Book Review: Last First Snow

Title: Last First Snow

Author: Max Gladstone

Genre: Fantasy

Page #s: 385

Publication Date: 2015

Location in Series: 4^th book in the Craft Sequence

Summary: It has been 40 years since the God Wars rocked Dresediel Lex, 40 years since the gods they had worshipped for who knows how long were broken on their own alter. The King in Red now begins an audacious plan to renovate the Skittersill, the poorest district in the city but in order for the work to be approved he must wrangle an agreement from the Skittersill’s population.

Good Points:

• Wow. WOW. Just. Fucking wow.
• Simple things first, everyone but Elayne is a character of color. Dresediel Lex is a fictitious Aztec city, everyone but Elayne is a denizen of that city.
• Badass older female character.
• While I don’t remember Three Parts Dead focusing much on Elayne’s age this one mentions several times how old she is and how old she feels.
• Badass females all around.
• Elayne, Chell, Mina, for the major ones, a ton of minor ones as well.
• Women from different walks of life all proving how badass they can be.
• Badass transmale character.
• I’m assuming here, since when it is revealed that the character’s body does not match the image they have presented there isn’t much time to talk about how they identify BUT since Full Fathom Five had a transwoman protagonist I’m going to assume that the character mentioned is trans.
• Of course, the King in Red has to be mentioned as he’s a gay sorcerous skeleton and I love him.
• Even if he was a dickweasel the entire book.
• Temoc!
• I did not go into this book expecting to like Temoc. After the events of Two Serpents Rise… well. Let’s just say when I heard this book was going to feature Temoc I was disappointed. I did not expect anything good to come of it. BUT WOW! Surprise!
• Loved his relationship with Caleb and Mina. Love how it had to change as the book went on and things went to shit. Loved it.
• Interesting, twisty plot.
• While one plot twist kind of becomes obvious the moment it happens it’s still a great twisty plot. And I loved how every character failed. Like, the whole mess couldn’t be traced directly to one person (although, fuck you Kopil) and instead each character has to shoulder the blame of the complete CLUSTERFUCK that comes around.
• Except Caleb and Mina.
• Great action scenes! Fascinating world! Great magic! Flawed characters! READ IT.

Bad Points:

• WOW was this book a fucking downer. Like. Wow. Like, it’s so good, but totally a downer!
• I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the Red King’s characterization in this book. Like, because, he’s a total DICKWEASEL the entire book and I really do remember loving him in Two Serpents Rise.
• I have to wonder if that says more about Caleb and his PoV than anything else.

Triggers:

This book is about a civil protest gone horribly wrong with a magically powered dictator who hates the religion the protestors practice.

It’s not pretty.

• Child Abuse
• Religious Persecution
• Mentions of past mind control

Rating: 5/5

Movie Review: Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.

Let me start off by saying that I love spy-action movies. Love them. I was raised on the Jack Ryan novels and Bond movies. I love Bourne and Mission Impossible both. I enjoyed Ghost Protocol and similarly enjoyed Rogue Nation.

That being said, action-spy movies often leave a LOT to be desired on the representation front. Bondgirls die, characters of color are few and far between and I cannot, honestly cannot, bring to mind a single confirmed LGBT character.

Rogue Nation, as a popcorn munching summer flick, delivers. The plot is the same basic Mission Impossible plot (the government says ‘spies what spies NO ETHAN NO’, Ethan says ‘fuck you all I’m going to save the day’ and at the end of the film Ethan is reaffirmed as the spy world’s darling and saves the day while looking cool and blowing shit up). But the plot is solid as is the casting, old favorites reappear and a new femme fatale brushes up against the cast. The bad guy reminded me a little too much of Raoul Silva, but I’ll let it slide. Rogue Spy gone ROGUE is as good a plot as any.

The fight scenes were good and the chase scenes were way more believable than the last Fast and Furious movie.

That being said, if you have any motorcycle crash related trauma there are LOTS AND LOTS of motorcycle crashes in one of the chase scenes. Other than that, standard action movie triggers apply.

The Bechdel:

Hah. There aren’t even two named women in the whole fucking movie.

