"I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass, I try to picture me without you but I can't."

[nausicaa83]

Health update first, the tracheitis is slowly going away. I still have the stupid cough, but I changed medicine and went for a more aggressive cough syrup, and I'm finally getting some results. At least now the coughing fits last only a few seconds, and I don't sound like a chain smoker anymore. Hurrah!



And I have a new Reading Bingo entry! It's the fifth book in the Rivers of London series, for the "A Book With Magic" square here's Foxglove Summer.

I obviously read all five books, but only put the first and fifth one on the Bingo because I didn't want it to end just yet. Besides, it would have been a boring way to end it, with five identical iterations of "these books are amazing, hurrah for London urban fantasy, so much diversity, I think I died and went to YA heaven". :D

And since I don't want to spoil anyone, this review is going to be quite short. Foxglove Summer is quite different from the other books in the series, as we move to the country, when Peter is called to investigate on the disappearance of two young girls, all while recovering from the shocking events of Broken Homes. All the other main characters are relegated to phone calls and texts, and we feel Peter's loneliness, as he also has to suffer through various degrees of racism. While life as a POC in London isn't all that easy, it certainly gets way worse when leaving for the country, and the author never lets us forget it. I really appreciated this degree of realism. Plus the case itself is very intriguing, and the final chapter is one of the best in the series.

My only complaint is I think the ending was too rushed and it could have used another chapter, but other than that, it's a fantastic read, and I can't wait for November when the next book will be out. \o/

In other news this weekend I finally finished the first season of Outlander, and holy shit it was nothing like what I imagined it would be. This series should have a trigger warning on top of its trigger warnings. Seriously, it was worse than Game of Thrones in that regard. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful series: the actors are great, the historical setting is incredibly accurate, the music and Scotland landscape are breathtaking, but to everyone who's thinking of watching it, remember there's a two-hour-long rape scene at the end, and I'm not exaggerating. There's a lot of rape attempts littered throughout all the series, but they all pale in comparison with that ending. Be safe, my friends. If you need more details before watching it, just drop me a line and I'll answer all your questions in the less spoilery manner I can find, but yes, that right there is the biggest problem with it.

To recover from that ending, I've started watching the Shaun the Sheep series, and it's adorable. And also really, really funny. I just started on the second season, and I'm not really liking how they changed the character design for some of the characters, nor the fact Shaun is a lot meaner than before. But from what I gathered they're going to retcon it all with the next season, so there's that. ^^

Comments

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

I think action being rushed is a problem with Aaranovich. I sometimes find it quite difficult to follow what's happening in this series and find myself re-reading sentences. I still like the it a lot though.

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

I agree. Sometimes I get very confused as to why Peter is going some spcific place, because the steps in the investigation that brought him there weren't properly explained. The Dresden Files, for example, are much clearer with the plot. I think he should just make the books a little bit longer and spend more time on the plot.

I'm also disappointed we never got to see Nightingale's reaction to the ending of Broken Homes. That's a huge turning point for him as well, and I wish we'd seen that.