Reading/Watching/Life
Jun. 11th, 2024 08:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenwoodsideAll media consumption is still pointing due escapism.
Books
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
I got this almost purely on the strength of the title, but happily it was also an enjoyable read. I don't think there was anything revolutionary about its plot or ideas, but the pacing, atmosphere and writing generally held together – certainly enough to keep me up late reading it as I got closer to the ending. It feels unkind to describe the characters are as broad brush; I felt they were about as deep as they needed to be for the story to work. There was one moment when I winced at the amount of cheese being applied (a dying character with their last breath declares their love for someone), but it mostly avoids the extremely tired clichés.
It echoes Adrian Tchaikovsky and -- I assume, not being all that well-versed in sci-fi -- earlier authors in that Turton sees humans as inherently corrupt. To be better, humans cannot reform themselves; they need to be changed on a genetic level. In this book, it's expressed by the good outcome being the survival of a genetically engineered slave caste who have been programmed -- apparently through both nature and nurture -- to want to be of service to others. The active human characters are all dead by the end, having been villainous to various degrees, and the remaining living humans are being held in stasis, with it being left open as to whether they'll ever be awoken. Our heroine and family, intended to be drones, inherit the world.
Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
These didn't feel as well-constructed and innovative as the first novel in the trilogy, but I still really enjoyed them. Breq may be one of the most likeable protagonists in recent sci-fi/fantasy. I felt that some double standards were at work in the final novelin that the huge number of people Breq presumably wipes out on the reactionary Anaander's ships never seemed to get much of a mention. Still, I've got to love a protagonist who's a folk-song-collecting space warship. As a folk song nut, I thought Leckie did a fantastic job in inventing plausible lyrics -- something that sounded like it might really exist in an alien world in a different language. Weird and beautiful.
Lamentably, rather than fiction making me want to charge out and change the world for the better, what it often seems to do is make me want to buy things. In this case, I had to sit on my hands to avoid buying luxury loose leaf tea and a set of antique rose-coloured dishes to drink it out of.
Elusive by Genevieve Cogman
This is the sequel to Scarlet, and is going to be the middle book of a trilogy. Their premise is: what if the Scarlet Pimpernel and Vampires. In the first book, we're introduced to our protagonist, a housemaid in the house of a wealthy aristocratic landed vampire. She's recruited by Sir Percy owing to her striking likeness to a certain French queen. Plot happens.
Both books move along at a fairly breezy pace; they pay fairly little regard to period detail, or at least wear it lightly, and apart from some Woosterisms from Sir Percy and his friends playing it up as dumb toffs, the dialogue is simple and modern. I mostly felt that worked as a choice, but Cogman did seem to me to be pushing it too far when a medieval ghost instructed the heroine to ride the wave. Or maybe Cogman knew I was reading and just wanted to annoy me! Hmm.
At some points I was worried that the idea of a group of people who form a separate social group, are all rich as hell, and control the world in secret, was veering much too close to old antisemitic stereotypes. However, the vampire characters we meet tend to be snobbish, proud of their long ancestry, and are a long-established part of the English or French aristocracy. So it's very much the nobility/undeserving rich that Cogman has her eye on, even though a few phrases occasionally seem to strike an accidental off-note for me.
One thing I have really appreciated has been the heroine's development, as she moved from tolerance of the status quo to -- following exposure to the ideas of the revolution -- the realisation that things can be different. She recognises her treatment from her previous employer as being abuse. That felt very powerful to me.
Watching
I seem to have been possessed by a ghost of myself as a six-year old, who once wrote (was encouraged to write by my amused parents) to a scientist neighbour to ask him if he would clone a dinosaur at work.
Friends, I've watched all five series of the animated show Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (six kids get stranded on an island full of dinosaurs, Lord of the Flies does not happen, instead they bond with each other and the dinos, and in which predictably the most dangerous opponents belong to homo sapiens). I regret nothing. I also went and watched the first full series of the sequel.
I want to watch a good documentary on dinosaurs that incorporates the latest discoveries and research, but can't find one. I might buy a figurine of a feathered Linheraptor exquisitus instead.
*staples hands to desk*
I don't know what the Tories would make of people who buy toy dinosaurs when they should be saving for a mortgage, and how they'd compare it to avocado expenditure. Though I have some idea. Not that it matters, since they'll be getting kicked out on 4th July. Am thinking of booking off the 5th from work so I can stay up to watch the results come in. I'm hoping for the complete humiliation of all the ones who haven't already chickened out and announced they're standing down. Looking at you here, Michael Gove.
Life
I was in a pretty low mood after messing up yet another job interview, but now feel a lot better. I'm not sure if it's the happy dinosaur endorphins or what. Maybe if I could persuade the interview panel to wear triceratops masks next time I'd land the role.
ETA: Oh yeah, and I've been watching Doctor Who. Favourite episode so far is 'Dot and Bubble'. Enjoyed the Beatles episode more than most since apparently I really like OTT villains with dance numbers – so have been well served recently. Unimpressed by the Moffat contribution and thought the Bridgerton one dragged in places. Was thrilled to see Sian Phillips, the divine and deadly Empress Livia, in 73 Yards. My mind is still boggling a little at the idea of Aneurin Barnard as a future very Cymreig Welsh fascist overlord.
