“Assassin’s Apprentice” by Robin Hobb

My sister bought me this book for my birthday and I only just now got around to finishing it! It is a pretty good fantasy novel, I really liked the world building and most of the characters. I will say though that it moves pretty slow and the magic system was confusing to me. But as I have read much worse things out there and the writer clearly knows what she is doing, I likely will continue to read the rest of the series.

This book follows Fitz, a bastard of the king-in-waiting from when he is dumped on the castle steps as a child to him growing up and taking on his first big task as an assassin. For most of his childhood he is raised by the stablemaster Burrich. He additionally makes a friend in the dog Nosy, by entering his mind through what we learn is the Will. Burrich though disapproves and when he learns about this he takes Nosy away. Fitz is then discovered to be there by his father’s wife and she takes him under her wing. She has him learn how to fight and write and gifts him another dog. Around the same time, Fitz is visited by Chade, the king’s assassin. He starts to teach Fitz how to sneak around and notice things no one else will. His final teacher though is Galen, the Skillmaster, who teaches him how to use the Skill which is putting ideas into other people’s heads. Galen creates an abusive relationship with all of his students and tries to kick Fitz out until Burrich beats Galen up.

Galen’s final test is to drop all of his students off at mystery locations. Fitz is dropped off at a dangerous place that he isn’t expected to return from, but he gets word from his dog that Burrich is being attacked and he manages to rush home. Burrich realizes that Fitz knew by using the Will on the dog and ceases to associate with him. Then Fitz gets the order to accompany the new prince to his wedding and kill the bride’s older brother to ensure that the bride is the sole heir to her kingdom. He gets there and the prince is in perfect health, not sickly as he was told. He starts to doubt his mission, even more so when the princess reveals that she knows he’s an assassin and attempts to poison him. Fitz protests against his orders but is told by the king and the prince’s younger brother to stay firm. So he goes to confront the bride’s brother, he puts the poison in the wine, but unbeknownst to him the wine was already poisoned and the bride’s brother dies. Fitz is arrested, Nozy reappears as an old dog and chews through his bonds and Burrich supports Fitz to confront the prince’s brother. He attempts to kill both Burrich and Fitz, Fitz is only saved by Nosy dragging him from the pool he was supposed to drown in, killing Nosy in the process. Meanwhile there is an attempt on the prince’s life but Fitz finally uses the Skill to warn him, and they head home. Fitz is barely alive, Burrich is also severely injured, but peace is maintained in the kingdom.

Now my main complaint with this book is that the magic systems are very confusing. I had no idea what the difference is between the Will and the Skill for most of the book. And I’m still a little confused, but I think the Will is animals and the Skill is people potentially. Which makes Burrich’s reaction to the whole thing a little ridiculous as he encourages Fitz with the Skill and hates the Will. But ok we learn as we go and that’s fine.

The other complaint is that it moves pretty slowly. Fitz primarily hears about things going on elsewhere in the kingdom while he studies or something. He likes a girl in town but doesn’t make any moves. The Fool pops in and out but there’s a lot going on in there that we don’t know. The politics of the situation primarily aren’t revealed until the last second when it feels like I’m struggling to keep up. I’m hopeful that it speeds up though, introducing a world can take time.

Having said all that, I do really like the world and the characters. Burrich is charming and the Fool is delightful. Fitz is a bit annoying, but not in a way that makes me hate him. The characters like the princess that we meet at the last moment I hope stick around as there aren’t enough women here (but there never is in fantasy). Hobb so clearly knows what she is doing that even when the going gets frustrating, I still want to keep going.

And keep going I will, I am trying to get my hands on the second book in the trilogy and am looking forward to reading it!

This Is Beautiful: Muppets Amigurumi

 So a few days ago a friend texted that she found The Muppets Official Crochet Amigurumi at the local library and I knew I had to get my hands on it. So I requested it and picked it up the next day. It is delightful! All of the main Muppets are here, and based on the pictures anyways, they look very similar to the real deal. Nothing worse than being interested in a pattern but the eyes look terrifying or the colors are all off. 

I'm so excited, I fully intend to work my way through the whole book eventually, but starting with Kermit for now. It'll definitely take a while, but it's so energizing to have a new project to be working on!

