Renee

More silly than funny.

Revisado: 01-20-24

I didn’t laugh once: I don’t even recall smiling.

Maybe it’s because this script uses many of the comedy tropes that leave me cold: every character being ridiculous, multiple bad plans piling upon each other, cramming as many jokes into a dialogue as possible - a quantity over quality issue.

This was pleasant enough to listen to while waiting for new episodes of my favorite podcasts to be released, but I won’t recommend this as good comedy as much as benign filler.

Pity, given names like Wanda Sykes and Neil Patrick Harris. But not every project can be a winner.

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This is a hoot.

Revisado: 06-18-23

Please make more. The story and characters are compelling, I could picture the settings in my mind, and I want to know what happens to the protagonists next.

Given the team it comes from, this is a surprisingly mainstream storyline.

Please make more? Pretty please?

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Pretty cute, actually.

Revisado: 01-19-23

This is the first Tingler I’ve read outside of the Harrier Porber series. It’s well-written, short, cute, and to the point.

Tingle seems well versed in giving nods to a franchise without necessarily copying it, and still paying tribute to his continuing theme that “love is real.”

Silly and worthwhile if you like both Tinglers and the original show.

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I’m impressed.

Revisado: 01-14-23

I like the idea of listening to Stranger Things books between seasons, and was pleased to see an installment centering around Lucas Sinclair. Little did I realize.

Want to know more about why Lucas joined the basketball team, his new haircut, and the schism between him and Max? This book goes WAY deeper than who gets to dress as Venkman and why. It was a lot more than the choice between being popular vs. being labeled a freak.

Although “Runaway Max” was harrowing and illuminating, “Lucas on the Line” was surprisingly powerful. Generational trauma is explored without sounding either preachy or condescending: we’re learning it as it occurs to Lucas to consciously process it against the chaotic backdrop of Hawkins, Indiana.

This is my favorite “Stranger Things” book so far.

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Yikes.

Revisado: 08-12-21

Well, that was the most chilling final line of any Firefly book I’ve read thus far.

Lovely pacing, interesting story, though it’s pre-movie so the tension wasn’t as high for me as it could’ve been.

This and “Life Signs” spotlit Zoe and Wash’s relationship a bit as far as what goes through their heads during dangerous situations, which is interesting. It also showed Jayne as being slightly less heinous than usual, which is nice.

Still. Eeek.

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A problematic sequel

Revisado: 07-14-21

I loved the "Life and Loves of a She Devil" miniseries when I first saw it on the Arts & Entertainment network as a teen. I eventually tracked down and read the book, one of my early lessons in how a filmed story is a pared down version of an original novel.

I didn't know about "Death of a She Devil" until the past fortnight. The narrator is very good with voices: in most cases, I could tell that there'd been a character change.

The story picks up with Ruth at 84, head of an organization for gender parity, having helped overseen Vista Rose into an international service for working women that had blossomed internationally into the age of the internet. Ruth's plastic surgeries have started to reverse, the weight is starting to come back, and her ailing husband - Bobo - will not let her or anyone else forget it.

Ruth is considering a successor for her empire, and young Valerie is jonesing for it so obviously that it's annoying. But what other choice is there? None of the children she abandoned, or even her grandchildren, will talk to her.

One of the big themes of the book is whether the ends justify the means. I'm still uncertain. If one considers all the ends - including the fact that Ruth's children won't speak to her gain, that she lives with chronic pain due to her surgeries, and the fact that a celebrated and powerful Dame of the British Empire - then ... yes, I guess? I'm uncertain of how Ruth could've accomplished what she did without what she set in motion 40 years previously, or even if she would've thought about it had Bobo not made the decisions he did.

Everyone in the novel stands fairly resolutely by the decisions they've previously made, or related ones that they're currently making: they've come even to accept the judgements others have made about them while still defending their own actions. Whether or not the ends can be said by a more objective observer to justify the means, the characters in question seem determined that they couldn't have - and wouldn't have - chosen any differently, even given what befell them.

One claim made repeatedly by Ruth through the book is that younger women of today didn't seem to understand how bad things were for women of past generations, and that the concepts of reproducing, partnering intimately or creatively with men, etc. could lead only to ruin. I wonder who Weldon was hanging out with around the time she wrote this book? And who does she think has been holding the line against regressing to a point where women had fewer rights? Or maybe I should just hand wave that into being about the women in the She-Devil-verse?

