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Two things! One is a very smart book, and one is a delightful but stupid movie. Their commonality, if any, is female leads and excellent action sequences. (The book description is mostly copied from posting about it over on Broken Forum, and replicated here for convenience.)
Karen Memory
You guys, I love this book. I love it with the kind of love that makes me worry about giving people hype overload, so if you suffer from being turned off from things by too much gushing, read only the next paragraph and then follow the link for an excerpt.
Basically, it's a steampunk novel about a brothel worker in a seaboard gold rush city who ends up tangled up in an increasingly complicated series of events, mostly working against a cribhouse-owning crime lord type who's up to a lot of nefarious deeds. It's fast, punchy, and full of some very exciting action sequences; you can read the first two chapters here to see if you like the protagonist's voice, which I love.
The protagonist is a lesbian and gets to have a romance. And it's not a romance novel, and it's treated exactly like it would be if any other protagonist in an adventure novel happened to fall in love with someone. It's glorious. And the sex work she's doing isn't romanticized at all, but neither is it all HORRORS OF BROTHELS, because she's in a high-class place and it's just a job, but the text is perfectly aware of how it's a lot worse for many other women. And there's a trans character who's handled with cheerful, respectful acceptance by the protagonist and the others around her, and there's an awful lot of people who aren't white, and the book is both keenly aware of what this means in a place and time like this, but it's just...it's handled well! And not just because the protagonist is a good person--there are points where she sticks her foot in her mouth on racial matters because she's white--but because the text knows that this is thorny and really sticks the landing all around.
And the action! God, the action scenes are great! Especially since Karen isn't an action hero, exactly, but she's not a wilting violet either, and she steps up when things need to be stepped up to. She's the exact opposite of a reluctant hero; if anything, people have to sit on her periodically and tell her she can't go Fix Things because it's too damn dangerous. And there's the steam-powered sewing machine and the submarine and the surgical machine and the Mad Scientist License, so that the steampunk elements are wound all the way through the setting, but they're not the focus. They're neither pasted on nor the whole point of the book.
And I just really like the protagonist. Her voice is fun, and she's believable, and I enjoy spending a book's worth of time with her. And with her friends! Especially since the ex-slave lawman who features prominently is an actual historical figure whose real life sounds wilder than half the fiction in this novel. But her love interest is also amazing, and almost too good to be true, but in that way certain real life people are, who are just amazingly talented and determined and clever and good. And Madame Damnable, who swears the best! And the grouchy deaf cat! And oh gosh I'm using a lot of exclamation points and saying 'and' a lot, but I really liked this book, folks. I really, really liked this book.
Jupiter Ascending
Now, Jupiter Ascending was not a smart movie. For a script that was apparently made just for this movie, it reads a lot like it was condensed down from a multi-year run of comic books. There are a few too many characters, and there are far too many plot threads, only some of which get resolved: the movie keeps adding more guns to the mantlepiece, and maybe half of them have fired by the last act. It also starts on a depressing and rather slow note. So. There are the caveats.
But gosh, it's pretty, and it's so much fun. This movie plays its ridiculous premise straight, and plays it fast. Do you want to watch a werewolf space marine ex-con fight gray aliens in space-jets over the skyscrapers of Chicago? While the space marine is wearing flying rollerblades and carrying the protagonist? If so, SEE THIS MOVIE, because you get that within the first twenty minutes, and that's pretty much the tone of the full movie. The action sequences were ridiculous and glitzy and loads of fun; I watched in IMAX (3D, which I usually avoid) and am glad I did, because this is a movie that loves the big screen.
I also happen to like the protagonist quite a lot. She suffers from Protagonist Macguffin syndrome for the first half of the movie, in which things mostly happen to her, and she might as well be the One Ring for how much she actually does, compared to how much people do because of trying to get possession of her. But she's plausible and thoughtful (despite having, alas, the political savvy of a stunned badger), she gets to make the first move--and the second, and the third--on her love interest, and once she starts making decisions, she's making decisions that matter. And--this is shocking only because of my very low expectations in movies these days--her decisions largely aren't about her love interest! She is deciding what to do based on personal goals, love for family, and moral stances! Sure, she's also very fond of the Hot Shirtless Werewolf Space Marine Bodyguard she acquired (in what's frankly a rather entertaining F/m dynamic as these things go), but the movie isn't about him, or even her feelings for him; he's the guy doing all the action sequences while she figures things out.
The villain chews scenery marvelously. There's a dead-hilarious bureaucracy sequence, the likes of which I have not seen since the Hitchhiker's Guide movie. Many things explode very prettily. Someone has a zero-G orgy with a bunch of women with fairy wings, but in a very brief and tastefully PG-13 sort of way. There are large dinosaur warriors who 1) fly and 2) shoot people and 3) growl ominously a lot while waiting for their next fight scenes. There is Advocate Bob, the ever-smiling maybe-robot assigned to escort the protagonist through bureaucracy, who needs a nice hug after all he's been through. There is a sort of military/police starship captain who eyerolls her way through half of the scenes because, seriously kids, she's seen shit you would not believe, and she's here to do her job, dammit. (She is amazing, and we need much more about her.)
It's a fun a movie. It needs a sequel, or an awful lot of fanfic, to explain the seven bazillion plot holes and dropped plot threads. I may go see it again in IMAX while I still can, and take notes so that I can write some of that fanfic.