“The Lantern and the Night Moths” by Yilin Wang

I bought this book ages ago when it was published, but then had a friend borrow it and she only just got it back to me (graduate students, oh well). It was a really interesting read, I don’t know much about Chinese poetry or translation as it’s one of those arts that is frequently overlooked. Or put another way, you only notice it when it goes wrong. In addition to a small collection of poems from each of the poets, there are short essays that talk about the process that Wang went through with each of the different works. Each poem additionally is printing in both Chinese and in English for comparison.

The book spans quite a few ages, it starts with Qiu Jin’s poetry. She was a poet and early feminist who was known for breaking gender norms. She’s also how I first heard about this work, I knew that Wang’s work was stolen by the British Museum and I was part of the group that helped her fight that. Wang’s experiences are touched on with her essay on this section, it’s interesting hearing about that again from her perspective.

Most interesting to me was hearing about how there are so many different processes for translating depending on the style of the poet. She talks a lot about preserving allusions and meanings that English audiences wouldn’t pick up on, and keeping elements of ambiguity as well. I’ve heard Wang talk about how translating can be like writing poetry as well, and now looking at the poems she’s referring to really makes that clear, and more real, in my mind. It’s not something that is a one-to-one, there’s so much work happening below the surface here!

I really like to support ace writers, and this was a great book to finally get to. It isn’t entirely poetry, if that isn’t your thing, but it is really interesting to hear about the process of translating poetry.

This Is Beautiful: Community

 I had a performance this past week with a group that I have been kinda on and off with. But while the performance itself was kinda mid, sitting around hanging out with people was a really nice time. It was just a good reminder that while I have a lot of differences with leadership the members are cool and fun people that I like. And it was nice because I didn't have to work to rejoin or anything, just was able to pick it back up.

Community is just so important, and now more than ever we need each other. We can't forget about that.

“League of Dragons” by Naomi Novik

This is the final book in the Temeraire series! I’m going to miss it after this. (For the previous installments, check out the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth blog posts.) Overall I think it’s a pretty satisfactory ending but there were some characters that I would have liked to have seen again before the end.

The book starts in Russia, Temeraire and Laurence are driving Napoleon out of there. While there a bunch of ferals bring word that Napoleon stole Temeraire and Iskerika’s egg from China so Temeraire takes off after them. While out he runs into Tharkey who has new intelligence on this, and the 3 of them (Temeraire, Laurence, and Tharkey) team up with Iskerika and Granby to find the egg. They end up falling into a trap and get captured by the French, Temeraire and Iskerika plan to steal their egg back. The egg hatches and turns out she has the divine wind AND can breathe fire, not to mention she inherited Temeraire’s tendency to question authority. The dragons grab the humans and they all head back to England. Once there, Laurence is promoted and is to lead a group of officers (who all hate him) into mainland Europe to combat Napoleon. Temeraire also has to work to get dragons on their side as Napoleon has been promising them a whole lot of money for their service.

There’s a big ol battle, Napoleon gets captured, and then he’s exiled. Laurence isn’t happy about how it resolves, he thinks that his enemies should be treated with more respect and it is evident here that his wife partially orchestrated his downfall. Hammond does make several appearances as the diplomat here, always entertaining to see him. Temeraire and Laurence aren’t sure what to do now, Laurence has spent time with his mother and he wants to be able to give Temeraire a better life. Conveniently Tharkey shows up, he has some land he’d be willing to let them live on. Temeraire decided to go into politics and join Parliament to continue advocating for dragon rights.

Of course, this series couldn’t end with Napoleon being brought down. And all in all, I think it’s a very satisfying defeat. There’s a number of armies that come together, and a lot of different groups are rallied between the dragons and the humans. Laurence has to get the officers that hate him to like him, and he negotiates pay for the dragons which wins a whole lot of them over. Temeraire also learns to share some wealth and pay dragons better than Napoleon does to get them on their side. It’s an interesting look at coalition building for sure.

I do wish that we got to see more of the British dragons. Maximus and Lily are barely there, and we never get to see Demane and Kulingile. For the most part, Temeraire and Laurence are doing their own thing, but bringing it full circle with his formation would have been really nice.

