Switch This Book for Something More Magical, Please: The Many Failures of The Hawkweed Prophecy

(image via goodreads)

Another day, another subpar YA novel. After the disaster that was Three Dark Crowns, I told myself, “Luce, don’t get sucked in by another excellent premise, it will only disappoint you,” and I should have listened to myself. I picked up a new book called The Hawkweed Prophecy based on its premise: two girls, one magical and one not, were switched at birth and have to find their way in the world. The author, Irena Brignull, seemed particularly accomplished as well: as a screenwriter, she worked on The Boxtrolls and the movie adaptation of The Little Prince, and she’s worked on many other projects as a script editor for the BBC. Yet somehow, there turned out to be very little to recommend about her first novel.

Minor spoilers and trigger warning for some discussion of abortion after the jump.

Wynonna Earp: The Chosen One I’ve Always Wanted

Two of my favorite things that continue to be way too rare in media are women who are Chosen Ones and Jerks with Hearts of Gold. So I kind of can’t believe that it has taken me so long to write about a new little show called Wynonna Earp, which concluded its first season a couple months ago. It features a great sisterly relationship, queer women, and several great female characters, one of whom is the Chosen One and a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. There are a couple of problems with it as well, but let me delve into all of it below the cut.

Some spoilers about the show to follow.

Sleepy Hollow: “Novus Ordo Seclorum” Review

Time for the fall finale! That came awfully fast; it feels like the new season just started. This week’s episode was full of suspense and badassery, although I won’t lie and say I wasn’t confused at times.

Spoilers after the jump!

The Portrayal of Sisters in Pop Culture or Why I Wasn’t as Impressed with Frozen as Everyone Else

Some of you who read this blog may remember me mentioning that I have an older sister. She drives me up a wall half the time, but I love her dearly, and I’m sure she feels the same about me. Here is my problem, though: I have only seen one sisterly relationship portrayed in pop culture that I can actually relate to. It’s weird, to say the least, but I think there is a reason for that. Women and stories about women are given significantly less screen time than male characters and stories about men. On the rare occasion women have starring, or even just supporting, roles, they are the lone female character. Said female has no sisters, no other female relations of note, and certainly no female friends. Either female characters’ backgrounds and never delved into, or these female characters will only have male influences in their lives. So already at least half the time women are tokenized and/or shown only associating with men. It should really come as no surprise, then, that when female relationships are present, they tend to lack the complexity that male relationships are given.

I see this a lot when sisterly relationships are portrayed. There seems to be only two possibilities for sisters: either they hate each other and can barely tolerate being in the same room together, or they love each other so super much that they are each others’ BFFs 5ver!

So when Frozen came out and everyone praised its portrayal of sisterly love I expected… well, something different than what I got, I guess.

A Surprisingly Warm Frozen Review

I’ll be honest with you: I was all set up to hate Frozen. Aside from the not-really-there marketing, the egregious whitewashing, that bullshit about animating female characters being haaard, and the skeevy-looking snowman sidekick, it just looked like a kind of unremarkable movie.

Take it away, Thorin:

Spoilers after the jump.