Book, Comic, and TV Recs, as of 10/2/11
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 01:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
retsukoIn Books:
The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1): There was a lot of exposition in this book, and even though I enjoyed it quite a lot, I found myself growing annoyed at the tendency for pivotal action sequences to be interrupted with prophetic and/or plot-related dreams. I think Riordan had a much greater challenge in adapting Egyptian mythology for a children's book than his previous series (the Percy Jackson books) because there are a lot more Greek myths that are (on the surface, anyway) kid-friendly. In the case of Egyptian myth, there's a lot of incest and dismemberment that doesn't make for socially acceptable children's literature today. Add to this the difficulty that the two main characters were parent-less for the majority of the story, and I imagine that this might have been a bit of a hard sell to publishers. So, I'm willing to forgive the overly expository nature of some of the book. It was really quite entertaining, and I liked the two main characters, although I found Carter a little bit more easy to follow, while Sadie was a bit on the bratty side. It's also nice to have another children's book that acknowledges race issues instead of just ignoring them. (Carter and Sadie are mixed race and how this has shaped their identities is carefully explored, especially in Carter's case.)
In Comics:
Ultimate Spiderman, Issue #1: The Spiderman reboot that features Miles Morales (in the wake of Peter Parker's supposed death, which I predict will be revealed as fake in 3... 2... 1...) is a very interesting story and one that I look forward to reading more of. Although a frustratingly short installment, it's packed with drama and intrigue, although the sources of that drama, etc. are not exactly the traditional comic books villains; at least, they aren't yet. Instead, the dramatic set piece of this story is Miles and his family at the lottery for 3 spaces in a coveted charter school. Sara Pichelli's pencils on this sequence were excellent. The degrees of discomfort, hope, fear, joy, and embarrassment on all the characters' faces were rendered in very sharp and poignant detail. (I especially love the composition of three panels where Miles stares at two of the students who didn't win.) What I especially enjoy about this comic, though, is that there is, as yet, no excessive moralizing. Not once has anyone uttered the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" (which is a noble sentiment, but if I hear it said one more time, I will puke.) Instead, the storytellers seem content to rely on the story itself to present these ideas. Clearly, a moral dilemma is being set up for Miles in the form of his ne'er-do-well uncle, contrasted with his faith-in-the-system father, but again, this isn't overdone or fake. I hope that Brian Michael Bendis and the creative PTB will let this story unfold organically and without too much speechifying. I'm definitely interested in the next issue.
On TV:
Doctor Who: OK, Moffat. I have to admit: that was good. Just when I thought there was too much space opera, everything got awesome and twisty, wholly unexpected and to great dramatic effect.
I loved the opening shots of Crazy!AU!London. It felt like seeing the world of Thursday Next come to life. I also loved the BBC interview with Charles Dickens and the hints at the Xmas episode to come. :) The Indiana Jones feel of The Doctor's mini-quest for answers in the bar (oh, alien bars, you are always wretched hives of scum and villainy!), at the Live Chess (*snicker*) tournament, and in the Hall of Skulls, all skirted the line between well done and cheesy reasonably well. The head in a box thing read to me a little like a Futurama episode, although I suspect Moffat and Groening don't exactly mix. (We did see the 4th Doctor on a recent Futurama episode, though, so maybe this was payback?) And, yay for Winston Churchill! In fact, the whole sequence with him and the Silence and the marks on the Doctor's arms was perfectly done. Even though I'd seen it before, it was still scary, especially when the Doctor looked down at his other arm to reveal 30 or so marks and the camera panned up. Very atmospheric and well paced.
Best of all, Amy was back in her kickass mode. I know that she thought she'd committed murder, but, honestly? I would have done the same thing to the woman who kidnapped me, my baby, and then brainwashed it into becoming an assassin to serve her purposes. It was funny to see her and AU!Rory embark on an awkward romance.
