Melissa's Hot Takes

Like many of you, I suspect, I was a prolific reader as a child. I was capable of reading several books per week! As an adult, that has unfortunately dried up, but I am on a mission to feed my brain once again.

Without further ado, in no particular order, I present the books and my thoughts on them that I read over the summer of 2023/24.

Gideon the Ninth

This book was recommended to me with the following tagline: “Lesbian necromancers in space”. How could I not pick up this book?

Tamsyn Muir has an eclectic writing style that drew me in and kept me reading through a rather slow beginning – although the story significantly picks up after 100 pages or so. Gideon is a fascinating protagonist to follow, and the world that she lives in is even more so. Her universe is a fusion of fantasy and science fiction, with space ships and advanced technology but populated with magic users, specifically necromancers. Gideon is in service to the heir of the Ninth House, a bone magician named Harrowhark (the names in this book are amazing), and they travel together to the First House to answer the call of the immortal Emperor. They work together to solve puzzles and survive.

The LGBTQ+ elements in this book are not as much at the forefront as some of the other novels in this list, but Gideon is still a raging lesbian, and it is so validating to live in the head of someone who is unabashedly attracted to women.I was absolutely devastated when I finished this book (in a good way!), and I instantly went to read its sequel, Harrow the Ninth, which I am sure to give a brief reflection on in due course.

Nimona

I decided to pick up this book after watching the Netflix film, which I absolutely adored. As a comic, it was a relatively quick read at approximately two hours. The art was beautiful and unique, and it is obvious that it was written by a queer author.

With regards to the narrative, however, after experiencing both, I found myself more fond of the film than the comic, likely because I experienced it first. Both versions follow Nimona, a shapeshifter that joins the disgraced knight Ballister Blackheart as a henchman to take down the Institute. In the comic, we primarily follow Nimona, with our protagonists being close on the spectrum to chaotic good; the movie primarily follows a lawful good Ballister. The plot and adventures across both versions differ, but the story is the same – a sweet story highlighting the importance of not judging a book by its cover and exploring identity.

If you are not interested in the comic book, then I would at least highly recommend the film!

Frontier

“Love. Loss. Laserguns.”

With a tagline like that, how could I resist picking up this book? Later on, “Frontier is a heartfelt queer romance in a high noon standoff with our planet’s uncertain future, full of thrills, a love story, and laser guns.” Now, I had to read it!

This book ended my reading drought, being the first book that I read through entirely in several years. It takes an episodic format, following the adventures of a stranger who crash lands on Earth several decades after a climate apocalypse (relevant, anyone?) searching for her lost girlfriend. The mystery of who the stranger is and who she is looking for is slowly revealed throughout her encounters with the inhabitants of the future Earth. Even more interestingly, the culture of a future Earth is revealed; the people who live there are the descendents of people who chose to stay following the destruction of the climate, and they have a unique way of viewing their environment. The overarching plot and antagonists are less developed by contrast, but it does not make the book any less entertaining.

I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you Grace Curtis for presenting such a fascinating and sincere story about love and our world.

The Old Guard: Tales Through Time (Book 1)

I first watched the Old Guard film on Netflix because of the viral clip of Nicky and Joe processing their love for one another to a group of disbelieving mercenaries. I later learned that the movie was adapted from a comic series by Greg Rucca. Both versions follow a gang of immortal vigilantes – Andy, Joe, Nicky, and Booker – who are joined by a new immortal, Nile. Much like Nimona above, however, I found myself much more fond with the film version than the comic version.

This particular comic is not part of the main series of the story but is instead a collection of short stories featuring the characters of the Old Guard. The stories take place throughout history and throughout the world. My personal favourites were a story featuring Andy comparing her axe to the Ship of Theseus (she has replaced every part of the axe throughout the years – the hilt, the handle, the head, and so forth – but she says that it is still the same axe) and Nicky and Joe on a date together at a fancy restaurant and fighting Nazis. In total, however, I found many of the stories repetitive and did not reveal much more about the characters than had already been explored in the main series.

This book is worth picking up if you are a fan of the original series or the film, but otherwise, I would probably skip it.