Wednesday Reading Meme May 14 2025

[kitewithfish]

Unrelated: I have finished Andor season 2 and would LOVE to talk about it. I had not gotten the memo that this was going to be a 2 season show, instead of 5 – probably should have picked up on it. Still very good, just a much faster pace, I have some specific thoughts about that last image. Probably going to go back and watch Rogue One now.

What I've Read
Rivers of London/Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch – Finished, not super engaging, I don’t think I will read the rest. I just began to find the narrator irritating and I ended up finishing the book without much pleasure, tho the plot was engaging and the story was not bad! It's got some cool magic in it, I don't think that other people would find this a bad book.

What I'm Reading
Hunting Toward Heartstill by Blackkat -about 45%

My Favorite Thing is Monsters -Emil Ferris - No movement

The Antarctica Conspiracy Derin Edala – slightly on hold.

What I'll Read Next
Hugo Nominees are out!
Track Changes
The Deep Dark
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book 2
The Tainted Cup
Alien Clay
Service Model
The Ministry of Time
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way
Monstress, Vol. 9: The Possessed
Navigational Entanglements
The Butcher of the Forest
The Hunger and the Dusk: Vol. 1
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right
The Brides of High Hill
We Called Them Giants
The Tusks of Extinction
“Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics”
“Signs of Life”
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars”
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video”
“Loneliness Universe”
“The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion”
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”
“Lake of Souls”

also bought some books – orb of cairado and the foz meadows novella, so stuff to look at there!

Comments

[spikedluv]

Too bad you didn't enjoy the first in the Rivers of London series.

[kitewithfish]

I know! I remember liking this one when I read it years ago, but today consistent low-grade fatphobia in the narration just *got* to me. I found Beverly and Lesley very fun!

[yourlibrarian]

You're not alone. I read 2 of the Rivers of London books because so many people enjoyed them. But I didn't like them enough to keep going.

[kitewithfish]

I have friends who really liked them! I think that if I had hit on them in my 20s, I would probably been able to enjoy them, but alas, I am too old for this shit.

[nerakrose]

Andor season two??? I thought there was only going to be one season 👀 I really enjoyed Andor s1 and have been wanting more ever since, so I think I will be re-watching s1 and then getting into s2. :D

I'm not a HUGE Star Wars fan tbh - I enjoy it well enough, but I'm not all that into all the different media that has come out from it, and haven't kept up with it all, but Andor really stood out to me.

[kitewithfish]

I think Andor really is the best of the recent projects! Good writing, a sense of purpose - it's someone using Star Wars to say something about, ya know, why people fight wars, and doing quite a good job of it.

I was coming at Andor S2 from the opposite set of expectations - the press for the first season had talked about cover the five years before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, one year per season like Andor S1 did! Then, well, they realized it takes more than a year to film a season of Andor, and it's expensive as heck, and there was pandemic - so they condensed the highlights of the plot into one season.

Andor S2 is brisker than S1, covering say, one big mission or event per year of Cassian's life before Rogue One. Only, I didn't know that, and I was like, wow, they really are rushing towards Rogue One, what will be left for next season, and welp.... nothing, actually! Just two season total.

If you have managed to remain unspoiled for Season 2, I think you might enjoy re-watching season 1 first, or there's a good little 15 clip show that covers all the main events you'd need to know.

[nerakrose]

I've not been spoilered for s2 at all, I know nothing about it other than it exists :D I do think I will rewatch s1 first.

it's someone using Star Wars to say something
yeah!! like really good fanfic.

[nerakrose]

I forgot to say wrt Rivers of London - some years ago now, I had a discussion here on DW regarding rep in books (I think, prompted by my feelings about Scott Lynch's books, but I'm not sure I'm remembering that correctly) and somebody recommended the Rivers of London series to me on the basis of (I'm paraphrasing) 'the author wasn't great about things like trans stuff in the beginning but he learned and included a trans character in book 5'. my reaction to that was essentially 'and so why should I sit through 4 books with potentially triggering transphobic content sprinkled throughout to get "some rep" in book 5, when I can just go and read something else where that isn't an issue from the start?'

Your comments regarding fatphobia is endearing me even less to the series now :'')

don't get me wrong, it's a good thing when authors learn and improve and if Aaronovitch really did improve on the trans stuff (and potentially other things too?) then that's great, but I'm also like... I could just read something else. and if he ever writes something new, I might be more willing to try that out than start with this series.