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Some several things
1. I got an overload! Huzzah! Now we can completely pay off our credit card debt in one fell swoop when I get paid for it in December. Our debt to my parents will be repaid in December, too, so we can start 2020 debt free (well, except for the mortgage, of course).
2.
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This novel is so finely wrought, like the faceted crystals and the multi-hued gemstones that form such an important part of the story of the end of the world.
We get Nassun's POV in this book, and it is heartbreaking to read all the ways in which she is angry at her mother and exactly like her mother at the same time.
The world building is breathtaking and complex and very, very fascinating. But world building alone is not enough for me (see the way Tolkien mostly leaves me cold unless Peter Jackson's putting his spin on things). This series is so damn good because Jemisin's characters are so devastatingly real inside the complicated world she's created.
This is even better than the first book (and also, I'm a bit inured to the unremitting child harm at this point).
View all my reviews
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read constantly, and at this point in my life, it's rare that I read something that surprises me. But this series did that, over and over again. I had no idea where the plot was going, no idea what was going to ultimately happen to any of the characters. It's a tense and suspenseful read, and I loved every second of it.
These are hard books to read. They are full of pain. They are full of uncomfortable truths about the lies we tell to ourselves about people we perceive as different. They explore the mechanisms our societies have used to oppress and enslave and subjugate. But they are also about love. And community. And friendship. And figuring out how to find the good and make a life that's worth living when the world is ending.
I wondered if the ending would satisfy me, and without spoiling it, I will say that the ending is worthy of all the fine words that come before it.
View all my reviews
I am so glad that the series ends with hope and friendship. I didn't think that kind of ending was even possible, but I am so glad to have been proven wrong. I love that Essun is transformed but still herself and that she and Hoa will go to help remake the world into something better.
3. I have nominated The Broken Earth Trilogy and Carnival Row for Yuletide. I can't wait!
4. Carnival Row finale
Rycroft's dad is the Chancellor. I'm glad that they get to have a few good moments with each other, and I'm glad that he never intended to abandon Rycroft. His experiences with Aisling clearly inform his politics, and I can see his work to create a unified society as a kind of apology to her for breaking off their relationship. I also adore that he knows Jonah isn't his biological kid but that he's still Jonah's dad and he still loves him.
Whoa, surprise incest! I love it! What I love even more is that she *knows* Jonah is her brother, and she just doesn't give a shit. LOL
Oh, my heart, Tourmaline. She is still gone for Vignette. Yuletide better give me some Tourmaline/Vignette. I'm just saying.
I absolutely love every single thing about Imogen and Agreus. I love that they can't stay away from each other. I love that he tries to get her to stay away by being an asshole. I love that she see through it entirely and doesn't accept his bullshit. I love that they beat down Ezra and high tail it out of town. I'm so worried for them, though. Where can they go that their relationship will be accepted? Is there anywhere accepting for them *to* go?
Sneaky fairy witch has taken a potion so she can exposition dump at Rycroft! And Piety is the culprit. Love that Vignette stabs her and saves Rycroft.
Absolutely adore Jonah's transformation. He figures out that Aisling didn't write the blackmail note that ignites Purity's wrath; Sofia did. He hires his tutor as his new advisor and generally proves that if he was content to be a worthless layabout before, he is no longer. He's got a good political head on his shoulders.
I still think Purity's prophecy is actually about Rycroft, though.
And so everything ends with the fey in internment camps. How much do I adore Rycroft refusing to pass and remain free? *stretches out arms* Thiiiiiis much.
I am on tenterhooks for the next season, though. It's hard to see how peace can emerge from the tension.
I'd like to see Jonah and Rycroft become allies in some way. I'd also like Ezra to get eaten by a monster. LOL
5. We have started watching Star Trek: Discovery. I'm so glad there's only 15 episodes. If you'd told me ten years ago that I would cheer the end of the 22 episode TV season and embrace fully the 6-12 episode TV season, I'd have thought you were crazy, but really 8-10 is now my Platonic Ideal of a TV season. Long enough to be immersive but short enough that I don't feel like I'm committing way too much of my downtime to it.
