BooksOfTheMoon

Paper Girls, Volume 6

By Brian K. Vaughan

Rating: 4 stars

Well, that was weird. Volume six finally wraps up the series, as our papergirls are separated and scattered in time by the somewhat unhinged Erin clone. But they get back together, helped by more clones, and help (somehow, I’m still not really sure how) to bring the time war to a close. Frankly, I’m still not sure why the papergirls needed to be involved, and why the truce that was eventually obtained couldn’t have just happened anyway, but it was a wild ride that kept me entertained throughout.

It’s been lovely throughout getting to know each of the girls, and their distinctive voices. Mac can be a dick, but she has a kind heart, and the puppy romance with KJ that started in the previous volume gets a chance to breathe here. Erin is smart and calm under pressure, KJ gets to prod some serious buttock, and Tiff brings the whole lot together.

There’s some clever simultaneous storytelling in the third issue of this volume, as the stories for all four girls go on at once, with one long, strip each, across each double-page spread, making four panels in total. It took a bit of getting used to, but it was very effective.

I didn’t have a clue how Vaughan was going to end this, but when it eventually came about, I did enjoy it. It was quiet, but hopeful. It really worked. There’s loose ends and unexplained bit – like what were those 4D blobs and what was their agenda? But the main story gets pretty much wrapped up.

I started this series because I’d heard there was going to be a TV series and wanted to experience the original first. Now that I’ve read it, will I watch the Amazon series? Yes, I think I will. It’s been fun spending time with the papergirls, and I want to see how other people imagine them.

Book details

ISBN: 9781534313248
Publisher: Image Comics
Year of publication: 2019

Paper Girls, Volume 5

By Brian K. Vaughan

Rating: 4 stars

I really wish I had kept the first few volumes of this series, rather than returning them to the library as soon as I finished them. Things are starting to make sense, and it’s all a bit wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, and I really want to go back and reread the earlier stuff in this context. The papergirls are now in the 22nd century, trying to hide from the old timers and still all just looking for a way home. They find some unexpected old friends (and enemies), and we, the readers, start to get, not exactly answers, but we start feeling out the shape of what’s going on.

Chiang’s art has been consistently good throughout, and remains so here. I was unsure of it to start with, but now I can’t imagine anyone else helping to tell this story.

Roll on the final volume. Please let it all make sense!

Book details

ISBN: 9781534308671
Publisher: Image Comics
Year of publication: 2018

Grave Importance (Dr. Greta Helsing #3)

By Vivian Shaw

Rating: 4 stars

Dr Greta Helsing really needs to stop covering for her colleagues! This time, she takes a job covering as interim medical director for an exclusive mummy resort in France, and before she knows it, she’s got an epidemic of mummy weakness on her hands. And that’s not nearly the worst of it. Not if two angels roaming Europe have anything to say about it.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this whole series, and this final book, is great fun. Something I’ve enjoyed about the whole series is that it exudes kindness. Greta is a doctor, first and foremost. She’s got a burning desire to help people, and of course, her definition of people is so much more than just humans, and she puts her vocation to good use.

This book also explores the romance that finally began between Greta and Varney in the last book. I’m a sucker for a good romance, and this is a delight to read. Varney started the series withdrawn and miserable, and while he’s held on to melancholy for a long time, Greta’s influence has helped draw him back into the world and remind him that there are things worth living for. It’s all very wholesome and sweet.

There’s a jaw-dropping action sequence toward the end of the book that sort of feels like what might have happened in Good Omens if Damien hadn’t stopped his dad, and the mother of all deus ex machina moments, in an entirely fitting way.

There’s one minor thing that niggled me. Although hell is portrayed as a modern city and mostly devoted to bureaucracy, there was a mention, or at least an implication, in the previous book that humans were still tortured there. That makes the whole playing tourist thing a little more icky. It’s never referenced here, in fact, the demons are very much the good guys, riding to the rescue, but that little thing is still at the back of my mind.

