It's been a little while since I posted on here but apparently; or at least so
twitter tells me; it's National Book Lovers Day, so I thought, why not bash
something out? For the larks, as it were. And for better or worse, I actually
followed through. So here you are...
Reading has been my thing for as far
back as I can recall. I taught myself to read at a tender age simply to have
something to do in the 'children should be seen and not heard and not even that
if we can manage it' atmosphere of neglect I grew up in, so by the time I was
at school I was a bit of a headache for my teachers who didn't really know what
to do with me while they were teaching the other kids to do what was already
second nature to me. So they complained to my parents then made me do the
lessons anyway.
Being forced to sit in class and recite The Cat On The Mat and Spot Has A Ball
and other suchlikes couldn't derail what had by the age of 8 or 9 become
essentially my only source of pleasure. But it certainly didn't help. The
person who did help, was my Year 6 teacher, who did me the solid of excluding
me from reading circle and giving me a copy of Call Of The Wild to pass the
time. The man had his faults, but I'll love him until I die for that.
Pretty much the only time I ever truly found my love of books waning was during
my Secondary education and it was English Lit class that did it.
I could live with being told I had to read something. I could even live with
the fact that 90% of what I was being told I had to read was antiquated garbage
in which I and my classmates had zero interest and which was only on the
curriculum because it had always been on the curriculum and the people who made
the decisions about that kind of thing were terrified of accusations of dumbing
down if they removed it.
The problems started with the dictated pace. Read chapters 2 and 3 they'd say.
But what if chapter 3 ended on a really exciting bit and you wanted to know
what happened next? Nope, stop at the end of chapter 3, thank you very much.
That problem was easily solved of course by simply ignoring it. On the rare
occasions that we were given a book that actually got it's hooks into me, I'd
have the whole thing read by the second lesson and damn the consequences. To
Kill A Mockingbird, I'm looking at you. A problem less easy to solve was what
came next. The analysis. AKA, talking about the book.
I could write an essay just fine, but I begrudged it. I've always hated the
'what was the author trying to say here?' and 'what are the thematical themey
themes in this relationship?' discussion points, because they always come with
that nagging underlying implication that there are correct answers and I'm of
the school of thought that says that what the book is about is whatever you
think it's about, authorial intent be damned. I mean, why would you want to
tell someone that a book which had made them feel something had made them feel
the wrong something and they should read this paragraph again and DO YOU SEE
NOW? But maybe that's just me.
Anyway, I could write essays passingly well. What made me dread the thought of
opening a book was the dreaded, but inevitable GROUP DISCUSSION and the equally
inevitable and even more dreaded FUN LITTLE ROLE PLAY EXERCISE. For someone as
introverted and, let's face it, pathologically shy as myself those classes were
absolute mental torture. I wouldn't sleep the night before, I'd have panic
attacks in the toilets before the bell... it was all I could do to quell tears
on more than one occasion. So yes, English Lit. was a killer for me.
But then I quit full time education and got a full time menial job that I'm
still stuck in to this day so jokes on you Teacher Who Made Me Pretend To be
Eric Birling And Answer Questions From The Class About A Girl I Knew Once.
It took a little while, but once I got over the fear of someone pouncing
on me on the bus screaming about the homosexual subtext in Patriot Games or the
obvious Vietnam War parallels in The Naughtiest Girl In The School, I dared to
read again. And I've never stopped.
So, with that incredibly long brief introduction to me and my relationship with
books, let's get on to what I came here for. To tell you my favourites! Except these aren't my favourites so much as the ones I've been thinking about lately that I really like. Ask me again in a week and I'd probably knock up a totally different list. Apart from the first one. Obviously.
So in the
unlikely event that anyone values my opinion about this stuff;I'm under no
illusions; here goes...
The Borribles - Michael de Larrabeiti
Well duh. Anyone who knows me at all will tell you that The Borribles is, in my
opinion, one of the greatest works of YA; although it wasn't called that at the
time; ever written. Beautifully drawn characters that you love from the moment
you meet them, thrilling adventure stories with some very, very, dark
undertones and a pair of grotesques as the series villains that wouldn't have
looked out of place on the streets of Royston Vasey. Oh, and the ending will
break your heart.
The Naughtiest Girl In The School - Enid Blyton
AKA, Hey Everyone, Isn't Communism Smashing?
I can't help it, I loved this book when I first read it and the heroine became my heroine instantly. Of course she
realises the error of her ways and conforms by the end of the book because what
else was going to happen in a book about adolescent rebellion in the 1940's,
but while it lasted her efforts to rail against what she saw as an unjust
system; and she wasn't wrong damn it; had me cheering her on with a song in my
heart.
I never read the sequels. I couldn't bear to see her brought any lower.
Their Masters War - Mick Farren
A society of 'primitives' make a pilgrimage to sacrifice some of their own to
their Gods. The Gods turn out to be recruiting said sacrifices for an
intergalactic war. Cue all guns blazing military space opera. With semi
sentient symbiotic living uniforms that could, if you asked really nicely, be
persuaded to give you an orgasm. Heady stuff for a 10 year old. No idea if it's
actually any good but I loved it as a kid. And not just for the trousers that
could perform fellatio. I barely knew what fellatio was. Even now it's
something of an abstract concept.
