Book/Manga/Webtoon reviews April 2022
Apr. 7th, 2022 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI have a large backlog of things to review so am going to break them up.
Books:
Game Programming Patterns
Snowspelled
Manga and Webtoons:
A Red Knight Does Not Blindly Follow Money
Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai/Please Love the Useless Me
The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion
Books:
Game Programming Patterns by Bob Nystrom: Various useful structures for programming games, including C-based examples. I read a few chapters of this and found it kinda interesting then got bored. But it's free to check out.
Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis: Fantasy Regency Romance about a feisty woman getting back together with her ex, in an alternate 19th century where elves/magic are well established but the vibe is still very Georgette Heyer. I bought this on sale for $1 and got a chapter or so in before going "Why the hell was this on my to-read list, I can't stand this kind of story(*)". I honestly can't say if it's any good, it seemed fine asides from being Very Much Not My Jam.
(*)Probably because I like regency romance and fantasy fine, and so keep forgetting that I find the combination of the two unreadable for some reason.
Manga and Webtoons:
A Red Knight Does Not Blindly Follow Money by Rosiwon and Song Jaemin: Ongoing m/f fantasy webtoon where a woman who betrayed all her principles for money as a murderous knight gets stabbed in the back and wakes 5 years earlier as her younger self, determined to do things differently this time, including saving all the innocent people she murdered and friends who died due to her indifference. This is great so far! Like, yes, she does save a bunch of people and make closer friends/rise up the ranks etc, but this is based on hard-won life lessons and skills she learned the long way. Her love interest is her (effectively same aged) commanding officer (who she didn't get to know last time because she joined a different knight order) but he's sweet and earnest and aware of the power gap, mostly he just thinks she's super cool and wants her to be happy. The various friendships are great too, in all gender combinations. It's all pretty heterosexual but not too heteronormative given the genre. It's based on a novel which I'm tempted to read now to find out how everything ends.
Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai/Please Love the Useless Me by Aya Nakahara: A josei m/f romance manga about a 30 year old woman with no prospects who ends up working for a grumpy dude at his cafe and then they fall in love as she gets her life together. I barely remember reading this but think I found it mostly ok but sometimes annoying.
The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion by Milcha and Golae: Kinda generic m/f romance "Korean woman wakes as doomed female character in the fantasy book she's reading, uses her knowledge of the plot to save the day" webtoon, it wasn't terrible but felt a bit empty. Does have a fake marriage plot where they both slowly fall for each other, which is something I enjoy.
Normally I tend to lump manga/webtoons with anime in my head and don't give author names, but I thought I might as well this time, be consistent! And googling for the names reminded me that The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion has an untranslated dating sim adaptation which is kind of surreal.
Books:
Game Programming Patterns
Snowspelled
Manga and Webtoons:
A Red Knight Does Not Blindly Follow Money
Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai/Please Love the Useless Me
The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion
Books:
Game Programming Patterns by Bob Nystrom: Various useful structures for programming games, including C-based examples. I read a few chapters of this and found it kinda interesting then got bored. But it's free to check out.
Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis: Fantasy Regency Romance about a feisty woman getting back together with her ex, in an alternate 19th century where elves/magic are well established but the vibe is still very Georgette Heyer. I bought this on sale for $1 and got a chapter or so in before going "Why the hell was this on my to-read list, I can't stand this kind of story(*)". I honestly can't say if it's any good, it seemed fine asides from being Very Much Not My Jam.
(*)Probably because I like regency romance and fantasy fine, and so keep forgetting that I find the combination of the two unreadable for some reason.
Manga and Webtoons:
A Red Knight Does Not Blindly Follow Money by Rosiwon and Song Jaemin: Ongoing m/f fantasy webtoon where a woman who betrayed all her principles for money as a murderous knight gets stabbed in the back and wakes 5 years earlier as her younger self, determined to do things differently this time, including saving all the innocent people she murdered and friends who died due to her indifference. This is great so far! Like, yes, she does save a bunch of people and make closer friends/rise up the ranks etc, but this is based on hard-won life lessons and skills she learned the long way. Her love interest is her (effectively same aged) commanding officer (who she didn't get to know last time because she joined a different knight order) but he's sweet and earnest and aware of the power gap, mostly he just thinks she's super cool and wants her to be happy. The various friendships are great too, in all gender combinations. It's all pretty heterosexual but not too heteronormative given the genre. It's based on a novel which I'm tempted to read now to find out how everything ends.
Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai/Please Love the Useless Me by Aya Nakahara: A josei m/f romance manga about a 30 year old woman with no prospects who ends up working for a grumpy dude at his cafe and then they fall in love as she gets her life together. I barely remember reading this but think I found it mostly ok but sometimes annoying.
The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion by Milcha and Golae: Kinda generic m/f romance "Korean woman wakes as doomed female character in the fantasy book she's reading, uses her knowledge of the plot to save the day" webtoon, it wasn't terrible but felt a bit empty. Does have a fake marriage plot where they both slowly fall for each other, which is something I enjoy.
Normally I tend to lump manga/webtoons with anime in my head and don't give author names, but I thought I might as well this time, be consistent! And googling for the names reminded me that The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion has an untranslated dating sim adaptation which is kind of surreal.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-08 04:37 pm (UTC)I don't really care about the commanding officer or the romance, which is unusual for me when I read this kind of webtoon, but I am really enjoying her redemption arc.
And the third prince! I don't think he's a character type I've seen before -- he's important and the narrative seems to want him to become king, but he's also older, in a committed relationship, not a competent fighter or (as far as we can tell) a schemer, and just...a decent person.
I liked Raeliana better than you, but this was also the first earnest one in this genre I'd read (I'd read the Katarina one beforehand, but that's a lot less serious :p). I have no idea if it would hold up now and I definitely can see the emptiness (it's the genericness and the way the world kind of revolves around Raeliana, I think, and the relative lack of depth to anyone else outside of romance or platonic admiration of her?), though I am still apparently very fond of Raeliana the character.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-10 02:20 pm (UTC)Yes, I love the Vengeance Goth Friend! I hope she ends up ok. And yeah I don't have strong feelings about the romance, but it is at least fairly inoffensive and everything else still has me engaged.
I probably would have liked The Reason Why Raeliana Ended up at the Duke’s Mansion a lot more if I hadn't read so many other similar stories first. But yeah I liked Raeliana herself.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-10 07:48 pm (UTC)I was pleasantly surprised by how inoffensive the romance was, considering the power imbalance! Every time the emphasis is on the two of them I think about stopping, though, and then the redemption arc or the friends or the princes (or the satisfyingly hateable evil knight captain ;p) show up and I end up sticking around.