Week 10

Oof.

March.

Okay then.

#13) SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo

I feel like I have a weird relationship with the Grisha series. As in, I’m reading it long enough after its peak that I missed all of the initial discourse, but before the show starts and (potentially) reawakens the discourse that I have heard about. Also, I feel almost…too old? To be reading these books in their intended sense?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying them decently well, but in a kind of distant way. Like, I’m sort of actively holding both the story itself and alternative readings in my head at the same time, without necessarily being invested in those alternative readings. For example, /I/ don’t necessarily believe that Alina should be with the Darkling, but I’m enjoying…pretending like I do believe that? It’s a very strange sensation, I kind of feel like I’m LARPing.

In any case, I’m enjoying the experience of reading these books, even if it is weirdly filtered. In particular, I liked the introduction of the character of Nikolai, I felt like he added a helpful element to the cast of characters that really uplifted the narrative. I like the “Alina as Saint” conflict.

I don’t like Mal or their romance, but I don’t think that’s an uncommon opinion, should what I’ve heard be believed. The tiny teenager inside of me is enjoying jumping up and down and going, “Mal is the WORST" so there’s…that?

Looking forward to seeing how this all gets concluded (though I suspect badly), and interested in how the show interprets it all.

#14) NIGHT OF THE MANNEQUINS by Stephen Graham Jones

Wow, okay.

This book is short and I’m not sure if I can properly talk about it without spoilers, so consider this a pre-warning, though I will put the big spoilers under the stars below. Cool? Cool.

Having only read two of his books, it strikes me that Stephen Graham Jones is very good at creating thought-provoking horror, and also, a feeling of absolute dread. I’m not sure how else to describe it; while I enjoy his stories, the experience of actually reading them is frequently not “fun” in the traditional sense. Obviously, it’s horror, but there’s a lot of variation within that genre.

Again, without getting into spoilers, there’s some really interesting work being done in Night of the Mannequins about grief, about the specific kind of grief and pain that comes from growing up and being left behind/growing apart from your friend-family. I too remember this sensation, and I really liked this exploration of those emotions.

The one thing that didn’t super work for me was one of the big tropes involved. Without spoilers, all I can say is that it’s a type of story device that I don’t enjoy generally, and though it was well done, that doesn’t necessarily change my thoughts about the trope in general. Read on at your own peril.

***SPOILERS BELOW***

The twist of the story, which actually comes fairly early on, has to do with the apparent fact that there is no supernatural happenings, and that the narrator is just losing his mind and murdering his friends.

I’m really just not interested in “psychopath” characters, nor in “narrator was crazy all along” twists. This was perhaps the best execution of one I’ve seen in a long time, and yet, it still took the story out at the knees for me. It just always feels a little icky.

Also, I feel slightly cheated out of murderous mannequins.