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juushikaTitle: Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
Author: Wayne Barlowe
Published: Workman Publishing, 1990
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 190
Total Page Count: 332,580
Text Number: 1190
Read Because: fan of the genre
Review: The zoology of an distant alien planet, reported by a wildlife artist who was part of the initial exploratory visit. Certainly I can break down strengths and weaknesses: The narrative is amateurish and repetitive, but provides a surprising substantial (for the genre) framework. The art is superb but not flawless, particularly because the eyeless aliens can be difficult to grasp and the symmetrical/repetitive poses in the canvas paintings don't help—and many of the captivating strengths of the creature design, like the massive scale and unusual limb arrangements, are also repetitive or improbable. But the truth is that a review is almost pointless. This is the height of speculative evolution; it's intriguing, transporting, and more robust and better illustrated than most of the genre. I only wish I'd read it sooner—and that the physical book were still in print, because digital delivery doesn't work well for the two-page spreads.
(So badly want to put a ton of other speculative evolution books on my immediate TBR, but I'm waiting until I'm less interesting in spooky reads. Because! Spooky season does not somehow magically end on Nov. 1! But indeed continues around the entire year but at least through November, which is arguably even spookier than October. Anyway, here's an actually really good list of speculative evolution & related reading.)
Title: Blood Price (Blood Books Book 1)
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: DAW, 2007 (1991)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 270
Total Page Count: 333,505
Text Number: 1205
Read Because: reading the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A recently retired cop turned PI investigates a serial killer with possible supernatural roots. This is one of the first urban fantasy novels, introducing the genre tropes of supernatural procedural in urban setting with female protagonist and supernatural characters/romances. I don't like UF (that's not a value judgement—I just dislike longform procedurals and UF's hardboiled-but-in-a-sexy-way vibe) and this doesn't change my mind. Moreover, it's not well written. Huff weakness is headhopping and it's in full force here: a clutter of poorly-sketched, one-off PoVs; tension that relies on missed connections and bad communication seen from multiple PoVs, which is as irritating as it sounds.
Huff's strength meanwhile is the diversity and intimacy of her character dynamics, and there's something of that here in the complicated (but low-drama) sexual tensions. But Huff's sympathetic vampire and sexualized vampire feeding have come to feel familiar and even sedate, and this is where the book falls apart for me: I can push through tropes I don't like for interesting intimacies, but these intimacies aren't weird enough, distinctive enough, even intimate enough, despite the author and the potential of the elements. Maybe the sequels improve on that, but I don't think I'll stick around to find out.
Title: Mooncakes
Author: Suzanne Walker
Illustrator: Wendy Xu
Published: Lion Forge, 2019
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 255
Total Page Count: 333,725
Text Number: 1211
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: A witch reunites with her childhood werewolf friend when they come back to town to deal with a demon. This feels very Tumblr, which means unabashed diversity (which I love, although I wish the intersection of magic/technology/disability had a bigger role in the story—it could be so interesting), a queer romance, and a saccharine feel-good ethos wherein the good people are unfailingly good, the bad people are visible from a mile away, teamwork saves the day, and young adults come of age. None of these elements are themselves bad, and in fact this Tumblr-styling exists in other successful comics. The difference is in quality and atmosphere, like the dreamy sparsity of Walden's On a Sunbeam or the enchanting beauty of O'Neill's The Tea Dragon Society; the art here falls apart particularly when depicting magic, which is a crucial weakness, and the writing is only competent. This is a cute, easy read and achingly well-intended, but I want it to be good.
Author: Wayne Barlowe
Published: Workman Publishing, 1990
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 190
Total Page Count: 332,580
Text Number: 1190
Read Because: fan of the genre
Review: The zoology of an distant alien planet, reported by a wildlife artist who was part of the initial exploratory visit. Certainly I can break down strengths and weaknesses: The narrative is amateurish and repetitive, but provides a surprising substantial (for the genre) framework. The art is superb but not flawless, particularly because the eyeless aliens can be difficult to grasp and the symmetrical/repetitive poses in the canvas paintings don't help—and many of the captivating strengths of the creature design, like the massive scale and unusual limb arrangements, are also repetitive or improbable. But the truth is that a review is almost pointless. This is the height of speculative evolution; it's intriguing, transporting, and more robust and better illustrated than most of the genre. I only wish I'd read it sooner—and that the physical book were still in print, because digital delivery doesn't work well for the two-page spreads.
(So badly want to put a ton of other speculative evolution books on my immediate TBR, but I'm waiting until I'm less interesting in spooky reads. Because! Spooky season does not somehow magically end on Nov. 1! But indeed continues around the entire year but at least through November, which is arguably even spookier than October. Anyway, here's an actually really good list of speculative evolution & related reading.)
Title: Blood Price (Blood Books Book 1)
Author: Tanya Huff
Published: DAW, 2007 (1991)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 270
Total Page Count: 333,505
Text Number: 1205
Read Because: reading the author, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A recently retired cop turned PI investigates a serial killer with possible supernatural roots. This is one of the first urban fantasy novels, introducing the genre tropes of supernatural procedural in urban setting with female protagonist and supernatural characters/romances. I don't like UF (that's not a value judgement—I just dislike longform procedurals and UF's hardboiled-but-in-a-sexy-way vibe) and this doesn't change my mind. Moreover, it's not well written. Huff weakness is headhopping and it's in full force here: a clutter of poorly-sketched, one-off PoVs; tension that relies on missed connections and bad communication seen from multiple PoVs, which is as irritating as it sounds.
Huff's strength meanwhile is the diversity and intimacy of her character dynamics, and there's something of that here in the complicated (but low-drama) sexual tensions. But Huff's sympathetic vampire and sexualized vampire feeding have come to feel familiar and even sedate, and this is where the book falls apart for me: I can push through tropes I don't like for interesting intimacies, but these intimacies aren't weird enough, distinctive enough, even intimate enough, despite the author and the potential of the elements. Maybe the sequels improve on that, but I don't think I'll stick around to find out.
Title: Mooncakes
Author: Suzanne Walker
Illustrator: Wendy Xu
Published: Lion Forge, 2019
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 255
Total Page Count: 333,725
Text Number: 1211
Read Because: personal enjoyment, paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: A witch reunites with her childhood werewolf friend when they come back to town to deal with a demon. This feels very Tumblr, which means unabashed diversity (which I love, although I wish the intersection of magic/technology/disability had a bigger role in the story—it could be so interesting), a queer romance, and a saccharine feel-good ethos wherein the good people are unfailingly good, the bad people are visible from a mile away, teamwork saves the day, and young adults come of age. None of these elements are themselves bad, and in fact this Tumblr-styling exists in other successful comics. The difference is in quality and atmosphere, like the dreamy sparsity of Walden's On a Sunbeam or the enchanting beauty of O'Neill's The Tea Dragon Society; the art here falls apart particularly when depicting magic, which is a crucial weakness, and the writing is only competent. This is a cute, easy read and achingly well-intended, but I want it to be good.
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Date: 2019-11-06 04:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-06 07:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-06 08:05 am (UTC)