I hate girl on girl fight scenes that exist ONLY for a chance to get the girl to fight but they at least allow for the role of two women existing in the same frame. Possibly even speaking to each other. Our femme fatale keeps it real, fights the big boys, and despite wearing 4 inch heels kicks them off when necessary. She does not, however, throw down with any other ladies.

Racial Bechdel Test:

Again. There aren’t two named characters of color in the whole movie. Ving Rhames is there as Luthor Stickler, and is an important part of the crew, but at no point does he speak to anyone who isn’t a white guy.

The Mako Mori:

I’d say that Ilsa’s story arc is her own but at the same time she’s spending the movie fighting against the big bad that Hunt is trying to bring down.

The Sexy Lamp:

Nah. Ilsa might be attractive and they do show that off but I don’t think a sexy lamp can kick ass or have a showdown with the Bone Doctor like Ilsa.

The Anti-Freeze:

Surprisingly, no. At one point in the movie I was expecting her death but she gets out of every scrape intact.

The “Strength is Relative”:

I’d say a pass but it’s debatable.

The Russo: LGBT representation

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Haha.

The Black Widow: Romantic relationship that serves the plot/is in character

While Ilsa falls for Ethan (or at least implies a romantic wish) it fits her character, runs along the plot and doesn’t derail or take anything away from the film.

Book Review: Invisible Library

Title: Invisible Library

Author: Genevieve Cogman

Genre: Steampunk/Sci-fi/Fantasy

Page #s: 329

Publication Date: 2015

Summary: The Library exists between worlds, an inter-dimensional collection of alternate universes’ important books. To keep the collection up to date Librarians need to collect rare or valuable or simply important books from alternate worlds. Irene is a mid-level Librarian who, upon returning from one job, immediately finds herself assigned another. She is also assigned an assistant.

There is more to the assignment, and her new subordinate, than meets the eye. 

Good Points:

• Irene is a likable enough character.
• All she wants is a good book and maybe a cup of coffee.
• She’s mousey and enjoys detective stories.
• Thinks well on her feet in regard to things trying to kill her but a little clueless about people not trying to kill her.
• Hints of bisexuality.
• Kai is of indeterminate, but likely Chinese, heritage.
• Our handsome and personable Sherlock stand-in, is actually personable. Tiny bit of an ass but personable.
• Personal headcanon has them as trans.
• A believably antagonistic work relationship between Irene and Bradamant, a former superior.
• Very interesting world setup!
• The Library has windows, as many libraries do, that look out on a green space that… no one ever walks through. No one knows how to get to. No one knows what would happen if you did get to it.
• Nice setup for later book, possibly.
• Alternate worlds operate on a Kinsey scale of Very Techy to Very Sorcerous with some mixing it all up.
• All sorts of fantastic creatures exist but Fae, werewolves, and vampires are forces of Chaos while only Dragons are forces of order.

Bad Points:

• Extremely unsurprising.
• Every plot twist comes with a setup that makes it obvious a mile away.
• Reads very much like the authors first novel and like many first novels feels very young in tone.
• The bisexuality is only implied and when the incident that hints at Irene’s bisexuality is actually explained it turns out that she never actually slept with the woman in the first place.
• Very disappointing as this was 90% of the reason I got the book.
• I am unsure of Kai’s feelings towards Irene as he is extremely mercurial without ever being called out on his constant shifts of emotion.
• Okay, not entirely true, Irene comments on Kai’s shifts when they’re about how he presents himself.
• It’s hard to get a handle on Kai’s characterization as it does shift constantly. Now, that could simply be the author attempting to portray a young, unsure but gung-ho individual but they don’t pull it off.

Triggers:

Off camera skinning of a human being.

Mentions of a cesarean at the end of the book.

Cruelty to animals (mind-controlled alligators being slaughtered)

Honestly, I was just kind of disappointed with the book. It’s a fun concept, I did like the characters (barely sketched out as they may be) but the plot was formulaic, the reveal made me want to smack myself and every character involved and the bad guy, once they were actually confronted, kept stalling for time.

Rating: 3/5

Movie Review: Jurassic World

On whether Jurassic World passes the Bechdel, the Mako Mori, the Sexy Lamp, the Anti-freeze, the Russo, the Racial Becdhel and the Black Widow test.

