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medievalcat · 6 years

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ok. I finished Children of God (sequel to The Sparrow), and while I was able to follow it better than when I first read it (I think I was really distracted a few years ago, and had trouble focusing).....I didn’t like it as much as the first one, which I’m aware isn’t an unpopular opinion, even though I didn’t hate all of it. Here are my thoughts on why it didnt work imo and what I did like about it.

The Sparrow would naturally be a hard act to follow, and I get that sometimes sequels do different things than the first installations. book one is about Emilio and book two is about Rakhat. Okay. I think there’s a lot of interesting material that could have been made of Emilio, John, and all the new guys visiting Rakhat years after the first expedition. It’s what the author did- and, really, this was present in the first book as well, and one of the first book’s issues, but here it’s really one of the main points of the story and far more prominent than ever before- that didn’t succeed. It’s the story of Rakhat....but given how Rakhat is written, maybe it shouldnt have been. This book honestly ranged from “enjoyable” to “disappointing” to “implicitly or explicitly expressing horrible views”.

It’s one thing to make an oppression storyline in a fantasy setting- FMA for example does this. But in that, the victims are humans. In this, not only does the story do an oppression narrative about fantasy creatures, which is already a very difficult thing to pull off, she repeatedly draws comparisons between nonhuman aliens and things like the Holocaust and genocide and oppression of Native Americans. She even has her one native character draw this comparison and *stay behind on another planet instead of going to earth* for some “reservation” plotline at the end. This is a good example of why when we criticize media sometimes we have to focus specifically on the writers who choose to make these events happen, who choose to write certain stories and who choose to frame them in certain ways. I’m kind of glad this book doesn’t have a fandom, really, because tumblr types would focus on which aliens’ side is “right” and not on the fact that the author chose to write some fantasy creature oppression story with incoherent imperialism commentary while trivializing real genocides. I remember a really uncomfortable paragraph in the first one that implied the Ottoman Empire was some kind of safe haven for all ethnic/religious groups as well as a line (keep in mind these were written in the 90s) about how Bosnia is violent because of ............ “blood feuds”. Many people have said this story is weak because it focused on these new alien characters and the Rakhat storyline so much. This, for me, is the main reason why that storyline was so weak.

One thing I liked was some of the new characters. I liked Danny and Joseba and Nico and Sean and Gina and Pope Gelasius. I think this book kind of did a “later season of Vikings” so that there were suddenly all these new people but few of them got good development. So that was a weakness but I didn’t mind many of the characters in and of themselves and enjoyed these new additions. Sure they weren’t like the people in the first book but that’s okay. They added new perspectives. Danny had a lot of interesting stuff about forgiveness that I liked. I also liked initially how Sofia was revealed to be alive but....she was shafted. We barely see her in favor of her badly offensively written written son (I know this was written 20 years ago but. the way he and his disability are portrayed as like...literally “alien” even though ths is supposed to be a “positive”.... is honestly....why the living fuck did she do this....) and Supaari’s daughter who he CONCEIVED FROM RAPE and we’re just supposed to be ok with that bc the author very conveniently wrote the victim to be as unsympathetic as possible and because “uwu miracle of life!! yay children!” I’m supposed to buy that Sofia, a child trafficking survivor, is allies and friends with a man who not only is a rapist but sold a person she loved into sex slavery.......after the narrative called to attention how similar Sofia and Emilio’s experiences were, and the first book was an imperfect story but a deep introspective exploration of the effects of SA.....lol ok. And then she gets killed off at the end offscreen in a single sentence.

There’s also....I really doubt she intended some of this but it’s clearly in the story .... it really has bad implications, that the only relations between men are abusive in both books. there are literally no other relations between men, even though there is a gay character (who I understand is a celibate priest, and having a gay priest is cool!) but....it just doesnt have good implications that relations between men are only ever presented as bad. especially because the thing that truly “heals” Emilio is being with a woman and I think in our society (and thus our media) we have a real problem with thinking that “healing” as a sexual abuse victim means having sex with a man if youre a woman and with a woman if you’re a man, and that male sa victims of men are only really victims if they like women (and, of course, women sa victims in general just have to like men). Of course there is nothing wrong with Gina, I loved her, and nothing is wrong with writing an sa survivor who is able to have a relationship after. But MDR killed her off for no good reason. The other crew members dying in the first book, those were well written character deaths. and how many times did she do the “this woman died but thats whatever narratively, because she has a kid uwu miracle of life” thing in this sequel. I think MDR is like GRRM in that she has good intentions clearly, and has such good sff works/characters and takes oh the Human Experience and everything, but doesn’t always know how to handle issues in a responsible way and it’s really glaring even if there are obviously worse people in media. To be honest (and again, here Im glad there’s no fandom, because people are so weird about this stuff) MDR should have just had Emilio and John be together. “Your friendship should have been proof enough of God” ???????? hello?????? Their relationship was one of the things that actually was well fleshed out in the sequel until John and all the other guys who weren’t in the Camorra just.....stayed on Rakhat forever.

