Review-y observations
May. 4th, 2009 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI had to reboot my laptop completely on Sunday, which is never fun. And not completely over, hence, in brevity:
Wolverine: won't see it. I like Logan just fine, in both comics and movieverse incarnation, but think he works best as a member of an ensemble, not as a central character. Also, the fact that two people on my flist who are big Wolverine fans didn't like the film isn't exactly encouraging.
Astonishing X-Men: I think after the next one which will finish Warren Ellis' first arc, I'll stop reading. It's a pity, because AXM was my entry into the X-men comicverse years ago, I love this particular team, and I loved, loved, loved, Joss Whedon's run (and still think it's the best thing he's written post-BTVS), but Ellis has been steadfastly losing me. It's not the glacial pacing; the Whedon issues had an, err, very irregular timetable, too. But they didn't just have quips, they had character development, a sense of varrious narrative arcs coming together, and I loved analyzing the issues and the characters. With the Ellis run, you get some good lines, but no sense of emotional continuity (meanwhile Matt Fraction over at Uncanny X-Men does a great job of letting Emma continue to deal with what happened to Kitty, something that Ellis never as much as mentions), and absolutely bewildering behaviour from Scott, ethics-wise, even taking events in other titles into account. Also, Scott calling Hank "Henry" jolts me every single time.
Naomi Novik: A Victory of Eagles. I continue to love this 'verse, and the latest novel is another winner. For the first time, we get extended Temeraire pov which at first I wasn't sure about (would the quintessential, well, dragon-ness be lost if we didn't see him through Laurence's eyes but his own?), but my concern was in vain. Great follow-up on all the issues raised in previous volumes; there is no convenient reset button re: consequences to Laurence's deed in the last novel. The way Novik uses Lien and Napoleon reminds me a bit of the way Neil Gaiman used Death in his Sandman saga. (He said he treated Death like an expensive guest star, so she'd only show up every now and then and because of the rareness had all the more impact.) I must admit I was rooting for Lien in what she does in the grand climax of the novel. Speaking of female dragons, Iskierka and her interaction with Temeraire amuse me mightily. In conclusion: I wish someone - to wit,artaxastra - would write a(nother) Lien and Napoleon pov fanfic, and/or one about Emma Hamilton's career as a spy in this Alt!verse which is mentioned to intriguingly. And I can't wait for the next novel!
Wolverine: won't see it. I like Logan just fine, in both comics and movieverse incarnation, but think he works best as a member of an ensemble, not as a central character. Also, the fact that two people on my flist who are big Wolverine fans didn't like the film isn't exactly encouraging.
Astonishing X-Men: I think after the next one which will finish Warren Ellis' first arc, I'll stop reading. It's a pity, because AXM was my entry into the X-men comicverse years ago, I love this particular team, and I loved, loved, loved, Joss Whedon's run (and still think it's the best thing he's written post-BTVS), but Ellis has been steadfastly losing me. It's not the glacial pacing; the Whedon issues had an, err, very irregular timetable, too. But they didn't just have quips, they had character development, a sense of varrious narrative arcs coming together, and I loved analyzing the issues and the characters. With the Ellis run, you get some good lines, but no sense of emotional continuity (meanwhile Matt Fraction over at Uncanny X-Men does a great job of letting Emma continue to deal with what happened to Kitty, something that Ellis never as much as mentions), and absolutely bewildering behaviour from Scott, ethics-wise, even taking events in other titles into account. Also, Scott calling Hank "Henry" jolts me every single time.
Naomi Novik: A Victory of Eagles. I continue to love this 'verse, and the latest novel is another winner. For the first time, we get extended Temeraire pov which at first I wasn't sure about (would the quintessential, well, dragon-ness be lost if we didn't see him through Laurence's eyes but his own?), but my concern was in vain. Great follow-up on all the issues raised in previous volumes; there is no convenient reset button re: consequences to Laurence's deed in the last novel. The way Novik uses Lien and Napoleon reminds me a bit of the way Neil Gaiman used Death in his Sandman saga. (He said he treated Death like an expensive guest star, so she'd only show up every now and then and because of the rareness had all the more impact.) I must admit I was rooting for Lien in what she does in the grand climax of the novel. Speaking of female dragons, Iskierka and her interaction with Temeraire amuse me mightily. In conclusion: I wish someone - to wit,
artaxastra - would write a(nother) Lien and Napoleon pov fanfic, and/or one about Emma Hamilton's career as a spy in this Alt!verse which is mentioned to intriguingly. And I can't wait for the next novel!
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Date: 2009-05-04 07:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 09:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-05 08:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-05 08:00 am (UTC)Naomi Novik, OTOH, is made of awesome. Her world gets more complex and fascinating at every turn - I loved seeing so many different kinds of English dragons, and the battle against Lien and Napoleon's troops had me literally holding my breath. I kept having to stop and take in some air before I could continue!
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Date: 2009-05-05 08:52 am (UTC)And now Laurence and Temeraire are off to Australia! As a local, do you have any idea what bit of your history could come into play? And will we see her take on William Bligh?