Quarterly Recap: April-June

It’s hard to believe that it’s already seven months into 2020, but here we are. It’s also time for the usual quarterly recap. As usual, I’m starting with reviews.

April Reviews

• Heiress for Hire by Madeline Hunter
• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire

May Reviews

• All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• The Night Country by Melissa Albert

June Reviews

• Ghost Squad by Clairbel A. Ortega
• The Case Study of Vanitas volume #3 by Jun Mochizuki 

Other April Posts

• I Listened to Death Stranding Timefall
• Sketchbook: Alice
• Short Stories I Read In March
• Quarterly Recap: January-March

Other May Posts

• Short Stories I Read in April
• Sketchbook: Watercolor
• I Listened to Super Sunset by Allie X
• Favorite Recipe: Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Cake
• I Listened to Shadow Works by Kerli

Other June Posts

• Favorite Recipe: Tortillas
• Short Stories I Read In May

Looking ahead, I really don’t have any solid plans for the next three months, and I’m not trying to make any. 2020 has been fairly unpredictable, and I plan on just rolling with the flow. I do have a couple of upcoming posts this month that I’m fairly excited to share. I recently read one of my most anticipated books of 2020: Haunted Heroine, book #4 in the Heroine Complex series by Sarah Kuhn. My review for it will be on the blog on the release day. Next, I listened to Chloe X Halle’s latest album, Ungodly Hour, and I have a post for that too (which will be up sometime this month). I also checked out Lindsay Ellis’s debut novel, Axiom’s End, so there will be a review for that too this month.

What have you been reading recently?

Short Stories I Read In May

Today, I’m here to talk about the short stories and miscellaneous posts I read in May. It was definitely a slower month, and I didn’t read as many things as I would have liked. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed everything I did read. So without further ado, here is what I read…

Beyond The Dragons Gate by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.Com, May 20, 2020)

Reading Beyond The Dragons Gate was an experience. I loved this story, and in a lot of ways it reminded me of the Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie. It was due to the questions that it asked (and the commentary) about the sentience of the AIs present in the story—and if those same AIs really had a choice in the face of duty (for soldiers too). In a lot of ways, this story was way too short. I’m happy with what I read, but I would definitely like more of it.

Have your #Hugot Harvested At This Diwata-Owned Café by Vida Cruz (Strange Horizons; Issue 4 May 2020)

Food and heartbreak are at the focus of this story. I liked it a lot, especially the descriptions about the food, the people who worked at Heartbreak Café, as well as the idea behind the establishment to begin with. This story also handled its themes well, and all around this one was another great read.

From Around the Web

• Howl-ever It Moves You: Diana Wynne Jones and Hayao Miyazaki Do the Same Work With Different Stories (Elyse Martin; Tor.com, May 5, 2020)

I Listened to Telephone by Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas

Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas is a band I’ve followed for a couple of years now. I’ve been a fan of their work in the past and present. Recently, they released a new song called Thank God, which I mentioned on a music Monday post a few weeks ago. So I ended up listening to one of my favorite albums again.

Telephone is such a solid body of work. It’s light, breezy, and incredibly fun to listen to (and it also has its deep and meaningful moments too). It’s easy to get in to, and it’s often one of the albums that I put on repeat whenever I listen to it. It also invokes an almost nostalgic feel, with its creative use of sounds. There was a mixture too, with light rock influences and even some synth sounds.

Bombay is a great intro. It sets up the tone of the rest of the album, and offers an excellent example of the kind of stylish delivery that is one of the defining aspects about Telephone. Parts of the album have a little bit of a swing music flare. One example is the song Hummingbird. Other parts are incredibly groovy, such as the song Hot To Trot. Fire and Ice is a perfect note to end on, and leaves an overall positive impression of the album as a whole.

There is also a Spanish version of Telephone, and it’s equally as good as the English version. I recommend giving both a listen, because it’s worth it.

Telephone is still one of my favorite albums for myriad of reasons, and I will likely listen to it a lot more in a future. Have you listened to any music by Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas? If so, what are some of your favorite songs?

Review: The Case Study of Vanitas Volume #3 by Jun Mochizuki

Title: The Case Study of Vanitas
Series: The Case Study of Vanitas #3
Author: Jun Mochizuki 
Source/Format: Christmas gift; Paperback
More Details: Fantasy 
Publisher/Publication Date: Yen Press; November 14, 2017

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository     Walmart

Synopsis from Goodreads...

The masked ball has ended, but the music plays on. As Noe and Vanitas return disgraced from Altus, the curtain rises on a new battle. News of kidnapped curse-bearers sends the pair to the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris, where a melody of intrigue echoes and a superhuman foe awaits! Humans or vampires: Who will be the hunter, and who the hunted?

**note: there are potential spoilers for volume 1-2, you’ve been warned…**

It’s been a minute since I last read one of the volumes in this series, and I was eager to pick it up again. Volume 3 starts with the end of the masquerade arc, and Mochizuki wasted no time in reminding readers that the story is being narrated by Noe. He’s the only character whose thoughts are ever really seen, and it’s clear that the events so far have already happened and are just being recounted. It is called The Case Study of Vanitas. However, the expressions of the characters in the story presently being shown, are telling enough. Besides it’s still an interesting story regardless.

I’m really into this series so far. With each volume, it seems like the story and the characters get a little more complex as more of the world is slowly revealed. For instance, the “Babel Incident,” keeps coming up. Like with everything else about the series so far, I feel like there’s more to the story than what’s currently being said. The same could be said about the characters. The motivation behind Vanitas’s actions remains pretty murky at this point. However, I do like his interactions with Noe. The two can at times act as a foil to each other, especially when their personalities lead to clashes.

I also enjoyed the part of the story that was spent in Altus, which is still one of my favorite locations in this series so far. Plus a little more of the vampire politics was discussed before the story moved on. Even though there were plenty of revelations and plot twists here, I still have a lot of questions regarding the truth of the situation with the curse-bearers.

Speaking of vampires, I continue to be fan of how they’re portrayed in The Case Study of Vanitas. Part of that is due to how powers are set up in this series. The action sequences are always great, and the art is consistently gorgeous. There was also, finally, a conflict where the world formula revisions were directly shown for more than a few panels (and by characters other than Vanitas). The uses seem to vary—like the ability of The Book of Vanitas, and how some vampires can create fire and others can create ice.

Volume 3 is also the beginning of the next arc, and it gets off to an exciting start. The Chasseurs (vampire hunters) were finally introduced in this volume, and I’m excited to see where that part of the story goes.

All-in-all, I’m having a lot of fun reading this series.

Music Monday (120): Tame Impala, Beyoncé

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: This week, I'm listening to Tame Impala's latest album, The Slow Rush. One of my favorite songs from it is Posthumous Forgiveness. It has a very Space 1999 vibe, and I love it!

Andrea: Beyoncé released new music this week! I first heard Beyoncé's new song, Black Parade, while hanging out at DJ D-Nice's Club Quarantine via Instagram Live on June 19, 2020, Juneteenth. You can listen to Black Parade below. As always have an amazing week!

What are you listening to this week?