In The Soul of Power (out today,) we’re headed back to Eren and Caeris for the conclusion to Callie Bates’s The Waking Land trilogy. This time around, we’re in the head of Queen Sophy, the bastard daughter of the king from across the sea who has taken the crown for herself. The battle is far from over though especially since this book picks up prior to the end of The Memory of Fire with Caveadear Elanna finding herself in trouble and there’s nothing Sophy can do especially since she has more than her fair share of problems to deal with. Continue reading
Author: Bria
When Chicago Becomes Coruscant
Or… how I spent my unexpectedly snowy Star Wars vacation to Chicago. (Did you know that I hate snow about as much as Anakin Skywalker hates sand? Because I do.)
Snow aside, Star Wars Celebration was an incredible five plus days. I’ve been to a lot of conventions over the years but none of them are quite like Celebration. This is a convention that brings together thousands of fans from across the world just because we all love the same space franchise and then that franchise puts on the best damn show for us… literally. I’m not sure the Star Wars fandom fully grasps how lucky we are that Lucasfilm puts on the Star Wars Show live from the con and broadcasts so many of the major panels but that’s beside the point. What is the point is this: despite all the other cons that I love and routinely attend, Celebration is the convention I can’t fathom skipping. Why? It’s one big family reunion. Continue reading
Damnit Anders: The Dragon Age II Feelings Essay
Anders broke my fucking heart. And he told me right from the start that he would. I just didn’t listen.
Listen, you must know the drill by now: Bria plays a BioWare game and has a lot of feelings about it and then writes about them. Except this time, this isn’t my third play-through of Mass Effect. It’s my very first play-through of all the Dragon Age games and I am somehow mostly spoiler free. However, this is BioWare so I knew to expect two things: romance and devastation. This game absolutely delivered on both fronts. Continue reading
Welcome to the Padmé Renaissance
Last week was Padmé Week. It was a damn good week.
When you’ve loved a character for a good two-thirds of your life and have consistently seen parts of fandom look down on her dismissively, in part because she died of a broken heart thanks to less than stellar storytelling decisions (that droid was broken, damnit!), it can be a little disheartening. It’s especially disheartening when done so to raise up other female characters. Hollywood has given the world a strange and, quite frankly, incorrect idea of what makes a strong female character. While yes, it’s fantastic to see women in warriors roles in media, women like Shmi Skywalker who never lift a finger in combat are equally strong. There’s no right sort of capable lady and we should stop acting like there’s only one. This isn’t Highlander.
But that’s beside the point.
(Yes, I have a point.) Continue reading
My BFF Vega
James Vega is the shipmate I never thought I’d like.
By the time you get to Mass Effect 3, you already have your team and your friends. Some of them have even been with you since the first game. It doesn’t matter whether or not you romanced Garrus because when you run into him on Palaven’s moon, you know he’s got your back because it’s Garrus freaking Vakarian. Liara may have gone through some drastic characterization changes over the years but you know she’s there for you no matter what. Vega though… Lieutenant James Vega is the new kid. He hasn’t hunted down Saren or gone through the Omega relay on a suicide mission with you but right now, he’s the guy you’ve got watching your back as you’re forced to abandon Earth and start forming yet another team to take on the Reaper invasion. As I slowly rebuilt my team, I figured I’d start phasing him out from my ground team and yet somehow, he kept going out more often than not. Continue reading
Mass Effect, Murder, and Morality
Mass Effect made me feel like a monster and it’s all my fault.
Wait. Let’s back up a minute and let me explain.
I have a long history of playing Bioware games. Honestly, I’ve mostly played Bioware games exclusively with occasional diversions elsewhere. Knights of the Old Republic was my jam in middle/high school and I adored the (non-Bioware but it felt like Bioware) sequel game just as much. There was something about being a part of Star Wars and getting to make choices that would affect not only me but the entire galaxy that was thrilling. Even though female Revan and female Exile will always be my preference, I made it a point to play through each game with all four potential paths at least once: light side female, dark side female, light side male, dark side male. It appealed to not only my completionist side but also let me experience the story in new ways.
And then Mass Effect happened. Continue reading
Musings on The Afterward and Queen’s Shadow
I think I’ve been waiting for Queen’s Shadow and The Afterward most of my life but didn’t how badly I needed them until last week.
Ever since E.K. Johnston’s forthcoming books were announced, I’ve been beyond excited for both novels. After all, I was already predisposed to love them given their strong emotional ties to my childhood. From the moment I watched The Phantom Menace, I’ve been enamored with Padmé Amidala and her handmaidens. To a nine year old, a band of teenage girls kicking ass and fighting for their homeworld and wearing gorgeous outfits while doing it looked like the dream. I wanted to be one of them. Queen’s Shadow finally gives Naboo’s loyal daughters the spotlight and it only took twenty years. I’m equally in love with high fantasy and stories about lady knights and read as many as I could get my hands on growing up. David Eddings, who specialized in high fantasy and the delightful use of tropes, has been one of my favorite authors since I started reading his books and, well, let’s just say there’s a very good reason we’re rereading his Elenium trilogy ahead of The Afterward’s release. Continue reading
Reflections on 2018
In 2018, I basically forgot about this blog. Uhm. Oops?