Karen Memory
You guys, I love this book. I love it with the kind of love that makes me worry about giving people hype overload, so if you suffer from being turned off from things by too much gushing, read only the next paragraph and then follow the link for an excerpt.
Basically, it's a steampunk novel about a brothel worker in a seaboard gold rush city who ends up tangled up in an increasingly complicated series of events, mostly working against a cribhouse-owning crime lord type who's up to a lot of nefarious deeds. It's fast, punchy, and full of some very exciting action sequences; you can read the first two chapters here to see if you like the protagonist's voice, which I love.
The protagonist is a lesbian and gets to have a romance. And it's not a romance novel, and it's treated exactly like it would be if any other protagonist in an adventure novel happened to fall in love with someone. It's glorious. And the sex work she's doing isn't romanticized at all, but neither is it all HORRORS OF BROTHELS, because she's in a high-class place and it's just a job, but the text is perfectly aware of how it's a lot worse for many other women. And there's a trans character who's handled with cheerful, respectful acceptance by the protagonist and the others around her, and there's an awful lot of people who aren't white, and the book is both keenly aware of what this means in a place and time like this, but it's just...it's handled well! And not just because the protagonist is a good person--there are points where she sticks her foot in her mouth on racial matters because she's white--but because the text knows that this is thorny and really sticks the landing all around.
And the action! God, the action scenes are great! Especially since Karen isn't an action hero, exactly, but she's not a wilting violet either, and she steps up when things need to be stepped up to. She's the exact opposite of a reluctant hero; if anything, people have to sit on her periodically and tell her she can't go Fix Things because it's too damn dangerous. And there's the steam-powered sewing machine and the submarine and the surgical machine and the Mad Scientist License, so that the steampunk elements are wound all the way through the setting, but they're not the focus. They're neither pasted on nor the whole point of the book.
And I just really like the protagonist. Her voice is fun, and she's believable, and I enjoy spending a book's worth of time with her. And with her friends! Especially since the ex-slave lawman who features prominently is an actual historical figure whose real life sounds wilder than half the fiction in this novel. But her love interest is also amazing, and almost too good to be true, but in that way certain real life people are, who are just amazingly talented and determined and clever and good. And Madame Damnable, who swears the best! And the grouchy deaf cat! And oh gosh I'm using a lot of exclamation points and saying 'and' a lot, but I really liked this book, folks. I really, really liked this book.
Jupiter Ascending
Now, Jupiter Ascending was not a smart movie. For a script that was apparently made just for this movie, it reads a lot like it was condensed down from a multi-year run of comic books. There are a few too many characters, and there are far too many plot threads, only some of which get resolved: the movie keeps adding more guns to the mantlepiece, and maybe half of them have fired by the last act. It also starts on a depressing and rather slow note. So. There are the caveats.
But gosh, it's pretty, and it's so much fun. This movie plays its ridiculous premise straight, and plays it fast. Do you want to watch a werewolf space marine ex-con fight gray aliens in space-jets over the skyscrapers of Chicago? While the space marine is wearing flying rollerblades and carrying the protagonist? If so, SEE THIS MOVIE, because you get that within the first twenty minutes, and that's pretty much the tone of the full movie. The action sequences were ridiculous and glitzy and loads of fun; I watched in IMAX (3D, which I usually avoid) and am glad I did, because this is a movie that loves the big screen.
I also happen to like the protagonist quite a lot. She suffers from Protagonist Macguffin syndrome for the first half of the movie, in which things mostly happen to her, and she might as well be the One Ring for how much she actually does, compared to how much people do because of trying to get possession of her. But she's plausible and thoughtful (despite having, alas, the political savvy of a stunned badger), she gets to make the first move--and the second, and the third--on her love interest, and once she starts making decisions, she's making decisions that matter. And--this is shocking only because of my very low expectations in movies these days--her decisions largely aren't about her love interest! She is deciding what to do based on personal goals, love for family, and moral stances! Sure, she's also very fond of the Hot Shirtless Werewolf Space Marine Bodyguard she acquired (in what's frankly a rather entertaining F/m dynamic as these things go), but the movie isn't about him, or even her feelings for him; he's the guy doing all the action sequences while she figures things out.
The villain chews scenery marvelously. There's a dead-hilarious bureaucracy sequence, the likes of which I have not seen since the Hitchhiker's Guide movie. Many things explode very prettily. Someone has a zero-G orgy with a bunch of women with fairy wings, but in a very brief and tastefully PG-13 sort of way. There are large dinosaur warriors who 1) fly and 2) shoot people and 3) growl ominously a lot while waiting for their next fight scenes. There is Advocate Bob, the ever-smiling maybe-robot assigned to escort the protagonist through bureaucracy, who needs a nice hug after all he's been through. There is a sort of military/police starship captain who eyerolls her way through half of the scenes because, seriously kids, she's seen shit you would not believe, and she's here to do her job, dammit. (She is amazing, and we need much more about her.)
It's a fun a movie. It needs a sequel, or an awful lot of fanfic, to explain the seven bazillion plot holes and dropped plot threads. I may go see it again in IMAX while I still can, and take notes so that I can write some of that fanfic.
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I will probably see JA, but not in theatres.