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Title: Inheritance (Adaptation Book 2)
Author: Malinda Lo
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 475
Total Page Count: 258,050
Text Number: 833
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: This picks up directly where Adaptation left off; the duology is effectively two halves of a whole. But it feels different, less of a kitchen sink approach and more cogent in focus, but not in a direction I enjoy; it's concerned primarily with the political fallout of events in the previous book, tedious and stifling, with underwhelming antagonists. (The moral ambiguity of the Imria is more successful.) For better and worse, it's frequently sidelined by the romantic relationships and a navigation towards polyamory—clumsy, talky, but beautifully well-intentioned, and enlivened by tropey moments (including "huddling together for warmth"!) which are satisfying in that corny way. The balance is frustrating and rewarding in equal measure, but worth it on the whole because compassionate, thoughtful relationship negotiation and polyamory (in my YA? it's more likely than you think!) is such a pleasure. I'll pick up more Lo in the future, and given my general apathy to YA that says something.
Title: Henry IV Part 1
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1709
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 258,150
Text Number: 834
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: I hate humor—it's a frequent holdup in my reading—and yet I love this; it's one of my favorite plays. What sets Falstaff apart is his complicated relationship with Prince Hal and also with the viewer. We criticize and adore, reject and embrace, simultaneously; we're invited to argue with the humor, and then shamed for arguing to stridently: Hal's ominious interactions with Falstaff are the beginning of a character arc that Hal intentionally sets for himself but which becomes more complicated and bittersweet than he intends. I find this play more satisfying now that I've finally read Richard II and have a better grasp on Henry IV's background and more context for the conversation about kingship that informs Prince Hal's arc. And I love Hotspur—he's one of my favorite Shakespeare characters, a memorable problematic fav, despite that he appears in a play with such strident competition. This is a superb play, affable and insidious; the clever interplay between the three plotlines, the diversity of tone, the engaging cast, is all a delight.
Title: The Girl with No Hands (and Other Tales)
Author: Angela Slatter
Published: Ticonderoga Publications, 2010
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 205
Total Page Count: 258,355
Text Number: 835
Read Because: reading more by the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 16 dark fairy tales. Many of these are very short, studies in concept explored though Slatter's rich fairytale imagery and straightforward sentence structure. With just one exception (the satirical "The Dead Ones Don't Hurt You" is pretty awful), these are solidly successful but not exceptional. But a few stand out, including those written for Slatter's Masters; these are longer and denser, allowing the voice to shine, and are more complicated in concept and theme. It's no surprise that "Red Skein," a red riding hood retelling which gives women a wolf's power, is my favorite. Slatter has a dim view of women's relationship with men and with sex—understandable, and a natural fit to dark fairy tales, but I side-eye the frequent depiction of sex work as a metaphorical exemplar. Her explorations of relationships between women—the politics of step-relationships, redeeming mothers-in-law, the value of mother/daughter bonds—are more interesting and complex. Form is something of a limiting factor here—novella length gave Of Sorrow and Such more room for characterization and subtlety—but it's solid, and I'd read more of Slatter's short fiction in the future.
Author: Malinda Lo
Published: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2013
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 475
Total Page Count: 258,050
Text Number: 833
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: This picks up directly where Adaptation left off; the duology is effectively two halves of a whole. But it feels different, less of a kitchen sink approach and more cogent in focus, but not in a direction I enjoy; it's concerned primarily with the political fallout of events in the previous book, tedious and stifling, with underwhelming antagonists. (The moral ambiguity of the Imria is more successful.) For better and worse, it's frequently sidelined by the romantic relationships and a navigation towards polyamory—clumsy, talky, but beautifully well-intentioned, and enlivened by tropey moments (including "huddling together for warmth"!) which are satisfying in that corny way. The balance is frustrating and rewarding in equal measure, but worth it on the whole because compassionate, thoughtful relationship negotiation and polyamory (in my YA? it's more likely than you think!) is such a pleasure. I'll pick up more Lo in the future, and given my general apathy to YA that says something.
Title: Henry IV Part 1
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1709
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 258,150
Text Number: 834
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: I hate humor—it's a frequent holdup in my reading—and yet I love this; it's one of my favorite plays. What sets Falstaff apart is his complicated relationship with Prince Hal and also with the viewer. We criticize and adore, reject and embrace, simultaneously; we're invited to argue with the humor, and then shamed for arguing to stridently: Hal's ominious interactions with Falstaff are the beginning of a character arc that Hal intentionally sets for himself but which becomes more complicated and bittersweet than he intends. I find this play more satisfying now that I've finally read Richard II and have a better grasp on Henry IV's background and more context for the conversation about kingship that informs Prince Hal's arc. And I love Hotspur—he's one of my favorite Shakespeare characters, a memorable problematic fav, despite that he appears in a play with such strident competition. This is a superb play, affable and insidious; the clever interplay between the three plotlines, the diversity of tone, the engaging cast, is all a delight.
Title: The Girl with No Hands (and Other Tales)
Author: Angela Slatter
Published: Ticonderoga Publications, 2010
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 205
Total Page Count: 258,355
Text Number: 835
Read Because: reading more by the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 16 dark fairy tales. Many of these are very short, studies in concept explored though Slatter's rich fairytale imagery and straightforward sentence structure. With just one exception (the satirical "The Dead Ones Don't Hurt You" is pretty awful), these are solidly successful but not exceptional. But a few stand out, including those written for Slatter's Masters; these are longer and denser, allowing the voice to shine, and are more complicated in concept and theme. It's no surprise that "Red Skein," a red riding hood retelling which gives women a wolf's power, is my favorite. Slatter has a dim view of women's relationship with men and with sex—understandable, and a natural fit to dark fairy tales, but I side-eye the frequent depiction of sex work as a metaphorical exemplar. Her explorations of relationships between women—the politics of step-relationships, redeeming mothers-in-law, the value of mother/daughter bonds—are more interesting and complex. Form is something of a limiting factor here—novella length gave Of Sorrow and Such more room for characterization and subtlety—but it's solid, and I'd read more of Slatter's short fiction in the future.