But, back to the twist ending--brilliant. Even if Moffat hadn't been exactly planning this, I don't care, because it was great. Take that, laws of space and time! The Doctor will find a way! As for the Ultimate Question (what is 6 x 9?), well... that's just a little strange. However, anything that lets the Doctor continue traveling around the universe and getting his groove back is good with me. I look forward to the next season! (Which, by all reports, is going to take a while to get here. *sigh*)
The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1): There was a lot of exposition in this book, and even though I enjoyed it quite a lot, I found myself growing annoyed at the tendency for pivotal action sequences to be interrupted with prophetic and/or plot-related dreams. I think Riordan had a much greater challenge in adapting Egyptian mythology for a children's book than his previous series (the Percy Jackson books) because there are a lot more Greek myths that are (on the surface, anyway) kid-friendly. In the case of Egyptian myth, there's a lot of incest and dismemberment that doesn't make for socially acceptable children's literature today. Add to this the difficulty that the two main characters were parent-less for the majority of the story, and I imagine that this might have been a bit of a hard sell to publishers. So, I'm willing to forgive the overly expository nature of some of the book. It was really quite entertaining, and I liked the two main characters, although I found Carter a little bit more easy to follow, while Sadie was a bit on the bratty side. It's also nice to have another children's book that acknowledges race issues instead of just ignoring them. (Carter and Sadie are mixed race and how this has shaped their identities is carefully explored, especially in Carter's case.)
In Comics:
Ultimate Spiderman, Issue #1: The Spiderman reboot that features Miles Morales (in the wake of Peter Parker's supposed death, which I predict will be revealed as fake in 3... 2... 1...) is a very interesting story and one that I look forward to reading more of. Although a frustratingly short installment, it's packed with drama and intrigue, although the sources of that drama, etc. are not exactly the traditional comic books villains; at least, they aren't yet. Instead, the dramatic set piece of this story is Miles and his family at the lottery for 3 spaces in a coveted charter school. Sara Pichelli's pencils on this sequence were excellent. The degrees of discomfort, hope, fear, joy, and embarrassment on all the characters' faces were rendered in very sharp and poignant detail. (I especially love the composition of three panels where Miles stares at two of the students who didn't win.) What I especially enjoy about this comic, though, is that there is, as yet, no excessive moralizing. Not once has anyone uttered the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" (which is a noble sentiment, but if I hear it said one more time, I will puke.) Instead, the storytellers seem content to rely on the story itself to present these ideas. Clearly, a moral dilemma is being set up for Miles in the form of his ne'er-do-well uncle, contrasted with his faith-in-the-system father, but again, this isn't overdone or fake. I hope that Brian Michael Bendis and the creative PTB will let this story unfold organically and without too much speechifying. I'm definitely interested in the next issue.
On TV:
Doctor Who: OK, Moffat. I have to admit: that was good. Just when I thought there was too much space opera, everything got awesome and twisty, wholly unexpected and to great dramatic effect.
I loved the opening shots of Crazy!AU!London. It felt like seeing the world of Thursday Next come to life. I also loved the BBC interview with Charles Dickens and the hints at the Xmas episode to come. :) The Indiana Jones feel of The Doctor's mini-quest for answers in the bar (oh, alien bars, you are always wretched hives of scum and villainy!), at the Live Chess (*snicker*) tournament, and in the Hall of Skulls, all skirted the line between well done and cheesy reasonably well. The head in a box thing read to me a little like a Futurama episode, although I suspect Moffat and Groening don't exactly mix. (We did see the 4th Doctor on a recent Futurama episode, though, so maybe this was payback?) And, yay for Winston Churchill! In fact, the whole sequence with him and the Silence and the marks on the Doctor's arms was perfectly done. Even though I'd seen it before, it was still scary, especially when the Doctor looked down at his other arm to reveal 30 or so marks and the camera panned up. Very atmospheric and well paced.
Best of all, Amy was back in her kickass mode. I know that she thought she'd committed murder, but, honestly? I would have done the same thing to the woman who kidnapped me, my baby, and then brainwashed it into becoming an assassin to serve her purposes. It was funny to see her and AU!Rory embark on an awkward romance.
But, back to the twist ending--brilliant. Even if Moffat hadn't been exactly planning this, I don't care, because it was great. Take that, laws of space and time! The Doctor will find a way! As for the Ultimate Question (what is 6 x 9?), well... that's just a little strange. However, anything that lets the Doctor continue traveling around the universe and getting his groove back is good with me. I look forward to the next season! (Which, by all reports, is going to take a while to get here. *sigh*)
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Date: 2011-10-03 02:52 am (UTC)Yup, exactly. Loved Amy's comment that River didn't get it all from her.