More films and books
Apr. 23rd, 2015 01:36 pmOnce Upon a Time, Series 1
Borrowed from ghoti and family. Thank you!
I saw the pilot ages ago and thought it could get a lot better or a lot worse, but when I mostly saw it, it got a lot better! The basic premise is that an evil queen's curse sends all the fairytale characters to a town in the real world without their memories. Each episode forwards the plot in the real world, while also filling in the backstory of one or more of the characters from before the curse.
The backstory parts are amazing. They take the basic story outlined in the first episode and add more and more history to the characters, that never undermines what was previously established, but for all of the characters adds a lot more detail that make them a real character. Especially the evil queen, and even more so, Rumpelstiltskin, played amazingly by Robert Carlyle, they become so rich, multilayered characters.
I don't even fault the magic! Despite mostly being "make it up as you go along" style of consistency, it's usually plenty clear what you need to know, and rules like "true love can break any curse" are explored like the three laws of robotics, not ignored, but returned to and expanded.
Unfortunately, I wasn't as sure of the real-world plot: I loved the characters and the setting, but it felt like the plot was treading water a bit to get everything else to catch up. Even when dramatic things happened, it felt like it had to keep propping up a status quo where Regina was mayor until the end of the season.
I know lots of friends loved it (with some caveats), I'm interested to see how season 2 goes at some point.
King and Joker
Has been on Liv's shelf for ages and ages, and I liked the sound of it, but it was now until I finally read it.
I enjoyed it a lot. It's an alternate history where the british royal family were more like the dutch royal family, reduced in prominence, and establishing the little domestic relationships of the central family and the people close to them, framed by practical jokes that become more serious and turn into a murder mystery.
I do echo Liv's caveat that although well done, it's aggravating that the spanish and scottish dialects are spelled phonetically :(
Necessary Beggar, by Susan Palwick
I have very fond memories of this as it's a book I picked off Liv's shelf when I was visiting her in Stockholm, when I wanted something interesting but not too mind-stretchy (I think the previous I read was Ted Chiang :)) It didn't have a big effect on me at the time, but it's grown on me a lot in retrospect.
A family are exiled to Earth from a great city in a parallel fantasy world, arriving in a refugee camp. It takes the metaphysics as read and concentrates on the characters and their relationships to each other, and in learning to settle into American life. It's easy to get into, but carries you away with a lot of love for the characters, the trade-offs in adapting to a new culture, and the background mystery of the original crime which is slowly resolved.
Apparently she has written some other things, which I didn't think to look for before: I have ordered her collection of short stories.
Borrowed from ghoti and family. Thank you!
I saw the pilot ages ago and thought it could get a lot better or a lot worse, but when I mostly saw it, it got a lot better! The basic premise is that an evil queen's curse sends all the fairytale characters to a town in the real world without their memories. Each episode forwards the plot in the real world, while also filling in the backstory of one or more of the characters from before the curse.
The backstory parts are amazing. They take the basic story outlined in the first episode and add more and more history to the characters, that never undermines what was previously established, but for all of the characters adds a lot more detail that make them a real character. Especially the evil queen, and even more so, Rumpelstiltskin, played amazingly by Robert Carlyle, they become so rich, multilayered characters.
I don't even fault the magic! Despite mostly being "make it up as you go along" style of consistency, it's usually plenty clear what you need to know, and rules like "true love can break any curse" are explored like the three laws of robotics, not ignored, but returned to and expanded.
Unfortunately, I wasn't as sure of the real-world plot: I loved the characters and the setting, but it felt like the plot was treading water a bit to get everything else to catch up. Even when dramatic things happened, it felt like it had to keep propping up a status quo where Regina was mayor until the end of the season.
I know lots of friends loved it (with some caveats), I'm interested to see how season 2 goes at some point.
King and Joker
Has been on Liv's shelf for ages and ages, and I liked the sound of it, but it was now until I finally read it.
I enjoyed it a lot. It's an alternate history where the british royal family were more like the dutch royal family, reduced in prominence, and establishing the little domestic relationships of the central family and the people close to them, framed by practical jokes that become more serious and turn into a murder mystery.
I do echo Liv's caveat that although well done, it's aggravating that the spanish and scottish dialects are spelled phonetically :(
Necessary Beggar, by Susan Palwick
I have very fond memories of this as it's a book I picked off Liv's shelf when I was visiting her in Stockholm, when I wanted something interesting but not too mind-stretchy (I think the previous I read was Ted Chiang :)) It didn't have a big effect on me at the time, but it's grown on me a lot in retrospect.
A family are exiled to Earth from a great city in a parallel fantasy world, arriving in a refugee camp. It takes the metaphysics as read and concentrates on the characters and their relationships to each other, and in learning to settle into American life. It's easy to get into, but carries you away with a lot of love for the characters, the trade-offs in adapting to a new culture, and the background mystery of the original crime which is slowly resolved.
Apparently she has written some other things, which I didn't think to look for before: I have ordered her collection of short stories.