Conversations - Book Series: Yay or Nay?

Conversations is a meme from Geraldine @ Corralling Books and Joan @ Fiddler Blue.

I just join in when I feel like it because I have a hare-brained way of approaching life XD

So, this week/fortnight/whatever-day-it-is we have the question of:

Book Series: Yay or Nay?

OK, I'm going to indulge my Bookish Rebel tendencies again, and just point out that as a community, we bookish-people WORRY ABOUT THIS WAY TOO MUCH.

Seriously, you all seem to have these rules about series - ranging from you HAVE to finish a series, to all of the books in the series  HAVE to be exactly the same size and in corresponding covers or you will all freak the hell out!!!!!!

Meanwhile, I'm in the corner, like: 'Can I get anyone a cuppa? ...Or a chill pill?'

People I bug on the Internet have discussions with may already know this, but I read a lot of series out of order.

And for this I-do-what-I-want!!!!! and don't give it a second thought attitude, I blame several factors:

• The fact that I will quote Loki and/or Loki memes WHENEVER POSSIBLE

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• My hippie-ish upbringing - I've heard 'go with the flow' since I was too teeny-tiny to know what the eff it meant.

• Reading a sh** load of comics - seriously, ain't no-one got the time, money, or will-power to read through all 50+ years of major Marvel and DC canon. And even if you do, it's still not gonna make all that much sense. (Earth-616. Spider-Ham. That is all.)

• Being a major library/second-hand-store reader, you tend to pick a lot of stuff up that's mid-series, often by accident. After a while, you barely notice any more.

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• Fanfiction has warped my brain. I no longer require long explanations for anything. You wanna have a world where everyone is a talking banana? WHY THE HELL NOT????? (*Laughs hysterically*)

• Most of the time the author will stick a bunch of reminders into the latest volume of the series, because we all have the memories of book-amnesiac goldfish.

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That all said, I seem to have meandered off-topic (which is totally not like me *snorts sarcastically*)

Right, the point, which I'm sure I had somewhere towards the beginning... but, then again, maybe not... is that we stress too much about series.

So, are series better, or are standalones?

Well kids, let me let you in on a little secret - there is no 'better.' There's only things that you enjoy and/or connect with, and things that you don't.

The difference isn't in whether the story is split into one part or one hundred.

The difference is you.

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What do you think? Am I making sense? Or am I talking complete cr*p? (Wouldn't be the first time.)

Do you think it's more about the story than the number of instalments? Or does that matter more to you?

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Friday Fics Fix - Meet Cute/Meet Awkward

Something sweet and awkward and rom-com-y for you this week. (And it's FrostIron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

(Fangirl reminder: FrostIron is where Tony and Loki have a little something romantic and/or sexy going on.

It's one of my OTPs (One True Pairing - and yes, there can be more than one. Because fangirl logic.) & I will defend it to the death!!!!!!!!)

In all fairness to me, I haven't rec'd FrostIron for a while.

I've been recommending fanfiction from other fandoms like a good little bookish rebel. So I think I deserve a li'l FrostIron XD

Which is good news because I love Loki, and I love Tony, and the two of them together would just be uber-perfect and...

(Obssessed????? Me????? Uh... LOOK A SQUIRREL! *runs away*)

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What really impressed me about this week's fic though was the attempts to portray Loki - fairly and realistically - as being on the autistic spectrum.

To be honest, I would've loved it if this was addressed more in the fic itself, instead of being explained in the fic-author's notes - but the fact that someone's tried this with such honesty and good-will is fab.

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This week's fic is:

Being the Short Account of Tony Getting His First (Real) Boyfriend at MIT by FelicityGS


It's set in a College/Modern AU (Alternate Universe) - and reminded me a lot of contemporary YA. Basically, it's really sweet, but with a great level of awkward and realistic to set it all off :)




Does anyone else know of any good fics featuring characters on the autistic spectrum?





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Comics Wrap Up - If You Change Your Mind, You Know Where I Am

Graphic Novels

This week I reviewed the fantabulous, amazing, OH SO FREAKING AWESOME Monstress, Vol 1: The Awakening (UK - US)

IT'S A FANTASTIC BOOK!!!!!!

You can see my review for Monstress here.








Other Stuff

On Saturday, I reviewed the kids tie-in novel Thor: Dueling With Giants by Keith R A DeCandido (UK - US)

And you can see my review of that here.

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Jessica @ Rabid Reads also reviewed the awesome Monstress, Vol 1 - check out her review here.

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Kory Cerjak at Panels wrote a pretty decent list of 'The Best Comics of January-June 2016.'

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Allen Thomas, also at Panels, wrote an excellent post about the need to increase diversity in comics.

