(I swear I posted this yesterday evening, but since the post only appeared when I clicked the link in the "Croopost successful" Dreamwidth email, I've deleted that entry and reposted. Idk what's going on.)
What did you finish readingBlood of Olympus, by Rick Riordan: It was really good and a fitting ending to the series(es), I thought. My favourite parts were the Nico+Reyna roadtrip. And my favourite bit from that was
‘My dad gave me a present once,’ Nico said. ‘It was a zombie.’
Reyna stared at him. ‘What?’
‘His name is Jules-Albert. He’s French.’
‘A … French zombie?’
‘Hades isn’t the greatest dad, but occasionally he has these want to know my son moments. I guess he thought the zombie was a peace offering. He said Jules-Albert could be my chauffeur.’
The corner of Reyna’s mouth twitched. ‘A French zombie chauffeur.’
Nico realized how ridiculous it sounded. He’d never told anyone about Jules-Albert – not even Hazel. But he kept talking.
‘Hades had this idea that I should, you know, try to act like a modern teenager. Make friends. Get to know the twenty-first century. He vaguely understood that mortal parents drive their kids around a lot. He couldn’t do that. So his solution was a zombie.’
‘To take you to the mall,’ Reyna said. ‘Or the drive-through at In-N-Out Burger.’
‘I suppose.’ Nico’s nerves began to settle. ‘Because nothing helps you make friends faster than a rotting corpse with a French accent.’
Because Jules-Albert. Fucking
Jules-Albert, y'all. I was laughing so hard, both because the dialogue's hilarious and because "oh, Riordan, you really have no idea, do you?". Because a chauffeur named Jules-Albert, lmao what. (This isn't to say there's no one named Jules-Albert -- I don't know any, but I did go to summer camp with a François-Guillaume once --, but come on. They wouldn't be chauffeurs. This kind of compound name, especially uncommon as compounds or compound of uncommons, is a pretty specific class marker for BCBG/petite bourgeoisie.) /tangent!
We have a reference to "Leo's feels", so I'm just going to assume that Leo's on Tumblr. That, combined with him referring to Percy as "Aquaman" makes me think Leo and Jason get into intense Marvel vs DC comics fights/wankery. 5i've talked before about my headcanon of Jason Grace being a GIANT COMICS NERD, right?)
Also, they met Asclepius! I have such a soft spot for Asclepius. Shame we didn't (really) get to see Hygieia, though (second favourite goddess, after Athena).
Okay, no, but seriously, Nico and Reyna were my favourites and I want all the fic about their future adventures together as BFFs. Look at Nico!
[Nico] hated working with other people. They were always cramping his style, making him uncomfortable.
Isn't he adorable?
Look at Reyna!
Accept my aegis, Reyna Ramìrez-Arellano, said [Athena]. For today, you have proven yourself a hero of Olympus.
ISN'T SHE AWESOME? (Seriously, she is the best.
Also, I ship her with Thalia.)
Look at Nico and Reyna!
[Reyna] gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn't feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna's shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.
Aww.
And this point I could do the whole rest of this by going "Look at...!" and providing quotes (Look at Percy being a dork! "'Greeks!' Percy yelled. 'Let's, um, fight stuff!'") so I'll just skip over that and say it's great book and I vastly enjoyed reading it.
I loved Annabeth's reaction to Nico telling her and her boyfriend that he had had a crush on said boyfriend: "She raised her hand for a high five". (Annabeth was amazing in this book. She is my favourite.)
I loved the little glimpses of/references to various minor characters we had (Luke! Clarisse! Rachel! Omg, RACHEL!) although I wished we had more, especially Rachel, because argle bargle, that thing with Apollo? Yeah, what's up with that? (Rachel and Hazel should totally bond over art stuff.)
And Thalia Getting Shit Done while Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter are at each other's throats.
The whole Will Solace/Nico thing felt a bit rushed, but the fact that they don't get together in the book makes it better, like Will isn't the ~love of Nico's life~ but just the first cute guy Nico's noticed since he got over his crush on Percy. Wich reminds me! I greatly appreciated that Reyna ended the series single. No offense to anyone, but the whole "everyone is together with their (heterosexual) soulmate/lifepartner at sixteen (except for the gay kid, who is sad and angry)" thing was really bothering me, so this is better. (Tangent: I like Piper, but her powerset creeps me out. There. I've finally said it.
Tbh, it creeps me out even more that it isn't adressed in text. Then again, that sort of thing never is.)
And of course I continued to enjoy the characterisation of the Romans as being a bunch of failboats ("'The Romans aren’t big on navies. They had, like, one rowboat. Which I sank.'"). Idk, I derive great joy out of people taking the piss out of the Roman Empire.
TL;DR: IT WAS GREAT. Fitting end to the series. And nobody died! (Permanently.)
Crimson Angel, by Barbara Hambly: This was AMAZING! (I'm reading so many great books lately, it's awesome.) It was absolutely terrific and very OT3-y, but I still need time to process it. I expected many things reading this book, but "actually, it's about ethics in
video game medicine journalism" was not one of them.
