What Am I Reading Wednesday - February 15

What I Finished Reading This Week

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 3 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Volume one was cute and diverting. Volume two really started to align with my interests. And as for this, the third volume?

Oh. My. Yes. I AM SOLD ON THIS SERIES. Like, wow. There are books that execute tropes I don't like well. There are books that don't execute well tropes I do like. This book? Has tropes that I like, executed very well indeed, and yes. I AM SOLD. There is so much that works for me here.

The pacing and plot progression continue to remind me a lot of Sugiura Shiho (in fact, a lot about these books reminds me of Sugiura Shiho), where interactions between the characters slowly build on each other over time until even small details and minor shifts in how they relate to one another become Really Big Deals.

I particularly like this when the author trusts readers to identify what's going on without including narrative bells, whistles, and flashing neon signs to make sure that we all know that What Just Happened Is Really Important. MXTX doesn't belabor the point with this stuff, which means there's space for my mind to fill in the blanks. For instance, here's a character being grievously wounded: He might have heard someone screaming, or he might not; his ears were ringing, so he couldn't tell.That's far more effective than the standard "He heard himself screaming over and over, like an [insert bad metaphor here]. Is that really me? he thought. He felt his ears start to ring and saw with dawning horror that that his whole body was covered in blood" and blah blah blah. The lighter touch is much more horrific.

Or take this scene, where our main character, who's just regained consciousness after a vicious battle, realizes that everyone--but especially a specific individual--are in really great danger. ( Cut for spoilers. )

The whole series is slow burn done right. Moreover, ( cut for spoilers )

And then there are all the other tropes that I like: ( Read more... )

So, yup. This was pretty much everything I want out of my genre fiction and I am all over it. There will be fanfic.


What I Am Currently Reading

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 1 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
Have I mentioned that I really enjoyed this series? Because I did, enough to start an immediate reread of volume one after I finished the third.

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 4 – Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
I had zero intention of ever reading this gaiden volume. Then I started volume three, got to the midway point, and immediately bought this one so I could have it to read once I finished volume three. So far, MXTX has already preempted a bunch of my plotbunnies, but that's okay, because I'm having as much fun reading them as I would writing them myself.

Ariadne – Jennifer Saint
I have less than a quarter of the book to go; with any luck, I’ll have finished it by the weekend.

The Cuckoo’s Egg – Clifford Stoll
Still early days, but I'll concentrate more on this after I finish Strittmaier and/or Saint.

We Have Been Harmonized – Kai Strittmaier
Same observations as in previous weeks. Strittmaier is very good at encapsulating the point in a snappy turn of phrase and adroitly summarizing situations and developments. You just have to keep an eye out for all the weasel words he slips in.


What I’m Reading Next

This week I acquired Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 4 and Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.

これで以上です。