A theme that was lightly sprinkled in a disguised way throughout the 3/4ths of the novel, and then came roaring up in the last fourth, was an old transphobic argument men in dresses infiltrating protected women's spaces in the hopes of destroying them. I've never actually heard of this happening, but it seems to remain a popular accusation amongst FARTs.

I realize that between Ruth's age and the suggestion that someone may be messing with her, Ruth's accusations are called into question; but they're also examined at length in the novel so I'm unsure of what to make of this. However, given Ruth's previous decisions and the depths of her hatred, the fact that she'd continue to lean towards the Dark Side isn't that much of a shock.

With that said, I'm knocking off one star for having to slog through transphobic drivel, and another for suggesting that - in general - only the women of Ruth's generation know what's at stake.

However, one for a gripping story that kept me interested, one for a great narrator, and one for simply revisiting the story of the She Devil.

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Best book of 2020, for me

Revisado: 12-25-20

Holy crap. This book had me hooked from the Prologue, which almost never happens with a stand-alone. I connected immediately with the protagonist’s battle, because I periodically re-read Grant Morrison’s “The Invisibles” and remember Mad Tom’s lessons about what cities really are.

It’s as though Jemisin picked up that thread in memory and started weaving more onto it, and it is glorious.

I admit, I was disappointed when the perspective of the book changed after the Prologue, but I got over it pretty quickly.

The solution during the Boss Fight was elegant and funny and sweet, though there is apparently some stuff about the boroughs of New York that only New Yorkers really understand. Holy crap.

The interweaving of Lovecraftian mythos (yes, he’s actually referred to in the book - as well as some of his ... fictional concepts) juxtaposes wonderfully with the multi-cultural city, and the various conflicts of the day.

Gentrification, the alt-right, arts collectives, queerness, single-motherhood, the random kindness of strangers, belonging, the hero’s journey, and a lot of “what the HELL is that?!?”

I’ve struggled with getting into Jemisin’s fantasy sagas, but done well with her short stories ... which is probably why I avoided this one. I’m sorry that I didn’t read this earlier in the year, because I would’ve changed what titles I voted for in regards to Best Books of 2020.

Of course, the narrator’s obvious passion for the script and wonderful accents also drew me in. I’m highly amused by this, given that I just suffered through the narration of “The Queen’s Gambit” - ugh. “The City We Became” was a balm for my poor ears.

I’m going to have to research Jemisin a bit more, because dang!

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Good story, reader sounds like a bot.

Revisado: 12-12-20

(By the author of "The Man Who Fell To Earth" and "The Color of Money".)

I originally saw the Netflix miniseries, and then read this because my best friend's book group is reading it and she invited me to read it and join them. The show intrigued me so much that I was inspired to sidestep my previous poor experiences with observing or trying to learn chess decades ago: I found a nice app for children, and spent a lot of time going over the educational videos and the "find out how to get the king in check" puzzles. (ChessKids, if you're interested.)

The story is about a young girl, who is more or less orphaned: raised by a single mother, she's dimly aware of a father who is no longer in the picture. After her mother dies in a car accident, young Harmon is sent to a christian orphanage which, as was apparently common at the time, tended to tranquilize the children daily to make them more docile. She gets close to an older Black girl there, Jolene, though there was one disturbing element to their relationship that wasn't shown in the Netflix series.

While at the orphanage, Harmon becomes fascinated by the janitor's tendency to study a chess board in the basement during breaks. Eventually, Harmon convinces him to teach her the game, and they develop a peculiar friendship as she turns into a chess savant. The janitor helps her gain notice in the chess community, as Harmon manages an addiction to the tranquilizers. Beth's problem becomes common knowledge after the orphanage is forced to stop giving the tranquilizers to the students.

Harmon is adopted by a reluctant, distant, skin-flint of a man and his over-enthusiastic wife. Her new "father" abandons the family for a long-term business trip that takes a turn for being permanent as Harmon starts to learn about chess tournaments. Harmon starts to find ways to scrounge together the money to register for tournaments, and quickly becomes a minor town celebrity. Once her new mother discovers that there's money to be made in chess, she takes on the roll of manager, finds ways to excuse Harmon from school, and travels with her to various tournaments. Unfortunately for Harmon, tranquilizers appear in her life again, with the addition of alcohol. For years, Harmon almost manages to hold it together until, reeling from a tragedy, she hits rock bottom a few months away from the most important chess match in her life.