I also think the transition to more boring politics for Temeraire is interesting. I’d have to read the series again to make a decent analysis of the techniques and collective action going on, but I loved watching his fight for dragon rights. I’m sure that there’s more here to explore that Novik included, but it did also feel like dragon complaints and politics changed from book to book as they traveled so it made it difficult to spot through lines.

This doesn’t make my top few books of the series, but I also wouldn’t say that I was disappointed with it. A satisfying ending all around, but definitely not splashy or a stand out, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

This Is Beautiful: International Working Women's Event

 This past weekend my union put together an International Working Women's event with panels, a workshop on reproductive justice, and a potluck! It was so fun, even though there wasn't a ton of people, it was a group where everyone just vibed with each other really well. We got to reconnect with an old friend, my partner made a new friend, and caught up with the organizers. Plus I got added to a panel at the last minute since they were desperate for people haha. I had a good time, I love a captive audience.

But the great thing really was the community and feeling part of a bigger movement, which is what organizing is all about. It's so great when the things you do are energizing.

“The Art of Making Dances” by Doris Humphrey

I got this book on loan from a friend, I was curious since I have choreographed a number of dances but I have never sat down and studied it myself. A book appeals to me much more than a class because classes on choreography tend to start at the mind-numbingly simple as most dancers only have experience with doing moves that have been given to them, not coming up with their own. And since I’ve been choreographing for a while I so don’t want to go back to that stage, I more want ideas I can mess around with and think about. Or feedback on a larger piece, but that’s unlikely.

The book is very comprehensive and methodological when it comes to dance. It quite literally starts with a discussion of who the choreographer is and habits that a choreographer should have when it comes to noticing movement and adapting it to other bodies. It goes through the tools of the trade like symmetry/asymmetry, phrases, the stage itself, and having multiple bodies to work with. Then there’s dynamics, rhythm, motivation, words, music, props, and finally overall form. Most chapters have a basic illustration to show what she is referring to with things like symmetry or opposition as well. It ends with a checklist and Humphrey’s thoughts on the field of dance as a whole (in the 60s anyways).

Overall, this was a great read but I think it requires a certain amount of familiarity with the dance world. She talks about existing pieces such as “Giselle” or the “Dying Swan” variation that you’d probably have to close the book and watch before going back to it. If you have that knowledge though, this is a very thorough overview of modern dance and how to think about/construct it. She really builds her knowledge from the ground up and covers everything very completely.

At the end of the book is a list of dances that she made, and I was really interested in going to find some after reading this. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like many survived, I was able to find two recreations of her work online and not much else, a few snippets really. It just goes to show how fleeting dance is as an art form, there isn’t a good way to write it down and once you’ve performed it, if someone hasn’t memorized it the choreography is truly just gone. And here’s a pioneer of modern dance whose whole body of work has been greatly reduced. Even a few dances by other people that she references I couldn’t find, the preservation just isn’t there.

Anyways, with regards to what I’ll be thinking about, she did definitely give me some ideas. I hadn’t thought much about the stage itself and how I use it beyond how center is very powerful. She has a whole chapter on entrances and exits. Bows too get a dedicated section. There’s also a bit about words and dialogue in dance which I never thought about before, but she is right in that dance is a singular art form where performers are not expected to make noise. Seems like it’d be fun to shake that up.

So this was a great read, possibly for me only, but I am very glad that I picked it up. I hope that in the future I can attend a performance of some of her choreography, it seems a shame to have read so much about it to never see it.

This Is Beautiful: Med School Smoker

 Ok so unique to the school that I'm at (I think) the med school students each year put on a silly show mocking the school and the faculty. I had never been, it's one of those things that I think is cool for sure, but I wouldn't go unless I knew someone in it. And I finally knew someone, one of my lab mates was acting in the show. It was so fun! All the music was parodies of existing music, and the plot was just Scooby Doo characters running around. But there was some great stuff here, the pit musicians and some singers were amazing! The dancing was not good at all (sigh), but that was my main complaint. 

The plot itself was also pretty good, they made the deans of the school the villains and called them out on giving themselves raises while the med school students have to pay too much tuition. I do have to wonder if this is an established route for med school students to call out authority and then they don't do it elsewhere in ways that actually impact them, but I might be overthinking it. But I was surprised that there was so much about how students are overworked and pay too much, while the administration of the school gets rich. 

