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The new Pirates movie is premiering this week - today, actually, if I remember correctly. I'm thinking of going to see it after work Friday. I doubt I'll be pulled back into the fandom, I very much doubt that, but I do want to see it (and apparently get to hear a lot of people mispronounce my name. So there's that.
Apart from that? I got to see Captain Cold re-appear once more in an episode of the Flash (he's still dead - but it was okay). And I'm reading about something Danske Bank has made called June, wondering if I should try it. I'm leaning towards probably.
What I've recently finished reading
Lauren Beukes: Zoo City
This was at once an excellent and an okay book. The okay part is mostly the crime mystery plotline, which ends up with a mostly okay ending. The excellent part, though, that's the world building. Zoo City is an urban fantasy set in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it's a darker twist on the idea of bond animals a la The Golden Compass. Basically, since a bit before the turn of the millenium, people have become animalled, acquired Animals and mystical magic powers along with them (in the novel they use the word shavi, but I suspect other parts of the world uses other terms and we just don't get to see it.) The price is that you can never be very far from your animal and if something kills it, you'll die screaming from dark demonic forces called the Undertow.
Oh, and then there's the fact that the only confirmed way to get an Animal in the first place is to kill somebody. Unsurprisingly, a lot of society disapproves.
Of course, the main character is an Animalled - Zinzi's got a Sloth and a talent for finding lost things - also, the guilt of her brother's death and a giant drug debt to some very bad people who make her help in pulling online scams to pay it off. I liked Zinzi (and her Sloth) and I found the world that the book is set in intriguing (according to Wikipedia, somebody was working on a movie, but that was three years ago, so maybe not anymore) - I like the setting of Johannesburg, which feels dystopic, though I suspect that's more realistic than because of anything genre fic related, so to speak - and it's certainly different from the US and English-speaking world most of the urban fantasy I've read has been set in. The runaway teen pop star plotline that devolves into an evil murderous magic plotline didn't really engage me, but the world! Damnit, I want a tv show of this world. Or just a pile of AUs and fanfics exploring the implications of Animals.
What I'm reading now
Nøglen by Mats Strandberg and Sara Elfgren (I weren't kidding when I mentioned that they like to write long books), Shadows over Bögenhafen, Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older (not off to the strongest start), and Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
What I'm reading next
I suspect I should focus on finishing some of the ones I am reading right now.
Total number of books and comics read this year: 90
Apart from that? I got to see Captain Cold re-appear once more in an episode of the Flash (he's still dead - but it was okay). And I'm reading about something Danske Bank has made called June, wondering if I should try it. I'm leaning towards probably.
What I've recently finished reading
Lauren Beukes: Zoo City
This was at once an excellent and an okay book. The okay part is mostly the crime mystery plotline, which ends up with a mostly okay ending. The excellent part, though, that's the world building. Zoo City is an urban fantasy set in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it's a darker twist on the idea of bond animals a la The Golden Compass. Basically, since a bit before the turn of the millenium, people have become animalled, acquired Animals and mystical magic powers along with them (in the novel they use the word shavi, but I suspect other parts of the world uses other terms and we just don't get to see it.) The price is that you can never be very far from your animal and if something kills it, you'll die screaming from dark demonic forces called the Undertow.
Oh, and then there's the fact that the only confirmed way to get an Animal in the first place is to kill somebody. Unsurprisingly, a lot of society disapproves.
Of course, the main character is an Animalled - Zinzi's got a Sloth and a talent for finding lost things - also, the guilt of her brother's death and a giant drug debt to some very bad people who make her help in pulling online scams to pay it off. I liked Zinzi (and her Sloth) and I found the world that the book is set in intriguing (according to Wikipedia, somebody was working on a movie, but that was three years ago, so maybe not anymore) - I like the setting of Johannesburg, which feels dystopic, though I suspect that's more realistic than because of anything genre fic related, so to speak - and it's certainly different from the US and English-speaking world most of the urban fantasy I've read has been set in. The runaway teen pop star plotline that devolves into an evil murderous magic plotline didn't really engage me, but the world! Damnit, I want a tv show of this world. Or just a pile of AUs and fanfics exploring the implications of Animals.
What I'm reading now
Nøglen by Mats Strandberg and Sara Elfgren (I weren't kidding when I mentioned that they like to write long books), Shadows over Bögenhafen, Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older (not off to the strongest start), and Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs
What I'm reading next
I suspect I should focus on finishing some of the ones I am reading right now.
Total number of books and comics read this year: 90