Bookgazing

It's that time again! More thoughts on media:

The Truth Season 3 case 8 (I think, the numbering is confusing now)— this case featured Chinese style horror, and it was very creepy but in a fun way. I also enjoyed the earthly 20th inspired costumes

I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming— I’m writing about this even though I didn’t finish it because I think some of you might enjoy this. The first bit was really fun! The main character is a wildlife biology PhD student, who when she finds herself on an alien planet is upset that it's full of dinosaurs all from different time periods from each other! (Very relatable really) The book has a very fun voice. Unfortunately it ends up becoming too much sex for me.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh— A Korean inspired fantasy YA novel about a girl who chooses to sacrifice herself in place of the designated Sea God’s Bride and enters a spirit world full of mythical beings and complex politics. (I read this even though the mom is dead, and really there’s no narrative reason for it) This was lovely and very atmospheric, though the ending left me a little dissatisfied. (Content Note: Infant death)

Painted Devils by Margaret Owen— Second book in the Little Thieves trilogy. Very fun and twisty in a similar way to the 1st book.

Kpop Demon Hunters — It's an animated movie about a kpop girl band that are magical girl-sque demon hunters, there's lot of musical numbers.A Koren friend of mine described it as “an American movie set in Korea” and I think that’s spot on. She specifically complained about how the worldbuiling/theology feels too christian. It doesn't fully work through the consequences of all the violence but the flight scenes are very swooshy and fun, and I liked the themes a lot. I also really liked the female friendship aspect.

Here's so thoughts about things I've been reading and watching recently:

The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon by Grace Lin— Read out loud to the kid. I loved Grace Lin’s other MG books so I was very excited for this! It was very charming. As always I enjoy the author’s illustrations. I enjoyed having Chinese mythical creatures in a modern city. I don’t love it quite as much as some of the author’s other work, but it was good and worth reading.

The Transitive Properties of Cheese by Ann Leblanc— I heard about this novella from a WisCon panel on recent trans SFF. It's about a space cheese maker who finds out the asteroid that houses her cheese cave is about to be yeetted into the sun. She is one of many people who is a copy of an original human, including the person she sells her cheese to and the woman she goes to for help. This book was maybe not as weird as it was presented to me, and some of the politics are exactly like current earth queer community debates. Still I loved all the details about food, and the bits of community building that were present around the edges of the story.

The Truth Season 3 cases 6 and 7— This is labeled as two cases but it's really one very long case! I was a little disappointed to have to wait a week for resolution. This case also featured some upsetting queer phobic violence as part of one character’s backstory. But there were a lot of fun things too. They fought zombies with bubble guns!

The Treasured Voice Season 6 ep 1 — I started watching this while I was waiting between episodes of The Truth. It’s a singing reality show featuring people pairing up to sing songs. It’s got Liu Yuning! I’ve only seen the first episode but it seems pretty chill so far though there are some judges who make negative comments.

( Maiden Holmes )