Media roundup Feb-Mar
Mar. 31st, 2025 21:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superborbThank you to whoever gifted me DW paid time!
Ne Zha (2019): Animated adaptation of Ne Zha, part one of the series of which Ne Zha 2 was a runaway blockbuster. Core story is pretty uncomplicated, with some cute moments (e.g. the magical artifact is combo lock protected). It definitely has an intended child audience...
Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds, by Thomas Halliday: Each chapter is a snapshot of the ecology of a specific time in Earth's history. It's definitely pop sci, but I appreciated the approach to describing the whole ecosystem and I felt like I had a much better grasp of the timeline of when things lived together. However, minimal citation for further reading and some claims therefore felt difficult to judge. The prose is a bit purple, and there was egregiously incorrect chemistry at one point. Overall, I would rec it if the topic is at all interesting -- it was a good execution.
Prophet, by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blache: Mysterious objects of nostalgia start appearing and our two protagonists must work together etc etc. The protags have the quippy odd couple balance of fic, so I was unsurprised to see AO3 in the acknowledgements. Although the cast is very small, they were interesting characters that made me care about them. Overall, a fun read; not sure the ideas will stick with me, but some of the images might.
The Sleeping Soldier, by Aster Glenn Gray: Gay romance in which a civil war soldier wakes up a century later. I think this might have been over hyped to me all over my DW list. The dialog read kind of modern and inconsistent, and overall it was fine but underwhelming, only a light read.
The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera: Fantasy novel coming of age type -- descriptions of the book are all very vague for a reason, and honestly it felt like a vibes book instead of properly thought out worldbuilding. It was a very compulsive read, but the overall effect was quite light. I guess part of the vagueness is explained in universe but.... Some interesting ideas but not more than a collection of ideas.
The Golem of Brooklyn: by Adam Mansbach: An art teacher accidentally brings The Golem to life and hijinks ensue. What a book!! Irreverent and funny, but also tackling serious issues (unsubtly). I think my only serious complaint is probably white supremacists are already deeply afraid people at their core, so as framed, the final argument of the book is weakened. Definitely a rec!
All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor: Children's book about a Jewish family with five girls in 1912 NYC. Pretty cute! Period typical of course in attitudes, but I enjoyed it.
True Pretenses, by Rose Lerner: Regency romance between the most older sister heiress and the most older brother con artist. Just enough meat to be interesting, though the older sibling feels are... perhaps laid on too thickly. There's an alternate universe Helena that never got into fandom and is super into this kind of book, but sadly this is not that universe, and I found it fine but not compelling.
Good Man Friday, by Barbara Hambly: A book out of the middle of a mystery series set in the free black community of 1830s New Orleans (though this one's mostly in Washington DC). Highly acclaimed in the DW list, but I thought it was... fine? Pretty much what I'd expect from a long running mystery series, lots of interesting characters. The setting was quite difficult to read about, which of course one would not want to be otherwise. I am rarely in the mood for long running mystery series, but could see myself reaching for another if that happened.
The Dark Queens, by Shelley Puhak: History of Merovingian Queens Brunhild and Fredegund, who ruled during the 500s. A little more serious than merely pop history (there are plenty of citations), but also adds flavor and speculation around the sources that survived. The litany of events gets a little tedious pacing wise, but certainly there were plenty of dramatic events to liven it up. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a reading experience, but I did learn a lot about Frankish history.
The Old Woman with the Knife, by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim: Aging assassin faces a threat as she nears the end of her career. Very compelling read! It has a distance in the prose that I associate with translated Korean, but not in a dissatisfying way. It's pretty overt social commentary, about aging, sexism, etc etc. Would recommend.
Ne Zha (2019): Animated adaptation of Ne Zha, part one of the series of which Ne Zha 2 was a runaway blockbuster. Core story is pretty uncomplicated, with some cute moments (e.g. the magical artifact is combo lock protected). It definitely has an intended child audience...
Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds, by Thomas Halliday: Each chapter is a snapshot of the ecology of a specific time in Earth's history. It's definitely pop sci, but I appreciated the approach to describing the whole ecosystem and I felt like I had a much better grasp of the timeline of when things lived together. However, minimal citation for further reading and some claims therefore felt difficult to judge. The prose is a bit purple, and there was egregiously incorrect chemistry at one point. Overall, I would rec it if the topic is at all interesting -- it was a good execution.
Prophet, by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blache: Mysterious objects of nostalgia start appearing and our two protagonists must work together etc etc. The protags have the quippy odd couple balance of fic, so I was unsurprised to see AO3 in the acknowledgements. Although the cast is very small, they were interesting characters that made me care about them. Overall, a fun read; not sure the ideas will stick with me, but some of the images might.
The Sleeping Soldier, by Aster Glenn Gray: Gay romance in which a civil war soldier wakes up a century later. I think this might have been over hyped to me all over my DW list. The dialog read kind of modern and inconsistent, and overall it was fine but underwhelming, only a light read.
The Saint of Bright Doors, by Vajra Chandrasekera: Fantasy novel coming of age type -- descriptions of the book are all very vague for a reason, and honestly it felt like a vibes book instead of properly thought out worldbuilding. It was a very compulsive read, but the overall effect was quite light. I guess part of the vagueness is explained in universe but.... Some interesting ideas but not more than a collection of ideas.
The Golem of Brooklyn: by Adam Mansbach: An art teacher accidentally brings The Golem to life and hijinks ensue. What a book!! Irreverent and funny, but also tackling serious issues (unsubtly). I think my only serious complaint is probably white supremacists are already deeply afraid people at their core, so as framed, the final argument of the book is weakened. Definitely a rec!
All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor: Children's book about a Jewish family with five girls in 1912 NYC. Pretty cute! Period typical of course in attitudes, but I enjoyed it.
True Pretenses, by Rose Lerner: Regency romance between the most older sister heiress and the most older brother con artist. Just enough meat to be interesting, though the older sibling feels are... perhaps laid on too thickly. There's an alternate universe Helena that never got into fandom and is super into this kind of book, but sadly this is not that universe, and I found it fine but not compelling.
Good Man Friday, by Barbara Hambly: A book out of the middle of a mystery series set in the free black community of 1830s New Orleans (though this one's mostly in Washington DC). Highly acclaimed in the DW list, but I thought it was... fine? Pretty much what I'd expect from a long running mystery series, lots of interesting characters. The setting was quite difficult to read about, which of course one would not want to be otherwise. I am rarely in the mood for long running mystery series, but could see myself reaching for another if that happened.
The Dark Queens, by Shelley Puhak: History of Merovingian Queens Brunhild and Fredegund, who ruled during the 500s. A little more serious than merely pop history (there are plenty of citations), but also adds flavor and speculation around the sources that survived. The litany of events gets a little tedious pacing wise, but certainly there were plenty of dramatic events to liven it up. I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a reading experience, but I did learn a lot about Frankish history.
The Old Woman with the Knife, by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim: Aging assassin faces a threat as she nears the end of her career. Very compelling read! It has a distance in the prose that I associate with translated Korean, but not in a dissatisfying way. It's pretty overt social commentary, about aging, sexism, etc etc. Would recommend.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-01 02:49 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-02 09:34 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-01 05:35 (UTC)And delighted too that you liked The Golem of Brooklyn,, my favorite novel of last year. Perhaps the most impressive thing to me is passing off his own poetry convincingly enough as Joseph Brodsky's to fool Kirkus; it makes me hope Mansbach publishes a poetry collection some day soon.
Did you find the resolution to True Pretenses odd at all? All that about not lying, and it’s the Jewishness that’s still a dirty secret? idk, I quite like Rose Lerner, but this one has left a lingering cloud for me.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-02 09:58 (UTC)Yes! I got the rec for The Golem of Brooklyn from you! It was so good!
I DEFINITELY felt weird about how Jewishness was treated in True Pretenses... So many romance-typical contrivances that we can expect to handwave on the way to a happy ending, but no way around the Jewishness? Also, y'know, the spoilery premise of the brothers.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-01 06:43 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-02 09:58 (UTC)