All in all, I liked the film. I embarrassed myself giggling like a fiend at several parts (I’m sorry, I love the Jurassic series) and had to stop myself from muttering ‘oh you’re gonna die’ at others. 

---

The Bechdel:

Jurassic World most likely fails the Bechdel test. I know, you’re like ‘what do you mean most likely’ and the rest I say most likely is because a) some of you people are going to say WHAT ABOUT THE DINOSAURS and b) I’m not sure if Vivian and Claire talk long enough for it to count and c) the conversation Claire has with Karen concerns the boys at first and then is about how Claire should have kids of her own.

Edit: I have been reminded that Claire and Zara talk about work in front of the boys. Again, the boys are right there and Claire is talking to them in between talking to Zara. Your mileage on this may vary.

Regarding the dinosaurs – they do communicate. But if we start counting dinosaurs the movie has potential genderqueer representation because we saw in Jurassic World that the dinos can change their gender.

The Mako Mori:

Eeeeeeeeh. Ehhhhh. Claire’s story runs tangentially to Owen’s.  I wouldn’t say she supports his own storyline because Owen doesn’t really grow through the course of the movie. Claire, however, does. But at the same time Owen dominates the screen and park, pushes constantly and doesn’t recognize Claire’s authority. (He is, in fact, the kind of dude I want to kick in the nuts, no matter how competent or attractive he is.)

The Sexy Lamp:

Now, this one it passes. Claire could not be replaced by a sexy lamp.

The Anti-Freeze:

I’m gonna say that Jurassic World fails this. Her death serves no purpose except to be a brutal ‘oh fuck oh FUCK’ scene. Did we need 5-10 minutes of a woman struggling (without gore at least) against a dinosaur before her demise? No.

The “Strength is Relative”:

Definite pass. All of the women are different from each other but again, the men dominate the screentime.

The Russo Test:

Barring the dinosaurs (THE DINOSAURS DO NOT COUNT) there is no LGBT representation.

Racial Bechdel Test:

Passes! Henry Wu and Masrani have a long conversation about science! And about fucking up.

The Black Widow:

Does a character become involved in a relationship over the course of a movie/show that doesn’t serve any purpose/make any sense.

I am making this test up. New test! (It probably exists.)

The Jurassic series has always been about 3 things. 1) Dinosaurs, 2) children, 3) relationships.

In Jurassic Park Ellie and Allen are in a relationship. This is apparent in the way they interact and care for each other. It’s not a major plot point but it serves to further their characterization. In Lost World Ian and Sarah are in a previously established relationship that pushes Ian to come back to the island (despite swearing NEVER AGAIN) because he is worried about her. It also serves as part of their characterization. In JP3 we find out Alan and Ellie have seperated, Ellie has moved onto a happy dinosaur-less life and we have to spend the movie dealing with bickering divorced couple Paul and Amanda. I can’t remember if they get back together to not. Their relationship is AGAIN, previously established, serves as background in characterization and actually also furthers the plot.

If you’ve seen the previous for Jurassic World you’ve seen Owen and Claire’s frosty relationship. In a very rom-com manner, Owen just wants Claire to loosen up, let her hair down (take off those ridiculous heels). Claire is a stereotype of the work obsessed woman in his 30s. She’s practically aseptic (I didn’t want to use the word sterile as it has negative connotations) at the beginning of the film, focused on work and nothing else. In a survival situation, however, she steps up. She steps up all throughout the film and Owen, who starts off joking about the fact that they never would have worked out because she’s too uptight (but is nonetheless attracted to her physically) finds that attractive as all hell. Claire, seeing Owen outside of the joking manner he presents and instead in the field where he thrives, becomes attracted to him as well.

BUT, I do feel the movie would have been better without romance. With a few lines cut and the line left teetering between romantic and platonic the whole film would have set better with me.