Part of the handling of Sofia seemed like a broader pattern of the plot being completely forced. Everything happens for some sake of The Plot- this is something later seasons of GOT have been criticized for. This plot in particular, in addition to the alien oppression metaphor, seemed to want to make everything about the story in particular its end be some kind of “bookend” to mirror the first book. Sofia dies (for real this time. honestly....her death in the first one was good writing!), Emilio and his unlikely escorts go home, no one else gets to go home, there’s a huge societal upheaval on Rakhat because of the humans, a huge reveal about Rakhat’s “divine” music. I have nothing against this kind of narrative device but when it’s this forced to the point where the story is blatantly constructed for the sake of this......it didn’t work. The “music” plot twist was like..............really??? All of that? They’re staying on this planet? If they had all gotten more time in the story (because this book is the same length as the first book but has far more different subplots and far longer of a timespan and far more narrators) we might find that more plausible. I don’t think everything needs to be spelled out for us. In the first book when everyone is stranded, it’s clear that they think this is tragic, but they are trying to make the best of it because they all love each other and are together. In this one they don’t all have that kind of bond and it’s dependent on the long-winded and incoherent Rakhat political storyline. Because a lot of it isn’t even that well developed in addition to the earlier addressed things. We go between random one-off characters. So much is about the war but it’s written so anti-climatically. Sofia broke down in the first book when she learned they were stranded, and now she doesn’t care at all about returning back to Earth because the Runa are “her people” now, but how much of that is really what she tells herself to cope with what she lost- and what she experienced on earth in her youth? we don’t know. The Pope just....sent Emilio who became probably the most infamous person on Earth, back into space, and it wasn’t a big deal for the Church or at all? And all it took for it to happen was a handful of Camorra men with Vatican connections, who were just adapted so well to space travel and extended time on a new planet that initially made the people in the first book sick when transitioning into life there? And let me reiterate we’re supposed to accept that the divinely ordained reason all this happened was because Isaac wrote music inspired by human and alien dna and it sounded wonderful?

This just felt very forced. “Emilio never wants to go back to Rakhat so obviously this book has to be about how he goes back there and accepts that it actually happened for a Good Reason bc of some music, and music was the way they found it in the first place.” How about how he accepts that it happened and comes to terms with what happened to him without either hating himself for his actions or thinking it was all For The Greater Good Actually, because you cant undo the past, aka what the first book was building up to and culminated in? idk. the first book was all about how bad things happen and that this doesn’t mean we have to give up our faith even if we question our faith. this was more like “every cloud has a silver lining lol”.

There were many nice things- Emilio’s friendship with Nico, many of the moments with Sofia towards the end and her reuniting with Emilio, John getting more to do, the new Pope, Celestina ending up having an important job as a theater and leaving a trail of men in her wake lol. I don’t want to say don’t read this. But if you like the first book you might not like this one, and if you’re considering reading the first book, it.....works best as a standalone.

#i say things #book blogging #given that this talks about uh certain Things i'd prefer no reblogs lol

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busines303-blog · 5 years

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6 Things Alien Franchise Characters Do That Get Them Killed

New Post has been published on https://howtobuyfranchises.com/must-see/6-things-alien-franchise-characters-do-that-get-them-killed/

6 Things Alien Franchise Characters Do That Get Them Killed

This article spoils Alien: Covenant because that movie has been out for a couple weeks now and this is a pop culture comedy website.

Dear sir or madam,

Congratulations! We’ve reviewed your application and decided that you would be a fine addition to the crew of the Covenant, a colony ship that Weyland-Yutani is launching into space with 2,000 frozen colonists and over 1,000 embryos with the explicit intent of starting a new planet. We’re not sure how we’re going to make any money off of this, since we mainly specialize in building robots who are preoccupied with the purpose of their own existence and filling random rooms with priceless works of art for those robots to look at, but we’re sure whoever is in charge of this wacky experiment has something in mind. Maybe?

Anyway, though this is a dangerous mission, we at Weyland-Yutani have the utmost confidence that you will survive and do us all proud, provided you follow these very specific guidelines.

Don’t Investigate Weird Signals

I understand that space is quite massive and you are likely to be of the curious sort, given the nature of your chosen profession. But you are not here to explore. You’re not a scientist. And you are specifically not mandated by the head office to explore any possible evidence of alien life, like certain other ships. Your job is simply to get the thousands of innocent frozen people in your spaceship all the way through space to the cozy new planet we picked out for them. That’s it.

Again, there is no reason to investigate any weird signals, even if they’re playing John Denver, and especially if Danny McBride is excited about it.

This advice goes double if you’ve just suffered some kind of weird space catastrophe that damaged your ship like oh, say, a “neutrino burst.” Even though that may be something I just made up (not sure?) it sounds like the kind of thing that would mess with your sensors, planet-detectors, John Denver analyzers, and so on. Spaceships are huge, complicated machines full of cutting-edge technology and are vulnerable to mistakes.

So yeah, just stick to the plan. There’s literally no reason at all not to.

