Mothstorm by Philip Reeve

This is the third (last?) of the Larklight books and it…I think it was technically as good as the others, but I didn’t find it quite as much fun? I think because the greatest strength of the first two (for me) was the fact that Myrtle is at her best when she’s ripped out of her safe, prudish world and forced to cope with the world outside of her box. Here, that doesn’t really happen so much as that worldview gets reinforced, though the results of that are hilarious.

For those unfamiliar with the series, it’s basically Victoriana in deep space, where mansions and pirate ships are spacecraft, people turn into trees, and top hats are mind control devices. Our main character are Arthur and Myrtle Mumby, almost stereotypes of the precocious boy and priggish young lady, and Jack Havock, a space pirate, and Myrtle’s beau. Arthur is our main narrator, but it switches to Myrtle for her adventures when they’re separated. Oh, and their mother is basically the god of our solar system, but that’s actually a fairly minor factor, for the most part.

The plot here involves a swarm of giant space moths invading our solar system with lizard-like amazons riding them. Oh, and a missionary to Georgium Sidus (Uranus, but that word is not used in polite society) who has gone missing.

The book is a blast, and while I liked all the reveals and resolutions, it just didn’t spark for me quite as much as the first two.

Camelot

You know, the bad parts of the first episode of Camelot stand out a lot more on rewatch. Or when watching with someone who usually shares your general views on fiction.

Having watched the second episode, I'm still curious enough about what they're doing with some things to keep watching despite the massive amounts of Fail (one scene in particular almost made me ditch it mid-episode), but kind of wonder if I would without an investment in the mythology. Also, I keep getting startled when Ygraine shows up, as opposed to disappearing as soon as she gave birth. I also think this is the only version I've encountered in which Kay actually has a mother. Usually, Ector apparently found him under a head of cabbage or something.

But mostly, I kind of want Morgan, Guenevere, and Ygraine to take over and ditch everyone else. Kay and Leontes can come, I suppose, as they're the only men I don't hate. But every scene they have, I become more and more baffled at how we're supposed to find this Arthur and Merlin appealing at all, much less root for them. Part of it is the actors-Fiennes just comes across as creepy and sleezy and self-righteous, and Bower has no gravitas whatsoever and comes across and a kid throwing a temper tantrum in most of his scenes-but it's also the writing, where there seems to just be the typical "oh, they're the male needs, so naturally they will automatically be liked" thing while they run around being generally self-centered and unlikable.