The main difference between the actual book and the show, of course, is how much more of Harmon's inner life we get: how actively angry she gets at other players, the details of her fight with addiction, etc. Despite the reader, I - at points - found myself cursing out loud at Harmon's decisions. Also, Harmon's original relationship with Jolene is cleaned up a bit for the Netflix version, likely wanting to handle the one Black character in the story more delicately. While I understand that, it's possible that incident explains some of Harmon's future issues.

There's also a *lot* more background given to Harmon's mother and father in the Netflix series than in the novel, as though they felt they needed to justify how she could be so brilliant. I was surprised to find that none of this detail was in the novel.

(Otherwise, I was impressed with how close Netflix stayed to the original story. Nice job.)

That would've been completely satisfying if the reader didn't sound like an automated text to speech recording during non-dialogue parts. There are a lot of negative reviews on this recording because of the narrator. I gritted my teeth through it, but each time I listened to it, it was like story time in the Uncanny Valley. Dang.

And with that, I think I have most of my notes for the book group!

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Mainly plot, then some sexuality. Shocker, I know.

Revisado: 08-09-20

Let me explain.

No. That would take too long. Let me summarize.

This is the best Anita Blake installment that I have read in a long, long time. I offer one spoiler, but not it's as much of a spoiler as it is an intriguing stylistic change for Hamilton: there was not one single sex scene in the unabridged Audible version I listed to.

There was TALK about sex, yes. There was a naked man, but that wasn't sexual. There was sexual tension. There was kissing. There was even almost a lap dance. There was no sex scene.

This is huge for Hamilton. For years fans had been complaining that there were so many sex scenes and relationship conversations - some of each spanning multiple chapters in a single novel - that often the mystery got a rushed ending. Given that she's "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" - a US Marshall of the Preternatural Branch, that was getting a little weird. If the saga was billed as "Anita Blake, Sex Cult Idol" that'd be different.

In one installment of her Merry Gentry series, the *characters* start to complain that there's so much sex that they can't actually deal with emergencies. The author has claimed that her characters actually write the books, and I've seriously wondered if they also edit them for Hamilton as well - just because something is written, it doesn't mean that it has to make the final cut. I'm unsure if "Sucker Punch" is Hamilton finally accepting that concept.

There was plenty of relationship talk in this novel, and for spoiler reasons I'm not going to say why it was literally terrifying Anita, but anyone who's been following the series can probably guess why. I have my own opinions on how this particular bit of "aw, heck naw" is going to play out, but it does seem like a firm decision is going to have to be made one way or another within the next two books because our favorite conflicted, rage-pit of a heroine has realized that she's cutting things mighty close - as one of her fellow Horsemen might say. (hint, hint)

The plot itself was twisty, though I continued having my main suspicion in the forefront of my mind. For me, it wasn't exactly whodunnit, but how the heck did they do it? Oh, and the murder weapon? Go look it up - that style actually exists. I had no idea.

This was my first time listening to a Laurell K. Hamilton novel as an audiobook, so it took me a while to get used to Kimberly Alexis's voice. She is pretty darn good with switching character voices, though, which is a relief because I simply don't bother to keep track of Anita's small army of lovers anymore. I'm unsure if this experience will permanently change the voice I hear for Anita in my head, but about halfway through I started getting used to the narrator.

Every so often I started talking out loud to the book, which is often a good sign - even if it involves curse words.

Given that this is an Anita Blake novel, this one didn't end happily, but it did end well given all the complications of it. And because of it, Anita has started considering options that have either dropped by the wayside, or that she simply thought would never be available to her.

I can't really recommend this installment for people who ditched the series because it was too sex scene heavy - too much has happened to Anita given her Superpower of the Month Club membership, additional lovers, agonizing, and attitude adjustments thanks to therapy and all the people she's let into - and seen leave - her life.

But for long-term readers who've stuck with it even when they developed ocular strain from all of the eye-rolling: holy crap, this book was good. It'll be interesting to see how Hamilton balances sexuality with the actual plot in the future.

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I laughed regularly.

Revisado: 07-09-20

I don’t often laugh at comedy. I can’t remember laughing while listening to an audiobook before this one. The combination of Scalzi’s writing and Wheaton’s delivery made this a wonderful romp for me.

The last two coda were heavier, thought-provoking fare, but still charming.

This is my first Scalzi book. I plan to look into his other writings.

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