2000AD - Various
Not strictly speaking a book but the first comic I ever read regularly and the
last man standing in the grim war of attrition that was the British Comic
Industry of the 20th century.There are some whippersnappers on the shelves
today, but 2000AD is the proud veteran, still showing the new recruits how
it's done.
2000AD has been in (almost) continuous weekly publication for close to
40 years at this point so it has quite the back catalogue. Luckily it's
current publisher has a quite frankly superb line of graphic novels
collecting pretty much everything so there's something for everyone out
there.
AND that's your whack. I mean I could
go on; The 5th Wave and it's sequels are apocalyptic YA sci-fi to die
for with one of my favourite heroines in years; I'm a few books behind
in my reading of Zoe Marriot's back catalogue but she's getting better
by the book (and her debut was no slouch); Diana Gabaldon is in dire
need of an editor and her sexual politics are a bit iffy but aside from
that she writes rollicking good historical adventure stories; Robert
Rankin and his Far Fetched Fiction never fails to make me positively
guffaw, to the point that I now refuse to read him in public...you get
the idea. Better to stop now or I'll still be typing this time next
National Book Lovers Day.
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Cross Stitch (Outlander)
The majority of my, sadly much reduced, reading of late has comprised me
desperately trying to stay ahead of the seemingly endless adaptations that
movie and TV companies are apparently never going to get tired of throwing at
us. Most of these; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Divergent, The 100; and
Bitten, which is next on the list, are books I would have read eventually
anyway but the one I just finished was never even on my radar until Starz
announced that they were adapting it. I speak of course, of Outlander.
Outlander, or Cross-Stitch as the UK edition is called; I was quite cross about this for a while, until I found out that Cross-Stitch was actually the authors original and preferred title so it's the Americans who should be annoyed, thank you wikipedia; is an odd beast. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to love it and that just never really happened. It came close a couple of times, but never quite gelled properly for me.
Stripped to it's barest bones, the plot is nothing fiercely original; a time traveler becomes trapped in an era alien to their sensibilities, and must adapt to survive. In this case Claire Randall, a battlefield nurse fresh from the wars, is whisked back in time to Scotland on the eve of the Jacobite uprising; as well as dealing with the rising tensions between the English and their Scottish subjects, she must also tread lightly for fear of her modern attitudes, and indeed her modern medicine, getting her the kind of reputation you really don't want in a still massively superstitious culture.
And that right there, is a plot I want to read. Unfortunately, it's a plot that goes off the rails once the inevitable love story comes into play.
Finding herself thrust into a marriage of political expediency Claire, in a shocking twist (which is so inevitable as to be revealed on the cover as part of the premise, despite not happening until a good few hundred pages into the book), falls in love with the man in question. Which is all well and good; except it isn't.
I'm not going to get up in arms about how she's already married and is therefore an adulteress, and a bigamist (maybe not technically; there's some admirably energetic doublespeak employed to explain why she isn't at all, no way, don't be silly. But, you know, she's married and she gets married again); which seems to be a major bugbear for some people, but I am going to have a problem with a couple of things.
Firstly, the much vaunted epic love between the two is completely absent in the first half of the book, when she is still looking for a way home and isn't looking at him romantically, before suddenly being shoved down our throats in as engineered and contrived a manner as I've ever read. She loves him because the author says she loves him, and the author says she loves him because, well, that's just what happens in stories like this. I think that if their relationship had continued in the 'grudging respect leading to deep friendship' vein of the early chapters, the book would have been the better for it.
Secondly, and I don't mean to be blunt, he beats her. It's presented in a matter of fact, 'that's just how they did things back then' light, and maybe it was, and maybe it would have been unrealistic to shy away from that, but the fact remains that while it may be the way they did things back then, it most certainly isn't how they do it where she comes from, and it's a betrayal of her character that she accepts it so readily. Yes, she protests, and yes, she makes token threats of what she'll do if he ever tries it again, but she is at his mercy, and he beats her, and she not only forgives him but their 'love' affair steamrolls from that point on. This is not a healthy relationship.
To be clear, I'm not talking about the controversial rough sex sections, which seem to cause as much consternation as the infidelity in some quarters; the record (and my google history) will attest that I have no problems whatsoever with that kind of thing between consenting adults, but the cold blooded, methodical, corporal punishment of a man who feels the need to control his wife... that left a bitter taste.
Moving away from the central relationship, we come to another problem, again on a sexual theme; homosexuality. There are two prominent homosexual characters in the novel, and while one of them is presented as an amiable and likable man who wins over Claire with his charm and wit, he's also a man with a long history of being predatory towards young boys lower in social standing and power; a 'kink' that is treated as a running gag. And the other is a sexual sadist who may or may not have molested his brother when they were kids. I'm not saying the prejudice is intentional, but it's problematic, regardless.
