Super Gals! Season 2, eps 12-16

Every once in a while, I remember that, for all that this is mostly a light and funny and girly and girl!friendship power show, it certainly does like to pile on the angst from time to time.

( but I won't dwell on the angst much )

Super Gals! Season 2, eps 12-16

Every once in a while, I remember that, for all that this is mostly a light and funny and girly and girl!friendship power show, it certainly does like to pile on the angst from time to time.

( but I won't dwell on the angst much )

Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce

Hannah has always lived in the Tanglewood, a place where nothing ever changes, in service to her master, a magician who requires her to make a draught for him from the flowers that grow in her hair. Though she reaches out to the peasants who come to her for aid and tells them she doesn’t need their offerings, her approaches are always fearfully rejected. Hannah doesn’t begin to understand why this is until one day she realizes that though she herself remains unchanged, an elderly woman was once a young girl who came to her for aid, many years ago.

Meanwhile, many knights have come to the Tanglewood to fight a giant golden boar who lives there, and win his treasure. All the knights die and one day, she speaks to one of the knights, who tells her that he, and the others, are on a quest to reclaim their queen’s treasure from the boar. Later she finds him wounded and tends to the knight, who she names Foxkith after learning he has no memories, neglecting her master in the process Eventually, she defends Foxkith against her master, causing her to be ejected from her home, beginning a quest to learn both Foxkith’s past, and her own origins, constantly changing as she goes.

I found this book to be a lot like Patricia McKillip’s The Book of Atrix Wolfe, in terms of my response to it: it kept me reading and has everything for me to love it, and I vastly enjoyed it as I was reading, but I didn’t retain a lot of it. It is a good book, though, and I think I’ll hunt down more of Pierce’s books. Also, if you read it, pay a lot of attention to Hannah’s hair.

Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood by Meredith Ann Pierce

Hannah has always lived in the Tanglewood, a place where nothing ever changes, in service to her master, a magician who requires her to make a draught for him from the flowers that grow in her hair. Though she reaches out to the peasants who come to her for aid and tells them she doesn’t need their offerings, her approaches are always fearfully rejected. Hannah doesn’t begin to understand why this is until one day she realizes that though she herself remains unchanged, an elderly woman was once a young girl who came to her for aid, many years ago.

Meanwhile, many knights have come to the Tanglewood to fight a giant golden boar who lives there, and win his treasure. All the knights die and one day, she speaks to one of the knights, who tells her that he, and the others, are on a quest to reclaim their queen’s treasure from the boar. Later she finds him wounded and tends to the knight, who she names Foxkith after learning he has no memories, neglecting her master in the process Eventually, she defends Foxkith against her master, causing her to be ejected from her home, beginning a quest to learn both Foxkith’s past, and her own origins, constantly changing as she goes.

I found this book to be a lot like Patricia McKillip’s The Book of Atrix Wolfe, in terms of my response to it: it kept me reading and has everything for me to love it, and I vastly enjoyed it as I was reading, but I didn’t retain a lot of it. It is a good book, though, and I think I’ll hunt down more of Pierce’s books. Also, if you read it, pay a lot of attention to Hannah’s hair.

Cantarella Vol 9

Ok, seriously, is anyone in this AU NOT in love with their sibling?

( it's all going to end in a giant ball of angst, i can feel it )

 

Cantarella Vol 9

Ok, seriously, is anyone in this AU NOT in love with their sibling?

( it's all going to end in a giant ball of angst, i can feel it )

 

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson

The Mouse Guard graphic novel series, of which this is the first, is based on the fairly simple(and, I admit, not completely original) idea that mice have formed their own civilization. In this case, the mice live in isolated cities very similar to those of human cities in medieval Europe, with a group of warriors called the Mouse Guard creating trails and providing protection between cities. When three members of the Mouse Guard-Lieam, Kenzie, and Saxon-are sent out to find a merchant who went missing between cities, they learn he was part of a planned rebellion against their queen, Gwendolyn, and go to find out who’s behind the rebellion, and try to cut it down before it can get going. Meanwhile, another guard, Sadie, goes to look for a fellow guard who hasn’t been heard from in some time, and also learns of the plot and rushes back to the capital, Lockhaven, to warn Gwendolyn.

This is, I think, very much a YMMV book. While the overall plot, right down to the discovery of a legendary hero and the final battle, are typical fantasy fare, the application of the story to graphical form, including changing the dangers to things that we view as dangerous, but avoidable, and certainly not catastrophic, to the equivalents of monsters and dragons. Then there’s the art. On the one hand, it’s detailed and rather pretty, and sets the tone quite well. On the other, Petersen can’t help but draw his characters as being exceptionally cute. Even when Kenzie is being wise and thoughtful, Saxon is being bloodthirsty, the characters are fighting other mice, snakes, crabs, and other life threatening things…THEY’RE JUST CUTE!!! It depends on whether or not your reaction to "OMG! Cute!" + "DANGER!"= "cute but gripping," or whether it keeps you from taking the danger too seriously.

For me, it worked well and I very much liked it. I hesitate, though, to blindly recommend it. Not due to a lack of quality, but because of whether or not the approach will pull you in, or throw you out.

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 by David Peterson

The Mouse Guard graphic novel series, of which this is the first, is based on the fairly simple(and, I admit, not completely original) idea that mice have formed their own civilization. In this case, the mice live in isolated cities very similar to those of human cities in medieval Europe, with a group of warriors called the Mouse Guard creating trails and providing protection between cities. When three members of the Mouse Guard-Lieam, Kenzie, and Saxon-are sent out to find a merchant who went missing between cities, they learn he was part of a planned rebellion against their queen, Gwendolyn, and go to find out who’s behind the rebellion, and try to cut it down before it can get going. Meanwhile, another guard, Sadie, goes to look for a fellow guard who hasn’t been heard from in some time, and also learns of the plot and rushes back to the capital, Lockhaven, to warn Gwendolyn.

This is, I think, very much a YMMV book. While the overall plot, right down to the discovery of a legendary hero and the final battle, are typical fantasy fare, the application of the story to graphical form, including changing the dangers to things that we view as dangerous, but avoidable, and certainly not catastrophic, to the equivalents of monsters and dragons. Then there’s the art. On the one hand, it’s detailed and rather pretty, and sets the tone quite well. On the other, Petersen can’t help but draw his characters as being exceptionally cute. Even when Kenzie is being wise and thoughtful, Saxon is being bloodthirsty, the characters are fighting other mice, snakes, crabs, and other life threatening things…THEY’RE JUST CUTE!!! It depends on whether or not your reaction to "OMG! Cute!" + "DANGER!"= "cute but gripping," or whether it keeps you from taking the danger too seriously.

For me, it worked well and I very much liked it. I hesitate, though, to blindly recommend it. Not due to a lack of quality, but because of whether or not the approach will pull you in, or throw you out.