Media Roundup Oct-Nov

Cuckoo Song, by Frances Hardinge: Hardinge is excellent as always, LOVED all the little details of the world in this one. Was totally surprised at some of the twists, but in a way where they were very natural; a 'how come I didn't call this?!' situation. I felt like once the action was about to hit its peak, it got a bit weaker in the sometimes shoving Lessons Learned into characters' mouths, but it is MG after all. Probably the strongest overall of the three Hardinges I've read so far (the others were Deeplight and The Lie Tree), but I feel like I have to ration the rest q_q there's only nine total.

The Iron Children, by Rebecca Fraimow: Told from the PoV of three characters: the not-yet-fully trained commander (by which one means has not yet put her soul in a robot and is still a squishy human) who must bring a group of cyborg soldiers to meet the main forces over treacherous terrain, the sergeant of the cyborg soldiers who is the only really seasoned soldier among them, and a spy. Like much of DW, I know the author and therefore cannot be fully objective! I really liked the confidence of the worldbuilding: that there was a sense of a larger world and there was no need to explain concepts that would be obvious to the characters. Also, the ~reveal~ of who the spy is was not the climax or even an especially emotional moment (to the reader anyway, the commander sure finds it emotional), subverting expectations! I found the ending extremely satisfying: in a world where the protagonists are soldiers on the being-conquered-but-also-doing-unethical-stuff side, the ending must also be complex, but each character reaches a point where it feels like an emotional arc has finished and the next step is coming.

Geometries of Belonging, by R.B. Lemberg (short story, not the collection): Part of a larger secondary world fantasy, this one centers on a mindhealer suffering after the loss of family and the aftermath of a war. From silveredeye's rec. I found it very compelling to read! It verges on issuefic re: gender in the sense that it's a bit heavy handed, but ymmv. I enjoyed the sense that there was a broader world out there, always something I'm picky about.

Nimona (2023): In a medieval-futurist city, the first commoner is about to be knighted, only to framed for murder of the queen. On the one hand, this was intended for kids, so the simplistic setup and straightforward morals are par for the course, but I still found this really didactic and unsubtle. I also don't think the message of "you should just trust me [refuses to explain anything]" really works when the love interest never does just believe in the main character, they never address this, and their future relationship is shown as all roses and kittens. Nimona, the shapeshifting "monster", was quite affecting though.

The One Percent (2006): I watch a lot of youtube-y documentaries, and this was actually really interesting. It's a documentary by one of the J&J heirs about the growing wealth gap, and as a member of that elite class, he is able to interview people who are more frank than they may otherwise be. I wouldn't consider this a must watch, but if this is a topic of interest, it's more unique than a lot of the dross on youtube.

Mysterious Lotus Casebook 莲花楼 (2023)

The latest of the wuxia cdramas, structured as a series of smaller mysteries leading up to the major mystery of the story behind a jianghu battle 10 years ago. The characters mostly were reasonably interesting and though they fit tropes, they at least committed to them. (Really enjoyed the one guy whose job was basically to be Siri.) The acting was pretty good too, which helps significantly, and the costuming and actors were all very pretty. I am a sucker for the "chasing the ONE TRUE RIVAL when they're reluctant to keep competing" dynamic (Hikago hit me at a formative age!!) so obviously I loved that shit. I also did love the main character's glib tongue and the villainess at first didn't get to chew enough scenery but by the end she gets to be fully dramatic. There were a lot of little moments that were great -- when they were blackmailing secrets out of each other, the main character's very close up captured ear twitches, and the interactions between the main trio.

However, the actual plot was uh, questionable; it distinctly suffers from not enough adaptation and the pacing is very clearly unchanged from a serial novel. Except they keep skipping bits so they can go through plot faster; the recent PRC dramas really have not figured out that 36-40 episode pacing at all. Generally the overall storyline and the character motivations make sense, but individual choices for storytelling and the excessive amounts of telling were tedious. The smaller mysteries are all very contrived, over explained, and generally not best practices for detective work (questioning all the suspects together...). The women really are defined in conjunction with men; even when they get to fight, it's not as much as the men, though the fight choreo is generally not great. (In particular, the mountain red storyline was really strange about the trapped girls and the resolution was unsatisfying.)

Spoilers for the major mystery:

The distinct version of PRC nationalism combined with the typical bright-line good guy vs bad guy split got me more than I would usually expect. There's some racism around foreign blood making you untrustworthy and SO many stereotypes, all at my lowest expectation levels, but that obsession with casting those who want to resurrect bygone countries as the worst possible villains, whoof. It didn't help that the big bad had the most boring motivation and just straightforwardly fell in that trope. The attempted subversion on Nanyin blood did NOT hit when it became all about the bloodline. Finally, I personally think that saving LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE except the emperor with the flower would have made more thematic sense; I don't care that emperors are only stand-ins for their empire!

Anyway, I... felt like this wasted what would otherwise have been a promising show with fun character interactions.

PS Using the rock version of the theme song for the final battle was INSPIRED. A++ excellent choice.