laceblade

A Local Habitation - I keep marveling over the fact that I find the world-building in these books interesting, as attempts at "faerie" urban fantasy novels have failed utterly in the past.

In this one, October Daye is sent to investigate the sudden silence of her liege-lord's niece, who lives in a different city. Upon arrival, she learns that members of a faerie start-up tech company are being murdered one-by-one, and it becomes increasingly clear that the murderer has to be one of their fellow employees.

As always, I'm suckered by metaphors. "Long dresses weren't designed for walking in the woods. My mother could've made the walk without stumbling; she fits into the world that well, even insane. That's what it meant to be a pureblood. I stumble and fall, and I always get up and keep going. That's what it means to be a changeling."

Also loved the last few sentences, after reflecting on the mutability of her world (for plot-related reasons I won't spoil). "Something endures, no matter what happens. Something last."

Many friends have been delighted by some sort of world-changing plot spoiler that happened in the most recent installment in this series [The Winter Long], so I'm glad to know that this series doesn't get stale.


I'm a little surprised to see so many others rated this so low on Goodreads! Usually I'm somewhat on-par with my fellow readers, lol.


Alias, vol. 4: The Secret Origins of Jessica Jones - Loved this, sad it was a finale. I really like this series, and I think this volume was hands-down the best installment. I'm glad to see the story continues in "The Pulse," and I've already got all the volumes of that on hold, bahaha. I'd like to own these some day, and highly recommend them. I remain excited for the upcoming Netflix series based on Jessica Jones's story.


This One Summer - I didn't like this as much as Skim, which was done by the same pair of cousins? But still worth reading.


Rhapsody: Child of Blood - Recced to me by a coworker. Some of the worst prose I've read in a while, sadly. Only made it to page 92.


Letters to Olga - This one might be "abandoned for now" rather than forever, due to library due dates.

I'm half Czech, but know next to nothing about the country from which my mother's family came. Letters to Olga is a collection of letters Havel wrote to his wife while imprisoned for his human rights activities. Havel later became president of Czechoslovakia. Abandoned on page 35 (for now?).


A Sand County Almanac - I field weird giving this a 3, but I really only cared for the beginning third, "A Sand County Almanac." Feel like it should be required reading for those who live in Wisconsin.

I was less enthralled with "Sketches Here and There" and "The Upshot," save for the essay on Land Ethic.


Gotham Academy, #1 - COMIC OF MY ID!!!! This was everything I'd hoped it would be. I want to roll around in it. So glad this series exists.

Game of Thrones - This series is becoming a weird comfort reread for me. Still, they're definitely not the greatest books I've ever read, and some of the prose makes me cringe. The first is in some ways better than later volumes, but does also include the "rose petals across a sky streaked with blood" imagery where it's just like...FFS.
The constantly ignored threat of the Others pinged a lot more as a comparison to global warming this time around.
I find myself much more interested in Bran Stark than in previous reads.
I think that with every reread, I find Ned Stark more & more stupid.
I'm still really into the direwolves & want one approximately as much as I'd like my own lightsaber.

Unsounded - I read about 4 chapters while level-grinding in Persona 4, and I've finally caught up to the present. I've said many times that I've loved Ashley Cope since her days as a FF7 fanartist/writer GlassShard. Still love everything about this - the art, the pacing (it's read better in gulps), the writing, the world-building (which I usually don't give any fucks about) are all sublime.
ALSO people ride giant dogs like horses! I think I want one of those more than a direwolf, actually.
Great fantasy.

Alias, volume one - Borrowed from a comics club friend. This series is about Jessica Jones, a former Marvel superhero who didn't really like it & is now a private detective. This didn't WOW me quite as much as Spider-Woman, but I still liked it quite a bit & have put the second volume on hold at the library. This has apparently been optioned as a series by Netflix, and I'll be watching with interest.

The Less Than Epic Adventures of T.J. and Amal - Printed form of the webcomic, this is volume one. Basically does what it says - less than epic ;) Two guys end up on a road trip, & I'm pretty sure they're going to start a relationship. Cute, fluffy, & I think they'd be good together!

Pax Romana - I found this premise more interesting than The Nightly News, but I still find the heaps of praise surrounding this author kind of baffling.
At times, the narrative breaks from illustrations and is told in script format. While the overarching idea is interesting, the arc was unfulfilling, the characters more like caricatures.