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In #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend news:

You can vote for Stucky as the Ship of the Year for the MTV Fandom awards. I think that'd be an awesome way of showing Marvel where the heart of the fans is.

Unfortunately, the Civil War porn parody has decided to spam the hashtag with explicit pics.

As I've said before, I don't have a problem with porn as long as it's safe, sane, consensual, and non-exploitative, but as far as I'm concerned it doesn't have a place on this hashtag.

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The new Iron Man is a 15-year-old black girl!

While this rocks, (out loud!) it does beg the question, can we still keep calling her Iron Man?

Apparently so, but I agree with the fan who pointed out the missed opportunity to call her Iron Maiden. (In the tweets at the bottom of the linked article.) Because that's just great :)

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• Review Time! - Thor: Dueling With Giants by Keith R A DeCandido
• Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
• Comics Wrap Up - What's That Coming Over The Hill?

The Panic! At The Disco Book Tag

This tag was created by Liv @ Curly Hair Bibliophile.

The lovely Sierra @ The Nerdgirl Review tagged me - love ya!

I've added YouTube vids. of the songs, and links to where you can purchase them on Amazon (I'm an Amazon associate) - because I've got an excuse to chuck Panic! music at you, and I'm gonna use it!

(And I'm going to see them live in November and complete my pilgrimage to each member of the Holy Emo Trinity! Squee!!!!!!!)

So join me as I relive my misspent youth, and weasel out of giving direct answers (I'd be one heck of a politician.)

1. I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

Amazon: UK - US

A book you didn't understand/finish

Possession by A S Byatt. It's not often that I permanently DNF a book, but I attempted it twice or three times, and lost the will to go on.

2. Northern Downpour

Amazon: UK - US

A book that made you cry

Books rarely make me cry because I'm a stone-cold hard-a*s rarely moved to tears by anything. I cry more when I'm angry then when I'm sad - strange but true. Except when my depression's bad... then I cry at everything.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (UK - US) though... that made me tear up, more than once. And Mojo, from Swan Boy by Nikki Sheehan (UK - US,) came pretty damned close.

(You can read my review of Swan Boy here.)

3. This is Gospel

Amazon: UK - US

A book that made your heart pound/suspenseful

Probably Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (UK - US) and The Stand by Stephen King (UK - US.)

(Although, in the case of The Stand, it may've been from exertion rather than anything else - that ferociously long b*****d is over one thousand pages in length. I sh** you not.)

4. Memories

Amazon: UK - US

A book you attach with a memory

Nothing particularly special about this book, but The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice (UK - US) for reasons.

I owe a lot to that book.

5. Sarah Smiles

Amazon: UK - US

Your favourite love story

Ergh, I'm not big on the love stories... maybe The Invisibles by Francis Gideon (UK - US) ...? Just because it was so incredibly sweet but not in a 'ugh, I'm gonna throw up' kind of way.

(You can check out my review of The Invisibles here.)

6. Victorious

Amazon UK - US

A book with the best battle

Hmm... depends what counts as a battle I suppose. I'm not all that bothered about big battle scenes - they tend to get boring!

Plus, there tends to be a bunch of geography and descriptions of relative positions... and we suspected dyscalculics can't be imagining that cr*p. 

7. Girls/Girls/Boys

Amazon: UK - US

A book with your favorite LGBT+ character

Oh man, there are so many LGBTQ+ characters that I love to death (metaphorically, of course.)

But this honour has to go to one of my first vampire-loves, the wonderful Lestat de Lioncourt from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. 

(Who was played awesomely by Tom Cruise in the film version of Interview With The Vampire (UK-US))

8. Emperor's New Clothes

Amazon: UK - US

A book with a good cover change.

I honestly don't know - there are numerous cover changes, after all, and we have different covers here in the UK a lot of the time anyway.

9. LA Devotee

Amazon: UK - US

A fictional place you want to live in

Narnia, totally Narnia.

But hell, I wouldn't say no to Hogwarts!

9. Miss Jackson

Amazon: UK - US

Your favourite female protagonist

Urgh! So many!

I refuse to commit to my all-time favourite, but at the moment I'm loving Nina from Nina Is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi (UK)

I'll be reviewing Nina Is Not OK towards the end of the month so keep an eye out!

I tag... Emma @ The Book Crunch and Olivia @ Olivia's Catastrophe - you don't have to do it if you don't want to!

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Mini-Review! - Panic by Lauren Oliver

Title: Panic

Author: Lauren Oliver

Genre: YA, Contemporary

Amazon: UK - USA

Verdict:

Ahhh summers as a teen. Long lazy days of such wholesome activities as... walking across a main road blindfolded and... playing Russian roulette.

No? Yeah, me neither. But in the no-hope town of Carp, New York, this is what summer means to the high school's graduating class.