When you’re investigating that weird signal, please take some (or any) precautions

If for some reason you ignore that last piece of advice (I’m sure, if you have a reason, it’s a good one — it’s not like you’re a bunch of idiots or anything) please at least take serious precautions before landing and walking around on an alien planet. Put on a space suit, or something. Don’t just throw on some REI gear and call it good.

Fox This is a great example of a stupid thing to do.

You’re not Indiana Jones, you’re space explorers on another planet that’s in space. You can’t possibly know for sure that there are no weird gases or malicious microscopic organisms that might, I dunno, burrow in your nose, grow into a chihuahua-sized albino lizard monster, and explode out of your throat in a really cool way. I know that sounds like a paranoid, nutty thing to write down in a list of safety advice, but I really need to stress that we’re talking about space here. Anything is possible.

Fox This seems pretty ordinary in comparison to some other stuff I could think up, if you give me a minute.

Because the entire purpose of our mission is to travel to a new planet and set up a colony, you can rest assured that the Covenant is chock-full of the sort of technology you’d need to test out an alien planet and make sure it’s inhabitable. How do I know that? Because it’d be absolutely mac-and-cheese-smoothie ludicrous if we didn’t have those resources. Surely our current plan isn’t to land on Origae-6 and have you walk on out there and suck air through your teeth until you either give the thumbs up or die horribly. I know what we’re paying you, and it’s a lot (McBride could easily afford a new hat, for example), but it’s not enough to do that.

If I’m wrong and we don’t have those precautions, then really I’m just gonna have to refer you back to the first point, man.

Once You’re Investigating A Weird Signal Without Having Taken Any Precautions, At Least Stick Together

So for reasons that are, again, surely not totally idiotic, you couldn’t follow my first two bits of advice. And now you’re wandering around on an alien planet, dressed like you’re going on a day-hike with your grandpa, lighting cigarettes and shouting and casually remarking about how “there are no birds, no animals at all,” before you just stick your nose right into what appears to be a clutch of black eggs that squirts sparkling dust into the air that is one of the most ominous and suspicious things I can imagine encountering.

Fine. I guess. Maybe don’t split up though?

You’re not under any time constraints. You’re not worried about running low on fuel. You’ll have plenty of time to test the water’s ammonia and nitrate/nitrite levels and scan the atmosphere for flesh-eating viruses over the next few days, or weeks, or months. In fact, you should probably get to that signal before you even bother running any tests, because maybe you’re going to find whatever was broadcasting the John Denver and realize it’s John Denver. And then what if he forcibly impregnates you, and a tiny John Denver bursts out of your chest and kills everyone on your ship? Does that sound like the kind of planet you’d want to colonize? One jam-packed with murderous John Denvers?

Watch Out For That Blood!

If you’ve ignored all the previous advice for a variety of increasingly stupid reasons, then there is sure to be at least one big puddle of blood. That’s fine, as long as you:

Do.

Not.

Slip in it.

If one person slips in a puddle of blood, that’s a mistake. If two people slip in the same puddle within a few lousy minutes of each other, then I’m starting to wonder if this is less a “spaceship crew” and more “improv comedy.” You don’t need to “Yes, And” the alien, guys. He’s not a team player. He’s an alien and he wants to kill you.

(At this point it’s safe to assume your spaceship is lousy with aliens. I mean, how can it not be).

And even if that alien is freaking you out please, please, please don’t just fire your weapon wildly in a room full of stuff that can-

After Your Pilot Blows Up Your Ship And You’re Rescued By An Obviously Evil Fassbenderbot, Be Cautious About Which Robot You Trust Because We Haven’t Updated Their Appearance Yet For Some Reason

Like all responsible Space Adventure companies, we’ve put a robot on your crew. To keep it from becoming evil, we gave it an American accent.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But the robots are identical! What if they try to switch places, and the evil British one fakes the American accent?”

Oh, you weren’t thinking that? It hadn’t occurred to you at all? You’re thinking about log cabins?

Where do we find you people?

If You’re Going to Try and Engineer a Bioweapon, At Least Don’t Make It Worse Than the BioWeapon You Already Have

Hi, David. I imagine by now every single member of the Covenant‘s crew is either dead or has been tricked into hypersleep by you, the only intelligent person in this whole movie. So this last tip is for you:

If you’re going to use the Alien Engineer’s black-goo technology to make a new race of killer aliens, at least don’t make the monsters less effective than they already are? I mean, the pale dog-alien thing that can headbutt through glass and can infect you without you even realizing it seems a lot more scary and dangerous than the thing that burst out of Billy Crudup’s chest and immediately started to raise-tha-roof. And that alien, by the way, is a lot tougher than the aliens we meet later in the Sigourney Weaver movies. Seems like your experiments are just making everything lamer. Seems like you’re kinda bad at what you do.

Maybe don’t mess with a good thing? Maybe just leave it alone? You know what they say: “Curiosity killed the cat.” In fact, you should say that out loud during the movie, especially since it’s the core theme of the entire franchise. And don’t worry about being too on-the-nose — in space, no one can hear a theme.

JF Sargent is a senior editor and columnist for Cracked and a huge, huge, huge fan of all the Alien movies (even Resurrection!). Give him a shouty-shout on Twitter or Facebook.