Comics Wrap Up - A World in Trouble

I haven't really read much comics/graphic novel-wise this week. But then, after the binge I had last week, I'm not surprised.

What I have read this week, in terms of comics, is Avengers World #1; a Marvel title from 2014. This was pretty damned awesome to be honest - and has the best during-earthquake artwork I've ever seen. The world is, essentially, going to hell in a hand-basket, and The Avengers (who, luckily, seem to be working with swelled numbers at this point,) are trying to patch over the cracks. It's pretty cool, and the artwork is swish.

All in all then, this is a great series-starter; and it feels relevant - what with the riots and the climate change issues and the sense of everything spiralling slowly out of control. Not that I'm a cynical millennial or anything, honestly (shifty glances, reassuring smile.) :)

The Bookish Rebel

 

 

Hey, I can be a rebel* too, y'know? Let me show you:

 

*Well... depends on your definition of rebel

 

I am a clutz. As such the likelihood that I'll accidentally bend or tear pages, spill coffee, or otherwise damage books is high. And I don't care. That's right, check me out! Told'ya I was dangerous ;)

 

I lend my books out to others... and I don't  mind if they come back in less than perfect condition. Although, I draw the line at marbles embedded in the pages (actually happened to my copy of HP:OotP,) then I will have to verbally kick your a**. Because c'mon, a freaking marble?

Sometimes I start a book series in the middle or just, y'know, dart around them from like, book 5 to book 7, and then back to book 3. I just roll with it - come on people, live a little! Read dangerously!

I'm a book polygamist; I read like 5 or 6 books at once. Because I clearly have a problem. On the plus side, I'm usually in the middle of reading a book that matches my mood perfectly... if I can remember where the hell I put it down... coffee table? Under my bed? Sofa?

I wanna jailbreak reading. Graphic novels are books. Comics are books. Fan-fiction still counts as reading (and will definitely change your views on a few things... ah, my lost innocence...) Magazines and newspapers count as reading. And reading is awesome. I'm going to get an e-reader! I know! Me! The anti-technology chick! It won't, however, be an Amazon k-device. Because I still can't even bring myself to say/type the word. I just don't like them, so will be going with a different manufacturer - but if you do like them, then good for you; I got nothing against you.

I read random assortments of cr*p. This year, I've read things that are as far apart as Quick Reads and James Joyce. And I'm f**king lovin' it! I will not be a slave to genre! I will not be a slave to length! I will try to cut down on the coffee!

So maybe rebel is stretching it... but I had an excuse to use that song... and I regret nothing!

Reviewing the Evidence Time - Exposure by Kathy and Brendan Reichs

Title: Exposure (US Link)
Author: Kathy and Brendan Reichs
Genre: crime, sci-fi, thriller, YA
Series: Virals (#4)

A few starting notes:

Exposure is the fourth book of the Virals series - as such, my golden rule for reviewing sequels applies. The level of spoilerage will not go beyond what's revealed in the blurb of this book.

I'm a big fan of Kathy Reichs, and I picked this up in the library because I love the Virals series.

Premise:

Tory Brennan and her friends, known collectively (to themselves at least,) as 'the Virals,' are searching for classmates. Peter and Lucy, the twins, have been missing for days - and the police seem at a loss. But, it's not going to be easy to find them, particularly not with their Viral powers becoming increasingly unreliable...

Best bits:

This is kind of like The Famous Five or Mystery Inc meets CSI. Translation: awesome. This is teens solving crime with forensic knowledge and sci-fi hijinks going on. It rocks.

Tory Brennan is a fantastic heroine - smart, with a fabulous sense of humour, and a hell of a lot of determination. She's also likeable - which is refreshing, as often YA heroines are more than slightly irritating.

The plot twists and turns with pin-point precision, with few weak links to go around. The entire thing is handled with control, and the sparse prose is done incredibly well (people who have read this blog before may or may not be aware of my love affair with well-executed, sparse, prose.) The level of detail, as always with Reichs' books, is interesting and accurate - Reichs knows her stuff, to the extent that she can compress that knowledge into relatable facts with seeming ease.

Not so great bits:

Some fans of Reichs' adult books won't approve of the sci-fi elements of the Virals series - but many, (like me,) will be totally happy to just accept it and move on.

It's not so much as a love triangle but a love rectangle here - don't get me wrong, Tory rocks, but why are there so many dudes following her round in a state of puppy love? Argh! At least it largely stays out the way of the plot.

Whitney - Tory's father's girlfriend - is intensely irritating. Granted, she's supposed to be, but unless someone slaps her... and soon... I think I may have to scream. Loudly. :)

While theoretically you could read this as a stand-alone, I do recommend giving the Virals series the full treatment - you'll just understand everything so much better that way.

Verdict:

A fantastic and hugely enjoyable continuation of the series, this has peril, crime, forensics, teen kick-asses, and a whole lot of readable-ness! Enjoy.

Books Everyone Else Seems to Have Read (But I Haven't)

My TBR list is currently taller than I am (not that that's difficult - I'm short,) but there are books that everyone else seems to have read which I just... haven't. Not that I particularly mind. I'll either get around to it eventually or I never really wanted to read it in the first place. But I thought it would be fun to have a little meander through the books I haven't read which everyone else has.

A lot of these turned out to be YA, but I guess that's because I read a lot of YA in general, and it's such a popular genre. I'm sure there's more than what's on this list - but this is what I could think of right now.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I know! I loved The Hunger Games, but just haven't gotten around to reading Catching Fire yet. I do want to - but it's been sitting on my shelf now for what I can only describe as years. I'll read it one day... I just don't know when that day will be.

