Mid-January Media: Y.A. Books

[bironic]

Carry On: Eh. It was fine. For all that it read like a watered-down version of Harry Potter and Harry/Draco, it had more modifications and original ideas than expected. That helped alleviate my low-to-moderate level of annoyance that someone made money off a novel only a hop away from HP fanfic. The solution to the Humdrum mystery was satisfying, although the other villain turned cardboardy. I wish there'd been more scenes in which to enjoy how Simon and Baz's magic worked better together than separately. I liked Fangirl significantly more than this semi-sequel—in fact, if I'd read Carry On first I don't think I would have tried Fangirl, which would have been a shame—but it was a quick and more or less pleasant read.

Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vols. 1-6: This series is such a delight. Rather than fisticuffs—although sometimes she tries that first and fails—, our heroine Doreen defeats villains by asking them what they want and helping them get it in a way that doesn't hurt others. She's skilled and confident, and she's not drawn as conventionally pretty, which is refreshing. The writing is funny and savvy and on trend, with one 2016 storyline centering on Not All Men and Nice Guy-ism. My current favorite supporting character is Brain Drain, a brain and eyeballs in a robot body who speaks in unpunctuated all caps as he pronounces the futility of human endeavors, or, in one memorable instance, tries to make friends with some "cool dudes." (Pic of the page.) Come to think of it, maybe the syntax/humor combination reminds me of Terry Pratchett's Death.

Black Panther book one: A Nation Under Our Feet (#1-12): The Ta-Nehisi Coates installment. I started it Friday and am struggling so far with the steep learning curve, not being well-versed in the Marvel/Avengers comics universe. It's dense and troubled and wrestling with real-life race politics and social unrest. The introduction by Seth Meyers, of all people, helped by previewing the theme of solutions not being simple and actions having consequences even for someone who is trying to do right by his people.

Comments

[sasha_feather]

Seth Myers is a total nerd. He's had Mat Fraction and Judy Blume on his show. :)

The thing that bothered me most about Carry On was a certain death - one of the only characters to actually die was a queer woman. And then in the back, in the acknowledgements-- apparently one of her beta readers told her to increase the body count, and she listened to that person.

[bironic]

Yeah, that is a shame, and ultimately didn't even serve a narrative purpose.

>>Seth Myers is a total nerd.

Aw. Judy Blume. <3

[sasha_feather]

The judy blume interview is really cute!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E_IzBCdq1w

[bironic]

Ooh, thanks!

[chagrined]

i tried to read that carry on book once but... yeah it annoyed me too much lol the "this is basically just an off-brand HP fic" but also i didn't like the way it was done. but i didn't get very far into it so i guess if there was interesting stuff later i didn't read that heh. but i was so annoyed when i dropped it that i don't think i could read anything else by the author with the residual annoyance haha. which is too bad if her other books are better. XD OH WELL

[bironic]

You reminded me to add a line above that if I'd read Carry On first, I wouldn't have tried Fangirl (without a lot of convincing that it was different/better). And I don't know if I would have finished Carry On without that residual fondness for Fangirl, plus the memory that the Fangirl protag, and ergo possibly the author, is the type of writer who writes copiously and quickly, which would explain the volume and looseness of Carry On.

>>but i didn't get very far into it so i guess if there was interesting stuff later i didn't read that heh

There was more plot and character revelation, but the experience wasn't much different from the beginning.

[hermionesviolin]

Yeah, I read that TNC Black Panther collection recently and struggled with it as well. (I also felt like it didn't live up to the Seth Meyers introduction and it probably suffered a bit for my high expectations -- though also probably my tendency to read quickly didn't help my experience of this very dense comic.)

> Rather than fisticuffs—although sometimes she tries that first and fails—, our heroine Doreen defeats villains by asking them what they want and helping them get it in a way that doesn't hurt others.

I did not know that! That makes me wanna read Unbeatable Squirrel Girl much more than I already did.

[bironic]

It is so great. Someone in vol. 6 got mad at Squirrel Girl because she kept using her powers for "good," like rehabilitating a bank robber by teaching him how to manage his budget. In the comic panel, the book he held had a title that went something like, "So you've discovered some flaws in late-stage capitalism." <3

>>probably my tendency to read quickly didn't help my experience

It's reassuring to hear you also had trouble. Right now I'm thinking maybe I'll read it through once without stopping so much to repeat pages, then come back and read it again with the whole story in mind.