Anyways, this was a ton of fun and I almost wish that I started going earlier! I hope my lab mate is able to keep doing this so I keep having a reason to attend.

“Blood of Tyrants” by Naomi Novik

We are so close here, this is the penultimate book in the Temeraire series! (Check out books one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven elsewhere on the blog.) This is definitely building up to a climax with Napoleon, and it satisfyingly has a decent amount about Laurence and Temeraire’s relationship as well. It does have some weird jumps in it though, and it unfortunately doesn’t seem as though we will be ending with the rest of Temeraire’s formation.

The book starts with Laurence washed up on shore. He’s lost all memory of the past eight years, meaning that he thinks he is still in the Navy and is the captain of a ship. As it turns out, he’s in Japan while the country is closed to foreigners, and so he is taken in by a nobleman but is effectively a prisoner. Eventually he escapes and starts to make his way across the countryside aided by a servant. Meanwhile Temeraire is going nuts trying to find Laurence and in the process they are irritating most of the Japanese officials since they aren’t supposed to be there. Hammond is being delightfully annoying trying to get Temeraire to forget it. Of course though, Laurence bursts out of the woods to only be confronted by this protective dragon and hilariously when Temeraire insists that he is a captain and a prince of China Laurence only responds with “like hell I am.” Very amusing.

From there we journey to China and this is where things get interesting. My favorite parts of the book are where Laurence is trying to remember, or remembering fragments of things, and is just trying to make sense of it while his whole crew dances around certain issues like how he’s a disgraced captain and all that. There’s a very amusing passage where he realizes that Emily Roland is a girl and reads a letter from his mother asking after her and puts two and two together and starts to wonder if Emily is his daughter! Which she isn’t, but there’s another layer where his mom thinks he is the father and it’s all very confusing and funny.

Once in China, there’s an abrupt transition to an assassination attempt on Laurence and the other prince. They manage to escape unharmed, but the Emperor decides to send Laurence into China to root out some rebels that are smuggling opium from the English. They get out there and find a destroyed town, but learn that it’s an inside job, the same assassins are also trying to sow discontent in China. As part of this they find Arkaday and Tharkey who have been trying to find Laurence and warn him that Napoleon is now in Russia. Things change drastically after that, they depose the Chinese general and then Laurence and Temeraire head to Russia with the Chinese forces while the rest of the formation returns to England.

There’s so little of the book left but also all of Russia. This is the first we see of the country, turns out that the dragons there are extremely large hoarders of treasure, and the rest are very tiny and treated like servants. The Russians don’t know how to control their dragons, fundamentally, so it’s either treasure or physical violence as the group learns that in the Russian breeding grounds dragons are chained and starved. This becomes strategy, Napoleon is losing until his forces set loose a ton of breeding ground dragons who are so hungry that they start eating Russians and then fleeing to join Napoleon. The book ends with Laurence anticipating another battle with much more evenly matched forces.

There was a lot that I really liked about this book, including the loss of memory plot. Yes it is a little of “this is late in the series and we need to be reminded of a few things” but it was also very entertaining and funny. Plus it doesn’t hurt to see Laurence grow to care more for Temeraire and less for his government again. I do wish that there was more of this though, as soon as we hit China we are pretty much done with talking about it and it’s mostly mentioned in passing.

There are also some really abrupt and weird transitions, to the point where it is hard to follow. This first happens with the assassination attempt in China, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be revealed as a drill or some other plot at play here. But it was all sincere. It happens again when they decide to go to Russia, suddenly we are in Russia talking to the generals there with no sense of how we got there. The nice thing about this series is that it is similar to George R. R. Martin where Novik includes how they get from place to place instead of teleporting them so I hope that this trend does not continue.

Beyond that, it was interesting to see Russia and another outlook on how dragons are treated and integrated into human life. And I do find it fascinating how Novik continually holds up China as the exemplar for how to treat dragons rather than the “more civilized” Europe as would have been believed at the time. It’s a nice shift in power in history and how we view it by deconstructing a little why we should have thought Asia to be an inferior society.

Looking forward to the last book, I do wish we were with more beloved characters from throughout the series. Maximus and Lily have returned to England and I doubt that they would make it back in time to defeat Napoleon. I hope that there will be a way to bring them all together, I adored their presence in this book and I would hate to leave it off on a sour note.