Kevin

Necessary

Revisado: 01-02-25

If you're wondering why things in America seem not great right now, these guys break down the historical and current forces for why brilliantly through the lens of exposing the flaws of one of the country's most powerful and under-examined broken institutions. This show frequently leaves me angry, but also more informed. The hosts' colorful, crass humor is a welcome bit of honey to help some miserable medicine go down.

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The unapologetic queer fantasy we need

Revisado: 04-16-23

I'll admit, up until around the midpoint I was on the fence. The front half of HMRC is somewhat slow going, leaving you wondering a bit what shape the story will take. But then it does, and everything immediately slams into shape. To say how and why would give the game away, but suffice to say, this is a book about a very present issue in queer life right now explored through fantasy, and it strikes very truthfully and very close to home. What's especially remarkable is how well it captures a variety of voices and perspectives with its four leads, all wholly sympathetic and few consistently right. This is a book celebrating the difficult conversations and battles women and queer people have to fight right now, and it does it with Spice Girls jokes and loads of magic. You'll know if you're the person it's written for, and if you are, you need to read it.

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A Gothic Warm Blanket

Revisado: 04-05-23

I was a little apprehensive coming into Nona the Ninth because I understood it divided the Locked Tomb fan community a bit for being less twisty and advancing the plot less than Harrow the Ninth. These things are true. This is a much more direct and light book, and given its origin as the opening segment only of what was originally going to be the final book, it does leave a lot unresolved. However, it's also an utter delight.

What makes Nona the Ninth so special is its narrator, who is a really joyful presence that I loved spending time with. For those who fell in love with this series for Gideon's colorful point of view in the first book, this feels like the same spirit from a different angle - foulmouthed himbo energy swapped for childlike joyful bimbo energy. The movement to more contemporary school urban fantasy feels very grounded and real, with the numerous child supporting characters all feeling like real kids - I hear Muir was a teacher, and you can tell she understood her students. For me, this was a full charm offensive, and watching war unfold in the world of kids kept me very hooked.

It also does have some big advances and plot teases if that's what you're looking for. The backstory that unfolds with John is sure to be a treat for fans of the series, revealing a lot while hiding just the right amount. And you get to spend a lot of time with a number of the series' best characters as they emerge in new ways, even ones that you'd have thought really shouldn't have been able to come back!

if there's one big criticism to make, it's to level at the climax. The action swerves pretty suddenly from the world this book is concerned with to broader events of the series, which are exciting and important, but do feel a little disjointed. I don't mind, though. This book is a breath of joy after the brilliant but miserable and difficult previous one, recentering the heart and wit that lurks among all these skeletons. I really loved it.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas

Deliberately Difficult Second Album

Revisado: 02-07-23

Gideon the Ninth was a very good, very straightforward book, clever but accessible. Harrow the Ninth isn't that, it's a book that sets out to trip you up and then does that for most of its length. It earns that by being genuinely very clever and building on the great prose from the first book in ambitious ways.


What doesn't work as well for me at least is two things. Firstly, it's very slow, especially in the first two thirds. The first book I plowed through, this one I dipped in and out of, and I suspect a fair bit of that could have been trimmed out without anyone noticing. Not without many good bits, Muir is a great writer doing great things, but I wouldn't have minded them being less spaced out. The other issue is simpler, Harrow just isn't as fun a character to spend time with as Gideon to tide you over until the answers come.

But when they do, it's an absolute ride. The highs of this book exceed the first, and make the journey incredibly rewarding and worthwhile. It just requires a lot of patience.

Performance is the same as the first book, so good and engaging, understanding and delivering the wit of the source material and memorably differentiating voices. I'm not sure why some of the accents that were chosen were chosen, but they're consistent with the first book and made it very easy for me to distinguish characters. Quirk is a very good fit for these books, and I definitely enjoyed reading Harrow the Ninth this way.

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