knight_tracer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
knight_tracer) wrote2017-08-26 04:46 pm
knight_tracer) wrote2017-08-26 04:46 pm
Entry tags:
Recs
Hi! So, I have been in Japan for a WHOLE month! It was amazing but very exhausting. I didn't read or listen to things anywhere near as much as I thought I would, mostly because any free moment of time was spent flat out sleeping. However, there were a few things I did read/listen to that I would like to share.
Podcast
The Twenty Percent True Podcast by Carolyn Rahaman.
Season 1 is called 'Modern Monsters' and is complete. These are essentially short stories, read by the author, about 'monsters' like mermaids, vampires, gargoyles, etc, and the modern world. They are all intensely imaginative and beautifully drawn. Some are upsetting (the author warns at the beginning of the episode), some are funny, and some are deeply thought prevoking, and all are impeccably written. My favourite is The Roommate about a tired grad student meeting a Vampire for a roommate interview. I would read 1000000000K about these two and their roommate shenanigans (*cough* romance *cough*).
Podfic
Wizarding by consent by![[archiveofourown.org profile]](https://p.dreamwidth.org/b164c54b26e4/-/archiveofourown.org/favicon.ico)
Lazulus written by sixthlight - Rivers of London - Peter Grant/Thomas Nightingale - 5 hours 45 minutes
Fifteen years after a headless body was discovered in Covent Garden, Thomas Nightingale is still the last wizard in Britain, and Peter Grant, the newly appointed Commander for Community Engagement in the Metropolitan Police Service, has just learned the truth about the existence of the Folly.
He has one or two questions.
This podfic is super awesome. The story completely spins the established dynamics from the books, and this gives the podfic an opportunity to do such fun things with the characters voices. Nightingale is so long suffering and hilarious, but his affection still shines through. The way he calls Peter 'Commander' is nominally a sign of respect, but within the narration, it highlights it as a slightly inside joke and an insult. I love how the listener gets to see a little bit of his pettiness. Nightingale is outside his comfort zone and doesn't have the comforting veil of authority he has in the books to cover up how upsetting he finds change.Lazulus does a great job showing the slow build of the relationship and how Nightingale changes over time. Peter, even as a 40-ish police Commander, is still an enthusiastic magic/science puppy, I love how the tone of the dialogue can switch so effectively between Peter being serious and him being adorkable.
The side characters are also done particularly well. Tyburn is so posh and dramatic, Abigail is so determined, and Beverly is such a delight.
You will, obviously, get more of out of this podfic if you know the source material. HOWEVER, because it is a complete canon divergent AU from the very beginning (as in, what if they met 15years later than in canon), you can definitely enjoy this podfic without canon knowledge.
Fic
With Great Power, Something Something bySharksdontsleep - Spider-Man: Homecoming - Michelle Jones/Peter Parker - 15978 words
Hey Liz,
Apparently, I'm the captain of the Decathlon team. Or something. I was just wondering if you had any quizzes or guides that I could use.
Thanks,
MJ
MJ is soooo great! She has to deal with being team captain, spider-man drama, and relationships! Life is hard. I really love that her connection with Liz is used as a framework for the story, I'm glad Liz wasn't just swept away. The ensemble cast is adorable too.
Book
Bloodline by Claudia Gray is a Leia centric Star Wars novel, set about 40yrs after the end of Return of the Jedi and, I think, 6yrs before The Force Awakens (for context, Leia is a senator, and Ben is still off training with Luke). It is a tense, political thriller full of action and intrigue, but also hits great emotional notes. It does a great job bridging the original trilogy with the new, especially with regards to how the political landscape changed, and how the First Order came to be. I occasionally found a few too many parallels with some current events.
