Media Roundup Oct-Nov
Dec. 2nd, 2023 18:45Cuckoo 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![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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.
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.
tl;dr Loved the mythology + worldbuilding, felt it could use a thorough edit and more polishing to really shine
The premise: Alexandra Trese protects humanity from the supernatural (drawn from Filipino folklore), struggling to maintain the accords her father maintained with the creatures of the underworld. Starts out crime-solving mystery, culminates in a Big Bad style ending. 6 episodes of ~30 min, animated.
The mythology and setting were superb-- and indeed, what everyone's been praising. I'll defer to Filipino friends who have said that it feels accurate etc, but watching with little knowledge still let me feel immersed in the worldbuilding.
I also thought the characters were generally interesting, though the emotional storyline was strongly centered around Alexandra. With only ~3 h of runtime, that's fully to be expected. I guess it's also blending a bit into the worldbuilding, that the most interesting characters were the supernatural ones-- the Emissary was excellent. Though uh, Alexandra really liked to threaten her allies in ways that seem counterproductive? Ghost boy was helping you! Why must you-- stab his hand (no permanent damage done).
Here's where I felt it could use a strong polish though: while some plot threads were nicely pulled through and there were good callbacks, many of the threads get dropped and the Big Bad finale was a mess. Did we really need a half episode of Big Bad pontification?! And the repeated flashback reusing the same scenes may have tried to do the "building emotion by revealing more about the scene", but mostly felt repetitive. Also, a lot of the writing and dialogue could really have used some tightening. The dialogue was not helped by some VERY wooden voice acting (in the English dub), especially disappointingly for Alexandra.
[Rot13] Gur Qngh Gnyntohfnb juvfcrevat va rirelbar'f rne nyfb frrzrq gb nofbyir gurz bs glvat gbtrgure guvatf yvxr... jul qvq gur Znlbe znxr n qrny gb trg uhaqerqf bs crbcyr xvyyrq, jung jnf uvf zbgvingvba? 'Cbjre naq zbarl' nybar vf abg irel rkcynangbel.
OK but lest you think I didn't like it, I do think there were a lot of great smaller subplots, it just didn't stick the putting-it-all-together landing. The tikbalang as drag racer? INSPIRED. The whole tiyanak subplot was really top notch too, probably my favorite arc in terms of pacing and interest.
Overall, it's a fast watch and I'd recommend it if supernatural crime fighting is a genre you like.
The Legend of Hei
Dec. 29th, 2020 16:23An animated movie that tells the story of Xiaohei, a cat demon, whose forest home has been destroyed by human activity. He goes on a journey to ~find a home~ in a world where humans have dominated the environment. This is a prequel to a webseries that I haven't seen, so I may be missing context from that, but it stood well enough by itself.
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