Reading Wednesday

[sally_maria]

Two books I had pre-ordered arrived in the last week or so, and I very much enjoyed reading both of them.


Redeemer by C.E. Murphy

Rosie wants to keep her job as a riveter, even with her boyfriend returning from World War II. But there’s defying convention, and then there’s executing a demon on the factory floor. Rosie is ready to roll with the demon-slaying power awakened inside her—if she can figure out how to make it work on command.

The Buffy inspiration is obvious, and honoured, but Rosie is a young woman, not a teenager, and with a different set of social mores to deal with. The (mainly female) cast of characters is interesting and varied and the story is well-set up as the first part of a series - I look forward to reading them.

The Curse of Fenric by Una McCormack

I first became aware of the Black Archive series of critical analyses of Doctor Who stories because a friend was writing one, but then I realised that this month's edition was not only of one of my favourite stories, but written by someone I know through Twitter and her DS9 novels, and Tolkien fanfic.

It does an excellent job of putting the story in the context of the time it was written, both in terms in current events and behind the scenes of the show itself, nearly at the end of its original run. It also spends quite a bit of time on the character of Ace, as she grows up during the course of the story. Only a short volume, but very interesting.

Comments

[sir_guinglain]

I think Una's Black Archive is brilliant; I like that she's talked to Ian Briggs about the story and that she is interested in how the series was reconceptualizing both Doctor and companion at this point.

[sallymn]

Una is a wonderful writer....

[elisi]

Those look very interesting, thank you!