Leia is done so well, she is super competent, she kicks ass and takes names, but the novel also allows a great insight into her emotional landscape. Despite being a highly plotted and action packed novel, the story still touches on her relationships: with Han, her son, Luke; but also engages with her grief over her adoptive father, Bail Organa, and her home planet of Alderaan. I personally loved how the novel dealt with her inability to truly reconcile with the idea of Darth Vader as her biological father, and how she was unable to make the distinction Luke (and the movies) make between Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Sometimes the hindesight I had from TFA made reading it painful, because I knew what must be coming, the book plays with that knowledge in interesting ways. I had Leia feelings ALL over the place. This is, so far, the only Star Wars novel I've read and I highly recommend it if you have any strong feelings about Leia.
Podcast
The Twenty Percent True Podcast by Carolyn Rahaman.
Season 1 is called 'Modern Monsters' and is complete. These are essentially short stories, read by the author, about 'monsters' like mermaids, vampires, gargoyles, etc, and the modern world. They are all intensely imaginative and beautifully drawn. Some are upsetting (the author warns at the beginning of the episode), some are funny, and some are deeply thought prevoking, and all are impeccably written. My favourite is The Roommate about a tired grad student meeting a Vampire for a roommate interview. I would read 1000000000K about these two and their roommate shenanigans (*cough* romance *cough*).
Podfic
Wizarding by consent by
Fifteen years after a headless body was discovered in Covent Garden, Thomas Nightingale is still the last wizard in Britain, and Peter Grant, the newly appointed Commander for Community Engagement in the Metropolitan Police Service, has just learned the truth about the existence of the Folly.
He has one or two questions.
This podfic is super awesome. The story completely spins the established dynamics from the books, and this gives the podfic an opportunity to do such fun things with the characters voices. Nightingale is so long suffering and hilarious, but his affection still shines through. The way he calls Peter 'Commander' is nominally a sign of respect, but within the narration, it highlights it as a slightly inside joke and an insult. I love how the listener gets to see a little bit of his pettiness. Nightingale is outside his comfort zone and doesn't have the comforting veil of authority he has in the books to cover up how upsetting he finds change.
The side characters are also done particularly well. Tyburn is so posh and dramatic, Abigail is so determined, and Beverly is such a delight.
You will, obviously, get more of out of this podfic if you know the source material. HOWEVER, because it is a complete canon divergent AU from the very beginning (as in, what if they met 15years later than in canon), you can definitely enjoy this podfic without canon knowledge.
Fic
With Great Power, Something Something by
Hey Liz,
Apparently, I'm the captain of the Decathlon team. Or something. I was just wondering if you had any quizzes or guides that I could use.
Thanks,
MJ
MJ is soooo great! She has to deal with being team captain, spider-man drama, and relationships! Life is hard. I really love that her connection with Liz is used as a framework for the story, I'm glad Liz wasn't just swept away. The ensemble cast is adorable too.
Book
Bloodline by Claudia Gray is a Leia centric Star Wars novel, set about 40yrs after the end of Return of the Jedi and, I think, 6yrs before The Force Awakens (for context, Leia is a senator, and Ben is still off training with Luke). It is a tense, political thriller full of action and intrigue, but also hits great emotional notes. It does a great job bridging the original trilogy with the new, especially with regards to how the political landscape changed, and how the First Order came to be. I occasionally found a few too many parallels with some current events.
Leia is done so well, she is super competent, she kicks ass and takes names, but the novel also allows a great insight into her emotional landscape. Despite being a highly plotted and action packed novel, the story still touches on her relationships: with Han, her son, Luke; but also engages with her grief over her adoptive father, Bail Organa, and her home planet of Alderaan. I personally loved how the novel dealt with her inability to truly reconcile with the idea of Darth Vader as her biological father, and how she was unable to make the distinction Luke (and the movies) make between Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Sometimes the hindesight I had from TFA made reading it painful, because I knew what must be coming, the book plays with that knowledge in interesting ways. I had Leia feelings ALL over the place. This is, so far, the only Star Wars novel I've read and I highly recommend it if you have any strong feelings about Leia.