God, this was brilliant. Only Parker could entangle me so deeply in the story of an exhibition fencing team traveling through the cities of a former enemy of war.
(177, A9)
First Lord's Fury, by Jim Butcher
Satisfying, but it's honestly been so long the details have started to fade. Everything came together in ways that made sense, and then my forgettery started kicking in (it wants to make sure series are rereadable, see...).
(178)
Wizzywig, by Ed Piskor (e-ARC)
Odd but captivating graphic novel about a computer hacker. Made me miss the 80s. I didn't really like any of the characters, but I found them likable anyway.
(179, A10)
Blood Relations, by Jes Battis
Fun. Geeky academic writing about Buffy and Angel. Family (chosen and otherwise) is really important to me, so organizing the whole book around that theme resonated well with my own thoughts.
(180)
Scott Pilgrim, vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, by Brian Lee O'Malley (e-ARC)
Even though I enjoyed the movie, I was still somehow surprised by how much I liked this. It ought to have felt sophomoric, but it totally didn't. Will be reading the rest, eventually.
(181, A11)
Investigating Farscape, by Jes Battis
More pop culture / academia mashup. I loved this one - loved being reminded of so many great moments in the series, sensitively connected and reflected upon.
(182)
Cats Can't Shoot, by Clea Simon
Awkward but very entertaining. The juxtaposition of "noir" tropes with "cozy cat psychic" tropes still feels a bit weird, even in this 2nd volume of the series, but Simon makes it work.
(183)
Wild Cards II: Aces High, by George R. R. Martin
Dug this a lot. Felt like the stories were more well-developed and flowed together better than in the first volume... I suppose people had had more time to really ponder how things fitted into the universe by then. My comic book guy (and friend) Mike tells me not to read ALL of these, but that I will know when they jump the shark, and that I have at least another half-dozen volumes before that happens :)
(184)
