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juushikaTitle: An Apprentice to Elves (Iskryne World Book 3)
Author: Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Published: Tor, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 335
Total Page Count: 247,745
Text Number: 791
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: At long last, war with Rhean comes. The second most interesting thing in A Companion to Wolves (the first is its interrogation of the companion animal trope) is the issue of gender—a society more diverse and, perhaps, enlightened than its real-world equivalent, but profoundly affected by sexism, with a narrative that confronts that issue. Here, all the PoV characters are directly impacted by sexism, and it's a change that centralizes the issue. It interacts with worldbuilding but also with multiple character arcs; The Tempering of Men depended on the central romance for its near-only emotional investment, but they're abundant in this book. Earlier sections drag, the end is rushed, and it doesn't live up to ridiculous id-indulgences of first book—but this is the sort intellectual/emotional engagement that I came looking for, and it's a satisfying end to things.
Title: Henry VI Part 2
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 247,845
Text Number: 792
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This is a profound improvement: less petty bickering, clearer motivations, and a stronger interpersonal focus (exactly what I wished for after Part 1) mean more to latch onto, which grounds the length and large cast. Even the action scenes works better here, primarily because the grotesque treatment of corpses gives weight to the violence. Margaret—simultaneously more observant and self-interested than Henry, without the short-sighted egoism of his adversaries; apparently mundane, but capable of such emotional excess (foiled by Eleanor's superstition and self-possession)—is what makes this play, for me. Her dynamic with Suffolk remains engaging and her contrast to Henry is my favorite of the play's themes. This was a pleasant surprise, especially as a Part 2.
Title: Under the Pendulum Sun
Author: Jeannette Ng
Published: Angry Robot, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 410
Total Page Count: 248,255
Text Number: 793
Read Because: reviewed bymrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A Victorian woman joins her Reverend brother's missionary's work in fairyland. The tone here is dark, fantastic, a little whimsical; the theological focus sets it apart, and while not always accessible it's distinctive and fundamental to the setting and characters. But the craft is lacking in numerous little ways—a backload of twists and revelations, supporting characters and subplots that feel more utilitarian than real, and the language simply isn't robust enough for the content—and while none of these alone condemns the book, the cumulative effect holds it back. I look forward to Ng's next book; I think she has such potential, and just wants for more experience.
today I learned that the trope name for fictional epigraphs in speculative media is "encyclopedia exposita"! it's a great trope; it opens room to concepts which are at their most evocative when left conceptual and unexplored, and nothing is better when left lingering and vast and almost-inconceivable than spacewhales and their cousins. anyway in case it wasn't clear: the inset source text is fictional.
(iirc correctly Valente's Fairyland Series had a giant mole of equally vast proportions—but significantly more 'a concrete living creature' than the idea of a vast whale swimming through the earth with ecosystems in its belly.)
Author: Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
Published: Tor, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 335
Total Page Count: 247,745
Text Number: 791
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: At long last, war with Rhean comes. The second most interesting thing in A Companion to Wolves (the first is its interrogation of the companion animal trope) is the issue of gender—a society more diverse and, perhaps, enlightened than its real-world equivalent, but profoundly affected by sexism, with a narrative that confronts that issue. Here, all the PoV characters are directly impacted by sexism, and it's a change that centralizes the issue. It interacts with worldbuilding but also with multiple character arcs; The Tempering of Men depended on the central romance for its near-only emotional investment, but they're abundant in this book. Earlier sections drag, the end is rushed, and it doesn't live up to ridiculous id-indulgences of first book—but this is the sort intellectual/emotional engagement that I came looking for, and it's a satisfying end to things.
Title: Henry VI Part 2
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 247,845
Text Number: 792
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: This is a profound improvement: less petty bickering, clearer motivations, and a stronger interpersonal focus (exactly what I wished for after Part 1) mean more to latch onto, which grounds the length and large cast. Even the action scenes works better here, primarily because the grotesque treatment of corpses gives weight to the violence. Margaret—simultaneously more observant and self-interested than Henry, without the short-sighted egoism of his adversaries; apparently mundane, but capable of such emotional excess (foiled by Eleanor's superstition and self-possession)—is what makes this play, for me. Her dynamic with Suffolk remains engaging and her contrast to Henry is my favorite of the play's themes. This was a pleasant surprise, especially as a Part 2.
Title: Under the Pendulum Sun
Author: Jeannette Ng
Published: Angry Robot, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 410
Total Page Count: 248,255
Text Number: 793
Read Because: reviewed by
mrissa, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County LibraryReview: A Victorian woman joins her Reverend brother's missionary's work in fairyland. The tone here is dark, fantastic, a little whimsical; the theological focus sets it apart, and while not always accessible it's distinctive and fundamental to the setting and characters. But the craft is lacking in numerous little ways—a backload of twists and revelations, supporting characters and subplots that feel more utilitarian than real, and the language simply isn't robust enough for the content—and while none of these alone condemns the book, the cumulative effect holds it back. I look forward to Ng's next book; I think she has such potential, and just wants for more experience.
Balaenoptera wickeris, often termed a "sea whale" due to idiosyncratic fae humour, is believed to be more vast than any other beast, being twice again the size of the largest sea-dwelling whale. They are said to swim through soil and not water. They are distinct from the beasts known as the "see whale", an invisible piscine that lurks in the seas around Arcadian ports, and "C whale", the uncommon name for the Balaena sinistris.
According to Sibbald, the inhabitants of Arcadia believe the sea whale to be constructed of wicker. He had described to him these strange shipyards at Fishforth which built them. They say entire ecosystems of fishes can live within the whale once it has consumed sufficient "sea." Whale "bones" of wood can often be found on sale at the Goblin Market.
This is all, of course, preposterous. Whilst the sea whale is a true creature, its presence on land is but a form of the Fata Morgana, a superior mirage, a result of the reflecting and refracting of the whale's image from its native sea inland, especially into the more misty parts of Arcadia. The mist is key to understanding this natural optical illusion as the water droplets provide purchase for the projection. Just as a Fata Morgana can cause a ship to seem as though it is inside the waves, the Fata Morgana causes the whale to appear inside the earth.
—Robert Walton, The Natural History of the Whale: To Which is Added a Sketch of a South Sea Whaling Voyage, quoted in Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng
today I learned that the trope name for fictional epigraphs in speculative media is "encyclopedia exposita"! it's a great trope; it opens room to concepts which are at their most evocative when left conceptual and unexplored, and nothing is better when left lingering and vast and almost-inconceivable than spacewhales and their cousins. anyway in case it wasn't clear: the inset source text is fictional.
(iirc correctly Valente's Fairyland Series had a giant mole of equally vast proportions—but significantly more 'a concrete living creature' than the idea of a vast whale swimming through the earth with ecosystems in its belly.)
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Date: 2018-02-04 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-02-06 03:32 pm (UTC)