That’s a minor issue though, because, as I say, there’s a core of kindness running right through this book, not just Greta, but Varney, Ruthven and Fass as well, all trying to just do what’s right. And the romance between Ruthven and Grisaille is equally as sweet, not to mention tender, as that between Greta and Varney.

Oh, and I can’t decide if the idea of Bosch-ear demonlets (little ears on legs) scuttling around the eaves of your home is utterly horrifying, or unspeakably cute.

Book details

Paper Girls, Volume 4

By Brian K. Vaughan

Rating: 4 stars

The papergirls’ intrepid adventure through time continues, now in the year 2000, where millennium bug has turned out to be worse than it did in our timeline [1] and this time the girls find themselves separated from Tiffany, who eventually finds her older self (after dodging a whole load of giant robots that nobody else can see). And… that is a whole thing. If Young Erin was surprised by how similar she was to Old Erin, Young Tiffany, well, doesn’t have that experience! In their quest to find Tiffany, the rest of the papergirls find an older lady who finally offers a bit of infodump explanation for what’s been going on.

This was a lot of fun. Mac continues to be called out on her homophobic crap, and it’s the fact that it’s her peers, not elders, who do so that is so great. There’s a bunch of really interesting new characters and we finally get a clue as to who “Grand Father” is, although it took me ages to remember where I had heard the name before (a problem with library books is that you have to give them back and can’t look them up when you want to find a reference).

Chiang’s visuals are inventive and really help carry the story. The giant robots help with that to some degree, and I must admit that as much as I hate cliffhangers, Vaughan is good at them. I can’t wait to see when the girls have ended up now.

[1] personal peeve here – there’s a narrative that’s developed since the 2010s that the millennium bug was a hoax or wasn’t actually a problem. This is categorically false. The only reason it was a damp squib is because hundreds of programmers spent thousands of person-hours finding all the serious issues and fixing them in the years leading up to the year 2000

Book details

ISBN: 9781534305106
Publisher: Image Comics
Year of publication: 2018

Remnant Population

By Elizabeth Moon

Rating: 3 stars

Ofelia has lived most of her life on a colony world being told what to do. When the company running the colony loses the franchise, she finally rebels and hides until the rest of the colony has been cleared. There she lives happily on her own for a few years until a new colony is sent. Far from her, she can only listen on in horror as the shuttles are destroyed by hitherto unknown natives. After the ships leave, the natives come and find her, and they strike up an unlikely friendship, as she strives to protect them from the response from the Human empire that will be coming.

We so rarely get an older person as the protagonist in any story, never mind a science fiction adventure involving alien first contact. Ofelia has lived in a conservative, patriarchal society for her whole life. It’s implied that domestic violence is common and unremarked upon. One of the first things Ofelia does after the colonists leave is to strip off her clothes and go for brighter colours and beads, and sometimes nothing at all. This is a nice metaphor for the freeing of her mind and the different paths that it’s allowed to take.

The People that later encounter Ophelia are also pretty interesting. We don’t get a huge amount of insight into their world, but they’re different enough to be interestingly alien while also being similar enough to empathise with. The first steps in communication are fun to follow, especially with the introduction of the diplomat Bluecloak (although I couldn’t help thinking of Order of the Stick’s Redcloak).

I felt the book dragged a bit in the middle, after the original colony is evacuated, and before the expedition arrives to make formal first contact, that was bit of a slog, following Ofelia doing the boring bits of staying alive on her own – growing food, maintaining the machines etc. All important, and necessary to build the required atmosphere, but I still felt it dragged.

The ending felt a bit abrupt – a handful of pages before the end of the book, I was still wondering if this was the first in a series – but it was mostly satisfactory. This was the first of Moon’s works that I’ve read, but, off the back of it, I’d certainly look out for more.