Episode 1
I'd seen this one before when it aired on network TV and broadly remembered all the beats.
In terms of Easter eggs, love that the captain has them trek (ha) out the Starfleet insignia, and I love the too few moments when the original score shines through.
We've got Klingons who look very different from the way Klingons usually do in the Trekverse. They've been in hiding and rarely seen for a century.
Love Michael's relationship with the captain. They have a very easy camaraderie (and they are surely easy on the eyes! LOL). Love an older woman/younger woman mentor/mentee relationship which I don't see a lot of on TV.
Absolutely adore Michael's glee when she's flying in the spacesuit.
Michael's backstory is that she survives an attack on a Klingon outpost that kills her family, and then I guess she is raised by Vulcans (and Sarek in particular?).
Saru is interesting. He says his race was once enslaved and bred to sense the coming of death. He's also very conflict avoidant (which I can get on board with; I believe strongly in flailing and running away).
Sarek tells her that the Vulcans figured out that the Klingons only respect aggression and that the "Vulcan Hello" is what eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two peoples.
I feel so badly for Michael. She clearly believes she's right (and I think the show supports her hypothesis), but she betrays her captain, and I think everyone is going to blame her for what happens next even though I don't think a battle with the Klingons is her fault.
Can't wait for episode 2!
2.
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. JemisinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This novel is so finely wrought, like the faceted crystals and the multi-hued gemstones that form such an important part of the story of the end of the world.
We get Nassun's POV in this book, and it is heartbreaking to read all the ways in which she is angry at her mother and exactly like her mother at the same time.
The world building is breathtaking and complex and very, very fascinating. But world building alone is not enough for me (see the way Tolkien mostly leaves me cold unless Peter Jackson's putting his spin on things). This series is so damn good because Jemisin's characters are so devastatingly real inside the complicated world she's created.
This is even better than the first book (and also, I'm a bit inured to the unremitting child harm at this point).
View all my reviews
The Stone Sky by N.K. JemisinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
I read constantly, and at this point in my life, it's rare that I read something that surprises me. But this series did that, over and over again. I had no idea where the plot was going, no idea what was going to ultimately happen to any of the characters. It's a tense and suspenseful read, and I loved every second of it.
These are hard books to read. They are full of pain. They are full of uncomfortable truths about the lies we tell to ourselves about people we perceive as different. They explore the mechanisms our societies have used to oppress and enslave and subjugate. But they are also about love. And community. And friendship. And figuring out how to find the good and make a life that's worth living when the world is ending.
I wondered if the ending would satisfy me, and without spoiling it, I will say that the ending is worthy of all the fine words that come before it.
View all my reviews
I am so glad that the series ends with hope and friendship. I didn't think that kind of ending was even possible, but I am so glad to have been proven wrong. I love that Essun is transformed but still herself and that she and Hoa will go to help remake the world into something better.
3. I have nominated The Broken Earth Trilogy and Carnival Row for Yuletide. I can't wait!
4. Carnival Row finale
Rycroft's dad is the Chancellor. I'm glad that they get to have a few good moments with each other, and I'm glad that he never intended to abandon Rycroft. His experiences with Aisling clearly inform his politics, and I can see his work to create a unified society as a kind of apology to her for breaking off their relationship. I also adore that he knows Jonah isn't his biological kid but that he's still Jonah's dad and he still loves him.
Whoa, surprise incest! I love it! What I love even more is that she *knows* Jonah is her brother, and she just doesn't give a shit. LOL
Oh, my heart, Tourmaline. She is still gone for Vignette. Yuletide better give me some Tourmaline/Vignette. I'm just saying.
