Happy leap day! How was your February? I confess, the beginning of it feels like a long time ago, but everything in between is a muddle. Maybe that’s what happens when I get buried in editing. More on that a bit later! 😉
There were a couple rough patches this month, but they were drowned out by lots of laughs, precious people, good music, and fantastic stories—including one of my favorite reads this year about TIME TRAVEL.
Screen Subplots
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Ahh, good old Jack Sparrow. Er, Captain Jack Sparrow, I mean. It’s been such a long time since I first watched PotC, so it was really fun to go back and re-watch it with the family!
Also that soundtrack, you guys.
Mad Max: Fury Road
Bizarre, gritty, and surprisingly deep—that’s how I’d describe it.
Bizarre because I’ve never encountered a storyworld quite like this one, a super detailed, post-apocalyptic Australian desert where pulse-pounding car chases are the norm.
Gritty because… well, it’s violent and populated by a lot of nasty people.
Deep because it actually had something powerful to say about the value of human life. And because despite the sparse dialogue, so much meaning was conveyed through the visuals, action, and symbolism.
Now I want to cosplay as Imperator Furiosa one day! If only I had a bigger cosplay budget to recreate her prosthetic arm…
Shows
Once Upon a Time Seasons 4 & 7 // One episode of s4 and two of s7 this month. The good news is that I’m only three episodes away from FINISHING season 7… so maybe next time Subplots & Storylines comes around, I can share my thoughts on the season as a whole. They’re, um, mostly negative, sadly. *clears throat*
The Flash Season 4 // Only one episode! It was a good one, though.
EXO: Climb the Ladder // I think my sisters and I watched about five or six episodes this month… and it’s still so fun to see our favorite K-pop group interact.
Page Storylines
Spindle Fire // Lexa Hillyer // Reread // 4 stars
So I first read this back in 2017 and rated it three stars. Upon rereading it, I’m bumping it up to 4!
I think I appreciated the twists on Sleeping Beauty a lot more this time around, and didn’t mind the 3rd person present tense as much. I did still have some questions about certain magical plot points that didn’t make sense, though.
However, the sisterly love, dark setting, and concept of faerie tithes make this a memorable retelling!
More thoughts on the duology has a whole below.
Winter Glass // Lexa Hillyer // 3 stars
I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, this is a beautifully dark sequel loosely inspired by Cinderella. It’s full of lovely prose, strong settings, and even some nice themes. I continued to love Isbe and her tumultuous journey. Her bravery took her far beyond the limitations of her blindness. I also really liked how this book answered questions I had about Spindle Fire.
On the other, I’m not happy with the ending. Bittersweet is one thing, but when four important characters are pretty much used and discarded, I’m a little disappointed. (Was the point that Aurora and Isbe “don’t need no man”? I think it was trying to say something poignant about true love… I don’t know. I’m just sad about Gil.)
I also wasn’t a fan of Aurora’s sudden affection for Wren.
On that note, people have a habit of kissing at the most inopportune times. YOUR CASTLE IS UNDER SIEGE, maybe save the make-out session for AFTER?!
Some of the plot points just seemed to bob up out of nowhere, which led to a dreamy, slip-slidey feeling—even though we left the dream realm of Sommeil behind in book 1.
Maybe I’m being too hard on it. Both books in the duology do a deliciously grim job of reimagining fairytales, curses, and magic. They’re unique additions to the world of retellings, and brought some twists that I absolutely love, like the faerie tithes and the concept of winter glass. So for those reasons, I’m glad I read both books.
Since I liked Spindle Fire more upon a reread, maybe I’ll have to revisit Winter Glass in the future too and see if my opinion changes!
Invictus // Ryan Graudin // audiobook // 5 stars
That was hashing brilliant! It was another one of those books that reminded me why I adore YA. Just enough fluff and whimsy balanced with epic stakes, vibrant characters, and grin-worthy concepts. Humor too.
This book landed swiftly on my TBR two years ago… and then I forgot it existed, until I discovered an app that lets me borrow audiobooks from my library, and came across Invictus again. (Hint: the audio version is fantastic.)