Books
The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton
I got this almost purely on the strength of the title, but happily it was also an enjoyable read. I don't think there was anything revolutionary about its plot or ideas, but the pacing, atmosphere and writing generally held together – certainly enough to keep me up late reading it as I got closer to the ending. It feels unkind to describe the characters are as broad brush; I felt they were about as deep as they needed to be for the story to work. There was one moment when I winced at the amount of cheese being applied (a dying character with their last breath declares their love for someone), but it mostly avoids the extremely tired clichés.
It echoes Adrian Tchaikovsky and -- I assume, not being all that well-versed in sci-fi -- earlier authors in that Turton sees humans as inherently corrupt. To be better, humans cannot reform themselves; they need to be changed on a genetic level. In this book, it's expressed by the good outcome being the survival of a genetically engineered slave caste who have been programmed -- apparently through both nature and nurture -- to want to be of service to others. The active human characters are all dead by the end, having been villainous to various degrees, and the remaining living humans are being held in stasis, with it being left open as to whether they'll ever be awoken. Our heroine and family, intended to be drones, inherit the world.
Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
These didn't feel as well-constructed and innovative as the first novel in the trilogy, but I still really enjoyed them. Breq may be one of the most likeable protagonists in recent sci-fi/fantasy. I felt that some double standards were at work in the final novelin that the huge number of people Breq presumably wipes out on the reactionary Anaander's ships never seemed to get much of a mention. Still, I've got to love a protagonist who's a folk-song-collecting space warship. As a folk song nut, I thought Leckie did a fantastic job in inventing plausible lyrics -- something that sounded like it might really exist in an alien world in a different language. Weird and beautiful.
Lamentably, rather than fiction making me want to charge out and change the world for the better, what it often seems to do is make me want to buy things. In this case, I had to sit on my hands to avoid buying luxury loose leaf tea and a set of antique rose-coloured dishes to drink it out of.
Elusive by Genevieve Cogman
This is the sequel to Scarlet, and is going to be the middle book of a trilogy. Their premise is: what if the Scarlet Pimpernel and Vampires. In the first book, we're introduced to our protagonist, a housemaid in the house of a wealthy aristocratic landed vampire. She's recruited by Sir Percy owing to her striking likeness to a certain French queen. Plot happens.
Both books move along at a fairly breezy pace; they pay fairly little regard to period detail, or at least wear it lightly, and apart from some Woosterisms from Sir Percy and his friends playing it up as dumb toffs, the dialogue is simple and modern. I mostly felt that worked as a choice, but Cogman did seem to me to be pushing it too far when a medieval ghost instructed the heroine to ride the wave. Or maybe Cogman knew I was reading and just wanted to annoy me! Hmm.
At some points I was worried that the idea of a group of people who form a separate social group, are all rich as hell, and control the world in secret, was veering much too close to old antisemitic stereotypes. However, the vampire characters we meet tend to be snobbish, proud of their long ancestry, and are a long-established part of the English or French aristocracy. So it's very much the nobility/undeserving rich that Cogman has her eye on, even though a few phrases occasionally seem to strike an accidental off-note for me.
One thing I have really appreciated has been the heroine's development, as she moved from tolerance of the status quo to -- following exposure to the ideas of the revolution -- the realisation that things can be different. She recognises her treatment from her previous employer as being abuse. That felt very powerful to me.
Watching
I seem to have been possessed by a ghost of myself as a six-year old, who once wrote (was encouraged to write by my amused parents) to a scientist neighbour to ask him if he would clone a dinosaur at work.
Friends, I've watched all five series of the animated show Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (six kids get stranded on an island full of dinosaurs, Lord of the Flies does not happen, instead they bond with each other and the dinos, and in which predictably the most dangerous opponents belong to homo sapiens). I regret nothing. I also went and watched the first full series of the sequel.
I want to watch a good documentary on dinosaurs that incorporates the latest discoveries and research, but can't find one. I might buy a figurine of a feathered Linheraptor exquisitus instead.
*staples hands to desk*
I don't know what the Tories would make of people who buy toy dinosaurs when they should be saving for a mortgage, and how they'd compare it to avocado expenditure. Though I have some idea. Not that it matters, since they'll be getting kicked out on 4th July. Am thinking of booking off the 5th from work so I can stay up to watch the results come in. I'm hoping for the complete humiliation of all the ones who haven't already chickened out and announced they're standing down. Looking at you here, Michael Gove.
Life
I was in a pretty low mood after messing up yet another job interview, but now feel a lot better. I'm not sure if it's the happy dinosaur endorphins or what. Maybe if I could persuade the interview panel to wear triceratops masks next time I'd land the role.
ETA: Oh yeah, and I've been watching Doctor Who. Favourite episode so far is 'Dot and Bubble'. Enjoyed the Beatles episode more than most since apparently I really like OTT villains with dance numbers – so have been well served recently. Unimpressed by the Moffat contribution and thought the Bridgerton one dragged in places. Was thrilled to see Sian Phillips, the divine and deadly Empress Livia, in 73 Yards. My mind is still boggling a little at the idea of Aneurin Barnard as a future very Cymreig Welsh fascist overlord.