Then there are the plots that go nowhere, such as the Nessie style monster and the second time traveler. Both are presented as being a big deal; both fizzle out well before the climax. Hell, even Claire's efforts to get home are abandoned halfway through the book and her poor first husband all but forgotten about. In fact, I'm doubtful you could even say the book has a climax; it more just sort of dawdles along to a vague happy ending with the leads having run away and ignored their problems.
Now, maybe this stuff will be dealt with in the sequels, I don't know, but the fact is that this book wasn't written as the first in a series, and wasn't sold as such. As a standalone novel, it's a bit of a hot mess.
But, lest we forget, I did say that I liked, if not loved it. Why? Well, the aforementioned friendship between the leads was very well crafted before it devolved into the very dodgy sexual politics of their married life; the depiction of life in Scotland under the yolk of the English is evocative (if a little on the nose) and the political intrigue of the Clan power machinations is gripping stuff, even if it does fizzle out with the rest of the decent plots a hundred pages before the end.
Gabaldon is a good writer. Her prose is dense, but never so much so as to confuse or bore, and her characters, when they behave like human beings and not robots servicing a plot, are well drawn and for the most part likable. Let's just hope the sequels; which I will be reading; have a tighter focus, and a surer handle on their characters.
Outlander, or Cross-Stitch as the UK edition is called; I was quite cross about this for a while, until I found out that Cross-Stitch was actually the authors original and preferred title so it's the Americans who should be annoyed, thank you wikipedia; is an odd beast. I liked it, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to love it and that just never really happened. It came close a couple of times, but never quite gelled properly for me.
Stripped to it's barest bones, the plot is nothing fiercely original; a time traveler becomes trapped in an era alien to their sensibilities, and must adapt to survive. In this case Claire Randall, a battlefield nurse fresh from the wars, is whisked back in time to Scotland on the eve of the Jacobite uprising; as well as dealing with the rising tensions between the English and their Scottish subjects, she must also tread lightly for fear of her modern attitudes, and indeed her modern medicine, getting her the kind of reputation you really don't want in a still massively superstitious culture.
And that right there, is a plot I want to read. Unfortunately, it's a plot that goes off the rails once the inevitable love story comes into play.
Finding herself thrust into a marriage of political expediency Claire, in a shocking twist (which is so inevitable as to be revealed on the cover as part of the premise, despite not happening until a good few hundred pages into the book), falls in love with the man in question. Which is all well and good; except it isn't.
I'm not going to get up in arms about how she's already married and is therefore an adulteress, and a bigamist (maybe not technically; there's some admirably energetic doublespeak employed to explain why she isn't at all, no way, don't be silly. But, you know, she's married and she gets married again); which seems to be a major bugbear for some people, but I am going to have a problem with a couple of things.
Firstly, the much vaunted epic love between the two is completely absent in the first half of the book, when she is still looking for a way home and isn't looking at him romantically, before suddenly being shoved down our throats in as engineered and contrived a manner as I've ever read. She loves him because the author says she loves him, and the author says she loves him because, well, that's just what happens in stories like this. I think that if their relationship had continued in the 'grudging respect leading to deep friendship' vein of the early chapters, the book would have been the better for it.
Secondly, and I don't mean to be blunt, he beats her. It's presented in a matter of fact, 'that's just how they did things back then' light, and maybe it was, and maybe it would have been unrealistic to shy away from that, but the fact remains that while it may be the way they did things back then, it most certainly isn't how they do it where she comes from, and it's a betrayal of her character that she accepts it so readily. Yes, she protests, and yes, she makes token threats of what she'll do if he ever tries it again, but she is at his mercy, and he beats her, and she not only forgives him but their 'love' affair steamrolls from that point on. This is not a healthy relationship.
To be clear, I'm not talking about the controversial rough sex sections, which seem to cause as much consternation as the infidelity in some quarters; the record (and my google history) will attest that I have no problems whatsoever with that kind of thing between consenting adults, but the cold blooded, methodical, corporal punishment of a man who feels the need to control his wife... that left a bitter taste.
Moving away from the central relationship, we come to another problem, again on a sexual theme; homosexuality. There are two prominent homosexual characters in the novel, and while one of them is presented as an amiable and likable man who wins over Claire with his charm and wit, he's also a man with a long history of being predatory towards young boys lower in social standing and power; a 'kink' that is treated as a running gag. And the other is a sexual sadist who may or may not have molested his brother when they were kids. I'm not saying the prejudice is intentional, but it's problematic, regardless.
Then there are the plots that go nowhere, such as the Nessie style monster and the second time traveler. Both are presented as being a big deal; both fizzle out well before the climax. Hell, even Claire's efforts to get home are abandoned halfway through the book and her poor first husband all but forgotten about. In fact, I'm doubtful you could even say the book has a climax; it more just sort of dawdles along to a vague happy ending with the leads having run away and ignored their problems.
Now, maybe this stuff will be dealt with in the sequels, I don't know, but the fact is that this book wasn't written as the first in a series, and wasn't sold as such. As a standalone novel, it's a bit of a hot mess.