I absolutely love every single thing about Imogen and Agreus. I love that they can't stay away from each other. I love that he tries to get her to stay away by being an asshole. I love that she see through it entirely and doesn't accept his bullshit. I love that they beat down Ezra and high tail it out of town. I'm so worried for them, though. Where can they go that their relationship will be accepted? Is there anywhere accepting for them *to* go?
Sneaky fairy witch has taken a potion so she can exposition dump at Rycroft! And Piety is the culprit. Love that Vignette stabs her and saves Rycroft.
Absolutely adore Jonah's transformation. He figures out that Aisling didn't write the blackmail note that ignites Purity's wrath; Sofia did. He hires his tutor as his new advisor and generally proves that if he was content to be a worthless layabout before, he is no longer. He's got a good political head on his shoulders.
I still think Purity's prophecy is actually about Rycroft, though.
And so everything ends with the fey in internment camps. How much do I adore Rycroft refusing to pass and remain free? *stretches out arms* Thiiiiiis much.
I am on tenterhooks for the next season, though. It's hard to see how peace can emerge from the tension.
I'd like to see Jonah and Rycroft become allies in some way. I'd also like Ezra to get eaten by a monster. LOL
5. We have started watching Star Trek: Discovery. I'm so glad there's only 15 episodes. If you'd told me ten years ago that I would cheer the end of the 22 episode TV season and embrace fully the 6-12 episode TV season, I'd have thought you were crazy, but really 8-10 is now my Platonic Ideal of a TV season. Long enough to be immersive but short enough that I don't feel like I'm committing way too much of my downtime to it.
Episode 1
I'd seen this one before when it aired on network TV and broadly remembered all the beats.
In terms of Easter eggs, love that the captain has them trek (ha) out the Starfleet insignia, and I love the too few moments when the original score shines through.
We've got Klingons who look very different from the way Klingons usually do in the Trekverse. They've been in hiding and rarely seen for a century.
Love Michael's relationship with the captain. They have a very easy camaraderie (and they are surely easy on the eyes! LOL). Love an older woman/younger woman mentor/mentee relationship which I don't see a lot of on TV.
Absolutely adore Michael's glee when she's flying in the spacesuit.
Michael's backstory is that she survives an attack on a Klingon outpost that kills her family, and then I guess she is raised by Vulcans (and Sarek in particular?).
Saru is interesting. He says his race was once enslaved and bred to sense the coming of death. He's also very conflict avoidant (which I can get on board with; I believe strongly in flailing and running away).
Sarek tells her that the Vulcans figured out that the Klingons only respect aggression and that the "Vulcan Hello" is what eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two peoples.
I feel so badly for Michael. She clearly believes she's right (and I think the show supports her hypothesis), but she betrays her captain, and I think everyone is going to blame her for what happens next even though I don't think a battle with the Klingons is her fault.
Can't wait for episode 2!
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I can't believe how much I was into Imogen/Agreus by the end, considering how very much I disliked her at the beginning. So glad there will be another season, as the state of things at the end of s. 1 is so dark and unsettled.
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I was thinking of being chair of Exec next year which comes with a course release, but I also want to teach in our system wide online course offerings which earn you overload pay, and I don't think the optics of that would be great either.
I had exactly the same reaction as you! I hated Imogen to start with and wanted her to get her comeuppance, and then she turned into just about my favorite character.
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And I definitely need to watch Carnival Row
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I also am still hoping to teach a second additional course for our system wide online course thingie, but that may or may not happen.
Two overload classes would be so amazing.
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The first ep is a masterful set up, though. It's not a boring exposition dump or any of the issues that first eps can fall into.
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My husband usually gets an overload class in the spring, and that is so very nice. :D
Congrats on paying off the debt!
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I am excited to hear what you think of it.
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We are debt free except for the car (which I haven't been making any effort to pay more than minimum payments on but probably should) and it feels great. It's so nice not to have all my money immediately disappear into credit card bills each payday.
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I can't wait to get rid of the credit card debt.
*dances*
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