Books:
The Frozen Crown & The Seventh Queen (Warrior Witch Duology) by Greta Kelly
Well let the fact that I finished the first and instantly started the second be the review of this fantasy duology about the queen of a small nation under attack having to navigate a foreign court in an effort to win an army all with some magic tossed in for good measure. In fact I actually think this is the only way to read this duology, i.e. as one big book, because the second book is more in the head of the main character and her circumstances than in the plottiness like the first book, so I imagine reading the series with a time gap will make the second feel slower than the first. That wasn't my experience because the second book picks up directly from the ending of the first so I was in the head of the character enough that I found it all to be engaging. This is primarily in the court-politics-with-some-magic subgenre rather than full-on fantasy - think Holly Black's unexpectedly (to me) fun and page-turny Folk of the Air series if you've read it (and if you haven't and like this subgenre well go read!) - about an outsider trying to wedge her way into a complex political environment. The book has a kinda romance bent to it (and, spoiler alert, one enormous sex scene which I skimmed) but not so much that it turned me off; heck I like a love interest as much as the next Janice but honestly I mostly read fantasy for plot and character and prefer any romance enhancing that but not particularly central to it. This duology was right at the edge for me in that regard but in all other regards it was totally up my alley. Plotwise, there was a lot going on, but what really made the books work was the unexpectedly interesting lead backstory, not so much for its details, but rather how those details shaped and continued to shape the lead character's decisions. The author provided a meaningful character backbone that justified certain choices which I think otherwise would've just felt convenient (vague to avoid spoilering). I wouldn't say I exactly understood the rules of the magic system, which was more bothersome in the second book than the first - e.g. there's a stone that enhances power but somehow not for our lead and perhaps the author explained it but not in a way I understood - but it kind of didn't matter. If you like fast-reading court politics books where most of the maneuvering has to do with manipulating people plus a big invasion plot plus some magic well I gotta say this author delivered some entertainment right here and I will definitely be watching out for her future books.
TV/Streaming:
P-Valley (Season 2):
While I did not love this season as much as the prior season this show is still IJHO a really great drama (but with a definite sense of humor) which breathes life into people otherwise represented on TV/Streaming as cliches - strippers, impoverished Southerners, Black gang members to an extent - in an intelligent package with a focus on business, politics, and personal issues around people making the best of it in the somewhat dangerous trade they're in. The reason this season was a step down for me was that it shifted the balance between plot and character far too much to the character for me. This isn't to say there wasn't a plot - there definitely was and with all the characters - but there was also a lot more amorphous non-plot stuff around feelings like various love stories or child/parent stuff or personal internal revelations all of which is perfectly good and I think part of what makes this show interesting but which also made it draggy this season in parts. For example, there’s a broken romantic relationship between two characters and it was a very very slow and repetitive dance of getting them back together and in many ways it became difficult to understand why they were apart, i.e. there was so little plot between them and so much talking that it felt like the writers were just dragging out the moment of connection between them rather than generating real obstacles - this one gets close then runs, the other gets mad, etc. - to the romance. Or there was an entire domestic violence subplot that had existed in season 1 as well but where the writers didn't grow the main character in a way that was either comprehensible or compelling. Like there was a backstory episode showing how the abuser/abusee got together but without any real understanding - being vague to avoid spoilering - of how they wound up where they wound up nor, in general, is passivity on the part of a character something watchable for 10 episodes. I needed more and felt I was getting something somewhat generic on the topic. Also, there was an odd mysticism to this season that I found to be a bit of a turnoff because it made me wonder what show I was in (the dead speaking, some magical voodoo-y massage that took away psychic pain, etc.) because it's one thing for the characters to engage in that stuff and believe it's true but it's another when the writers are presenting it to the audience - me - as if it's true. That's a different show. I'm noting these critiques because, well, they bothered me but nowhere near enough to knock this show off its pedestal as in it's still a great show with lots of interesting characters and drama and world. But I felt the writers forgot what had made season 1 work which is that there was, in addition to all the character work, some real driving plots where all the characters, whether they wanted to or not, started at A and wound up at a B and, given the way the final episode of the show sets up the next season, I'm hopeful that the writers will be returning to what made season 1 work and rebalance the show to be less static and more plot-driven (not, btw, that season 1 was some crazy plotty show just that the plot leading to character leading to plot leading to character ad infinitum was better interlinked). Regardless, I'll definitely be watching because this really is, despite my criticisms, a great and compelling show.
