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juushikaTitle: If We Were Villains
Author: M.L. Rio
Published: Flatiron Books, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 385
Total Page Count: 312,970
Text Number: 1072
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: A group of theatre students find their friendship imperiled by the crime that will land one of them in jail. This isn't as good as The Secret History, which it closely resembles—and that's an unfair comparison (The Secret History is one of those books that inspires more like it but also overshadows the stories written in its image) but I think a productive one, because where If We Were Villains compares negatively is also where it's weakest. The college and social circle is prestigious and insular but insufficiently idealized, and the inciting event comes too quick—and being insufficiently envious, invested, and willing to overlook a murder is a fatal flaw in a narrative of this design. The atmosphere and characterization are better developed in the second half, and while it's sometimes beautiful (the inset productions of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet are delightful) it fights a losing battle with an overlarge cast: one character is forgettable until their pivotal endgame reveal, which is the wrong way to effect a twist, and the professors feel like tools of the plot and its themes.
But "not as good as The Secret History" can still be engaging and likable, and this is that. The strongest characters are rendered interesting by the end, and the use of Shakespeare is surprisingly good—more accessible than I feared, but with interesting readings that tie smartly to character development. I wish this were pared down and intensified to allow those elements to shine and to untangle the final reveal, which is promising but manipulative and flirts with the "bury your gays" trope in ways I don't appreciate.
Title: Rules for Vanishing
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky, Robbie Daymond, Rob Shapiro
Published: Listening Library and Penguin Young Readers Group, 2019
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 405
Total Page Count: 313,615
Text Number: 1074
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A year after her sister's disappearance, Sara and her childhood friends follow her steps into the forest. I love this setup, which is a proto-portal fantasy, focused not on the destination but on navigating the difficult journey into fairyland. It lends well to fantasy/horror, and the atmosphere is relatively successful. I'm less enamored of the faux documentary style and thriller/mystery elements, which complement each other but—in the way of most thrillers—offer one twist too many, and so end on an insubstantial note which isn't as effective as the tension that precedes it. Would that the character motives were more personal than "manipulated by a ghost"; I want agency and I would rather explore the allure of fairyland and play it against the horror elements than dedicate so much of the narrative to twists. This is compelling but flawed—it has a lot going on but still feels a little hollow.
(I started this on audio but finished it in print; the reading is fine, but the documentary style doesn't work as well on audio.)
Title: Venom by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection, Volume 1
Author: Rick Remender
Published: Marvel, 2015 (2012)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 345
Total Page Count: 313,960
Text Number: 1075
Read Because: well I am no longer reading Venom (for now), paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Circle of Four is a boring arc—I appreciate the diversity in the new generation of superheroes, but that's not who I signed up to read about when I picked up a Venom comic and the ensemble cast leaves little time for more than the most basic distillation of each character's personal conflict. The second half of this omnibus follows up on the first volume's setup of Venom's arc, and it's as boring a resolution as possible for that predictable setup. It leans hard on the damsel in distress trope except for one unremarkable twist; Venom fails to grow, which is a statement in itself, but doesn't make for much of a narrative. In full transparency, I'm definitely burned out on American comics—but this failed to revive my interest.
Author: M.L. Rio
Published: Flatiron Books, 2017
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 385
Total Page Count: 312,970
Text Number: 1072
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: A group of theatre students find their friendship imperiled by the crime that will land one of them in jail. This isn't as good as The Secret History, which it closely resembles—and that's an unfair comparison (The Secret History is one of those books that inspires more like it but also overshadows the stories written in its image) but I think a productive one, because where If We Were Villains compares negatively is also where it's weakest. The college and social circle is prestigious and insular but insufficiently idealized, and the inciting event comes too quick—and being insufficiently envious, invested, and willing to overlook a murder is a fatal flaw in a narrative of this design. The atmosphere and characterization are better developed in the second half, and while it's sometimes beautiful (the inset productions of Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet are delightful) it fights a losing battle with an overlarge cast: one character is forgettable until their pivotal endgame reveal, which is the wrong way to effect a twist, and the professors feel like tools of the plot and its themes.
But "not as good as The Secret History" can still be engaging and likable, and this is that. The strongest characters are rendered interesting by the end, and the use of Shakespeare is surprisingly good—more accessible than I feared, but with interesting readings that tie smartly to character development. I wish this were pared down and intensified to allow those elements to shine and to untangle the final reveal, which is promising but manipulative and flirts with the "bury your gays" trope in ways I don't appreciate.
Title: Rules for Vanishing
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Narrator: Jesse Vilinsky, Robbie Daymond, Rob Shapiro
Published: Listening Library and Penguin Young Readers Group, 2019
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 405
Total Page Count: 313,615
Text Number: 1074
Read Because: personal enjoyment, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: A year after her sister's disappearance, Sara and her childhood friends follow her steps into the forest. I love this setup, which is a proto-portal fantasy, focused not on the destination but on navigating the difficult journey into fairyland. It lends well to fantasy/horror, and the atmosphere is relatively successful. I'm less enamored of the faux documentary style and thriller/mystery elements, which complement each other but—in the way of most thrillers—offer one twist too many, and so end on an insubstantial note which isn't as effective as the tension that precedes it. Would that the character motives were more personal than "manipulated by a ghost"; I want agency and I would rather explore the allure of fairyland and play it against the horror elements than dedicate so much of the narrative to twists. This is compelling but flawed—it has a lot going on but still feels a little hollow.
(I started this on audio but finished it in print; the reading is fine, but the documentary style doesn't work as well on audio.)
Title: Venom by Rick Remender: The Complete Collection, Volume 1
Author: Rick Remender
Published: Marvel, 2015 (2012)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 345
Total Page Count: 313,960
Text Number: 1075
Read Because: well I am no longer reading Venom (for now), paperback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: Circle of Four is a boring arc—I appreciate the diversity in the new generation of superheroes, but that's not who I signed up to read about when I picked up a Venom comic and the ensemble cast leaves little time for more than the most basic distillation of each character's personal conflict. The second half of this omnibus follows up on the first volume's setup of Venom's arc, and it's as boring a resolution as possible for that predictable setup. It leans hard on the damsel in distress trope except for one unremarkable twist; Venom fails to grow, which is a statement in itself, but doesn't make for much of a narrative. In full transparency, I'm definitely burned out on American comics—but this failed to revive my interest.
