Current Media watching and not watching

[olivermoss]

* I've just sort of blinked at the Dragon Age banner when I open Netflix. I hear the new show is good? I loved Dragon Age 1-3, but my interest has been so killed that I don't know if I will ever watch this or play the new game in the works. The main writers all left. Bioware games have been a hot mess for a bit, EA pulls a lot of BS and I have a lot of other games I like that can take up my time. I love 1-3 so much, I was so into them and knew so much niche lore, etc,but can't muster interest in anything current or upcoming.

* I am rewatching Shadow and Bone because it's a fantasy show that I both liked and is not cancelled! The new season comes out in March. I have also picked up the first book so I can figure some stuff out. As I said when the first season dropped, this is a series that really needs an intro or segment with a map. They kind of just assume viewers are familiar with the setting and it makes the start very confusing. Even on rewatch I am like... wait did that one guy double back, and if so how could he have been late? I've also seen book fans say that a few things on the show were confusing.

Anyway, once I am done with the rewatch, time for the books.

* Unlicensed is a new project from the Welcome to Nightvale people. I liked Nightvale when it was new, but it lost me hard at a point. Since this is pretty much a mini series from them I was really interested, but it did not click with me at all. It's an Audible exclusive, but free. I somehow hadn't even heard about this, so it might be of interest to other people.

* Quantum Leap is renewed!

* I don't know if I am ever going to make it through The Talisman. I wanted to read it because adapting it is the Duffer's next project and also Stephen King is a big influence on Stranger Things (perhaps this book in particular, actually). But, I need to put this and also Spirited Situation (an m/m novel I liked at the start but just can't get through the middle of) on my DNF pile so I can find some stuff I want to finish. These two books have stalled out my reading a lot this year because I am trying to finish them and just keep not.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

I forgot that the next season of Shadow and Bone is coming out soon-ish. I should definitely rewatch the first season!
I did not read the main books, though I DID read the Six of Crows duology, and very much enjoyed those two.

I hadn't heard of Unlicensed. I don't do anything with Audible, though if I ever do, I'll try to give it a listen. I lost interest in WTNV, though not out of dislike so much as just drifting away. I've heard that it's stayed fairly strong, and may try to get back into it at some point.
I enjoyed Alice Isn't Dead from the same people, and I really enjoyed the first three seasons of Within the Wires. I've got like... three seasons (more?) of that to catch up on now, though.

Getting stalled out in books sucks. I've run into that same problem way too many times - where I lose interest in something and it keeps me from reading at all. Good call on moving on to something else. You can always come back to the other two if you want to in the future, or not.
(As a side note, I am so far liking A Taste of Gold and Iron more than I initially did. Which I only mention because I remember you saying it was on the tbr list.)

[olivermoss]

I've seen people recc the Six of Crows over the main Shadow and Bone books, but I'm still starting with the main.

Yeah, I feel like Unlicensed flew under the radar a bit. It's not for me, but I feel like it's not reaching people who might want to check it out.

I keep trying to just complete books because I hate not finishing so many, but they just aren't clicking with me. Spirited Situation started out good, but obviously it's lost me if I can't make myself keep going.

[mistressofmuses]

I'll be interested to see if you like the main ones! I haven't ever quite decided if I wanted to give them a try. I probably should, considering that I did enjoy the later duology so much.

It definitely flew under my radar - I always feel like it's kind of a shame when it seems like a series just isn't reaching its audience.

I get it. I'm super completionist-y, so it's hard for me to drop books midway through, but sometimes you've just gotta. It's a bummer when you can't quite identify what made you lose interest, but if it's like pulling teeth to get back into a book... life is too short! There are too many books to waste too much time on unsatisfying ones!

[olivermoss]

I just feel weird about not completing books, like it's a personal failure, a betray of my past constantly-reading self. But when I was younger it was probably easier to find books I clicked with and I just don't remember the one that I didn't, because I didn't think much of it.

[mistressofmuses]

*solidarity fistbump*

I spent SO MUCH of my childhood and teens reading SO prolifically. Multiple books at a time, constantly tearing through them... But I think you're right. The ones that stuck with me stuck with me for a reason, but there are plenty that I just don't remember because they didn't make a lasting impression. There are also plenty that I likely would have DNF'd if I tried to read them now, because I'm a lot more secure in my taste now, and less forgiving of certain flaws or styles that I just don't care for.

Still... I do feel guilty when it comes to how comparatively little I really read now, or how long it takes me to get through a book. (Including if I do decide to bail on one.) I know that plenty of it comes down to also having more draws on my time and attention nowadays, but that doesn't remove that feeling that I SHOULD be doing more.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, same, I am less secure in my taste and books and wonder if something is wrong with me. I am not exaggerating that the K J Charles Magpie books changed my life and got me back into writing because ... I had this creeping feeling that I was looking for something in books that books couldn't do. Honestly, some of the shitty people I used to know re-inforced that idea when I tried to articulate what I was trying to do with my writing.

[mistressofmuses]

I really do hate when I either like something that other people hate, or really dislike something that's getting rave reviews, because it DOES make me feel like there's something wrong with my perception. (Especially if the person my tastes are mismatched with is someone I often agree with or value the opinions of.)

I keep hearing that KJ Charles kinda went steeply downhill with later books, but I really want to read some earlier ones, because I've heard them mentioned multiple times in similar "this reignited my interest in reading or in storytelling" ways.

But that is a deeply shitty thing for people to have done - I've encountered similar attitudes in bad writing groups, where certain goals are discouraged without someone even making an attempt. It sucks.

[olivermoss]

I feel like K J Charles should be Exhibit A as to why needing twitter popularity to make it can had bad effects. She kinda got massively discourse addled and made some bizarre choices in some of her books. There was suddenly a lot of stuff she probably thought was progressive but... no... oh no...

But, a lot of other people also seem to consider the Magpie series the series to read and the first book is free on her website if you want to grab it: https://kjcharleswriter.com/free-reads/

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what I've heard about her work. A lot of things that were probably well-intentioned attempts at inclusivity that... really super did not work, like at all. It absolutely seems like someone letting discourse get to them in a really bad way.

Ooh, thank you for the link! I didn't realize the first one was free to read. I'll definitely grab a copy. (And good to know which series are more well-liked and have held up in ways some of her later stuff did not.)

[olivermoss]

Honestly, pretending The Magpie series was all she wrote isn't the worst approach. It's kinda the approach I take to her these days.

I really liked how the Sins of the Cities series started, like a lot, but that's the one where by the end of the second book things are a bit off, then the third book is like... no. That book is no. Yeah, after reviewing her list of books I'd highly recc just pretending only Magpies exists. And you can totally judge the series by the first book.

[mistressofmuses]

I've done that with authors before, pretending that That One Thing was all they wrote. I will happily do the same with this series, ha.

I don't know anything about the Sins of the Cities series. Is it worth reading the first book and pretending it was a one-off, or is it too clearly leading into the rest to pretend?

I'll give the first Magpies book a try!

[olivermoss]

Sins of the City is very clearly leading into the next book. She does this thing in her later series where book 1 very much sets up the ship for book 2, and then book 2 for book 3, etc. It's a good format, resolving one UST situation but also leaving readers very invested in another UST situation.

[mistressofmuses]

Ah, that's a bummer. I mean, that IS a pretty standard format for ongoing romance series that are going to feature different ships in each book, so it makes sense, and is usually a good move. It's only a bummer because the series didn't stay good!