Friday Fics Fix!

Hey everyone, just a quick Friday Fics Fix for you this week! I thought I'd recommend a fic author for a change, instead of specific fics.

So, I recommend CeliaEquus - a legend of a fic writer, who has written over 300 fics for various fandoms (including a lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and Harry Potter,) - she writes well, isn't afraid to explore new avenues, and multiple character relationships. And she writes a lot of smut for those of you more pornographically motivated (you know who you are.) Pay attention to her ratings/warnings - nobody read anything too mature for them, please, or your parents will have my arse on a plate (and then someone would write a fic about that and it would just get really bad, really fast - honestly.)

There you have it then, hours of smut, fluff, and alternate universes. Have fun!

Reading Slump

Normally I'm not bothered by reading slumps - but I think I may've got caught in one at the moment. It seems like I'm reading and not finishing anything - which is doing no good for my current Goodreads challenge target of 200 books (I'm at 135 - which is apparently two books behind schedule.)

Oh well, the important part is to enjoy the reading - and to just keep reading. Which is what I'm off to do!

Nerd Church! - The Human Creature

Church image courtesy of debspoons at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I'm sure that, whatever part of the world you live in, you've seen a lot of bad crap in the news this week. Wars and murder, and the refugees. In Europe it's the refugees, or the migrants, or the asylum seekers, or the Syrians, or... you get the picture. Hundreds of people making their way across a continent. And we seem to have forgotten that people have been doing this for hundreds of years - being shunted from one place to another for reasons of safety, or simply the chance that they will earn enough money that their children will never have to go hungry. It's what we do. If you compare the pictures of Jewish people (and others,) leaving Paris in fear of the Nazis with pictures of Syrian men, women, and children crowding onto eerily similar trains at eerily similar stations, you will see what I mean. There is fear and sorrow and grief and love here, but all many governments see is dirt and a money-pit.

I'll leave you, my dear book-nerds, with a quote from The Book Thief - which I've read about three or four times, and am still staggered by the amount of beauty Markus Zusak fills each page with - it's a quote that, like so much of what Zusak rights, is so very true, and sums up what I feel:

"It amazes me what humans can do, even when streams are flowing down their faces and they stagger on, coughing and searching, and finding."

Sorry!

Oops, major lack of posting going on here - even forgot the Friday Fics Fix! But this was probably excusable - I have been v busy with kitty-cat related things. And kitties are awesome! I'll endeavour to return to regular posting soon.

Nerd Church - Books Matter

Hey guys, and welcome back to Nerd Church - that part of the week where I get all moral and philisolophical (known by normal people as philosophical) in relation to all things nerdy and book-y.

This time I'm going to announce a simple effing truth that I think we forget far too often in today's topsy-turvy society:

church image courtesy of debspoons at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Books Matter

I know that a lot of people will know this already - but clearly not everyone. Because if everyone knew and understood that books matter, then the state of affairs that we have in the UK at the moment, with library closures and the downgrading of library services, would not be happening. People had to work so hard in the past to ensure free library services for poorer communities - and with a callous sweep of their destructive fingers, the Tory government is taking away every mode and method of support for communities which need them the most.

It's actually possible that councils throughout the country are breaking the law via the downgrade of library services, and foisting off libraries onto community groups and volunteers.

Guys, books are what can take people from poverty to prosperity - they give hope, magic, knowledge, and inspiration. If we just stand by and let the government erode the things that make Britain a country we would actually want to live in (and don't even get me started on their other poverty-creating measures, as well as their erosion of worker's and individual rights,) then pretty soon the country will look like a Dickens novel - and I don't mean the Christmas celebrations, I mean the workhouses, the starving poor, and the arrogant and unseeing upper classes. We're dangerously close to it as it is. Books matter. People matter. Don't forget it.

Friday Fics Fix!

Just one fic for your Friday fix this week! (Oh no, how will we carry on my dear Reading Addict, without your recs! Ah, never fear erstwhile reader, there is plenty of fan-fiction on the internet, and feel free to look over my past posts for more ridiculous ficcy goodness!)

So, this week's fic is (duh-diddle-uuuhhhh!) -

Ripple Effect by Cyhyr.

Mahoosive warnings! There's domestic abuse, references to rape, flashbacks, references to childhood trauma and abuse, murder, and a sh** load of feels! M only.

This is an Avengers College AU (an Alternate Universe where the Marvel's Avengers characters are faffing about in college,) which involves some Steve/Tony and Tony/Loki elements. It's a long one-shot (stand-alone one-part story,) with many, many feels, in which Steve Rogers is a complete douche-bag. Perhaps it goes off on one a bit at the end, but all in all it's pretty good (well, I thought so, but I've been reading fan-fiction for weeks now and no longer know which way is up.)

Reviewing the Evidence Again! - Through the Ever Night

Title: Through the Ever Night (US Link)
Author: Veronica Rossi
Genre: dystopian, ya, sci-fi
Series: Under the Never Sky

A few starting notes:

As this is the sequel to the awesome Under the Never Sky, my basic rule for reviewing sequels applies - no spoilers for previous books beyond what is in the blurb of this book. With that said and done, I was really looking forward to reading this because I enjoyed the first one - and #2 didn't disappoint.

Premise:

In a world split in two - the pods of Reverie, and the harsh reality of the Outside - Aria and Perry have been trying to find a way to walk the delicate line between the worlds. With things heating up, and both societies in danger, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

Best bits:

I love Aria, one of our protagonists. What we have here my friends is a realistic and imperfect dystopian female protagonist with her own ideas and motivations - I know, what is this???? Is this a strong but flawed female character????? In a dystopian YA novel????? I may have to lie down for a while!

As with the last book, the strength of Rossi's complex world really impresses me. The hardships of both the once-proud Reverie and the dangerous Outside are both painted with confidence and deft skill - it's believable, and the imagery is vivid.

We also have a non-love-interest male friend. I know! And it works so freaking well! Just one of the ways that Ms Rossi takes the well-worn path and adapts the living sh** out of it to create something which manages to feel fresh in a heavily-laden genre.

Not so great bits:

I didn't like Kirra - once you get there, you'll know. But then, I don't think we were supposed to like Kirra - she's mainly there, in conjunction with Brooke, to show how awesome Aria is, I just wish there could've been another way to show the levels of awesomeness in the main character without resorting to creating characters which exist purely to provide contrast.

There are also a few, but noticeable, moments when you want to physically shake either Perry or Arya by the shoulders and tell them to stop being so freaking stupid - but then, I suppose that real people are also pretty damned stupid, and in comparison to other YA protagonists, these two are freaking geniuses. And they do have some apocalyptic dystopian sh** to deal with, so I'll cut them some slack.

Verdict:

I love this book. It's fresh, well-written, and involving, bringing a breath-taking dystopian novel without diving too far into the loony end of the pool. I will definitely be on the look out for the next book.