The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

I know people who swear by this series - and one of these days, I may even get around to reading it. But currently, I'm not all that bothered either way. It could be cool though, maybe some day I'll give it a try.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I have to admit that I have no real desire to read this. I mean, never say never, but it doesn't really seem like my thing. That's not to say that other people won't enjoy it, but I really just have no drive to read this. Sometimes that happens. Everyone else is raving about something, and you're just there like... meh.

The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner

My best friend loves this - so eventually she will grind me down, and I will have to read it. Not that I mind, it's part of what friends are there for, after all. I tend to like dystopia, so I'll probably enjoy it.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Part of me is like, 'Ooh, that looks interesting!' and then part of me is like, 'But it's going to be some sort of contemporary romance, and those can get silly/annoying really fast.' So, yeah, in two minds about whether or not to read this one.

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

I've read Shiver - the first book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series - by Maggie Stiefvater, and that was OK. The Raven Cycle actually looks quite interesting, and I wouldn't mind giving it a go.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

I've heard good things about this but it's another one that has me in two minds. Part of me thinks it might be a little pretentious for my tastes - but then I think I'm being the one being snobby by making a snap judgement...


The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

I really want to get into this series. I've seen the films, and loved them, and these books seem like they'd be totally on my thing. So, when I get around to it, I will - at some point - read The Lightning Thief, and get sucked in to all the Percy Jackson-ness.

Carrie by Stephen King

I will get around to this! It's on my tbr list! I will read it!

The Fifty Shades Trilogy by E L James

I am in no way a prude (I read fanfiction for Chrissakes!) but I really couldn't care less about Fifty Shades of Grey. All power to you if you like these books - you have the right to read and like to read whatever you want - but I just don't give a damn to be honest. This won't be on my tbr list for the foreseeable future.

Nerd Church - A Reader Lives a Thousand Lives...

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”

 

George R R Martin, A Dance With Dragons

 

 

I'm sure that most readers will have come across this quote on the interwebs, even if they haven't got to A Dance With Dragons in the Game of Thrones series (which I haven't, by the by; I've only read the first one at the moment.)

 

But it's true, isn't it?

 

We live thousands of lives as we read. We're there alongside all of our favourite characters - and not so favourite ones, of course. We live alongside them, sometimes knowing their deepest hopes and fears; we feel their love and their grief, their joy and their frustration. I know what it's like to be a vampire, a witch, a hero, a warrior... what lives have you lived recently?

 

The Writer Diaries (Or NaBloPoMo Week 1, Re-cap)

This month, I'm participating in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo for November 2015. This is similar to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in that it's a month long writing challenge. In NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) bloggers are challenged to post every single day that month. While I'm not in the same 'nation' as BlogHer, who are based in the US, pretty much everyone ignores the 'National' part of these challenges anyway, so I figured it'd be fun to throw my hat into the ring - it'd give me an excuse to write some stuff anyhow, without the added pressure of a particular project to be concentrating on.

At the end of week 1, I'm feeling in fine spirits (wonder how long that'll last.) At the moment, this is pretty enjoyable - though I imagine it's going to get harder as the month wears on.

*Just a note, the dates I refer to below are in the UK/European format of day/month/year.*

Week 1 Posts:

Sunday, 01/11/15

Nerd Church - I Understood That Reference

Monday, 02/11/15

Reviewing the Evidence (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Death Vigil (Vol #1) by Stjepan Šejić

Tuesday, 03/11/15

The Writer Diaries (Or, I Blog From the Heart, How 'Bout You?)

Wednesday, 04/11/15

Time to Review the Evidence (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Side-kicked by Berttholtz, Mendonca, and Dazo

Thursday, 05/11/15

Comics Wrap Up - Death and Side-kicks

Friday, 06/11/15

Friday Fics Fix! - The Ship That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Friday Fics Fix! - The Ship That Dare Not Speak Its Name

In case any of you need a little re-cap on the fangirl jargon, 'shipping' is wanting two characters to be together romantically - therefore, a 'ship' is the term used to describe this romantic relationship. Or, in other words, in fanfiction, everyone is having sex with everyone else in a mostly homosexual way.

There is one ship in particular though that I'm hesitant to name in polite company. Ships have names. I should mention this. Sometimes they even have more than one name. It's like one of those celebrity relationship names like Brangelina. So, for example, Captain America and Iron Man together are Stony (though this is sometimes referred to as Superhusbands or Superfamily, particularly in a domestic-type fic.) You get the picture.

So, what's wrong with the name of the ship I want to introduce to you? To put it plainly, it sounds filthy. It's a Marvel fandom. It involves a certain soldier and a certain agent (I can practically hear the Marvel girls giggling.) Those of an easily offended disposition, look away now (are they gone? good.) Yes, ladies and gentleman, the ship that I want to feature in this Friday's Fics Fix is Phucky; the ship name for the romantical pairing of Agent Phil Coulson and Bucky Barnes.

The queen (as far as I'm concerned) of Phucky is the brilliant CeliaEquus - who've I've featured in this post series before. In particular, I recommend Fics From the Phucky Archive as your ultimate guide to the ship/fandom in drabbles and shorts (that's short one-scene or one-part fics.) This includes a drabble entitled 'Shipping Names' that is half-way towards the fic-ception fics that I love. I haven't read all of the parts, so I'm going to say 18+ only, just in case.

Also worthy of highlight are The Curse of Empathy, The Boy From Ipanema, and Did You Say (which is actually set in a porn star Alternate Universe and is therefore very, very smutty - 18+ guys. I know you do what you want, but I tried.) To be honest, I could go on, and on, and on, but that's enough for the time being. Just a warning, pretty much everything in fanfiction in general (in case you haven't noticed yet,) is pretty damn weird, so even if I don't give it an 18+ rating, it's going to get freaking weird. And many men will kiss. Enjoy.