But, lest we forget, I did say that I liked, if not loved it. Why? Well, the aforementioned friendship between the leads was very well crafted before it devolved into the very dodgy sexual politics of their married life; the depiction of life in Scotland under the yolk of the English is evocative (if a little on the nose) and the political intrigue of the Clan power machinations is gripping stuff, even if it does fizzle out with the rest of the decent plots a hundred pages before the end.
Gabaldon is a good writer. Her prose is dense, but never so much so as to confuse or bore, and her characters, when they behave like human beings and not robots servicing a plot, are well drawn and for the most part likable. Let's just hope the sequels; which I will be reading; have a tighter focus, and a surer handle on their characters.
 |
| Diana Gabaldon |
Saturday, 8 February 2014
In Her Bones
Hello all. It's been a while. A long while. Fecking ages, in fact.
Sorry about that.
I haven't been totally idle on here though, oh no! I've changed the title of the blog. Of course, what that means is that the url changed too, which means that the genre tabs at the top of the page there all lead to dead links. Didn't think that through, did I? As of typing this I actually noticed that little problem a few days ago, but, you know...lazy. So it's not fixed yet. Again, sorry.
Anyway, to the business at hand. My first foray into reading self e-published material. I didn't know what kind of standard to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. So here you are, In Her Bones, by Natasha Kingston; the first in the Bearing Gifts series.
There's not a lot of plot to be had in this book, but you can forgive that because as the first in what I'm given to believe is to be a long series of novella length releases this title is concerning itself, as a beginning should, way more with character. Because no-one cares what is happening if they don't care about the person it's happening too, right?
Oh, there are hints here and there, and intriguing ones at that, as to a wider world waiting in the wings to unfold for us; and a stonking little cliffhanger that should bring you back for number two; but what this book really does is introduce us to, and immerse us in the life of, our heroine.
And she's a doozy. Violet Munoz is the kind of young woman who should be an inspiration to us all; she's hot and she knows it, she enjoys sex for the pure joy of sex, and she has multiple casual relationships going on at the same time, whilst, and this is the important part, making no apologies for any of it. She's unsure where her life is going to take her, but she's living it on her terms and having fun in the process, and in doing so she makes us like her, flaws and all, pretty much from the moment we start reading her story; I mean who can resist that level of infectious enthusiasm for life?
Violets friends and colleagues are sketched out a little less intricately, but I've a feeling that's by design; we'll learn more about them as the story progressses and their place in the in the grand scheme of things becomes clear, I'm sure. There's one in particular I have my eye on...
Of course, Violets carefree existence can't be allowed to last for long, because that would not a good story make, and as I mentioned above we get plenty of hints of future complications for her; just what are those cold flashes? And what is this compulsion she has to get closer to someone she's really just not that into?; but for now, it's simple; I love Violet, and I want to read more of her story. So, job done.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should probably point out that I am a huge fan of Natasha Kingston's previous creative endeavour (no not her pornographic short stories, although yes, those too, shut up), the rather wonderful Unspoiled podcast, which she hosts and produces with her husband Brendan (upon whom I have a pretty massive man crush; again, shut up) so, you know...
This in no way invalidates my assertion that In Her Bones is good. No it doesn't. NO IT... How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?
Sorry about that.
I haven't been totally idle on here though, oh no! I've changed the title of the blog. Of course, what that means is that the url changed too, which means that the genre tabs at the top of the page there all lead to dead links. Didn't think that through, did I? As of typing this I actually noticed that little problem a few days ago, but, you know...lazy. So it's not fixed yet. Again, sorry.
Anyway, to the business at hand. My first foray into reading self e-published material. I didn't know what kind of standard to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. So here you are, In Her Bones, by Natasha Kingston; the first in the Bearing Gifts series.
There's not a lot of plot to be had in this book, but you can forgive that because as the first in what I'm given to believe is to be a long series of novella length releases this title is concerning itself, as a beginning should, way more with character. Because no-one cares what is happening if they don't care about the person it's happening too, right?
Oh, there are hints here and there, and intriguing ones at that, as to a wider world waiting in the wings to unfold for us; and a stonking little cliffhanger that should bring you back for number two; but what this book really does is introduce us to, and immerse us in the life of, our heroine.
And she's a doozy. Violet Munoz is the kind of young woman who should be an inspiration to us all; she's hot and she knows it, she enjoys sex for the pure joy of sex, and she has multiple casual relationships going on at the same time, whilst, and this is the important part, making no apologies for any of it. She's unsure where her life is going to take her, but she's living it on her terms and having fun in the process, and in doing so she makes us like her, flaws and all, pretty much from the moment we start reading her story; I mean who can resist that level of infectious enthusiasm for life?
Violets friends and colleagues are sketched out a little less intricately, but I've a feeling that's by design; we'll learn more about them as the story progressses and their place in the in the grand scheme of things becomes clear, I'm sure. There's one in particular I have my eye on...