Book Review: The Fog Diver

Title: The Fog Diver

Author: Joel Ross

Genre: YA/Steampunk

Page #s: 328

Publication Date: 2015

Summary: “Before the Fog rose there was something called the Smog. The Smog covered the whole Earth, like the Fog does now, except it made everything sick.” An isolated community of humans high on a mountaintop are all that is left of humanity after a daring attempt to cure pollution through the use of nanites. Chess is one of these people but he is special, with nanites in his brain and a Fog cursed eye. He has spent the thirteen years of his life keeping his head down and his eye hidden, constantly fearing being brought before Lord Kodoc and forced to search the Fog for the machines rumored to control it.

Good Points:

• Likable cast.
• Chess, our a protag, is such a scared, lost, teenage boy.
• Hazel is a delight and joy, ‘bossy’ without being ridiculed for it. Allowed to take charge and lead even though her friends tease her about her love of girly things.
• Interesting setting.
• Seriously, I love this sort of steampunk/dystopia set up because of pollution + the robots took over. Like, that’s a great idea.
• The bits of knowledge of the pre-Fog world crack me up. SKYWALKER TREK. CONSTELLATIONS NAMED ELVIS PARSLEY.
• Family = Crew = Family
• Badass airship pirates
• While the book leaves it open for sequels it also stands alone.
• Happy ending!

Bad Points:

• Chess has a burst of courage at the end of the book that didn’t read right to me. He spends so much time afraid, only being unafraid while in the Fog, that his heroic moment felt very sudden.
• The penultimate battle happens really close to the end of the book, it’s very quick and somewhat unsatisfying.

Triggers:

• Maternal death
• Child abuse (not graphic and not to our main, it’s implied but it’s there)
• Threat of kidnapping

Rating: 4/5

Book Review: My Real Children

Title: My Real Children

Author: Jo Walton

Genre: Speculative fiction (aka fancy sci-fi)

Page #s: 317

Publication Date: 2014

Location in Series: 1/1

Summary: Patricia Cowan is spending the last days of her life in a nursing home. She sees her children, sometimes, but which children are they? Does she see Pat’s children or Tricia’s children? Because Patricia Cowan has lived two very different lives, a split in her timeline caused by her decision whether to marry Mark. This split seems to have effected more than just her as along with remembering different events that happened to her she remembers two very different worlds.

At the end of the day, which world will she chose?

Good Points:

•  Seriously well written.
• Set after WWII in Britain, it’s a slightly different look at post-war life than I’m used to reading.
• Brilliant descriptions of the places Patricia is living.
• Fantastic, realistic characters and character development.
• Interesting alternate history Earths.
• The end of the book really leaves you thinking. Which life is Patricia going to chose? Which would you chose? The nicer world or the nicer life?
• The chapters are headed with Patricia’s chosen nickname, Tricia for one life and Pat for another so you don’t get confused.
• Lesbians! (Always a plus.)
• Poly-relationships.
• Character with a disability! (She loses her legs partway through the book.) 

Bad Points:

•  Very white.
• Pat is a lesbian but has sex with a man (just one, but a few times) and Tricia only ever has romantic and sexual relationships with men which leaves me feeling complicated. They are two seperate lives, I am not the identity police etc... (But it feels like bisexual erasure to me and IDK, I feel like the author could have addressed that somewhere.)
• Extremely depressing (to me, there were a lot of points where I was reminded of my own grandmother who lived in the same time period, was a teacher like Pat, and died in a retirement home while suffering from dementia).

 Triggers:

• Rape
• Mentions of past rape by Bee
• Repeated spousal rape by Mark
• Spousal abuse
• Forced impregnation
• Miscarriages/stillbirths
• Limb loss
• Cancer

 Rating: 4/5

Book Review: Take Me There

Title: Take Me There; Trans and Genderqueer Erotica
Editor: Tristan Taormino
Genre: Erotica
Page #s:  256
Publication Date: 2011

Summary: 28 sizzling hot short stories with a diverse spread of genders, sexualities, and relationships. Everything from one night stands to long term relationships, from cheating to time-traveling self-cest. This anthology covers it all.

Good Points:

• LOTS of different sexualities and genders!
• Loooooots of different sexual acts
• Explores sex with both pre-op and post-op transsexuals as well as genderqueer individuals who augment their own bodies in order to feel right.
• Surprising amount of plot/characterization for an erotica anthology
• That being said, a number of short stories which despite their length were fully-fleshed out and I would love to have read more of.