The issue that's brought up is one I've given a lot of thought to, because... Okay, I don't know if I've ever told y'all this, but I spent some time in (French) medschool, because I'd wanted to be a doctor ever since I stopped wanting to be a dinosaur. I am no longer in medschool, but everything that's got to with medicine still impacts me more than other stuff. And this issue? It's one I don't have an answer to and I don't know that I agree with the conclusion that's presented in the text. I don't know that I disagree either and I wish I could talk about the book without getting bogged down with this shit, but I can't. I
can't. I realise on some level that making us think about this was probably part of Hambly's intent, but gdit, I don't read these books to be reminded of medschool and how fucking miserable I was there. (Ben being a doctor (the best doctor!) is all good, though. ILU, Ben.)
Hopefully I'll be able to manage a more coherent review later on, but in the mean time: it's a really, really, genuinely good book. It's amazing and one of the most powerful books I've read recently.
Canon review for my yuletide assignment: I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS SO MUCH (Still don't have the physical copy, though /sadface) I am so happy to be writing them.
What are you reading nowIt's time to play "dhampyres is tired, so all the books are getting read" again!
StoryKiller, by Kelly Thompson: Am enjoying it so far, but LEARN TO USE A FUCKING COMMA! Yeah, Thompson's completely disregard for the use of commas (inclusing the vocative comma, which, come on, that one's not hard) continues. I'm not sure why it bother me more her than it did in
The Girl Who Would Be King, maybe because the story hasn't gripped me as much or maybe it's because it's the second book of hers I've read. Look. I have nothing against self-published books, but if you expect me to pay money for your book, it better have had
at the very fucking least been copy-edited/proof-read. Seriously.
The Art of War, by Sun Tzu:I've decided to stop reading the translator's fucking stupid translation notes. (Again, dude, if another word would work better, use that, don't talk about how much better it is for half a page instead.) So now I read about 5 lines per page, lmao.
Darshan, by Jade Baudain: It's still weird reading in french (and slow-going), but I am still enjoying this.I do think that having the officers of your spy network be recognisable from the way the dress is kind of missing the point, though. Pretty sure Morquendi's not dead. Still think whoever left the Darshan shrine to the other country on the island is an idiot and should be fired. Also, calling it now, the king is not Lliane's father (it was pretty obvious since the beginning, but it's REALLY obvious now, to the point where if we don't get cnfirmation soon, I will assume I missed it).
La véritable histoire de Carthage et de Hannibal, de Jean Malye: Still super interesting! (Did you know that Hannibal probably had people from India to deal with his elephants? And did you know that that species of elephants was hunted to extinction by the Romans? Fucking Romans, man.) Still, also, a very massive book.
Gustav Adolf Mossa: L'oeuvre symboliste: 1903-1918 (exposition catalogue for a 1992 exposition at the Pavillon des Arts): This is a loan from a friend, mostly so I can look at the art and see what other people have done with watercolours. It's pretty interesting, although, WOW dude had problems, like, for real. There's commentary on one of the piantings that goes "the artist's mysogyny..." so yeah. (It's kind of funny how obvious it is that several people have written the commentary, because one them talks about "the castrating power of Woman" (yes, with a capital) as though this is not only a thing, but a perfectly acknowledged, normal and obvious thing.)The art can be very striking, though.
( Here's my favourite so far. )(Also, despite the dude's art pretty much ending in 1918, he didn't die in WW1. I feel like I should specify that.)
The Kick-Ass Writer, by Chuck Wendig: I'm not giving the whole title, because shit is long. I'm a couple of pages in. It's okay and in line with the rest of Wendig's stuff I've read. idk, sometimes I like to read someone shouting at me to "ART HARDER, MOTHERFUCKER!"?
What are you reading nextDarkness Over Cannae, by Jenny Dolfen: I would be reading this now, except I keep staring at the pretty (so pretty!) pictures and not paying any attention to the text. this is kind of a problem, because there are pictures on every pages. (They're so pretty, though!)
A to-read list that is properly formatted, so I don't forget about books I wanted to read!
Books that I have already:
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett,
Prisoner (Echo's Wolf, Book 1) (Werewolf Marines 2) by Lia Silver (so apparently my phone doesn't recognise this as a real book, which is why I completely forgot I had it. fuck you, phone. It is
too a real book.)
Books that are out and that I haven't got:
Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, by Garth Nix,
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie (I told
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_profiterole_ i would and also several other folks have said it's good)
Books that aren't out yet (and when they're out):
The Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan (Autumn 2015),
Benjamin January #14, by Barbara Hambly (no idea),
Empire Ascendant, by Kameron Hurley (Summer 2015? Maybe? IDK if I'm even going to read it, tbh, her behaviour during the whole WF/RH/BS thing is leaving a bad taste in my mouth and honestly, I've vastly cooled on the book since I've finished it.)
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