Of course, Violets carefree existence can't be allowed to last for long, because that would not a good story make, and as I mentioned above we get plenty of hints of future complications for her; just what are those cold flashes? And what is this compulsion she has to get closer to someone she's really just not that into?; but for now, it's simple; I love Violet, and I want to read more of her story. So, job done.
 |
| Natasha Kingston |
This in no way invalidates my assertion that In Her Bones is good. No it doesn't. NO IT... How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?
Friday, 11 January 2013
Catching Fire
Christmas eh? And New Years? Who'd have em? Exactly. And so on and so forth. You get the drift.
Anyway, first post on here of 2013! I ummed and aahed as to what to do but in the end there was one choice really; I would delve back into my frantic attempts to catch up with what everyone else read two years ago. So without further ado, I give you...
Katniss Everdeen survived the Hunger Games but in order to ensure that friend and potential love interest Peeta did too she had to embarrass the organisers, and by extension the administration of creepy old President Snow; an act which has made her an unwitting, and indeed unwilling, symbol of hope for a burgeoning resistance movement. All Katniss wants to do is be left alone, but let's face it; she's the lead in a trilogy, and is only one book in. She's not getting an easy life any time soon; that's just science.
Sure enough, President Snow comes up with a way to strike back at her for her
impertinence (and keep the series going); he re-jigs the entire concept of the
Hunger Games to get past winners back in the arena, and since Katniss' native
District 12 doesn't have that many to choose from, it's back to the Capital she
goes.
Catching Fire isn't really about the games themselves though. The Hunger Games took a while to get Katniss and Peeta into the arena, yes, but the main thrust of the plot was the games; here we have to wait even longer before the games start, and when they do it's clear from the off that something isn't quite right with them.
There is a much greater amount of time spent establishing the other entrants in the games this time around; presumably because they are going to be important later, as opposed to the first book's glorified cannon fodder; but Collins does it with a sure hand, never once allowing them to distract her too much from the job at hand. That being, making Katniss annoying.
And that, right there, is the rub of the nub. Sorry fans, but as much I enjoyed this book there is no getting away from the fact that Collins has fallen prey to the same pitfall that so many others before her have fallen into; namely, having a first person narrator who is the least interesting, and most annoying, character in the story. And I say this as someone who praised the Katniss character in my post on the first book.
For some reason all of her 'quirks' and the little annoyances that I forgave the first time around just seemed amplified in this book and made it harder and harder to like the girl. Maybe I'm being dense; maybe the point is that we aren't supposed to like her. In which case, well done, mission accomplished.
Plotwise, however, the book is fantastic. It takes what could have been a carbon copy of the original and turns it on it's head, while the finale; uber exciting action set piece that it is; sends the characters, and the entire series, off in a totally new direction that there is no coming back from. Mockingjay is going to be something else.
Catching Fire isn't really about the games themselves though. The Hunger Games took a while to get Katniss and Peeta into the arena, yes, but the main thrust of the plot was the games; here we have to wait even longer before the games start, and when they do it's clear from the off that something isn't quite right with them.
There is a much greater amount of time spent establishing the other entrants in the games this time around; presumably because they are going to be important later, as opposed to the first book's glorified cannon fodder; but Collins does it with a sure hand, never once allowing them to distract her too much from the job at hand. That being, making Katniss annoying.
And that, right there, is the rub of the nub. Sorry fans, but as much I enjoyed this book there is no getting away from the fact that Collins has fallen prey to the same pitfall that so many others before her have fallen into; namely, having a first person narrator who is the least interesting, and most annoying, character in the story. And I say this as someone who praised the Katniss character in my post on the first book.
For some reason all of her 'quirks' and the little annoyances that I forgave the first time around just seemed amplified in this book and made it harder and harder to like the girl. Maybe I'm being dense; maybe the point is that we aren't supposed to like her. In which case, well done, mission accomplished.
Plotwise, however, the book is fantastic. It takes what could have been a carbon copy of the original and turns it on it's head, while the finale; uber exciting action set piece that it is; sends the characters, and the entire series, off in a totally new direction that there is no coming back from. Mockingjay is going to be something else.
 |
| Suzanne Collins |
And that was my, somewhat less than any good at all post on Catching Fire. I really did enjoy it. A lot. Honest.
Next week will see the blog play host to a collection of comics featuring everyone's favourite immortal mystic, Madame Xanadu. See ya later.
Next week will see the blog play host to a collection of comics featuring everyone's favourite immortal mystic, Madame Xanadu. See ya later.
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Into The Woods
In this post I shall discuss one of the many titles I bought at CCC, but UNLIKE last year, I'll do it before a month and a half has passed and everyone else has moved on. Never let it be said that I don't learn from my mistakes. Sometimes.
This years pick of the haul; meaning no disrespect to anything else I picked up but I read this first; is Into The Woods: A Fairytale Anthology (ed. Stacey Whittle). This book has actually been out a good while and I had intended to pick it up last year but one thing led to another and life got in the way. I figured, though, that if I went to an event organised in large part by the books editor and still didn't pick up a copy then I had no one to blame but myself. So I did, and I'm glad I did.