Every year, the seniors play Panic. A game where people get hurt.

Why take the risk? Because the prize is enough money to get the hell out of Carp - and that's what most of these kids want.

This book was a) well-written, b) full of complex characters and real life problems and c) generally awesome.

BUT DO NOT TAKE THESE CHARACTERS AS ROLE MODELS.

THE DECISIONS ARE SOOOO BAD! BAD DECISIONS EVERYWHERE!!!!!!

That said, the decisions, despite their stupidity, are realistic ones. You can see desperate teens doing these things, just because they feel so trapped.

I liked our protagonists - there's a duel point of view from seniors Heather and Dodge - but I so wanted to scream at them to NOT DO THE THING.

But this is an awesomely readable book - it may be a cliché, but it really was a page-turner.

I also loved the realism here - not gritty for the sake of it, but most definitely not sugar-coated either.

Oh, there's some swearing, a dash of violence, and references to sexy-times, but nothing your average teenager can't handle!

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

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Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening

Title: Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening

Author: Marjorie M Liu

Artist: Sana Takeda

Genre: Graphic Novel, Fantasy

Series: Monstress (#1-6)

Release Date: 19 July

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via Edelweiss. Edelweiss provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

I'd heard a little about this series, and saw the cover and was like: oh, I'll try that.

AND OH MY GOD IT'S SO GOOD!!!!!!!

Premise:

In a matriarchal alternate-1900s-Asia, there are the humans (including the witches,) and there are the Arcanics. (Which hopefully I've spelt right.)

They don't like each other very much.

Maika Halfwolf is an Arcanic... and maybe something a little more.

And between the crazy-a*s witch-nuns, the broody isolationist Arcanic upper-classes, the Arcanic slave camps, and the thing that keeps literally coming out of her, Maika is facing just a few challenges...

Best bits:

OH MY GOD THE AWESOMENESS OF THIS BOOK!!!!!!

Ok, let me explain: this is an intricate art-deco inspired fantasy world with TALKING CATS and monsters.

The artwork is beautiful, the characters are complex, the plot is poignant.

And the little fox-girl is the most adorable freaking thing and I want to rescue her and hug her and adopt her as my little fox-daughter...

(Sorry. My fangirl is showing.)

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In all seriousness though - this book is incredible. Rich and detailed doesn't even begin to explain it to you.

Just trust me, if you like fantasy and/or graphic novels, then you need to read this book.

The depth of this fantasy world, it's history, it's people, is stunning.

And Maika, as a flawed but undoubtedly butt-kicking protagonist, is incredible. I love her.

Everything is exceptionally intricate - down to the detailing on Maika's prosthetic arm. Honestly, the intricacy is... breath-taking. That's the only way to describe it.

Not so great bits:

This book is all about the violence. And the gore. And children being brutally killed.

So yeah, a heads-up on that one.

Oh and there's swearing, and some brief nudity... which I'm guessing won't bother you if the violence doesn't.

Other than that? Honestly? Can't think of anything bad to say about this book. I'm not kidding. It's THAT good.

Verdict:

This book is... wow. Just wow.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Marjorie Liu's Site

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Nerd Church - We Are All People

I wish this wasn't a post I had to keep writing. Because I have written it. I have written it again and again.

Until things are better, while there is still so very clearly a need for it, I will write these posts speaking out against hatred.

I guess it's just the sort of person I am (can't keep my mouth shut for two minutes, me.)

Let me tell you something that you should've been told by now:

We are all people!

Regardless of race, nationality, sexuality, religion, or any other thing you care to name, WE ARE ALL PEOPLE.

Sure, we have differences; but differences are awesome! It's what makes life so intricate and beautiful. Why can't everyone see that?

Now, I'm not American - the very fact that so many police officers are armed out there in the US is extremely weird to me, because most police officers in the UK aren't armed; probably because there aren't actually all that many guns in public hands either.





The thought that someone can be shot and killed by someone who is supposed to be protecting them (that's what the police are there for, isn't it?) is both bewildering and disgusting to me.

The fact that people's skin colour makes them a target actually makes me feel physically ill.

But hate is not just a US problem. The amount of hate we've seen in the UK since the EU referendum is truly sickening.

People are regularly facing racial abuse on the streets. A Polish family in Plymouth have faced arson.





IT'S NOT RIGHT. WE ARE ALL PEOPLE.

I would've thought that that was obvious, but apparently not to everyone, so I'll keep saying it, until the day when I don't have to say it any more.

Who knows? Maybe that day will actually come... someday.




Nerd Church is a weekly post where I attempt to make the world fall into line by talking about 'issues.' If you liked this post, I'd be uber-happy if you shared it.





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