Subplots and Storylines - November 2017

Wait--November disappeared? I left it right there, turned around for one second, and when I looked back, it was gone!

I suspect many of us are feeling that way, especially all of you who participated in NaNoWriMo! I could use a really long nap right about now. But before I crawl into hibernation, I suppose you're expecting some witty summaries of how November shaped up in my corner of the world, right?

Well, the month opened up with my 22nd birthday.

And what with blueberry bran muffins for breakfast and a rousing game of bingo in the evening, it's been confirmed that I am now an old lady. It was a lovely day, despite school taking up half of it, and a few days later I received a surprise birthday package in the mail from a dear friend (you know who you are!). Later on I also went out for coffee with another good friend whom I hadn't really chatted with in--oops--close to a year, so that was fun too. (You know who you are as well!)

Let's see, what else . . .

My little sis had a birthday too! The end of the year is when half the family's birthdays snowball into Christmas, so there's always lots of shopping involved. Speaking of which, I started Christmas shopping in November too, but still have a ways to go. That, plus putting up the Christmas tree and seeing the glittering hoarfrost all over the trees on my way to work this morning, means the festive feels are rolling in.

I bought a painting from another friend of mine who was selling her artwork at a local craft faire, and the green-and-blue colors match my room quite nicely.

I finally moved a two-foot stack of books--all acquired last summer--off my desk! Had to clear a shelf to make room for them, but at least now they have a home. Any other book dragons out there struggling to fit your hoard into your existing shelves? It's tough.

So basically lots of little happenings this month, because school was intense. All the assignment due dates, quizzes, and studying kind of fell into November, plus the deadline for a group project was (and still is) looming, so much of my spare time was funneled into textbooks. Unfortunately. This is why I'm heading off to hibernate!


P.S. Marvel's Infinity War trailer dropped and I am F R E A K I N G  O U T.

Subplots on the Screen

Yes, yes, I watched more of Once Upon a Time season 3 and The Flash season 3, both of which are still great! And is it just me, or have I been stuck on these seasons for months?!

Wonder Woman

(I actually watched this in October, but somehow forgot to include it in that month's S&S post.) Back when I first heard they were making a Wonder Woman movie, I'll admit I rolled my eyes, expecting two hours of overly-feministic claptrap. The character's appearance in Batman v. Superman didn't impress me much--she seemed like just another beautiful, kick-butt heroine with little personality.

Buuuut then I started hearing great reviews from friends who were watching Wonder Woman, and when I finally saw it myself--well, I realized they were right! It wasn't a perfect movie (and it did bear some amusing resemblances to Captain America: The First Avenger), but it was one of the best DC films I've seen. Diana's strong moral compass and pure view of the world rang true for me. ("But the war is that way!") Seeing her charge into battle, inspiring dozens of men to follow her into the fray, almost brought me to tears. Plus, it was super fun to see an Amazonian women at odds with American WWI society.

The Dark Tower

The preview gave me chills! I've never watched nor read anything by Stephen King, but this one had enough of a fantasy vibe (and less of a horror vibe) to interest me. Unfortunately, the plot lacked the depth I was hoping for, and the boy, Jake, could have had a lot more personality. I did enjoy it, though! Matthew McConaughy was the BEST as the Man in Black. He saved the movie for me. So did Idris Elba as the Gunslinger--both were really cool characters. The score was fantastic too.

Not sure if this is true, but apparently the movie was based off a whole series of books by Stephen King, so maybe that's why it felt like it was missing something. Anyway, I don't regret watching it.

Priceless

Soooo good! This is a movie about human trafficking, so it wasn't an easy watch, but the filmmakers did a good job of conveying the worst parts in a subtle, implied way. Even so, there was lots of emotion, and some characters I wanted to smack really hard--disgustingly hard.

Did you know that Joel Smallbone from For King & Country played the lead role? He did a stellar job. Actually, the whole movie was surprisingly good quality. Sorry, but you never know if a Christian film is going to feel low-budget. Terribly unfortunate, and I have many thoughts on that topic, but that's for another day. This movie was great, though, even if it wrapped up a bit quickly!

Due to the subject matter, I would caution younger viewers to use discernment when deciding whether to see it themselves.

Storylines on the Page

Prodigy Prince // Natasha Sapienza

The author was so sweet and gave me a free e-book copy in exchange for review! (All opinions are my own.) This was a high fantasy novel that kind of toed the line between MG and YA, and the action starts right off the bat with Prince Nuelle's older brother leaving him in the role of Supreme Prince. It was a really creative story, exceedingly colorful in all senses of the word, with things like magenta grass and blue hair and elemental-ish superpowers. My favorite powers are spoilery, however, so I can't talk about them!

A slew of fantasy creatures and battles kept the pace running at high-speed; the Savage Shifters in particular were nifty because they were actually limited in their shapeshifting powers (hallelujah for realistic limits!).

I'm a big sucker for training sequences and heroes banding together in an Avengers-like style, so that was another plus for me. My favorite scene, however, took place in an infirmary, where a certain character with healing powers literally absorbed the wounded people's pain.

My main quibble was that the pace didn't allow me to delve as deeply into the mind of the protagonist or the nuances of the storyworld as much as I wanted to. I posted a longer review on Goodreads HERE. (Just an FYI, I believe Natasha is making some changes to the story before she fully releases it, but if you're interested, definitely add it to your to-read list on GR!) Three stars!