What exactly is it about?
A team of teenaged time-traveling pirates. Heists. A universe-wide threat.
Told ya. It’s epic. I was obsessed for a solid week.
Some of the things I LOVED…
CHARACTERS
- Farway Gaius McCarthy: as fabulous and arrogant as his name sounds, he wormed his way into my heart in, oh, about one chapter.
- Imogen McCarthy: rainbow-haired galactic supernova of a girl. She’s bubbly and nerdy AND shy at the same time.
- Priya: my fellow chai lover, medic/mechanic, creator of playlists, and mom friend.
- Graham: ultra-logical brain, engineer, solid sidekick to have around.
- Elliot: mysterious. Fabulous eyebrows. Everything else about her, you’ll have to discover for yourself.
- Saffron: cuddly little red panda!
TIME TRAVEL
- Need I say more?! Admittedly, there will always be something that breaks down logically in a time-travel story, but I love this rendition too much to care or think TOO hard. It was great.
- It’s commonplace for people to go to SCHOOL to become TIME TRAVELERS. Can I go?! Historians, recorders, engineers—they’re all positions people regularly train for.
- Also that endingggg!!!
PLOT PAYOFF
- What passed at the beginning as “yeah, okay, that’s cool” became “WHOA, REALLY?!” later on. Foreshadowing, people! Just about everything tied together in ways I didn’t expect.
MULTIPLE POV
- I used to gobble up as many POVs as an author could cram into a book (hello, fantasy), but I’ve since grown weary of superfluous viewpoints. THAT SAID, skipping between two main characters plus five or six others actually worked really well here. The jumps were natural and added to the story.
THE WRITING
- I’m sure listening vs reading changed my experience a bit, but from what I could tell, the prose was wonderful. Somehow both snappy and lush at the same time!
- I’m picky about made-up swears, but I LOVE these. Something about them works without trying too hard. Hashing, chasm, fexing, Hades, crux, etc. You know they’re working when you’re tempted to blurt them out loud. XD
THEMES
- You can’t have a great time travel story without contemplating the huge importance of individuals and their choices. There were some great twists on that age-old (*cough* pun-intended) theme, too.
Anything I didn’t like? My only real quibble is that it would’ve been cool to visit a few more times in history. There were maybe three locales that featured prominently? But I didn’t even think to complain till later—so it can’t have been too bothersome.
IN CONCLUSION, GO READ IT. You can thank me later.
P.S. It’s a standalone. Even better.
Currently Reading: Golden Son // Pierce Brown
Written Subplots
In all the on-again, off-again editing I’ve been doing on The Brightest Thread over the last couple of years, I’ve been avoiding two things that intimidated me:
- the beginning
- the ending
Neither were working just right, which is like saying the framing of your house is out of whack. It’s kind of a problem. But this month, I finally sat down and dug deeply into the final four chapters (32-35). I gave myself time to work slowly and make meaningful changes. And… I’m pretty sure it worked. I’m feeling a lot more confident in it now!
I also realized I needed an epilogue, so a few days ago, I wrote that up too. There were some threads (*cough* pun halfway intended) that physically couldn’t be wrapped up in the final chapter. So: epilogue. I’m excited about this new little piece of TBT!
Next up for March: edit the first two chapters, and then do a final line-edit! I’M SO EXCITED!
Invictus almost seems over the top, but at the same time it sounds like my sort of book. I’ll have to try it.
This morning I celebrated the leap year by playing Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘A Paradox’
“For some ridiculous reason, to which, however, I’ve no desire to be disloyal,
Some person in authority, I don’t know who, very likely the Astronomer Royal,
Has decided that, although for such a beastly month as February,
twenty-eight days as a rule are plenty,
One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty.
Through some singular coincidence – I shouldn’t be surprised if it were owing to the
agency of an ill-natured fairy –
You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement, having been born in leap-year,
on the twenty-ninth of February;
And so, by a simple arithmetical process, you’ll easily discover,
That though you’ve lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays,
you’re only five and a little bit over!”
