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Recent reading
Jan. 12th, 2022 07:04 amRead Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard, which I enjoyed tremendously— it reminded me, in various ways, of Good Omens, The Night Circus, and Harrow the Ninth, which is to say, of course I did. Johannes Cabal sold his soul to Satan for Great and Terrible Knowledge, but has decided he'd rather like it back, since it turns out not having a soul does wonky things to the fabric of the universe and is thus terrible for adhering to the scientific method. Satan, always down for a wager, agrees— if Johannes can get 100 people to sign over their souls. He has one year, a traveling carnival, and the (reluctant) help of his vampire brother in order to do so.
Read The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley, which I... didn't not enjoy reading, but I felt kind of uneasy about some aspects of the story. It's historical fantasy rooted in real history in a way that didn't seem entirely necessary— Pulley was inspired by the 1860 quinine expedition of Clements Markham, and includes him as a secondary character, but ( since she quickly gives up on historical accuracy ) I think the serial numbers could have been filed off without losing anything important. Taking just a couple more steps back from real history wouldn't necessarily fix the biggest issue I saw - which had more to do with its depictions of non-white, and specifically, indigenous characters - but anything that cast less of a shadow of British imperialism over the story would be an improvement.
Currently reading The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, a magical AU retelling of the The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Jordan Baker, who in this version is a Vietnamese adoptee, and bi (as are most of the main characters). It's fun! Great world-building of a magical 1920s. I'm curious where this is going, since it's rapidly approaching the end of the plot of Gatsby but there seem to be more chapters left than would cover the necessary plot points— it's a good retelling, if you know what has to happen at the end, but the author can still keep you on your toes.
Read The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley, which I... didn't not enjoy reading, but I felt kind of uneasy about some aspects of the story. It's historical fantasy rooted in real history in a way that didn't seem entirely necessary— Pulley was inspired by the 1860 quinine expedition of Clements Markham, and includes him as a secondary character, but ( since she quickly gives up on historical accuracy ) I think the serial numbers could have been filed off without losing anything important. Taking just a couple more steps back from real history wouldn't necessarily fix the biggest issue I saw - which had more to do with its depictions of non-white, and specifically, indigenous characters - but anything that cast less of a shadow of British imperialism over the story would be an improvement.
Currently reading The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, a magical AU retelling of the The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Jordan Baker, who in this version is a Vietnamese adoptee, and bi (as are most of the main characters). It's fun! Great world-building of a magical 1920s. I'm curious where this is going, since it's rapidly approaching the end of the plot of Gatsby but there seem to be more chapters left than would cover the necessary plot points— it's a good retelling, if you know what has to happen at the end, but the author can still keep you on your toes.
