Okay, so it looks like I read and watched stunningly little this month, which isn't strictly true - it's just that Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas is the size of a doorstop, and I'm juggling about six separate shows at the moment (Into the Badlands, Killing Eve, American Gods, and the four Arrowverse shows).
And of course, I had to take some time to have a quick meltdown over Game of Thrones. I got over it, but the fact I didn't watch the last three episodes means I'm not going to include it here.
So that leaves a grand total of two books, one graphic novel, and two movies...
Mera: Tidebreaker by Danielle Paige
I rewatched Aquaman this month, and on spotting a brand-new graphic novel at the library about Princess Mera, I nabbed it in a bid to learn more about her. Though it's outside the continuity of the comics and the recent film, it does hit the beats of Mera's background that were only mentioned in the movie: she's the princess of the underwater kingdom of Xebel, the only daughter of its king, engaged to a guy she doesn't love, and actively fighting against Atlantean rule.
This is apparently one in a series of ongoing graphic novels featuring DC heroines in their adolescence; not compliant with any of the comics, but which are aimed at slightly younger readers. You can tell by the emphasis on girl power and bad decision making (honestly, it's adorable), as when Mera discovers her betrothed will inherit the Xebellian throne if he kills the current heir to Atlantis, she decides to take matters into her own hands and kill Arthur Curry herself.
Arthur (living on land with his father, as per the usual takes) takes her assassination attempts in his stride: she's a gorgeous redhead and he's a teenage boy, so what's a little homocide in the face of that?
Okay, I'm being facetious. It's an entertaining enough read with some great aquatically-coloured artwork, and serves its purpose of supplying young readers with a closer look at a DC heroine they were probably introduced to in the 2018 film.
Rebel Genius by Michael Dante DiMartino
I'll admit I grabbed this because the author was one of the co-creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it was amusing to see some of the similarities between the two stories.
There's a rich imaginary world based on a real historical setting (for Avatar it was medieval Asia; here it's Renaissance Italy), a complex framework of "magic" wielded by a minority group, and a cross-country journey that involves plenty of team building along the way. There's even a scene in which the main character accidentally burns one of his companions when he mishandles his power.
Young Giacomo Ghiberti lives in a world where artists - whether they're painters, sculptors or musicians - have bird-like creatures who help channel their creative powers. Called Geniuses (a bit like daemons in His Dark Materials), they're beautiful creatures that provide inspiration and life-long companionship to their artists, but unfortunately they're also outlawed. The city of Virenzia is ruled over by the self-styled Supreme Creator Nerezza (think Kuvira), who has decreed that anyone caught with a Genius should be executed.
That's how Giacomo lost his parents, leaving him an orphan in the slums of the city, stealing food and art supplies from the markets. Then one night, much to his shock, a Genius appears. It's his Genius, and now he's on the run not only from the Supreme Creator's soldiers, but a sinister sorcerer called Ugalino and the many-armed, golem-like creature who obeys his every command.
The familiarity is off-set by the unique elements that DiMartino adds, and there's plenty of imaginative scope to be had in the way the Geniuses supplement the artistry of the characters. DiMartino mentions in the back of the book that he was inspired by how the term "genius" was originally a Latin word for a guiding spirit, and that their appearance is borrowed from the Hindu and Buddhist imagery of Garuda, a divine human-bird that wears a jewelled crown.
There are few things more enjoyable in the fantasy genre than exploring a detailed and interesting sub-world, and this is definitely one.
Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor
Originally published as an e-book, this is a novella that details the love story of two supporting characters in Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy, one of the most amazingly overwrought and gloriously OTT urban/epic fantasy stories of all time. Reading it is like eating electrified cotton-candy.
It's been a while, but I remembered the characters of Zuzana and Mik, the best friend of the protagonist and her love interest. Although only tangentially involved in the main plot (which involved a cosmic battle between angels and chimera) this explores what they were up to while the rest of the characters were off saving the world.
Although you'll probably want to have read the original trilogy to understand some of the details, it still works as a sweet little story about a girl who gets her crush's attention through a quasi-scavenger hunt that involves their gifts as a puppet-maker and violinist to make their feelings known.
Aquaman (2018)
Yes, I watched this again, and still found it pleasantly diverting. The score is amazing, the cast is having great fun, Mera's hair and outfits are lovely, and it's pretty much just what I needed after the crushing trauma of Game of Thrones. (Granted the presence of the Reluctant King and More Qualified Woman Standing Right There archetypes were still rather aggravating).
Is it safe to say that Black Manta rather than Orm will be the main villain of the sequel? Though I could also see a frenemy team-up in the face of a greater threat if they wanted to go in that direction. And hopefully more of Randall Park as the Atlantean conspiracy theorist...
Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
All sequels about the return of magical figures we read about as kids are the same: after a significant period of time the children from the original story are now grown up and disillusioned with life, requiring a dose of nostalgia and whimsy in order to reclaim their childhoods and connect properly with their own offspring. Also, Julie Walters is a housekeeper.
That's the plot of Mary Poppins Returns, but also Hook and that Christopher Robin movie starring Ewan McGregor. In this case Jane and Michael Banks are all grown up, with the latter widowed and trying to raise three kids of his own. Unfortunately the bank has come knocking with a threat of foreclosure and blah blah blah, basically he needs to find an important document before they're all kicked out.
Into the chaos comes Mary Poppins (now looking like Emily Blunt instead of Julie Andrews) and a lamp-lighter called Jack (Bert has been quietly retired) to take us through a pretty familiar series of songs and adventures: instead of a cleaning up montage, there's now a bathtime adventure. Instead of leaping into a chalk drawing, they now dive into a china bowl. There's an encounter with a quirky relative who defies gravity, some trouble-making at the bank, a big dance number with lamp-lighters instead of chimney sweeps, and balloon-floating in the place of kite-flying.
I mean, everything looks and sounds great, but they didn't really go for any originality here. There's not much else to say.
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