First thing you notice about Into The Woods is that it's a very handsome package; card cover (adorned with some rather lovely artwork by the team of Andy Bloor and Steve Howard) with a proper spine and everything, wrapped around good quality glossy paper throughout, which really allows the artwork of the various contributors to look it's best.
With 9 short stories across 46 pages of comic; all from different creative teams and between them spanning as wide a spectrum of styles and tones as the Fairy Tale remit will allow; I would imagine that there is something for pretty much everybody here, with nothing outstaying it's welcome either. In fact, if anything I'd say that a couple of these stories end slightly abruptly; if never unsatisfactorily.
Personal highlights for me were A Time For A Change (Ollie Masters and Valia Kapadai) which sees the deities of old coming to terms with their obsolescence in our age of reason; Changeling (Alexi Conman and Conor Boyle) which is just depressing as hell, in the best possible way (and has a killer panel on page 3 that made me laugh out loud; buy the book and guess which one I mean); and Samhain (Mathew Gibbs and Alice Duke), concerning the consequences for two young lads when they try to cover up a fatal hit and run.
I must confess that I didn't enjoy Samhain quite so much on first reading, and I blamed Duke's art for not doing enough to differentiate between the two protagonists, which made the whole thing confusing. Then I read it again and realised that they were wearing completely different outfits, so... and I wasn't even drunk.
The book is rounded off with an afterword from editor Stacey Whittle which is a trifle gushing; she is a girl after all; but obviously sincere and full of an infectious enthusiasm that makes you cross your fingers that this first excursion into the field will not be her last. Roll on volume two I say.
Just in case there's any doubt, I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone; comics fan, lover of fairy tales or just someone who appreciates a good story. You really can't go wrong.
In the event that I've moved you to want to buy this book, you can do so here. Go on, you'll thank me later.
If you do buy a copy though, I'd advise against visiting the editors blog, whittlewaffle, which is pimped on the back cover; a back cover which also has a beautiful piece of art on it, this time by Vicky Stonebridge, just to round out the package in style; because I've been a follower of said blog for some time and it's all...pink and...girly and...full of posts about Strictly Come Dancing. *shudder* You have been warned.
Sunday, 9 December 2012
House of Mystery: Love Stories For Dead People
Comics! With the pictures and the words and the coming together of the pictures
and the words to make the stories happen! Yeah, you know what I'm talking about!
This week, we delve once more into the mysteries surrounding The House of, well, Mystery, funnily enough, to see how new resident Fig is doing, after finding herself trapped there in the first book.
It turns out, she's been moping, with occasional breaks to throw tantrums. Can't blame her though, it must have been an adjustment.
As you might expect from book 2 of a series, this is very much a bedding in tale. Having established the premise in the first book; certain lost souls end up trapped in the House of Mystery, serving bar and waiting tables for the clientele who are free to come and go at will; the writers now set out to give us an idea of who some of these characters are, beyond the archetypes they seemed to embody when we first met them.
So, we get a tale of The Pirate, Anne, and how she fell in love with a man who betrayed her, with violent consequences; or The Bartender, Harry, who's been in the house longer than any of them, and had adventures they wouldn't believe with some of the powers and forces behind the House's origins (and who sometimes hears the house talking to him, which is perfectly normal, thank you very much).
and of course The
Drama Queen, who believes herself to be under a curse, with the story
she tells to prove it having some inspired guest characters.
Writers Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges aren't new to this game though, and for every tidbit of information they give us, they leave twice as many mysteries still to be revealed. They're also well aware that a series of flashbacks and character monologues; however creepy, violent, intriguing, or combination of all three they may be; do not a narrative make and they tie the whole thing together with a good old fashioned quest, as three of our leads head off on an ill fated escape attempt, into the tunnels in the basement.
This escape, which spans the five issues collected in this book, isn't just a shoehorned in attempt to convince us there is a plot though.
No, it leads slowly and surely to a revelation, to a tragedy, and in
the final instance to the introduction of a new character that will be
sure to send the series in some very interesting new directions.
What it doesn't lead to (spoiler alert) is anyone getting out. The three intrepid adventurers are right back where they started at the end of the book, along with their new 'friend', but that's ok; this series has a long way to go yet, and they need to be there to play their parts; the time for happy endings will be later.
Maybe.
This week, we delve once more into the mysteries surrounding The House of, well, Mystery, funnily enough, to see how new resident Fig is doing, after finding herself trapped there in the first book.
It turns out, she's been moping, with occasional breaks to throw tantrums. Can't blame her though, it must have been an adjustment.
As you might expect from book 2 of a series, this is very much a bedding in tale. Having established the premise in the first book; certain lost souls end up trapped in the House of Mystery, serving bar and waiting tables for the clientele who are free to come and go at will; the writers now set out to give us an idea of who some of these characters are, beyond the archetypes they seemed to embody when we first met them.
