february 2025 roundup
Mar. 1st, 2025 04:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thingexplainerI really didn't read all that much in February. Here's an assortment of things:
Being an Asian Southerner Means Being an Anomaly, Squared
I like to read things about being Asian in America (see Disorientation from last month) but it's rare that I'm not disappointed by what the author has to say. This was a pretty unique read about a flavor of Asian-America I'm not familiar with, and I'd really like to pick up the book it's from.
Peking Duck
Reading the above essay sparked some discussion that reminded me about this short story by Ling Ma. I like what it says about being Chinese-American and the stories we tell about that experience.
The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere
This one only half counts for February because it's a serial that I've been reading for quite a while now. If you're familiar with Umineko, or any other extraordinarily long and complicated mystery narratives possible in visual novel form....... A short description is that a class of students studying methods of immortality go on a retreat and then they all die. I'm not smart enough for the mystery stuff but it's been fun to follow along. It's here because the writer recently announced that she's working on converting it into a visual novel, which is very exciting.
Asunder by Kerstin Hall
I picked this up because it was very well reviewed in 2024, and it turns out that my favorite trope of body sharing remains my favorite trope. Unfortunately I just wasn't expecting the main pairing to be m/f. It's very sweet but I think the guy is not all that interesting, and I was a little bit baited by the f/f flirting going on towards the beginning. I mean, there's definitely another telegraphed f/f pairing knowing that the endgame is m/f, but so much of my reading has been f/f that I forgot..........Everything else with the religion and persecution and gods and abuse and politics feels pretty well done to me otherwise though. I did enjoy reading this, and the romance is maybe one of the least important things. It is also clearly written with a sequel in mind, so I guess I'll be keeping an eye out.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Fantasy is dead, fantasy lives on. This took me a month to finish after reaching the endgame because I just didn't want it to end. Great videogame, I will be buying it again when Atlus rereleases the same game but more in a few years. This is a game with the premise of what if the moon from Majora's Mask suddenly demanded democratic elections. I promise, it's a great story. I do feel like the writers got their point a little mixed up with the whole, anyone could become king, even you! But then you turn out to be the actual literal prince, and also you end up king. Kind of messes with the point of the people's will determining the ruler...
Being an Asian Southerner Means Being an Anomaly, Squared
I like to read things about being Asian in America (see Disorientation from last month) but it's rare that I'm not disappointed by what the author has to say. This was a pretty unique read about a flavor of Asian-America I'm not familiar with, and I'd really like to pick up the book it's from.
Peking Duck
Reading the above essay sparked some discussion that reminded me about this short story by Ling Ma. I like what it says about being Chinese-American and the stories we tell about that experience.
The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere
This one only half counts for February because it's a serial that I've been reading for quite a while now. If you're familiar with Umineko, or any other extraordinarily long and complicated mystery narratives possible in visual novel form....... A short description is that a class of students studying methods of immortality go on a retreat and then they all die. I'm not smart enough for the mystery stuff but it's been fun to follow along. It's here because the writer recently announced that she's working on converting it into a visual novel, which is very exciting.
Asunder by Kerstin Hall
I picked this up because it was very well reviewed in 2024, and it turns out that my favorite trope of body sharing remains my favorite trope. Unfortunately I just wasn't expecting the main pairing to be m/f. It's very sweet but I think the guy is not all that interesting, and I was a little bit baited by the f/f flirting going on towards the beginning. I mean, there's definitely another telegraphed f/f pairing knowing that the endgame is m/f, but so much of my reading has been f/f that I forgot..........Everything else with the religion and persecution and gods and abuse and politics feels pretty well done to me otherwise though. I did enjoy reading this, and the romance is maybe one of the least important things. It is also clearly written with a sequel in mind, so I guess I'll be keeping an eye out.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Fantasy is dead, fantasy lives on. This took me a month to finish after reaching the endgame because I just didn't want it to end. Great videogame, I will be buying it again when Atlus rereleases the same game but more in a few years. This is a game with the premise of what if the moon from Majora's Mask suddenly demanded democratic elections. I promise, it's a great story. I do feel like the writers got their point a little mixed up with the whole, anyone could become king, even you! But then you turn out to be the actual literal prince, and also you end up king. Kind of messes with the point of the people's will determining the ruler...
