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shannon_aMy media all seems to be science fiction lately:
The Expanse (TV). I've previously read the first four books of this series, and am very fond of them. (I'm awaiting the fifth book arriving in trade paperback.) Now, I've come to quite like the TV series as well. Its biggest problem is that it feels near-impenetrable. I have troubles figuring out what's going on sometimes, so I can't imagine how confusing it must be to a newcomer. But, I enjoy the density of the universe, I like its grittiness, and I enjoy the characters (now that we've got to actually know them, after a near-disastrous attempt to disguise who the main cast is in the pilot). Alex really stands out in a way he didn't in the books. [4.5 stars]
Orphan Black (TV). We've been watching the third season of this BBC America show after it finally arrived at Netflix. (They have trouble getting all the BBC DVDs for some reason.) This story of clones in the modern-day has a clever and unusual premise, and it's rather brilliantly led by Tatiana Maslany who regularly plays four very well-differentiated clones. Though I love arc shows, this one has a bit too much arc even for me, as it's all middle: not only is there no beginning and end to the episodes, that's also true for the seasons(!). I felt like we just dived right back in when season three opened. I continue to enjoy this show quite a bit, but it's a challenge for me too (and I don't love it quite as much as in the earlier seasons when it felt like there was more mystery in the air). Looking at GraphTV though, I see people thought the season improved as it went on. [4 stars]
Nexus (comic). I was thrilled to discover recently that a new Nexus collection was being published called "Into the Past", based on short serials that Baron & Rude had been producing for an anthology comic. This is a classic SF comic from the '80s about an empowered vigilante. It was brilliant in its original run, not just for its hero, Horatio Hellpop, but also for the SF universe it created. The newer stories lack something because the serializations don't allow for as much of that deep universe creation, but they're getting better as the creators adjust to the limitations of the format, so I'm looking forward to where it goes from here (and I'm also hoping that Dark Horse will at some point fill in the almost 20-issue gap of comics after the end of the original series that has never been reprinted in collections: #81 and #84-98 or something like that.) [3.5 stars]
The Dark Forest (novel). This is the second book in the series by Cixin Liu, where the first, The Three-Body Problem won last year's Hugo. I started the series in part because I was intrigued by translated Chinese SF and in part to give it support because horrible bigots in science-fiction semi-prodom were protesting against it. (They're real scumbags who did their best to stuff the Hugo ballot boxes, but more notably whine like little babies that all science-fiction isn't still written by overprivileged white men, like them.) Anywho, the first book was interesting; though this second one has some interesting bits, it's also mostly boring, the waiting for Godot of the alien set. [2.5 stars]
Star Wars: Aftermath (novel). After enjoying Star Wars 7, I picked up the first of the prequel novels. You see, my favorite type of storytelling is heavily sequential. That's what I'm a fan of comics and TV shows. It's also why I enjoyed long-lived licensed fiction, like the 60 books of Doctor Who: The New Adventures that I recently finished. Star Wars used to have that, before the Expanded Universe got the boot, and I enjoyed some of the far-flung stories I read (mostly comics), like Dark Empire and Legacy. I dunno, Star Wars may get there again as it expands out of its new foundation. But a third of the way in, this new novel hasn't grabbed me, mainly because it's about minor or new characters and because its setup of the new universe of the movies is moving at a glacial pace. [3 stars]
The Expanse (TV). I've previously read the first four books of this series, and am very fond of them. (I'm awaiting the fifth book arriving in trade paperback.) Now, I've come to quite like the TV series as well. Its biggest problem is that it feels near-impenetrable. I have troubles figuring out what's going on sometimes, so I can't imagine how confusing it must be to a newcomer. But, I enjoy the density of the universe, I like its grittiness, and I enjoy the characters (now that we've got to actually know them, after a near-disastrous attempt to disguise who the main cast is in the pilot). Alex really stands out in a way he didn't in the books. [4.5 stars]
Orphan Black (TV). We've been watching the third season of this BBC America show after it finally arrived at Netflix. (They have trouble getting all the BBC DVDs for some reason.) This story of clones in the modern-day has a clever and unusual premise, and it's rather brilliantly led by Tatiana Maslany who regularly plays four very well-differentiated clones. Though I love arc shows, this one has a bit too much arc even for me, as it's all middle: not only is there no beginning and end to the episodes, that's also true for the seasons(!). I felt like we just dived right back in when season three opened. I continue to enjoy this show quite a bit, but it's a challenge for me too (and I don't love it quite as much as in the earlier seasons when it felt like there was more mystery in the air). Looking at GraphTV though, I see people thought the season improved as it went on. [4 stars]
Nexus (comic). I was thrilled to discover recently that a new Nexus collection was being published called "Into the Past", based on short serials that Baron & Rude had been producing for an anthology comic. This is a classic SF comic from the '80s about an empowered vigilante. It was brilliant in its original run, not just for its hero, Horatio Hellpop, but also for the SF universe it created. The newer stories lack something because the serializations don't allow for as much of that deep universe creation, but they're getting better as the creators adjust to the limitations of the format, so I'm looking forward to where it goes from here (and I'm also hoping that Dark Horse will at some point fill in the almost 20-issue gap of comics after the end of the original series that has never been reprinted in collections: #81 and #84-98 or something like that.) [3.5 stars]
The Dark Forest (novel). This is the second book in the series by Cixin Liu, where the first, The Three-Body Problem won last year's Hugo. I started the series in part because I was intrigued by translated Chinese SF and in part to give it support because horrible bigots in science-fiction semi-prodom were protesting against it. (They're real scumbags who did their best to stuff the Hugo ballot boxes, but more notably whine like little babies that all science-fiction isn't still written by overprivileged white men, like them.) Anywho, the first book was interesting; though this second one has some interesting bits, it's also mostly boring, the waiting for Godot of the alien set. [2.5 stars]
Star Wars: Aftermath (novel). After enjoying Star Wars 7, I picked up the first of the prequel novels. You see, my favorite type of storytelling is heavily sequential. That's what I'm a fan of comics and TV shows. It's also why I enjoyed long-lived licensed fiction, like the 60 books of Doctor Who: The New Adventures that I recently finished. Star Wars used to have that, before the Expanded Universe got the boot, and I enjoyed some of the far-flung stories I read (mostly comics), like Dark Empire and Legacy. I dunno, Star Wars may get there again as it expands out of its new foundation. But a third of the way in, this new novel hasn't grabbed me, mainly because it's about minor or new characters and because its setup of the new universe of the movies is moving at a glacial pace. [3 stars]