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...and now coming to you on February 15, because it's just been one of those weeks.
What I Finished Reading This Week
Etiquette Guide to China — Boye Lafayette De Mente & Patrick Wallace
Generally, pretty good, although why Tuttle decided to put tone markings on precisely four pinyin words on one page and absolutely none of the others is an eternal mystery. The cultural information in the first 2/3 of the book is great. The "How to do business in China" chapters that make up the remainder are decidedly less so due to their contradictory and impracticable advice.
Ancillary Mercy — Ann Leckie And obviously, here be spoilers. You are warned.
Obviously, I love these books, and I like them more each time I read because having gotten the politics, factions, and characters down I can focus on the plotting and character development. AND THEY ARE BOTH SO GOOD.
First of all, Ancillary Mercy is in many ways the Presger Translator show and I LOVE the Presger Translators. Leckie did such a great job with this obviously alien intelligence (my personal headcanon is that speaking to a Presger Translator is what speaking to an octopus would be like). I just loved how weird and likable the Translators are. Of course, I now relate to them in an entirely new light post-Translation State; some of the mystery is gone but they are still just as good even now that I have more of an idea of what they are.
Leckie uses them to such great effect, too. Something insanely emotionally draining happens with Breq, or Seivarden, or Tisarwat and then boom! The Translator pops in and says something mindbendy or wildly inapropos and the tension bursts like a bubble. It's such a great device and Leckie employs it so naturally.
Breq is such a great unreliable narrator, both in relation to her own emotions and the emotions of others toward her. Page 148 and the chapters that follow it are just, guh. GUYS, THEY SPEAK TO MY ID IN SO MANY WAYS. Por ejemplo: Breq crying, and the reason we readers know about it is because she's like, "Oh, Kalr Five seemed really wooden, but I couldn't tell why. She came over and wiped my face and then we discussed routine business" and just, GUH. And then it happens again. And then Ship has to intervene: You've been crying for a straight hour and it's freaking everyone out pls stop thx."
And then Seivarden shows up in her underwear and is all, I don't even care if we never have sex ever just please let's cuddle. And Breq lets her AND THEN KEEPS LETTING HER FOR THE REST OF THE BOOK.
And just, that larger thrust of the passage where Breq is freaking out because everyone would have discarded an ancillary in that situation—she had discarded ancillaries in that situation—and everyone in her crew rallied to save not just her, but her leg, and she has to unlearn two thousand years of emotional dispassion to deal with the implications of all of this.
I love Seivarden's development arc in general. She's learning to not be an obvious shithead, and an oblivious shithead, and that things turn out better for her when she shows vulnerability. "I need to go to the gym. No, I need to go to medical." XDD And then a few pages later there's Breq, insisting that she doesn't need drugs and has never needed them to save face while letting Medic administer the drugs she very obviously needs.
I love Tisarwat getting to be the biggest badass. I love how everyone uses Anander's preconceptions about Tisarwat against her. Because, remember, Tisarwat's aptitudes put her into administration. I love how Tisarwat and the rest of the crew play up her "frivolous violet-eyed crybaby" reputation to keep putting one over on the tyrant.
I love Sphene and the glimpses we get into the psychology of early Ships, who weren't locked down to not love their captains or express differences of opinion with humans.
I love that Kalr Five's love (and disdain) language is tea bowls.
I love that Ekalu gets to be in a sexual relationship with Seivarden based on physical attraction and chemistry versus romantic dependency, and everyone is just fine with that. I love that she stands up and demands Seivarden respect her perspective and not be an oblivious shithead to her.
I love the parallelism between Breq, who started as many, became one, but acts to serve the wellbeing of others, with Anander, who started as one, became many, and acts to serve her very narrow interests.
I like Breq doesn't Save Everything in the end, but rather puts in motion a chain of events that will help society to get there as a group effort.
TL;DR—This is one of my favorite series. It just does so many things that I love, so well.
What I'm Currently Reading
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherworlds — Heather Fawcette
Still very cute.
Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie
Yup, finished the series and went right back into this one. Sometimes it's like that.
Provenance — Ann Leckie
Since I'm (re)rereading the base series, I figured I might as well go into the other in-universe novels.
The Last Good Man — Linda Nagata
I've stalled out on this one in favor of rereading Leckie.
All Boys Aren't Blue — George M. Johnson
I've been interested in reading this one ever since I read a NYT review of it shortly after it came out. So far, it's been worth the wait.
Elder Race — Adrian Tchaikovsky
I WILL finish this one this week, dammit.
What I'm Reading Next
This week I jettisoned a few books without acquiring any new ones, so that's a net win.
