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landofnowhereShort post because (a) it's actually only been a week (b) busy and (c) while I did spend a bunch of time on planes it was mostly not reading. (I did watch the movie of Die Vermessung der Welt with English subtitles, and while it worked to keep me entertained while very sleep-deprived, on reflection I'm too invested in the actual historical Carl Friedrich Gauss to accept any ahistorical substitutes.)
To Shape a Dragon's Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose. I thought it would be appropriate to read about dragons on the plane trip, and then I didn't read very much, but that's fine as the dragons don't really get to fly in this book anyway. This book was not very subtle in a way that I suspect I'd have preferred if I was younger, which makes sense as it's YA. There are presumably people who would review this book as "I thought I was getting a story about dragons, not a story about how racism and colonialism are bad", but I had read enough reviews to know what I was getting, which was that, but also a school story with interesting alternate-history chemistry and telepathic pet dragons who are not yet a big part of the story, and I enjoyed it! I will definitely be reading book 2 (which I appreciate about summer vacation rather than skipping to the second year of school) when it comes out in January.
To Shape a Dragon's Breath, Moniquill Blackgoose. I thought it would be appropriate to read about dragons on the plane trip, and then I didn't read very much, but that's fine as the dragons don't really get to fly in this book anyway. This book was not very subtle in a way that I suspect I'd have preferred if I was younger, which makes sense as it's YA. There are presumably people who would review this book as "I thought I was getting a story about dragons, not a story about how racism and colonialism are bad", but I had read enough reviews to know what I was getting, which was that, but also a school story with interesting alternate-history chemistry and telepathic pet dragons who are not yet a big part of the story, and I enjoyed it! I will definitely be reading book 2 (which I appreciate about summer vacation rather than skipping to the second year of school) when it comes out in January.
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Date: 12 Sep 2025 00:27 (UTC)Have you read Mary Shelley's Lodore? I'm trying to power through volumes 2-3 before my book club meeting next week.
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Date: 12 Sep 2025 00:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 20 Sep 2025 11:48 (UTC)So, in this novel, Lord Lodore marries a woman with whom he is incompatible, accuses her of flirting with his illegitimate/secret son, and then takes their daughter and runs off to America. That all happens in the first vol. which is largely told in flashback. Then the daughter becomes a teen and they head back to Europe. I won't spoil what ultimately happens.
It has a lot of say about gender relationships (what makes a good wife/woman); there are themes of Romanticism as well. And there's a Pygmalion kinda thing going on with Lodore and his daughter.
It was not my favorite. Way too much description and too little dialogue. But it was interesting.