Here's a round up of my brief thoughts on media I've consumed in the last couple of weeks:
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine— Sequel to A Memory Called Empire! I enjoyed this a lot, if not quite as much as the 1st book. However I don’t really think its the book’s fault, I’m just feeling less interested in the things that make this book good, like worldbuilding and complicated political and cultural situations.
The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern Chinaby Carla Nappi— This through exploration of the Bencao gangmu, a Ming medical encyclopedia, on its own terms. It’s very much about how the author understood the world. Very interesting but a bit rambling.
Qi Ye aka Lord Seventh by priest, translated by Chichi— This the prequel to the novel that Word of Honor is based on. It was published serially online, and the pacing shows it. I enjoyed it, and it was fun to see different versions of some familiar characters.
Come Drink with Me (1966)— Continuing with my wuxia/martial arts film project This was pretty fun, there’s crossdressing, daring rescues, and coded messages being passed via singing children. I wanted this to stay more focused on the female lead, but it ended up getting side tracked by a male character and his fight with some dude who didn’t show up until ⅔ of the way through the movie.
(content note: child death)
Reign of Assassins (2010)— Another wuxia movie. I liked this one! It had Michele Yeoh, swoosh, good domestic scenes, and characters I cared about.
(Content note: very brief child death, brief bird death, moderate gore, possible gender dysphoria triggering things)
Kings Avatar donghua ep 1-8— This is what my group watch ended up going with. It's a show about professional esports players, it's fun so far. While a lot of the action takes place in the game or in an internet cafe the show is set in Hangzhou, and features great exterior shots. The main character can be a bit of a little shit, though I gather from people who are familiar with other versions, that he’s nice in those. We are slowly starting to pull a team together. I’m excited for more found family feels.
Daily Life of the Immortal Kingpe 1-15— This is a high school donghua set in a modern world with xianxia style magic (aka modern with cultivation). The worldbuilding is so much fun! This starts out very slice of life but then takes a turn into something much more dramatic. There is a green demon dog! The ending does put more weight on some relationships that I felt was earned, but over all the show was a lot of fun.
(Content note: Harm to children, temporary character death)
A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine— Sequel to A Memory Called Empire! I enjoyed this a lot, if not quite as much as the 1st book. However I don’t really think its the book’s fault, I’m just feeling less interested in the things that make this book good, like worldbuilding and complicated political and cultural situations.
The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern Chinaby Carla Nappi— This through exploration of the Bencao gangmu, a Ming medical encyclopedia, on its own terms. It’s very much about how the author understood the world. Very interesting but a bit rambling.
Qi Ye aka Lord Seventh by priest, translated by Chichi— This the prequel to the novel that Word of Honor is based on. It was published serially online, and the pacing shows it. I enjoyed it, and it was fun to see different versions of some familiar characters.
Come Drink with Me (1966)— Continuing with my wuxia/martial arts film project This was pretty fun, there’s crossdressing, daring rescues, and coded messages being passed via singing children. I wanted this to stay more focused on the female lead, but it ended up getting side tracked by a male character and his fight with some dude who didn’t show up until ⅔ of the way through the movie.
(content note: child death)
Reign of Assassins (2010)— Another wuxia movie. I liked this one! It had Michele Yeoh, swoosh, good domestic scenes, and characters I cared about.
(Content note: very brief child death, brief bird death, moderate gore, possible gender dysphoria triggering things)
Kings Avatar donghua ep 1-8— This is what my group watch ended up going with. It's a show about professional esports players, it's fun so far. While a lot of the action takes place in the game or in an internet cafe the show is set in Hangzhou, and features great exterior shots. The main character can be a bit of a little shit, though I gather from people who are familiar with other versions, that he’s nice in those. We are slowly starting to pull a team together. I’m excited for more found family feels.
Daily Life of the Immortal Kingpe 1-15— This is a high school donghua set in a modern world with xianxia style magic (aka modern with cultivation). The worldbuilding is so much fun! This starts out very slice of life but then takes a turn into something much more dramatic. There is a green demon dog! The ending does put more weight on some relationships that I felt was earned, but over all the show was a lot of fun.
(Content note: Harm to children, temporary character death)
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