one. My review of The Just City is actually (finally) going live on Monday!

Bought

Cover of Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodges Cover of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir Cover of The Skeleton Cupboard by Tanya Byron

Cover of The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey Cover of Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Cover of The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey

A friend bought me An Ember in the Ashes to comfort me about the election results! A couple of the others were on sale on Amazon or something like that. Aside from Sabaa Tahir’s book, they’re all paperbacks; for some reason I’m not really in the mood to read on my ereader at the moment, much as I love my Kobo.

Library

Cover of Darwin's Lost World by Martin Brasier Cover of Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

I got a couple of others, but I’ve featured them here before; I just grabbed ’em from the local library while I’m visiting my parents, to reduce the amount of books I had to haul across the country!

Comics

Captain Marvel Thor Silk Ms Marvel

Yay so many comics! Boo that my pull list is now costing me £10 some weeks. Whoops.

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Review – Ms Marvel: Generation Why

Posted May 2, 2015 by in Reviews / 8 Comments

Cover of Ms Marvel: Generation Why by G. Willow WilsonMs Marvel: Generation Why, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jake Wyatt

I liked this more than the first volume. It felt less like it was setting the scene, and it got down to the important stuff: superhero team-ups, more self-discovery, bigger plots, etc, etc. Kamala teams up with Wolverine and (separately) Lockjaw, sent by Queen Medusa of the Inhumans to guide her somewhat. I loved the interactions with Wolverine — fangirly, cute, funny, but also serious. He’s her mentor, teaches her some important things about her powers and how to live with them, and he relies on her to help him, even to do the bulk of the fighting.

There’s still some background with Kamala’s family, but less so. It’s reduced from being the main issue to being part of the flavour of it, so that her family saying (for example) that Lockjaw is a dog and therefore impure is just… part of who Kamala is. I liked her interactions with the leader from the mosque, too: he’s a mentor figure as well, in a way.

The art is all great. I especially liked the first few issues collected here — you’ve gotta love the scene where she jumps down into the water flailing her arms and trying to shrink as fast as possible — but all of it is awesome. And there’s no gratuitous anything, either: this ain’t the black leotarded Ms Marvel, for sure.

Rating: 5/5

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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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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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