Book details

ISBN: 9781841491363
Publisher: Orbit
Year of publication: 2002

Of Noble Family (Glamourist Histories, #5)

By Mary Robinette Kowal

Rating: 4 stars

The final book in the Glamourist Histories series sees Jane and Vincent travelling to Antigua after getting word that Vincent’s father has died, and his elder brother is too ill to travel so he begs the Vincents to go in his stead to wrap up the estate. The situation they find is decidedly not what they expected, and with Jane now pregnant, they find themselves having to stay longer than they anticipated, and with conflict at every turn.

I was somewhat surprised that Kowal turned away from Europe in the Regency period and decided to face the issue of colonisation and slavery head on for the final book in the series but it’s sensitively handled and not nearly as dark as it could have gone, for which I’m profoundly thankful. The liberal Jane and Vincent had been pretty well isolated from the realities of where their nation’s wealth comes from and are brought up short. The realities of life for Miss Sarah, Mr Frank, Louisa and the others are rarely made explicit, but it’s all there, without much in the way of decoding required.

As well as the plot around the estate itself, especially the odious and corrupt estate manager, there’s Jane’s burgeoning friendship with some of the older slave women, as she sees a different way of doing glamour to the European way that she’s familiar with. And then there’s her frustration at not being able to do glamour herself, while she’s pregnant. Unlike the last time though, her relationship with Vincent is in a much stronger place, and she finds a place for herself in design while she can’t do the actual work.

This closes a chapter in the turbulent early part of the Vincents’ marriage. It’s nice to see Vincent get closure after all the travails with his family over the last few books, and for the couple to get, and to cherish, the child they wanted, especially after the events of Glamour in Glass. I’m pleased that Kowal was able to stick the ending to the series.

Book details

Paper Girls, Volume 3

By Brian K. Vaughan

Rating: 4 stars

Having fallen out of 2016 (literally), the papergirls find themselves in the distant past and have to do what they can to stay alive, stay together and get home. There’s some self-realisation and reflection, and a funny scene as KJ gets her first period, much to MacKenzie’s confusion and disgust.

There’s still not much in the way of answers to what’s going on in the wider story, but I’m (relatively) confident in Vaughan’s storytelling and expecting it all to come together towards the end of the series.

The art remains very pretty. Chiang’s style isn’t usually something that I would enjoy (I’m much fonder of Vaughan’s artist partner for Saga, Fiona Staples), but it really works in this context. There’s lots of oversized panels and splash pages, but the smaller-scale stuff also works really well.

So still very pretty, and with an intriguing story. I look forward to reading the rest of it (although that will have to wait until I can get the other volumes from the library).

Book details

ISBN: 9781534302235
Publisher: Image Comics
Year of publication: 2017

Paper Girls, Volume 2

By Brian K. Vaughan

Rating: 4 stars

The second volume of Paper Girls shoots our intrepid heroines (well, three of them anyway) nearly thirty years into the future, to the incomprehensible year 2016 where they encounter multiple kinds of water, giant TVs and tiny cars. Oh, and more dinosaur-riding time travellers, telepathic future iPhones, and more Erins than you can shake a stick at. Nor forgetting the giant tardigrades. As a famous archaeologist once didn’t quite say: tardigrades. Why’d it have to be tardigrades?

It’s really nice to see how young Erin and old Erin interact. Young Erin is incredulous that she still lives in the same town and works for the same paper, while old Erin doesn’t remember any of what’s currently going, but is jealous of the potential that her younger counterpart has. But despite this, they work well together, as they go off, leaving MacKenzie and Tiffany to search for their own future-selves and they all try to find the missing KJ.

At one point, someone says “Like most people over thirty, they’re monsters”. Ouch! But I guess when you’re young, that’s what it feels like – the grown-ups, who are supposed to be in charge are incomprehensible, and very often seem monstrous.

