Octavian Nothing: Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves by M. T. Anderson

Like the first book, I think that this is best read knowing as little as possible about the plot. Hence, no spoiler cut. I know you’ll click. (I really recommend not even looking at the cover if you haven’t read the first book.)

This duology (really a giant novel in two parts) is a version of the American Revolution unlike anything else I’m aware of, both in its approach and its protagonist. Told in a variety of ways-first person narrative, diary entries, letters, and official reports, all reminiscent of the style of the time, but easily accessible to contemporary readers-it presents many sides and stances regarding the war, but rarely the most common one, and successfully recreates the familiar time and setting into something new and unfamiliar, but still very true.

manga: Shinobi Life Vol 3

Does this still have a plot? I think it got lost amidst the shameless fanservice for time crossed romance and every bodyguard/princess kink and trope ever. Sometimes, I want a checklist. In the “Yes, that was cute the way you worked trope #365 in there. Let me wipe that bit of chocolate off your face, you cute wee thing you.” way.

This is the “ZOMG! Angsty reasons we can’t be together!” edition.

However!

( spoiler )

Home and Exile by Chinua Achebe

Based on lectures given by Achebe in 1998, Home and Exile is a collection of three essays about Nigeria and colonialism. Gracious even when tearing into those he perceives* to misrepresent Nigeria, Achebe intricately examines both colonial and anti-colonial writings about Nigeria and the European perspective of it.

It’s noteworthy, though, that while Achebe far more than adequately addresses these issues regarding Nigerian men, I don’t believe Nigerian women are mentioned at all. In fact, while many men are mentioned on both sides of the issue, women are barely mentioned at all, and when they are, they represent colonialism, whether real women like Elspeth Huxley, or in allegories in which they’re cogs in the great machine that is colonialism.

But that’s a quibble, as Achebe’s goal is to address Nigeria and colonialism, and he does that well.

*I say “perceives” not because I have any doubts about his interpretation, but because I’m not familiar with many of the books and arguments mentioned, and so can’t actually have an opinion of them myself, though I agree regarding the ones I am familiar with.

manhwa: Shaman Warrior Vol 8

Oh my, there’s really only one volume left? I can’t imagine how Park Joong-Ki could manage to wrap this up, given that things only just seem to be getting started, in only one volume. Unless rocks fall, and everybody dies. Which, come to think of it, might not be a stretch for this series.

( spoilers )

The Conch Bearer by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Anand’s family lived a happily middle-class life until his father disappeared and his sister became mute with shock after witnessing a violent death. Now he, his mother and his sister live in poverty in Kolkata, and Anand has had to drop out of school and take a job with a mean stall owner to make ends meet. But then he gives his last food to an old man, and along with a street girl, he’s drawn into a war between a secret brotherhood and an their supernatural enemy.

The book follows the Heroic Boy’s Quest Template as closely as it possibly can, but brings modern India* and mythology to life very well. It’s painfully predictable for an adult used to quest stories, but is probably just the thing for kids.

That said, despite the criticism of predictability, which is primarily based on my being over twice the target age, my only real criticism is the ending, which certainly isn’t predictable, but also makes no sense.

( spoilers )

This may be why adults should be careful of what children’s fiction they read?

*According to the author bio, Divakaruni lives in Houston, or did in 2003, at least. If the Texan kids she knows are anything at all like the Texan kids I knew 20 years ago (or know now), then just the setting could make it the most original thing they’ve ever read.

Starcross by Philip Reeve

You know, if more boys’ adventure stories were about Victorians in space with bossy, propriety-obsessed sisters in love with space pirates turned spies, I might read more of them. But scifi-for-kids supposedly doesn’t sell. Just like Asian fantasy and adventures starring teenaged girls, because only boys read adventure stories, and boys won’t read about girls.

Written in what I can only call a hilarious satire of the writing of the time, and including footnotes that are often long and possibly irreverent, this is the second of Reeve’s books about the spacefaring Victorian, Art Mumby, his stuffy sister, Myrtle, and Myrtle’s sometime-Suitor, Jack Havock, former space pirate. Invited to Starcross, hailed as the best sea-side resort on the asteroid belt, the Mumbys arrive only to find themselves caught up in spies, planned revolutions, time travel, and mindaltering hats.

There’s an extreme colonial mindset to many of the characters, but I honestly can’t glean Reeve’s own thoughts on colonialism from the books, thanks to the absurdities of the delivery. Reeve isn’t really concerned as much with careful explanations of how Victorians ended up with houses that fly through space and space travel altering history as he is with the fact that Victorians have houses that fly through space. When Reeve does explain things, it’s so out there that you have to wonder if Art just made it up off the top of his head.

There are plenty of “ZOMG! Plot developments!” and I rather wonder if some will stick. Art’s voice is surprisingly engaging given that he’s essentially written as an annoying kid brother, and Myrtle continues to thrive when taken out of her properly ordered comfort zone. Jack, I admit, still rather baffles me, and I keep thinking he needs to get his act together soon. And French spies and millennia-old Victorian mothers are awesome.

And now I will stop spamming (even for me) for today.  (Trying to post on all my reading for the year by the actual end of the year.)