Our Favourite Media of November 2019

[helloladies]

Each month, we look back over the media we loved in the previous month, from books to film to video games and more.

KJ

Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan — The Lady Trent series has been one of my very favorites of the last few years, so I was eager to dive back into her world via the adventures of her granddaughter, Audrey Camhearst. Audrey has followed in her grandfather's footsteps as a philologist, so when she is asked to translate the archaeological find of the century -- a series of tablets that appear to be an epic of the ancient Draconians -- she jumps at the chance, despite a number of red flags on the situation. The story of what happens next blends a whole lot of my favorite things: political intrigue, the challenges of translating ancient folklore while learning about a new cultural context, people of different backgrounds and with competing interests figuring out how to work together as a team, multiple female characters to love and hate (in the latter case, because she was a terrible person, but a fascinating terrible person). It's an epistolary narrative, which doesn't always work for me, but in this case I found it an effective way to get multiple points of view on what was going on. And it also goes well with the main series, which was written in the style of a memoir.

So if you read and loved the Lady Trent books, absolutely read this. If you read them and didn't love them, I'd still say maybe -- the style is different, the context is different, and Audrey is quite distinct from her grandmother Isabella, even though they are both scholars. If you haven't read them, I'd say this book has enough context to make it work, but there are major spoilers, especially for the final book in the series, so be aware of that.

Knives Out directed by Rian Johnson — A gothic murder mystery about a disfunctional family and the realities of class warfare with an all-star cast and a super-smart script. I knew from the day the trailer came out that I would have to see this in the theater on opening weekend, and I'm so glad I did. If you even remotely think this movie will be your kind of thing, then you're almost certainly right. I'm going to stop here because anything more would require spoilers, but if you're looking for a quality spoiler-filled review, I recommend checking out Jenny's comments over at Reading the End.

Susan

Knives Out directed by Rian Johnson — Came for the sweary Agatha Christie vibes, stayed for the unexpected political commentary! Knives Out (which I capslocked about gleefully) is a mystery about the death of a famous crime writer, while he's surrounded by his Awful, No Good, Very Bad Family. It's brilliant; it digs into the class aspects more thoughtfully than I expected, and someone involved in it really loved mystery tropes. It's great.

Promare by Studio Trigger — I've already talked about Promare, but it's so good. The aesthetic and soundtrack are beautiful, and yes, I AM all about that pastel-neon colour pallet. It uses a standard shonen anime plot as scaffolding for all the weird nonsense that I'd expect from the people who made Gurren Lagann, and it works. It's a two hour movie that feels like it takes no time at all, and I loved it.

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and Yuko Uramoto — The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up is such a kind book. It explains decluttering and tidying in a really accessible way, and with such understanding that reclaiming your home is hard and comes with a lot of emotions! I spent most of last month trying to excavate my home (I know, perfect timing for an ARC to come through!) and even though I didn't take all of the advice, it was just comforting. ... So I guess now I read her other books, right?