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[personal profile] renay
I love space adventure. I love found families. When the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy dropped, it wasn't the fact it was a Marvel property that drew me in (like Iron Man and Captain America before it, I didn't even realize it was a thing), but the temptation of a story about a ragtag group of complicated individuals forming a team in space. Some of my favorite science fiction heavily features this trope: Stargate Atlantis (although I like the team dynamic better in SG-1), Firefly, The Expanse, hell, if we count one shots then there's a reason that Event Horizon, The Core, and Armageddon feature so high at the top of my list of SF films, and it isn't the rigorous science. When I found out that the script was written by Nicole Perlman, going into Guardians of the Galaxy I had high expectations for both the space adventure and the found families part. Those two elements delivered, even if space adventure and misogyhumor took precedence over found families in the end.



Plenty of other people have tackled the more sexist and nonsensical elements of the film that tossed them directly out the narrative airlock. It feels a little useless to add my voice to the pile, because the film is doing well (I'm glad it's doing well! please no more Transformers films! adapt something else!) and because it's doing well we could likely talk about these issues until we're blue in the face to unbothered shrugs from Marvel Studios. It's not that different from their constant shrugging over what the first female-led superhero film is going to be, maybe with an eye roll (none, ever, they're never doing one, not one, it's never going to happen, I am cynical and jaded and have no hope left). Whatever, it's my space adventure party, I'll cry if I want to. Read more... )
renay: photo of the milky way from new zealand on a clear night (Default)
[personal profile] renay
cover and metadata )

I have a serious thing for companion animals stories. I still love His Dark Materials (and all associated AU fanfic), Zoo City was amazing, and Temeraire meets the qualifications even if I tend to prefer the non-fantasy animal side of things most of the time. This book should have been right up my alley! Bioengineered humans and animals connected via mental link! A pleasure planet created before a war tore apart an entire space-faring civilization. A planet that's lost to history! The technology that made the planet so palatable to people who wanted to challenge themselves by experiencing "serious" wilderness adventures destroyed! Until someone finds it.

I should have loved this book. Disappointed. :( Read more... )
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[personal profile] bookgazing
red book cover showing a black silhouette illustration of a rearing horse - a curlicue design is placed over the top of the horse and if you look closely the swirls create the outline of a heart


He jerks his head towards me so fast that I have an iron rod out of my pocket before he's finished his turn. But he wasn't attacking, merely moving to study me with his good eye.

I trust Corr more than any of them.

I should not trust him at all.

His neck is soft, though the skin around his eyes is tight, so into the surf we go. I let me breath out in a rush as the cold water creeps up my ankles. And then we stand there, and I watch him again, seeing what effect the magic eddying around his ankles has. He shivers but doesn't tense; we have done this before and the month is young. I cup a handful of salt water and tip it on to his shoulder, my lips pressed against his skin, whispering. Still he stands. So I stand with him and let the gritty surf work on my tired feet.


"Did you ever wonder…" Holly says, after a pause. "No, perhaps you don't. Perhaps you know. If anyone knows, you do. I've been wondering as I've been here, why it is that Thisby has the capaill uisce and no one else does?"

"Because we love them."


Why do I read? Well, there's an answer I would give if I thought I could trust it to be handled carefully. Can I trust you, readers? Let's take a leap and believe for a second that I can. Why do I read? Why do I spend so much time taking in media and then turning it over in my mind? Well, I am looking for a feeling.

Contains many spoilers about the book's plot and series one of Hannibal )

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