The art continues to be very engaging. Chiang seems to be having a lot of fun, and there’s loads of wonderful splash pages and oversized panels that let the story flow organically, while still highlighting high notes.

There’s not much in the way of answers here, but it seems that both groups of time travellers want to get their hands on the papergirls. Is there anyone they can trust? The story does keep me engaged, and there’s enough answers and hints of answers to make me want to read more. I just hope that it eventually pays off!

Book details

ISBN: 9781632158956
Publisher: Image Comics
Year of publication: 2016

Paper Girls, Volume 1

By Brian K. Vaughan

Rating: 4 stars

I only very vaguely knew about this series. I’ve had mixed luck with Brian K. Vaughan, having loved Saga, but not really been that impressed by Y: The Last Man. But the fact that Paper Girls is being adapted for Amazon Prime made me think that I should look into it, and then I discovered that my library had the whole series, so there was really no excuse not to try it.

This first volume certainly opens with a punch. The image of Erin on her knees, holding an apple and with the Earth in the background is a striking one, and the following dream sequence is suitably surreal. Then there’s some really nice visual storytelling as we have several pages of Erin getting ready for her paper round without any text. Lots of kudos to Chiang for that.

The ’80s setting is really nice and once Erin meets the other three papergirls, the story starts to really pick up. Of the other three, MacKenzie gets fleshed out a fair bit, but neither Tiffany nor KJ get an awful lot. Hopefully we’ll get to spend more time with them later.

One nice touch that I liked was when MacKenzie uses a homophobic slur, her friends calls her out on it, something that will recur later in the volume. It’s a nice reminder that despite the time that it’s set, it was still Not Okay.

The wider story is still really confusing, but time travel seems to be involved, with (at least) two groups involved in some sort of temporal, and possibly inter-generational, war. Involving dinosaurs. There’s a nice cliffhanger at the end and I’m left desperately wanting to know more of the story. It’s the sort of thing that could be really frustrating, but it’s handled well enough that it just works.

Book details

ISBN: 9781632156747
Publisher: Image Comics
Year of publication: 2016

Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora

By Zelda Knight

Rating: 4 stars

I’ve been making a conscious effort to try and extend my horizons when it comes to my reading, and this book was mentioned in a discussion between anthologists as a particularly good one. Having read it, it’s certainly not like anything I’ve read before. Coming from Africa and the African diaspora, including African Americans, it’s a collection as diverse as the continent it hails from. The first story, Trickin’ is the story of a trickster god who rises once a year to test his people. Then we have an old-fashioned robot story in Red_Bati in which a robot that used to be an old woman’s pet becomes part of a mining crew, but has an existential crisis when it’s damaged.

Probably the most harrowing story in the collection is The Unclean, in which a woman relates her life, passed from a father to a husband, treated as chattel, the birth and death of her child and the horror of when that unquiet child returns to haunt her. This was a difficult story to read, on several counts – the horror of the way that women were traded (not to mention the horror of the normality of it); the abuse; the death of the child; and more that goes into spoiler territory.

Convergence in Chorus Architecture had the feel of an ancient myth to me, almost a creation myth. I didn’t entirely follow the plot, but the tone and feel really drew me in. Clanfall: Death of Kings really didn’t feel like a complete story in its own right, but part of a larger piece of work. It was very violent, in a cartoony way that didn’t really have me caring all that much about the characters, but the worldbuilding was excellent. The final (and, I think, longest) story was Ife-Iyoku: The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon, set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the inhabitants of one hidden village in the heart of Africa gained powers that helped them survive. The people of Ife-Iyoku formed a highly patriarchal society, where survival and the continuation of the next generation is the greatest good. This story tells of what happens when that is threatened and when one young woman wants to exercise greater freedom.

Overall, a very good collection with many more hits than misses for me. One or two I just didn’t get, one or two were far too grim for me, but it’s a good collection indicating how the genre is thriving in a non-traditional habitat.

Book details

ISBN: 9781946024794

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