Almost sounds as if people born on leap days are time-travelers.
Oh, it IS totally over the top–but I loved it, melodrama and all. You might enjoy it too! Only one way to tell, I suppose. 😉
Hahaha, that’s perfect for today! Love this line: “I shouldn’t be surprised if it were owing to the agency of an ill-natured fairy.” *grins* TIME TRAVELERS!!! That’s the best explanation, and coincidentally ties together well with Invictus.
Well, my library has it… so soon I will, too!
Woohoo! Speaking of book recommendations, I’m about 50 pages into Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers!
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD! That was such a good movie! I honestly did not expect to like it, and figured it’d be some dumb, over-the-stop action movie. So I was SHOCKED it had such a powerful message, and was epic to boot. Definitely gory, but a lot of the gore was to drive the point home, so it didn’t bother me too much. It was just…a really, really good movie. So different from ANYTHING I’ve ever seen. Ooooh, a cosplay would be awesome!
That’s a shame Spindle Fire and Winter Glass weren’t amazing. ‘Cause, well, they LOOK amazing. Haha. The shallow bookworm in me wants them just because they’re pretty. XD But I may still read them one day because I can never say no to retellings. And I DEFINITELY need to get myself a copy of Invictus!
EEEEEEEE!!!!!!! YOU’RE COMING SO FAR WITH TBT EDITS. YOU’RE SO CLOSE, TRACEY! AAAHHHH! *WAVES POMPOMS*
I do hope your March proves to be a spectacular one! Cheering you on all the way with TBT edits!
You’ve seen it too?! (Maybe I knew this…) I was so, so pleased with how the message turned out as well! You’re right, the violence and gore had a point to it, and the storytelling was just plain GOOD. I was watching a YouTube video afterward about writing lessons one can learn from it. 🙂
*sighs* I feel bad saying anything of the sort, because both books DO have quite a bit going for them. There were just a few things that weren’t my favorite, but you might very well enjoy them anyway! Those covers look gorgeous on my shelf, too. YES YES YES READ INVICTUSSSS. The cast of characters has “Christine” written all over them!
So cloooooose! Thanks for being my cheerleader all this time! <3
Happy March, Christine! Can't wait to see what adventures we both get into this month.
I’ve recently rewatched Pirates too! The soundtrack always makes me smile. I’ve been recommended Mad Max, I should give it a shot. I tend to like gritty things.
Oh SAME. All the Pirates soundtracks are fabulous. <3 I think you'd reallllly like Mad Max!!! It seems to be up your alley for sure.
Time travel stories get a yay from me!! They better, because I’m writing one. xD Also my February included Endgame which included time travel so ALL THE YES TO TIME TRAVEL.
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You’re writing a TIME TRAVEL STORY, EMILY? *grabby hands* I wants it, precious! XD
ENDGAME. Yesssss. What a fantastic movie. I’ll just… go cry in a corner because of the feels, though…
That’s so cool that you liked Mad Max! I’ve been thinking about seeing it but I’ve been hesitant about the violence, but I think since you saw it I’ll give it a try. 😀 Endings are intimidating for me too. O_O Best wishes with revisions!
The storytelling was really good! It *was* violent, but it also wasn’t as bad as I expected?? (I mean, it is rated R, but the violence had a point to the story and wasn’t totally senseless.)
Thanks so much! Getting closer and closer every month! 😀
Oh man, I definitely need to read Invictus now…I’m a sucker for time travel stories. 😀
And YAY for editing TBT!! I’m so excited for you! I remember when I read it the ending kind of happened abruptly and didn’t flow as well with the story. But that’s awesome that you’ve reworked it!! ^_^
Hopefully your year has been going well! <3
Ooooh, I think you’d LOVE it, Maddie! 😀
Thank you thank you! <3 It definitely was a very fast ending back in the version you read--partly a problem left over from when it was a novella, haha. But it's been fun to flesh it out a lot more!
It has--hope yours is too! *hugs*
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