The Uncrowned King by Michelle West

Unlike The Broken Crown, The Uncrowned King is set almost entirely in Essalieyan, with barely any of the action in the Dominion. This, of course, means that Diora, marginally the main character of the first book, wasn’t in the second book of the series, aside from one passing mention. No, that was not a happy realization for me.

Replacing Diora is Valedan, a prince who has to prove himself worthy of being king in the middle of a House War. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say that Jewel replaced Diora as the main character, and Valedan took Jewel’s place as secondary lead. I’m assuming (hoping) Diora is back in the next book. I admit, I’m not quite sure what I think of Valedan, at least partly because I spent a lot of his sections going “but where’s Diora?” I suspect he’s being set up to be someone’s love interest, though I don’t know who.

I have to say, without the contrast of the oppressive (and almost depressing) Dominion, Essalieyan isn’t quite as fascinating a place, as it stands out a little more that it’s a fairly normal medieval fantasy kingdom. So far, this sounds fairly critical of the book, but really, I don’t feel critical about it, it’s just that the way it dropped the main plotline of the first book to focus exclusively on the secondary plotline was something of a shock.

I did, of course, love Jewel’s storyline, dealing with her minions Den (and Avandar, of course) and her role in the house war. I can’t quite decide if Avandar is her pet bull dog or her self-appointed babysitter. Maybe both. Kiriel’s story, with her learning more about what it is to be human, is very interesting, but I’m not quite sure what I think of her. I like her, but in many ways, she’s a typical fantasy heroine, while Diora and Jewel aren’t. Diora is an extremely traditionally female character, with all the traits usually used to make female characters in fantasy weak and disposable trophies instead used to make her a strong survivor. Jewel is a former street rat and thief turned noble, with an excellent, functional, and practical take on both the den mother and seer tropes. Kiriel...is a spirited young warrior girl with a destiny.

And now I realize that I’m not sure if the next book I have is book 3 or book 4.

Women in refrigerators strike back.

 (Ok, for anyone unfamiliar with "women in refrigerators," it refers to the tendency to off (or otherwise harm) women-usually girlfriends-so the heroes can angst and suffer, coined when Ron Marz had Green Lantern come home one day to find his girlfriend had been murdered and stuffed in the refrigerator for him to find.)

Anyway, via comments in a post of troubleinchina's, R.H. Milholland, creator of Something Positive, has a soon-to-be fridged woman objecting to the trend.  Strongly.

And in response to one of the finest and most casual cases of character butchering I have seen (thus killing the "I need to catch up on comics" urge that was building up) scans_dailyhas started an unofficial "When Jubilee Was Awesome" (read, "when they weren't having Jubilee casually betraying everything she ever stood for because it's the only way you can be cool and badass in superhero comics these days") week.

And for a bit of linkblogging not related to comics:

sartorias announced a prequel to Crown Duel.

webpetals posted on the Stargate: Continuum premiere.  No spoilers for the movie itself.

 ETA:  Also, has anyone read Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear?

The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip

When fifteen-year-old Peri’s father was lost at sea, her mother entered a sort of dream world, spending her time daydreaming about a kingdom beneath the sea, a kingdom Peri adamantly believes doesn’t exist. Soon after, an old woman of Peri’s village, who Peri went to for comfort disappeared, and Peri, heartbroken and unable to bear living with her mother anymore, moves into her house. Working as a chambermaid at the local in, she practices making hexes and throws them into the sea, hoping to curse the sea witch she blames for her hardships. 

( spoilers )

2008: Books read in June

( cut for length )

manga: Cardcaptor Sakura vol 1

Sakura: “Um, Um evil? Like stealing a snack? Or bending a flower? Or not doing homework? Staying up late…?”
Me: “Wow, I’m not used to Clamp characters being so cute and innocent and naïve!”

Of the people reading this LJ who are likely to ever read Cardcaptor Sakura, I’m likely the last one to get around to it. The setup for the series is pretty normal Magical Girl Shoujo: Sakura, a 4th grader, found a book in her father’s library. When she opened it, swirly magical lines came out, as did a small, winged thing named Kerberos that looks like a stuffed animal and speaks with a Kansai dialect. Kero tells Sakura that he’s the guardian of the Clow Cards, each of which, made by a powerful magician, has a magical entity sealed inside, but they caught him napping and they all escaped and are out wreaking havoc on the world. Since only someone with magic can open the book, Kero tricks talks Sakura into making a contract with him and becoming a Cardcaptor-a collector of the Clow cards. Naturally, all the escaped cards are lurking somewhere around her school.

Meanwhile, Sakura’s best friend, Tomoyo, knows her secret, so she creates all sorts of fancy dresses for Sakura to wear in battle, and videotapes her. Tomoyo is also extremely rich, and has a horde of female minions bodyguards. Tomoyo is Special. Sakura also have an older brother, Toya, who balances what looks to be an extreme and overprotective sister complex with nonstop torment. Which sounds about right for teenaged boys with much younger sisters. Sakura also has a crush on Toya’s best friend, Yuki (though I believe that’s short for Yukito) though that is clearly Doomed.

Obviously, this is set up for nonstop unadulterated cute, and the standard Magical Girl Shoujo Formula. Except, maybe I’m just brainwashed from all the xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle I’ve read the last year but I don’t care about either. I do rather embrace the unadulterated cute, though, even if I usually need the cute to be in the form of flashbacks of characters I’m used to as adults. Sakura and Tomoyo are both nicer than nice and sweeter than sweet, but don’t really come across as cloying or saccharine, and Tomoyo’s sheer insanity adds some interesting fun to the mix.

I must say, though…Sakura’s parents were 16 and 25 when they married? Well, I was warned that Clamp tries out pretty much every pairing type they can think of in this series.

I really wish, though, that they weren’t so overly fond of the swirly line approach to action. I’m not sure, but they may be worse at it here than they are in Tsubasa.

Also, even though I have, by default, absorbed a fair number of spoilers for this series, I’d rather not get more spoiled. 

(no subject)

 Somebody please confiscate my dark chocolate.

Thank you.

So, tell me...

Will Eisner's The Spirit, did he always have pheromones that "have been altered, causing mutual attraction between himself and any woman he meets."

Resulting in utterly fascinating and original scenes like this:

Miller showed a clip of The Spirit with Sarah Paulson's Ellen Dolan in an office. She comes on to him, telling him, "Keep the mask on. Something tells me it might be better that way."

Ellen tells the Spirit, "But we don't even know your real name."

To that he responds, "I'll tell you my real name," just as a Detective shows up with an new assignment and a heavily Baltimore-accented sexy assistant.

And there's one comic book movie scratched from the list.  I guess Miller decided that it'd been long enough since he begged for attention by instructing an artist to draw a close-up panties shot.