Books, TV

I’m trying to clean up my “reading” folder on the Kindle – books I’ve paid for but haven’t gotten to yet or, in several cases, books I started but haven’t finished for a bunch of reasons. This is separate, by the way, from the “to read” folder which is chock full of books I’ve gotten for free (107, to be exact) that I’m planning to read or will languish indefinitely because, yanno, FREE.

Yesterday I finished Laura Anne Gilman’s Hard Magic. I’ve had a hard time getting into Gilman’s other series books and this wasn’t much different. I’d started it on a couple of other occasions and then went away from it before I’d gotten more than a  third through it (twice).

It was a metric asston of worldbuilding and some character work (at least on the main character) and the explanation of method and practice of magic was painstaking to the point of near-painful. Alas, that’s pretty much all it felt like. In comparison, the plot which was supposedly the jumpstarter for the book felt stalled through much of it and then was seemingly resolved in a couple of pages which left me ultimately unsatisfied. 3/5 stars

I actually waited a day to write the review on this because I thought maybe I was harshing the story unnecessarily. To me it just felt unfinished. Maybe that’s the goal of writing a series? For me, it doesn’t work (which is maybe why I’ve had trouble with her other books). This was thrown into sharp relief by the book I read next.

Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep. To preface, I read the third book in the series first. Venom was a Kindle freebie and sounded up my alley, and I could have SWORN I actually reviewed it somewhere but I can’t find evidence to support that hypothesis. Venom was great – a solid introduction to a world the author clearly inhabited, nice worldbuilding, great characters, great story. It was a full and satisfying read and I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by not having read the first two books. How often can you say THAT?

This week I decided to correct the timeline and go back to read the first book. THIS is what solidified my opinion about the Gilman book. It’s the same thing as the third book: full and satisfying read. It’s a fantastic introduction to the narrative – though after reading the third book without context, it was just as good – and the characters all have serious motivations, real problems and consequences for their actions. On top of that, it was a fantastic plot. It’s more than that, though – just like the third book, it felt like the author stretched out, pushed the plot to all the edges, so that even though it’s part of a series it’s a worthwhile standalone read. 4/5 stars to both books

If you’re looking for a new series that’s got plenty of action and lots of convoluted intrigue, Estep’s Elemental Assassin series is what you’re looking for. I’ve got the second book on deck already.

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Unrelated, this week marked the series finale of Medium.

Spouse hates the show – hated the show – so I recorded it and watched it while he was doing other things. First of all, I can’t believe it was 7 seasons already. While I wouldn’t claim the writing was stellar or especially groundbreaking, it was consistently entertaining. Even the more preposterous episodes did SOMETHING to redeem them (not the least, Maria Lark as Bridgette DuBois). It was a mishmash of urban fantasy, mystery and crime procedural but it managed to make every episode heartfelt and enjoyable. While some of the plotlines were predictable, they frequently employed very convincing herrings and kept each episode a fun puzzle to watch. The finale was no different and I’m not going to lie, I cried like a baby. I’ll miss that show. Well done, writers.