Okay, that’s not entirely true. I remembered it was here and I did things like update the pages and wrote one or two book reviews here but I never actually published anything consistent here. (That’s going to change in 2019.)
So. What happened in 2018? Well, a lot from a certain point of view and not that much from another. (Isn’t it crazy how that works?) This was a year in which I struggled a bit especially on a personal level. 2018 taught me a lot about the friendships I had with some people and showed me which were genuine and positive forces in my life and which were (to put it bluntly) not. I won’t go into it much further but I am incredibly grateful to the friends who’ve loved me and supported me through the ups and downs I’ve had this year. (Special shout out to the friends who surprised me with my very own ID-10 droid who I love more than life itself.)
But on to the stuff you care about. Continue reading
Review: Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful
In all honesty: I had no idea what to expect when I first opened Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton. The cover features a woman’s face with robot hands which instantly intrigued me and made me think “robots are involved, great!” But then the copy on the inside cover flap felt more like a concept than an explanation so I decided to just go ahead and turn to the first page and start reading. Four pages later, I was hooked and almost didn’t put the book down so I could make it to work on time.
Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful is six connected stories exploring what it means to be human in a world where technological and medical advances keep moving forward and let us repair, enhance, and change our fleshy forms. They start out simple enough in our not so distant future. A young boy receives organs from his sister. A teenage girl is part mechanical after being reconstructed after a car accident. The daughter of a reverend with a change of heart has to try and figure out her own life. And then it starts to get a little stranger as we move much further into the future. A genetically modified boy isn’t quite human. A man who was unwillingly modified to be a part-robotic slave runs for his life in Russia. And finally… two teenagers who are what used to be human in a world that uplifts the genetically modified try to figure out what to do when their entire world changes. Each story builds upon the world established in the one prior and moves us further into the future. They could all be read alone but together they form something special.
Admittedly, I didn’t love every story as much as some of the others but every one of them made me think and wonder if this is really the path that humanity in the United States might take. That’s part of what makes this book disturbing at times. While the final story feels a little outlandish with the state of the world, the five prior make its scenario totally plausible. In all honesty, I’m not sure how I feel about how things wrap up but I can understand and respect how Dayton got there which is ultimately more important. My favorite of the stories is probably the second one where Milla struggles with what her body has become in a world where this isn’t considered normal yet. Give me all the partially robot girls and their internal struggles with trying to still feel human.
Ultimately, Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful is one of those books that’s hard to discuss without spoilers because each part is an experience. If you’re interested in a look at the potential path of humanity from an intimate and personal level, this is the book for you. If you’re even mildly intrigued by this book, pick it up. I highly doubt you’ll regret it.
Wunderkind PR/Delacorte Press provided a copy of the book for review purposes.
Musings on “Space Opera”
If you’re American, Eurovision is probably one of those things that you either get or you don’t. An international song competition, it’s absurd to the max and not one of those things you can easily explain because it must be experienced. Personally, I only have fond feelings towards Eurovision and can’t really decide whether I like the performances or the voting part better. (We made a friend watch one year and I think he has slightly less than fond feelings about it although he at least sort of liked the voting.) The competition may get a little heated sometimes but it’s really just a giant disco ball of happiness and we could all use a little of that in our lives.
Point is, all anyone ever had to do to sell me on Catherynne Valente’s Space Opera was say that it’s Eurovision but in space. Sign me the hell up. Very much in the vein of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Space Opera doesn’t take itself too seriously and instead revels in the Eurovision—sorry, Metagalactic Grand Prix—ridiculousness for a enjoyable ride. That’s not to say that the book is all fun and games. After all, the contestants do try and kill each other before the semi final and it’s only Decible Jones and the Absolute Zero since the other Absolute Zero died in a tragic car accident years ago and her death still hangs over them. This isn’t the sort of inspiring story where the human race crushes the Metagalactic competition to pieces and reigns victorious. However, this is the sort of story where you close the book and go, “Huh. Well if there’s Eurovision in space and we’re suddenly invited to join in one day, that might actually be how it goes.” (And now that I’m writing that… oh God we’re doomed.)
Space Opera is flashy and entertaining but also doesn’t let the glitz stop it from saying a thing or two about mankind without feeling like a life lesson. I keep coming back to the word absurd as I think about this book but I meant it in the best possible way. I can’t wait to see how it eventually translates to the big screen partially due to the amazing descriptions of some of the previous Metagalactic acts. (How can you not want to see an industrial sea-shanty called “You Bombard My Heart with Overwhelming Air Superiority” or a neo-gangsta math-rock anthem titled, “This Program Has Executed An Error And Must Shut Down”?) Space Opera lets us escape to a much larger and stranger galaxy and enjoy the glam as humans try and save themselves with a song.
In space, everyone can hear you sing.
Bria LaVorgna 