Belgravia:
This is a seemingly Downton Abbey-esque (or at least the same showrunner’s involved) British period miniseries but really drastically darker than whatever's in your mind right now, like kind of grim Dickensian rather than Jane Austen and for me this was a total positive as I really enjoyed it, but I'm noting it because the tone is definitely not typical of shows of this ilk. The main story involves rich people - a clash between noveau riche and old-money riche - and secrets around an I guess spoilerable plot point though kinda not but I won't mention it just in case. Basically there's a huge backstory which sets in motion the events of the bulk of the miniseries with spoilerable event X occurring years ago and X coming to the foreground in the present-day of the series, initially in one way but later in another which in turn causes issues between the main characters with various ones trying to figure X out and, for those in the know, wanting X to be exposed or not depending on how it will affect them and their machinations to do so or not within the constraints of the world they're in. There's an upstairs/downstairs element to it but, again, dark with a side of the servant underbelly that was perhaps touched on in Downton Abbey but is really the main event in this series. The story also plays on the self-imposed cultural traps around how people relate to each other, not just in the star-crossed(ish) lovers of many of these sorts of period pieces (though romance is definitely a throughline in this one), but also in ways people of various social and financial standings manipulate and offend each other while jockeying for position. Watching this miniseries is watching a series of slow, polite, subtle, yet brutal power plays. As noted, I really liked it. I liked the grimness - almost Chekovian in parts I'd say - as I thought it was an interesting change and, as with Chekhov, it had a satisfying gallows-type humor to it to keep it engaging. While in some ways you can see where it's all going with X, I'd say really not 100% because the series leans so heavily into the constraints based on money vs title that, unless you're an expert on those (my expertise would more or less be whatever airs on Masterpiece Theater just fyi), it's not clear whether the show will give everyone what they want in the end or whether some of the leads will just have to live with a sadder conclusion. If you like period pieces and are looking for something off the beaten track in terms of tone, this miniseres (it's only 6 episodes) is definitely worth a look.
Movies:
Dune - IJHO this movie is exactly how a sci-fi epic book adaptation should be done, i.e. take what was best and most plotty in the book and do that (as opposed to the David Lynch thing from the '80s which was mostly about Sting floating in the air and lots of visuals and zero comprehensibility). If you found the LOTR movies to be dull (and honestly The Hobbit almost made me weep with boredom), I'd say move on from this because in the same way those took all parts of the original books and made a pretty accurate translation from book to film, so with this movie. If you're not familiar with the book/prior-film: this is a big ideas-laden sci-fi series that's, more or less, about resource scarcity and power in that it's about a desert planet with one item of insane value, a spice which can only be found there and without which spaceship pilots can't navigate - the book was metaphorizing the Middle Eastern oil industry - and (in this first movie/book) a power struggle that results in a prophesied kinda futuristic dictatorship. Okay that last bit may not be the best summary but in part I'm trying not to spoiler and in part - and this is my fear for future movies in this series - the first book had a lot of action but then the next ones (there were 6 in the series before Frank Herbert died and I think his son took over writing at that point but I stopped reading them so dunno) were VERY TALKY, like a lot of philosophizing with big leaps into the future and huge culture changes and whatnot. My memory of having read them is that none of the sequels lived up to the combo of action and thought in the first one though perhaps they'll do better in film I’m hoping? This movie certainly shows promise in that regard. Instead of cutting all the politics and complexities, it gives them breathing room which is why you will either find this movie boring or, if you’re me, not at all. I was into all of it in part because I knew a big action sequence would be coming up and in part because the movie took its time with all the characters so you knew which pieces were doing what on the chess board. And, well, maybe also in part because it all jibed with my somewhat hazy memory of reading the book so I can't really say whether or not I was filling in some gaps or enjoying the process of seeing book memories visualized. In other words, I cannot speak to how someone who'd never read the series might approach this movie but I can speak for someone who read it and thought they forgot most of it but hey look you remembered more than you thought you did - it's completely satisfying and definitely makes me look forward to the sequels because, I don't know, maybe they won't be boring for the same reason this one wasn't boring, which is that the filmmakers were clearly into the material and told a good story as a result (with the above caveat about me enjoying my amazing memory of something I thought I'd forgotten about). I'd say even if you haven't read the books but you like sci-fi, give this movie a shot and absolutely feel free to tell me if the plot makes sense or not because I have no idea as it made total sense to me and I enjoyed the whole thing.