So, we get a tale of The Pirate, Anne, and how she fell in love with a man who betrayed her, with violent consequences; or The Bartender, Harry, who's been in the house longer than any of them, and had adventures they wouldn't believe with some of the powers and forces behind the House's origins (and who sometimes hears the house talking to him, which is perfectly normal, thank you very much).
 |
| Harry meets Abel. Abel is cool. |
Writers Bill Willingham and Matthew Sturges aren't new to this game though, and for every tidbit of information they give us, they leave twice as many mysteries still to be revealed. They're also well aware that a series of flashbacks and character monologues; however creepy, violent, intriguing, or combination of all three they may be; do not a narrative make and they tie the whole thing together with a good old fashioned quest, as three of our leads head off on an ill fated escape attempt, into the tunnels in the basement.
This escape, which spans the five issues collected in this book, isn't just a shoehorned in attempt to convince us there is a plot though.
 |
| The end of the journey. Miranda is *awesome* |
What it doesn't lead to (spoiler alert) is anyone getting out. The three intrepid adventurers are right back where they started at the end of the book, along with their new 'friend', but that's ok; this series has a long way to go yet, and they need to be there to play their parts; the time for happy endings will be later.
Maybe.
Friday, 16 November 2012
The Hunger Games
Another of my 'where the hell did this come
from and how can there be 3 books already and everyone has already read them
and they're making a movie and no-one will shut up about them and I'm going to
be spoiled on everything before I open the first book and oh god whatever, just
give me it I'll read it now' posts this week.
For the record, I hate when I'm forced to let books jump the queue in order to avoid spoilers. I need my incredibly complicated and strict system of what I read when to remain intact if I don't want the universe to implode behind my eyes. So thank you, spoilery people!
Anyway, I've read The Hunger Games.
You all know the plot; young girl volunteers to take part in a fight to the death against a bunch of other youngsters to prevent her little sister from being drafted; she and lots of other kids, some nice, some not, are shipped into an arena and start killing each other; rich folk get their jollies by watching; it's all a propaganda/morale crushing technique used by corrupt government to keep the populace in line. It's not a hard concept to grasp.
Much has been made of the unoriginality of the concept; with most citing Battle Royale as the victim of Suzanne Collins 'plagiarism'; because people haven't been rewriting the Greek myths or Shakespeare's plays for centuries, have they?
I once read an interview; and I can't remember where it was, sorry; with Terry Pratchett. He was being asked about a certain big hotshot new author who was making a killing with a bunch of stories based around a school for magically inclined people. Unseen University, anyone? Perhaps the interviewer was hoping, though they never came out and said it, that they would get a bitter rant about ideas theft. If they were expecting that, they were disappointed.
Instead what they got was common sense. He was far from the first to write stories about a school for wizards, and never expected to be the last; when you're working in the fantasy genre, some items are universal, one might even say generic; and what crime had this author committed, other than to get an awful lot of young kids who never would have otherwise to read books? You tell 'em, Tel!
I read an interview recently with Suzanne Collins, where she addressed her inspirations and thought processes behind The Hunger Games. While you'd expect her not to come out and say 'yeah, you got me, I'm a big old hack who nicked her story', the reasoning she did profess was so solid, in-depth and obviously genuine that you'd have to be the most cynical man alive to think she was making shit up to cover her backside. It's churlish and it's mean and it's disrespectful; so stop it.
Rant over. So what did I think of the book itself? Well, I'll tell you.
I loved it. The end.
Ha, that's not really the end. Me needs to waffle.
Katniss Everdeen is an engaging heroine, tis true, even if she is saddled with the tension killer that is a first person narrative; I really don't like them; and it's a good job she is because if you weren't happy in her company you'd find the first half of this book very boring. Not because nothing happens, but rather because nothing that you expect, happens; you go into a book about gladiatorial combat to the death and you expect people to be killing each other, so the fact that it takes almost 200 pages for the contest to begin is bound to be a bit of a drag.
Don't get me wrong, the opening sections do a masterful job establishing this world, and a sense of history, and manage to make the many districts and their respective populations truly distinct; in a way that the movie never quite managed; but it just takes a little too long to do it. I can't help but feel that a happy medium could have been found between the books languid pace and the overly rushed opening of the movie. Never mind.
As a consequence of the first person narrative; I really don't like them; the secondary characters are of course only seen through Katniss' eyes. For characters like Gale and Peeta, the two boys who form the inevitable love triangle with Katniss that all teen novels seem obligated to have, this works; Katniss is confused and unsure about how they feel about her, so the reader needs to be too. Up to a point, of course, because while Katniss may be oblivious to the romantic aspects of life, having grown up worrying more about putting food in her belly than her next kiss, you'd have to be pretty much an idiot to not get where this story is headed. Collins understands this though, and gets around it quite cleverly by giving just enough of a wink that you know she knows you know...er you know what I mean; before long the reader is in on the joke, and is allowed to feel that they're ahead of the character.
The much ballyhoo-ed violence is not, to be fair, as bad as some would have you believe; though still quite nasty in places; but rather it's the emotional shock that packs the weightiest punch. One death in particular, which you know, intellectually, is inevitable, still manages to knock the wind out of your sails when it comes and I will freely admit that I had to put the book down when I read it. Even the (inferior) movie version of the scene got a tear from me, I'm not too proud to admit.
