#MIDDLEGAME BY SEANAN MCGUIRE

[betterbooksandthings]

"Even though we love them, we have to admit there are some fantasy books that would be impossible to adapt into movies or TV shows. Not all magic and world-breaking fantasy elements are film-friendly.

Although book-to-film adaptations of fantasy novels have been getting better over time, there are still a few things even the best visual effects (VFX) and Computer-generated imagery (CGI) cannot pull off. I am a big fan of well-done practical effects, even if they are mechanic at times. For me, the way actors tend to engage with practical effects reads as more sincere. So, when it comes to this list of fantasy books, I mostly included books I think would require too much green screen or CGI to be worth it. Sometimes, magic is best left on the page and off the screen."

[specificpollsaboutbooks]

Book Siblings

Round 1

Roger and Dodger : Psychic twins ftw

[jittery-wisp]

Commission of Dodger and Roger from Middlegame by Seanen McGuire for the delightful and wonderful @dodgerkedavra❤️😊🙌✨

[alex-van-gore]

“Do whatever you have to do. Break whatever you have to break, but don’t you die.”

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

maybe i should just read all my Seanan McGuire books in March 🤔

[sansapixel]

Every time I open up a book by Seanan McGuire I find myself trusting her more and more. I know now that every page I turn to will only hurt me exactly as much as it needs to, and there is always more joy than pain for me to find in between them.

[ineloquent-tumbling]

Me: I am perfectly reasonable about Seanan McGuire’s work.

This week’s discussion prompt for my copyediting class: Write about the authorial style of a writer whose work you admire.

Me: Here’s two paragraphs about Seanan’s use of rhythm and sensory descriptions in her prose followed by three examples and analyses of how she applies those elements differently under her three pen names. It is important to me that you, my classmates, know that I am showing great restraint by not delivering you a thesis paper on this topic.

[aparticularbandit]

I HAVE ONLY HAD KELPIE FOR ONE CHAPTER BUT IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HER--

[mosswolf]

so far middlegame feels somewhere between good omens and his dark materials which i am enjoying very much

[brightbeautifulthings]

'You're responsible for half the forces governing the universe,' says Jack, sounding dazed. 'And two teenagers, and ask me which one is more trouble,' says Dodger.

Seanan McGuire, Seasonal Fears

[bloodmaarked]

➳ monthly book round-up: september

read:

middlegame, seanan mcguire. 5*. read 27 august 2023 – 06 september 2023.

conversations on love, natasha lunn. 4*. read 31 august 2023 – 13 september 2023.

girl, woman, other, bernardine evaristo. 1*. read 16 september 2023 – 22 september 2023 [DNF].

the case of the disappearing duchess, nancy springer. 5*. read 19 september 2023 - 22 september 2023.

currently reading:

seasonal fears, seanan mcguire. started 08 september 2023.

noughts & crosses, malorie blackman. started 23 september 2023.

[letsoulswander]

I LOVE ERIN!!!!!

[silvensstorycorner]

Displacement

Something that's been happening lately for no discernable reason is I've been feeling displaced, at random times, with no connection except only when I've been in my new as-of-six-months apartment. I've never felt anything quite like this, where I close my eyes and so innately believe I am somewhere else, for just a moment.

So far, it's just been while lying in bed, trying to fall asleep or trying to wake up. My bed, where the wall is out of reach to the left, but sometimes I think that if I roll over, my arm will press snug against the cool wall that's there, because I'm convinced in a momentary lapse of reason that I'm in my family's house, in my twin bed wedged in the corner under a skylight, wall to the right.

Then just now, I turned off the water of the shower. I wrung the water out of my hair and stood, trying to drip dry a little in the warm before opening the curtains to grab a towel let the cold rush in. I pulled the towel over my head, holding it there taut to soak up water from my hair, and for a single moment, I was so so sure I was in Spain.

Not even the Madrid 6-bed/2-bath where I lived for five months, with the little glass cube of a shower in a tiny room separated from the rest of the bathroom, where the lights were on a timed button switch that was never long enough so that halfway through, the lights cut out, and the little room was lit solely by the cerulean guide LED on the switch. Not that one.

It felt like the first time I went to Spain, my first time out of the country, my longest time away from home, staying with a host mom and my friend for two weeks in an apartment that just felt structurally different from the buildings I knew in New York. It was all warm eggshell and tangerine orange and dandelion yellow, with not much light reaching the narrow hallway, and the kitchen a small steel-blue pale thing in dented aluminum that contrasted the rest of the residence, tight balcony cluttered with things and looking out at the manmade stuff between apartment complexes. I don't remember the bathroom.

I don't remember the bathroom, but for a moment tonight in Boston, I was sure the Salamanca of March 2013 was outside of the darkness behind my eyes.

Needless to say, I will be keeping an eye on my apartment for gas leaks, disruptive frequencies, and the like, but still. Very strange. I will be seeing my friend again in two days, but I haven't thought about Sra. Marga in years. I wonder if her son came home after finishing his degree in California. I wonder if she got another dog after Pucha died.

[weirdscrawl]

they were only pencil sketches, all the fantasies we chased;

step right up if you can see me, i’m the one who got erased.

-michelle dockrey, Erased-

[epicnessunfolds]

I read a book that gave me The Atlas Six vibes, but on a more basic level of understanding, if it makes sense.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire has been sitting on my TBR for years, ever since it was announced. I remember liking the premise and adding it. Up until now, when I decided to check back on my early TBR books, I completely forgot about it. On a whim, I picked it up and devoured the book in two days.

I read it as an ebook, I'm not sure how chunky it is, maybe around 500 pages in physical format. But I didn't care for I absolutely sucked it up like it was air. The beginning is a bit slow, but once the scene is set, the pace picks up.

It has alchemy, an unusual sibling bond, and sibling characters at its core, evil Frankenstein-like beings/people, and a very peculiar order for the contents - I had to triple check to make sure I had the full/right version of the book.

Below is my Goodreads review.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire

My rating: 4 of 5 ⭐

Another book I had on my TBR for years. I don't know what made me think this was pure horror and, at the time I put it on the list, I didn't feel like reading horror.

While there are definitely some horror-ish elements, I would as a SF thriller of some sort.

It's the story of a set of twins growing up that have been created by a Frankenstein-like creature which, in turn, was the result of an ambitious alchemist. The twins are one being, but they are separated in the attempt to be controlled and for their creator to play god. Obviously, it doesn't quite go as planned - in no timeline.

The book is complex, with maths and linguistics as the basis for the twins, alchemy as the force that triggers and drives the bad guys, and quite a few bits that went over my head. It was, overall, an enjoyable read that I barely could put down. The beginning is a bit slow, but once the scene is set, the pace picks up.

I will continue reading the series.

View all my reviews