The Tomb of the Sea Witch // Kyle Robert Schultz

Eeep, I loved this one! The Beast of Talesend was really fun, don't get me wrong, but somehow the sequel was just BETTER. I laughed out loud numerous times while the characters went undercover at the Warrengate Academy of Advanced Magic and dealt with threats from the sea (sirens! mermaids! artefacts! oh my!). Full of twists and turns that honestly surprised me, humor on nearly every page, lots of snark, and deliciously fun spins on several different fairy tales at once, this little book was like fluffy chocolate cake. No, make that Black Forest Cake, because the surprises and jokes are like . . . cherries? No? Analogy's not working? Okay, fine. It was a great book, and I'm so glad I bought it straight from the author at Realm Makers last summer!

I caught a few unfortunate typos, but am still giving it five stars!

A Time to Die // Nadine Brandes

Another book I bought at Realm Makers, yay! And OH. MY. GOODNESS. This trilogy gets a lot of hype, at least in my reader circles, and I was desperately hoping it would live up to all those glowing reviews. IT DID. Bless Nadine's heart, it did.

This is one of the most unusual dystopian novels I've read, because it's infused with a lot more faith and hard questions and almost urban fantasy-ish settings than others. One setting in particular almost felt out of place, but I found it so fascinating that I didn't care.

But let's get back to the beginning. PARVIN. She is gold. I related to her so stinking much. In a society where everyone has a Clock counting down the time until they die, she has a year left and yearns to find her purpose, some way to make her last days count. She swings from apathy to passion a few times throughout the course of the novel, which was uncomfortably realistic (but in a good way). And she's something of a writer--well, technically an autobiographer--so that was neat.

Some quickie thoughts on other characters:

• Parvin's mom was hard to like at first, but that was on purpose, and I felt their somewhat rocky relationship was done really well.
• Parvin's twin brother was lovable, except for a few times when he was annoyingly secretive.
• A certain man with a fedora was verrrrry hateable.
• Jude--I have conflicting feelings about this guy even now. At times I hated him too, at other times I adored him. He was flawed, temperamental, but he had his reasons. So my undecided opinion is not a bad thing! Just an observation!
• Hawke--okay, him I like. He had some moments that made me unsure as well, but in other ways he reminded me of the beloved Remko from Rachelle Dekker's Seer trilogy, minus the stutter. I want more Hawke in the next two instalments!
• Willow was precious.
• One minor character had a strong Ecclesiastes ("everything is useless!") vibe going on, which was intriguing.
• The Albinos were despicable and strange and yet some of them had redeeming qualities.

I don't even know how to sum up my thoughts on this book! I've been thinking about it for weeks since finishing it. It brought me close to tears. It resonated with me powerfully. The emotions were palpable, the writing was excellent, and the worldbuilding was fleshed out wonderfully. Low cities and high cities, a humongous wall, tightropes, wilderness, a train, the Dregs, emotigraphs, super cool suits: all of it shone through the pages brilliantly. Nadine writes with truckloads of heart, and consequently, mine was broken in a beautiful way.

Can't wait to read the next two! Five stars!

A Midsummer Night's Dream // Shakespeare

GASP, what is this? Tracey read a classic? A Shakespeare play, no less? Why yes, I'm not a completely uncultured bookdragon. Sometimes the classic bug bites me, and I'm in the mood for old books. That happened this month, so I picked up this wee little play and enjoyed it immensely. All I knew about it going in was that Puck was in it. And I wanted to read about Puck. And I was not disappointed. He was one of my favorite parts--a mischievous imp who, together with Oberon, mess everything up for the play's main characters. This was a comedy of errors indeed. Very amusing.

And essentially we have a love square going on. (Thanks, Shakespeare, for inspiring 98% of all modern YA romances--although it looks like you were really just poking fun at the melodrama.) It's all rather over-the-top and hilarious, but there are also gorgeous descriptions woven throughout, along with musings on the nature of art, love's blindness, and imagination.

"The lunatic, the lover, and the poet

Are of imagination all compact . . ."

Also, Nick Bottom and the other peasant actors are officially the second-best thing ever. Puck is still the best! Another five stars.

In other book news . . .

I won a discount on a PageHabit book box in October, caved in, and subscribed. My box arrived early November, containing two new hardcover YA books--both annotated by the authors--and a small collection of bookish goodies. Quite fun! But it's an American-based company, and so it's not exactly cheap for a Canadian . . . so my plan was to unsubscribe after my first box, at least for now while I'm a student paying tuition fees. Except I forgot to unsubscribe in time, and now my second box is in the mail. Oops! Oh well, it means a couple more new books.

Subplots on My Writing Desk

Hey, remember last month when I told y'all that I was going to edit my Snow White retelling for the Rooglewood contest before the end of November so that I could have a month off writing?

That didn't happen. Instead, school happened.

I think I had exactly four editing sessions the entire month, and the first two were spent reading over the novella and making notes.

But as of now, I did my first pass through chapters 1-4 (out of 9 in total). So . . . I can still finish before the deadline on December 31st. And on the plus side, it's not as much of a mess as I originally thought? So yay? I don't know, I guess I've been dealing with some writer's doubt on this one. But it's starting to shape up a bit--progress!

Oh, guess what! I also have a title AT LAST! No longer must I refer to it as Epically Confused and Possibly Schizophrenic Snow White Retelling (or ECaPSSWR). No, now it is called Mirrors Never Lie. Having something to call it is a relief!

[image via Pinterest; graphic my own]

Hello, final month of 2017!

November was a packed month, so I can't wait to get final exams done and over with so that I can take Christmas break! How did all of you fare this month? Did you survive NaNo? Has it snowed yet wherever you live? Whatcha think of the new novella title? Pour yourself a hot chocolate and let's chat!