The book stumbles a little in the big finale. If you saw the movie and thought the final bit of peril came out of nowhere and seemed tacked on you'll be pleased to hear that there is a proper explanation for it in the book, and a nasty and chilling one at that, but it still didn't quite work for me, and seemed maybe a step too far into the fantastical. I'm actually glad that the explanation wasn't used in the movie, because I'm not convinced they'd have been able to get it across in a way that made sense.
Slight pacing issues at the start, and a cluttered finale can't detract from what is, without a doubt, a brilliant, tense, thrilling and ultimately moving piece of work by Collins. which had me grasping for the sequel immediately. Highly recommended.
For the record, I hate when I'm forced to let books jump the queue in order to avoid spoilers. I need my incredibly complicated and strict system of what I read when to remain intact if I don't want the universe to implode behind my eyes. So thank you, spoilery people!
Anyway, I've read The Hunger Games.
You all know the plot; young girl volunteers to take part in a fight to the death against a bunch of other youngsters to prevent her little sister from being drafted; she and lots of other kids, some nice, some not, are shipped into an arena and start killing each other; rich folk get their jollies by watching; it's all a propaganda/morale crushing technique used by corrupt government to keep the populace in line. It's not a hard concept to grasp.
Much has been made of the unoriginality of the concept; with most citing Battle Royale as the victim of Suzanne Collins 'plagiarism'; because people haven't been rewriting the Greek myths or Shakespeare's plays for centuries, have they?
I once read an interview; and I can't remember where it was, sorry; with Terry Pratchett. He was being asked about a certain big hotshot new author who was making a killing with a bunch of stories based around a school for magically inclined people. Unseen University, anyone? Perhaps the interviewer was hoping, though they never came out and said it, that they would get a bitter rant about ideas theft. If they were expecting that, they were disappointed.
Instead what they got was common sense. He was far from the first to write stories about a school for wizards, and never expected to be the last; when you're working in the fantasy genre, some items are universal, one might even say generic; and what crime had this author committed, other than to get an awful lot of young kids who never would have otherwise to read books? You tell 'em, Tel!
I read an interview recently with Suzanne Collins, where she addressed her inspirations and thought processes behind The Hunger Games. While you'd expect her not to come out and say 'yeah, you got me, I'm a big old hack who nicked her story', the reasoning she did profess was so solid, in-depth and obviously genuine that you'd have to be the most cynical man alive to think she was making shit up to cover her backside. It's churlish and it's mean and it's disrespectful; so stop it.
Rant over. So what did I think of the book itself? Well, I'll tell you.
I loved it. The end.
Ha, that's not really the end. Me needs to waffle.
Katniss Everdeen is an engaging heroine, tis true, even if she is saddled with the tension killer that is a first person narrative; I really don't like them; and it's a good job she is because if you weren't happy in her company you'd find the first half of this book very boring. Not because nothing happens, but rather because nothing that you expect, happens; you go into a book about gladiatorial combat to the death and you expect people to be killing each other, so the fact that it takes almost 200 pages for the contest to begin is bound to be a bit of a drag.
Don't get me wrong, the opening sections do a masterful job establishing this world, and a sense of history, and manage to make the many districts and their respective populations truly distinct; in a way that the movie never quite managed; but it just takes a little too long to do it. I can't help but feel that a happy medium could have been found between the books languid pace and the overly rushed opening of the movie. Never mind.
As a consequence of the first person narrative; I really don't like them; the secondary characters are of course only seen through Katniss' eyes. For characters like Gale and Peeta, the two boys who form the inevitable love triangle with Katniss that all teen novels seem obligated to have, this works; Katniss is confused and unsure about how they feel about her, so the reader needs to be too. Up to a point, of course, because while Katniss may be oblivious to the romantic aspects of life, having grown up worrying more about putting food in her belly than her next kiss, you'd have to be pretty much an idiot to not get where this story is headed. Collins understands this though, and gets around it quite cleverly by giving just enough of a wink that you know she knows you know...er you know what I mean; before long the reader is in on the joke, and is allowed to feel that they're ahead of the character.
The much ballyhoo-ed violence is not, to be fair, as bad as some would have you believe; though still quite nasty in places; but rather it's the emotional shock that packs the weightiest punch. One death in particular, which you know, intellectually, is inevitable, still manages to knock the wind out of your sails when it comes and I will freely admit that I had to put the book down when I read it. Even the (inferior) movie version of the scene got a tear from me, I'm not too proud to admit.
The book stumbles a little in the big finale. If you saw the movie and thought the final bit of peril came out of nowhere and seemed tacked on you'll be pleased to hear that there is a proper explanation for it in the book, and a nasty and chilling one at that, but it still didn't quite work for me, and seemed maybe a step too far into the fantastical. I'm actually glad that the explanation wasn't used in the movie, because I'm not convinced they'd have been able to get it across in a way that made sense.
Slight pacing issues at the start, and a cluttered finale can't detract from what is, without a doubt, a brilliant, tense, thrilling and ultimately moving piece of work by Collins. which had me grasping for the sequel immediately. Highly recommended.
|
| Suzanne Collins |
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