Bad Points:

• No ace representation (some of you may be saying ‘duh’ but I feel like if I state there is a mix of sexualities and genders BUT there are no asexuals it’s important to point this out, I also don’t think there were any stories featuring someone who was agender)
• There are a LOT of stories with BDSM tones which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I didn’t pick up this book intending to read a lot of D/s.
• Some of the stories feature humiliation kink + slurs.
• It is an erotica anthology, so your mileage may vary and some stories won’t be your kink.
• Pretty sure I’ve read 3 of the stories in the anthology before, whether in another anthology or bought off Amazon on their own IDK.

Triggers:

• LOTS of slurs.
• Like lots, seriously, if it’s a queer slur? It gets used at least once.
• Humiliation (consensual)
• Prostitution
• Body dysphoria (some characters are only just coming into their own or are having flashbacks)

Rating: 4/5

Book Review: The Killer Wore Leather

Title: The Killer Wore Leather
Author: Laura Antoniou
Genre: Mystery
Page #s: 400
Publication Date: 2013
Location in Series: 1/1

Summary:  In the Grand Sterling Hotel of Midtown Manhattan, home of the huge annual leather/BDSM/fetish ball and contest, Mr. & Ms. Global Leather (and bootblack), last year’s male winner lies dead on the floor of his suite, wearing only very frilly, bright yellow panties. Cormac “Mack” Steel made a lot of enemies in his year wearing the studded leather sash, not the least being his co-winner Mistress Ravenfyre. But she is not alone – there are over three thousand attendees at this year’s fetish-festooned event from all over the world, some of whom might have had some very personal issues with the corpse

Good Points:

• Fun read.
• Lesbian detective!
• Black detective!
• PoV of three outsiders investigating the convention, learning about the community
• Really fun, lively, mostly likable characters.
• Plotline is tight and the mystery keeps you guessing. Was it the boyfriend, the rival, the religious jerk, the ex, the other rival, slave Bitsy, anyone who badmouthed Mack?
• Characters of all queer sexualities and genders.  (The author has written a story for a trans&genderqueer erotica compilation which I have on reserve.)
• Also bodyshapes.
• Respectful of the community and all that it entails. ( We do have one character pov who is actually pretty uncomfortable about the convention. DeCosta thinks the whole thing is weird and uses language like ‘freak’ BUT by the end of the book he is less of a jerk.)
• ‘The BDSM/Leather community is all about Safe, Sane, and Consensual’ should be the byline of the book. By the end of It Rebecca, Nancy, and Dominick are all repeating the phrase before the worried convention goers can.
• Lots of fun subplots to follow.

Bad Points:

• I don’t actually know anything about the leather/BDSM community so someone else will have to judge that.
• I feel like DeCosta’s character toes the line of being a stereotype. The writer flips that on its head but it takes awhile.
• Nancy’s PoV drops off after a while, I think she was originally intended to be a bigger part of the story but she spends 99% of it off on her own. It’s a fun PoV and interesting but I would have liked more integration.

Triggers:

• Murder.
• Occasional language such as freak, crazy, fag.
• Misogyny, some bigotry & homophobia.
• Mentions of rape play.

Rating: 5/5

Book Review: Maplecroft

Title: Maplecroft
Author: Cherie Priest
Genre: Fantasy/Horror
Page #s: 435
Publication Date: 2014
Location in Series: 1

Summary:

The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.

But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.
Good Points:

• Lesbian main character
• Character suffering from chronic illness
• Epistolary style (not as dry as classic epistolary, has a more modern tone)
• Lovecraftian plot
• Fun ties between science, magic and Lovecraftian creatures
• Focuses on what happens to a family post-tragedy
• Tight plot
• Didn’t lose steam near the end/reveal key points of the final showdown and ruin it all

Bad Points:

• Light on horror (I didn’t lose any sleep but then I handle Lovecraft better than anything else)
• Epistolary style (depends on if you enjoy that kind of thing or not)

Triggers:

• Straight up murder
• Creepy things trying to get into your house

Rating: 5/5