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alias_sqbrBooks:
The Raven and the Reindeer by T Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon: this is a very cute Gerta/Little Robber Girl retelling of The Snow Queen. It's in a light, fairytale style but has a bit more modern fantasy novel to it than the original 19th century children's short story. There also a bit more gore than I remember, of just the sort I like but other people may not. I haven't read the original in years so can't say how much is changed in general, but was attached to the Kay/Gerta friendship which is much more unhealthy here, I think it works really well as a new story but was still slightly sad to lose the old one. Also there's that undertone of slightly smug tweeness that tends to underlie all of Ursula Vernon's work, and it took me a while to get into it for some reason. Still, lots of well drawn, endearing, mostly female characters, and a cute fantasy story that hasn't lost the fairytale atmosphere, bittersweet bite and sense of place of the original.
(putting above the cut because "f/f fairytale" is relevant to a lot of my readers' interests :))
Aso, while I'm here: Steam is having a sale on anime themed games and I at least didn't get an email about some stuff on my wishlist which is discounted. So, check your wishlist!
Unraveled by Courtney Milan: This is a reread. I still really enjoyed it, this and Unclaimed have the rare dynamic of a genuinely moral upright man and a genuinely morally compromised (and in this case, working class) woman full of self loathing. That is sooo much more my jam than innocent ingenues and rakes with a dark past.
Iron and Velvet by Alexis Hall: a snarky urban fantasy mystery f/f romance, basically about if Bella eventually dumped Edward and became a PI then to her extreme annoyance fell for a lady vampire. I got partway through and ran out of steam, it was ok but not grabbing me, but I will get back to it one day.
TV
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Finally finished rewatching with a friend who hadn't seen it before. It made a lot more sense this time! It was super fun watching his reactions too, and asking his opinions at various points. Afaict he understood the plot but didn't entirely get the feminist point of Anthy, which is I guess what you'd expect from a male arts grad. On to the movie at some point, which I imagine will make a LOT more sense this time. There seems to be no easy legal way to watch it in Australia, the $4 rental for US Amazon users taunts me :/
Red vs Blue: A youtube series of short episodes about the humourously pointless lives of the soldiers inside a "capture the flag" video game (Afaict the main Halo game is about humans fighting an alien invasion, but the Capture the Flag side game is two identical human teams fighting to capture each other's flag for no apparent reason). It's made using the actual video game, so the graphics are very simple, but the voice acting is good. Netflix has it divided into "seasons" as single episodes with no in between credits, which makes it easier to watch in big chunks then pause and come back to it. I got about halfway into season 3, the humour is very dudebro gamer, including lots of sexism and ableism etc, but quite funny with a silly but overall pretty consistent scifi plot. It was just what I was in the mood for until it wasn't, I'm sure I'll feel like it again at some point and there's 14 seasons when I do.
Nirvana in Fire:colorblue has been squeeing about this show solidly, alas "bittersweet live action foreign language tv show" is not a genre I am at all likely to make it to the end of, but I gave it a go. It was too slow and complex for my brain in combination with the subtitles, so I didn't get very far, but it was very pretty and atmospheric. Did Tolkein/Peter Jackson steal from this era of Chinese history for the LOTR elves? I kept being reminded of them, with the long pretty hair and flowing robes. Anyway, go read colourblue's much better write up, there's even a vid.
Scarlet Heart: A modern Chinese girl gets sent into the body of a 19th century noblewoman, and has to try and navigate the complex political situation and try and figure out how to get home. Having been introduced to Viki I decided to try the most likely looking high voted show set in the 19th century as research for a game(*). Even with a "I don't have to follow everything, this is just research" attitude I only got about halfway through the first episode because I find live action with subtitles really hard to watch, especially with so many histroical references going over my head, but it was moderately entertaining and very educational, and I might watch some more when I feel smart enough.
(*)I'm reading serious historical sources too! But they don't get across the sense of place etc as viscerally. If anyone knows of good or even adequate Chinese movies/tv shows set in the 19th century with flat animation (I follow this easier) and/or English dubs please let me know! Specifically anything about life for middle class and rural women and for people in the army, but anything is a step in the right direction. *stops self from rambling about ALL the things I am looking to research, we'd be here all day*
I also JUST started the classic murder mystery kinetic novel (eg less interactive visual novel) Higurashi: When they Cry, but haven't got anything to say about that yet asides from agreeing with whoever said it's popularity should be an encouragement to any game creators depressed about their art being bad. Luckily it includes the choice to use improved sprites, but the backgrounds remain terrible. Writing seems ok, asides from the odd jarringly bad grammar in the translation.