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
Etiquette Guide to China — Boye Lafayette De Mente & Patrick Wallace
Generally, pretty good, although why Tuttle decided to put tone markings on precisely four pinyin words on one page and absolutely none of the others is an eternal mystery. The cultural information in the first 2/3 of the book is great. The "How to do business in China" chapters that make up the remainder are decidedly less so due to their contradictory and impracticable advice.
Ancillary Mercy — Ann Leckie And obviously, here be spoilers. You are warned.
Obviously, I love these books, and I like them more each time I read because having gotten the politics, factions, and characters down I can focus on the plotting and character development. AND THEY ARE BOTH SO GOOD.
First of all, Ancillary Mercy is in many ways the Presger Translator show and I LOVE the Presger Translators. Leckie did such a great job with this obviously alien intelligence (my personal headcanon is that speaking to a Presger Translator is what speaking to an octopus would be like). I just loved how weird and likable the Translators are. Of course, I now relate to them in an entirely new light post-Translation State; some of the mystery is gone but they are still just as good even now that I have more of an idea of what they are.
Leckie uses them to such great effect, too. Something insanely emotionally draining happens with Breq, or Seivarden, or Tisarwat and then boom! The Translator pops in and says something mindbendy or wildly inapropos and the tension bursts like a bubble. It's such a great device and Leckie employs it so naturally.
Breq is such a great unreliable narrator, both in relation to her own emotions and the emotions of others toward her. Page 148 and the chapters that follow it are just, guh. GUYS, THEY SPEAK TO MY ID IN SO MANY WAYS. Por ejemplo: Breq crying, and the reason we readers know about it is because she's like, "Oh, Kalr Five seemed really wooden, but I couldn't tell why. She came over and wiped my face and then we discussed routine business" and just, GUH. And then it happens again. And then Ship has to intervene: You've been crying for a straight hour and it's freaking everyone out pls stop thx."
And then Seivarden shows up in her underwear and is all, I don't even care if we never have sex ever just please let's cuddle. And Breq lets her AND THEN KEEPS LETTING HER FOR THE REST OF THE BOOK.
And just, that larger thrust of the passage where Breq is freaking out because everyone would have discarded an ancillary in that situation—she had discarded ancillaries in that situation—and everyone in her crew rallied to save not just her, but her leg, and she has to unlearn two thousand years of emotional dispassion to deal with the implications of all of this.
I love Seivarden's development arc in general. She's learning to not be an obvious shithead, and an oblivious shithead, and that things turn out better for her when she shows vulnerability. "I need to go to the gym. No, I need to go to medical." XDD And then a few pages later there's Breq, insisting that she doesn't need drugs and has never needed them to save face while letting Medic administer the drugs she very obviously needs.
I love Tisarwat getting to be the biggest badass. I love how everyone uses Anander's preconceptions about Tisarwat against her. Because, remember, Tisarwat's aptitudes put her into administration. I love how Tisarwat and the rest of the crew play up her "frivolous violet-eyed crybaby" reputation to keep putting one over on the tyrant.
I love Sphene and the glimpses we get into the psychology of early Ships, who weren't locked down to not love their captains or express differences of opinion with humans.
I love that Kalr Five's love (and disdain) language is tea bowls.
I love that Ekalu gets to be in a sexual relationship with Seivarden based on physical attraction and chemistry versus romantic dependency, and everyone is just fine with that. I love that she stands up and demands Seivarden respect her perspective and not be an oblivious shithead to her.
I love the parallelism between Breq, who started as many, became one, but acts to serve the wellbeing of others, with Anander, who started as one, became many, and acts to serve her very narrow interests.
I like Breq doesn't Save Everything in the end, but rather puts in motion a chain of events that will help society to get there as a group effort.
TL;DR—This is one of my favorite series. It just does so many things that I love, so well.
What I'm Currently Reading
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherworlds — Heather Fawcette
Still very cute.
Ancillary Justice — Ann Leckie
Yup, finished the series and went right back into this one. Sometimes it's like that.
Provenance — Ann Leckie
Since I'm (re)rereading the base series, I figured I might as well go into the other in-universe novels.
The Last Good Man — Linda Nagata
I've stalled out on this one in favor of rereading Leckie.
All Boys Aren't Blue — George M. Johnson
I've been interested in reading this one ever since I read a NYT review of it shortly after it came out. So far, it's been worth the wait.
Elder Race — Adrian Tchaikovsky
I WILL finish this one this week, dammit.
What I'm Reading Next
This week I jettisoned a few books without acquiring any new ones, so that's a net win.
これで以上です。
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