books! also, jdm!

[topaz119]

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Weds Reading Meme to say that I am super-excited that my icon is relevant again! ::squees quietly::

Returning to today’s planned post, I have to say that I don’t remember the last time I did this here, but my Goodreads is here if you want the full history.

finished
Whispers Underground, Ben Aaronovitch – The 3rd book of the Rivers of London series. Once again, I listened to this one, as Kobna Holdbrook-Smith might be my favorite narrator ever. I don’t know that I’d get through the sidetracks into London history/geography/architecture nearly as well if he wasn’t talking me through it. So, yes, still going on this series, too, though I’m pretty far behind as the 7th book just came out. Peter doesn’t make me want to thump him upside the head (as I frequently am with Harry Dresden), which is always nice. I can’t quite tell if it’s just that I’m taking my time in going through this series or what, but I’m not entirely sure why/how the various members of Mother/Father Thames show up and don’t. Like, are the twins around because we’re ranging around the London club scene? Which makes sense, but doesn’t answer why nobody mentions Beverly, who is off doing/being [spoiler redacted], because I’ll be honest, I like having her around. Ah, well, on to the next

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Hank Green – I zipped through this one rather quickly. It’s not really YA, though it would appeal to readers of that genre/age—it’s more like what romancelandia calls New Adult (it’s not a romance, I’m just borrowing their term), in that everyone is young and trying to figure out who they are and how to be that person, all complicated by the appearance of not-of-this-earth statues/robots/macguffins worldwide. The HoB did not read this with me, but we still had some lively discussions about online personas/personal branding/life on the internets, so that’s still a good thing. (Any time I can get a conversation not about gaming is good by me, cf, the 80 gazillion OBC albums on my Spotify b/c of BabyBoy.) It does end with a cliffhanger, fyi, though I kind of like the breaking point. It’s enough of an end for a little closure, but I’d imagine there are screaming hordes of fans frothing to find out what happened to get to the final line.

Making Up, Lucy Parker – The third book of her loosely connected series about the London theater scene, featuring the roommate from the second book, who is dealing with the aftermath of getting out of an emotionally abusive/controlling relationship and the guy she’s been ricocheting around since they were kids. It’s not quite enemies-to-lovers, but it hits a lot of the same notes. This time we’re in the middle of an established show—the female lead is an arielist and the male lead is a make-up artist and we get a bonus trip back to the wedding of the couple of book 2 (Pretty Face). It’s all great fun plus there are some valid feels and much satisfaction (at least for me, and presumably many others as it ended up as one of NPR’s favorite romance novels of 2018) in the HEA.

now
Libriomancer, Jim C Hines – I have to say that this is giving me a lot of Dresden vibes, the ones that make me crazy, though the tone and setup are very different. I’m sort of indifferent to it despite loving the set up (people with the right power can reach into certain books and bring out anything they find in that world, everything from Star Trek phasers to Lucy’s healing cordial from Narnia.) The different classifications of vampires alone (from Sanguinarius Stokerus to Sanguinarius Meyerii) had me snickering on the subway, but … I dunno, it’s turned into a slog. I’m almost done (I thought there was going to be a really interesting twist coming out of the final battle, but it got undone and now we’re just setting up the rest of the series) and I’m not *disliking* it, but I can’t see where I’ll be running out to get the next one, not unless something really wild happens in the final few pages.

next
I have Madeline Miller’s Circe from the library, so I should probably get on that before it goes *poof*.

Comments

[jenab]

I just saw the news regarding your icon :)

[topaz119]

I'm guessing it'll be like the others they've brought back, but I feel like there's so much unfinished business with John that it will be interesting, regardless.

[hamsterwoman]

There is a fair bit of Beverley in the later Rivers of London books :)

I, too, loved the premise of Libriomancer but found myself pretty meh on the execution. I either read the second one or checked it out of the library and returned it unread, but definitely not a series that took off for me.

[topaz119]

I found myself rolling my eyes a lot, and not about crazy plot happenings! The character development was ... not the greatest, and while I appreciate having actual female characters, all of them really felt like they were just there to make the main dude better.

So, yeah, I doubt I will be looking for more. Especially not with the pile of books always waiting for my attention.

[hamsterwoman]

I get the sense that the author was earnestly trying to make the female characters great and the male protagonist supportive of them, but I ended up finding them kind of boring (though, to be fair, the male ones too), and some of the relationship dynamic pretty skeevy -- like, the dryad thing is meant to be subverted or something, but it wasn't subverted ENOUGH for my taste.

[topaz119]

Yeah, the whole dryad thing was...icky. I really wish it had been better b/c I *love* the magic system, but, yeah, no, not reading more.

[hamsterwoman]

*nod* The magic system idea was so fun! and so well thought out -- I appreciated the limitations of certain books/objects being "locked", as well as the natural limitation on size. Definitely one of those cases where I really wish the idea had ended up in a different book with better execution.

[st_aurafina]

Isn't Kobna Holdbrook-Smith amazing? I love him - he puts so much into each character's voice that I can picture their faces. So great.

I’m not entirely sure why/how the various members of Mother/Father Thames show up and don’t.

I think it's partly geographical and partly what fits the story - I missed Beverly in this one too! - he's definitely good at laying plotlines very early in the series that he might not pick up for a few books or comics later, and I wonder if there'll be some Chelsea and Olympia centred stories in the future.

I do like the way it builds a layered pantheon of river gods, though.

[topaz119]

KHS is so amazing! BabyBoy is serious about the acting thing and he loves listening to how he slides between classes and geographies with just his voice. He keeps notes on the character backgrounds and uses the audio almost as a reference for accents and diction.

I have to try to get to these a little more frequently so I don't miss the layers Aaronovitch is building into the story.

[hamsterwoman]

and I wonder if there'll be some Chelsea and Olympia centred stories in the future.

Apparently the latest comic features them (unless you meant, beyond that). I'm waiting for the trade to read it, though, so not sure how much they actually appear in it.

[topaz119]

I need to go get into the comics and ancillary material for these books--I keep forgetting all that exists.

[hamsterwoman]

I'm not a comic reader normally, but I do enjoy the RoL ones as a supplement to the main canon. The art is not always a great match for my visuals, but there are some really neat storylines that show up -- The Night Witch gave me my Varvara fix, since she's been scarce in the books, and Black Mould made me like Guleed more (I didn't have a problem with her as a character, but felt like she was taking up a lot of screentime in the later novels that I would've rather spent with other people I like more) . Anyway, they are pretty fun, if you can get ahold of them easily.