The Raven and the Reindeer by T Kingfisher aka Ursula Vernon: this is a very cute Gerta/Little Robber Girl retelling of The Snow Queen. It's in a light, fairytale style but has a bit more modern fantasy novel to it than the original 19th century children's short story. There also a bit more gore than I remember, of just the sort I like but other people may not. I haven't read the original in years so can't say how much is changed in general, but was attached to the Kay/Gerta friendship which is much more unhealthy here, I think it works really well as a new story but was still slightly sad to lose the old one. Also there's that undertone of slightly smug tweeness that tends to underlie all of Ursula Vernon's work, and it took me a while to get into it for some reason. Still, lots of well drawn, endearing, mostly female characters, and a cute fantasy story that hasn't lost the fairytale atmosphere, bittersweet bite and sense of place of the original.
(putting above the cut because "f/f fairytale" is relevant to a lot of my readers' interests :))
Aso, while I'm here: Steam is having a sale on anime themed games and I at least didn't get an email about some stuff on my wishlist which is discounted. So, check your wishlist!
Unraveled by Courtney Milan: This is a reread. I still really enjoyed it, this and Unclaimed have the rare dynamic of a genuinely moral upright man and a genuinely morally compromised (and in this case, working class) woman full of self loathing. That is sooo much more my jam than innocent ingenues and rakes with a dark past.
Iron and Velvet by Alexis Hall: a snarky urban fantasy mystery f/f romance, basically about if Bella eventually dumped Edward and became a PI then to her extreme annoyance fell for a lady vampire. I got partway through and ran out of steam, it was ok but not grabbing me, but I will get back to it one day.
TV
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Finally finished rewatching with a friend who hadn't seen it before. It made a lot more sense this time! It was super fun watching his reactions too, and asking his opinions at various points. Afaict he understood the plot but didn't entirely get the feminist point of Anthy, which is I guess what you'd expect from a male arts grad. On to the movie at some point, which I imagine will make a LOT more sense this time. There seems to be no easy legal way to watch it in Australia, the $4 rental for US Amazon users taunts me :/
Red vs Blue: A youtube series of short episodes about the humourously pointless lives of the soldiers inside a "capture the flag" video game (Afaict the main Halo game is about humans fighting an alien invasion, but the Capture the Flag side game is two identical human teams fighting to capture each other's flag for no apparent reason). It's made using the actual video game, so the graphics are very simple, but the voice acting is good. Netflix has it divided into "seasons" as single episodes with no in between credits, which makes it easier to watch in big chunks then pause and come back to it. I got about halfway into season 3, the humour is very dudebro gamer, including lots of sexism and ableism etc, but quite funny with a silly but overall pretty consistent scifi plot. It was just what I was in the mood for until it wasn't, I'm sure I'll feel like it again at some point and there's 14 seasons when I do.
Nirvana in Fire:
colorblue has been squeeing about this show solidly, alas "bittersweet live action foreign language tv show" is not a genre I am at all likely to make it to the end of, but I gave it a go. It was too slow and complex for my brain in combination with the subtitles, so I didn't get very far, but it was very pretty and atmospheric. Did Tolkein/Peter Jackson steal from this era of Chinese history for the LOTR elves? I kept being reminded of them, with the long pretty hair and flowing robes. Anyway, go read colourblue's much better write up, there's even a vid. Scarlet Heart: A modern Chinese girl gets sent into the body of a 19th century noblewoman, and has to try and navigate the complex political situation and try and figure out how to get home. Having been introduced to Viki I decided to try the most likely looking high voted show set in the 19th century as research for a game(*). Even with a "I don't have to follow everything, this is just research" attitude I only got about halfway through the first episode because I find live action with subtitles really hard to watch, especially with so many histroical references going over my head, but it was moderately entertaining and very educational, and I might watch some more when I feel smart enough.
(*)I'm reading serious historical sources too! But they don't get across the sense of place etc as viscerally. If anyone knows of good or even adequate Chinese movies/tv shows set in the 19th century with flat animation (I follow this easier) and/or English dubs please let me know! Specifically anything about life for middle class and rural women and for people in the army, but anything is a step in the right direction. *stops self from rambling about ALL the things I am looking to research, we'd be here all day*
I also JUST started the classic murder mystery kinetic novel (eg less interactive visual novel) Higurashi: When they Cry, but haven't got anything to say about that yet asides from agreeing with whoever said it's popularity should be an encouragement to any game creators depressed about their art being bad. Luckily it includes the choice to use improved sprites, but the backgrounds remain terrible. Writing seems ok, asides from the odd jarringly bad grammar in the translation.
