Every year, we invite our contributors to challenge themselves with the Resolution Project — a special event where our writers sift through all things speculative and settle on something worthy of personal conquest. The sky’s the limit when it comes to choices, whether it’s knocking through a back catalog, revisiting a popular franchise, or embarking on something totally new; whether it’s playing video games, reading books, or blitzing through movies! For a refresher, our writers made their 2019 goals here, and they’ve posted over the course of 2019 their progress on the site. We’re happy to bring some contributors back for a final review of Resolution Project 2019!
Erin S. Bales: Howdy, dear Chicers. As some of you may recall, my resolution for 2019 was to play many, if not all, of the games sitting pristine and
untouched in my Steam library. My guess was that I had about thirty neglected games. Of those thirty, I believe I played about ten. At the very least, I started ten. Which puts me at thirty percent…ish. I only reviewed four for the site: three here and one here.
In other words, I failed. Thirty percent isn’t even halfway to an F. (I do blame that partly on the fact that this PC gamer finally got a PlayStation 4.) That said, I did not fail as hard as I did at my 2018 resolution, so there’s hope for me yet! And I’m already feeling good about my resolution for 2020. I’ve already made a head-start and my Kindle is locked-and-loaded for bear. Watch out, world! (Especially bears, I guess). Here I come!
J.L. Gribble: As of the time of writing this, on December 16, I have read over 140 novels, novellas, short stories, and graphic novels in 2019. But twelve of those have a special place in my heart. From picking up a random urban fantasy novel because the author shared an unusual first name with my mother while I was in graduate school for creative writing…to nearly fifteen years later, having written and published multiple novels of my own, Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series has been a huge influence on my own creative career. I’m so happy to report that revisiting the full series, from Magic Bites to Magic Triumphs, was a blast from start to finish.
The main series consists of 10 novels, but I included two other books set in this world, Gunmetal Magic and Iron and Magic, for the full “book per month” experience. It would have been so easy to burn through the series, especially since I was anxious to get to the final two novels I had never read previously, but I’m glad I paced myself. That allowed me to absorb the full scope of the series and more critically track the development of the characters and the world. From a professional standpoint, it was interesting to see the evolution of Andrews’ writing and style. On the personal side, it was a treat to fall into this world once a month.
The Kate Daniels series follows many of the traditional urban fantasy tropes, while at the same time subverting a lot of traditional world-building elements common to many stories in the genre. One of Andrews’ greatest strengths is worldbuilding (which I’ve enjoyed in their other series as well), and while I’d never want to live in their version of Atlanta, it’s definitely fun to visit. The main Kate Daniels story arc is completed (and she more than deserves her retirement and happily ever after), but at least two more books are promised in this world…and I have the feeling that Andrews is skilled enough to continue offering adventures that never grow stale.
Overall: Highly recommended urban fantasy series for fans of the genre. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll never, ever be bored.
Kelly McCarty: When I found almost all of Jacqueline Carey’s books set in the land of Terre d’Ange at my library’s book sale, I thought it was fate. I made reading and reviewing all nine books my 2019 Resolution. Turns out, my destiny was to read and review the first three books, Phèdre’s Trilogy.
My resolution got off to a great start — I had Kushiel’s Dart read and reviewed by January. I love that not only does Jacqueline Carey build an intriguing world in these books; she invents an entirely new religion. Elua, the god of Terre d’Ange, was born from the blood of Jesus and the tears of Mary Magdalene. Rejected by God and imprisoned on Earth, Elua is aided by eight angels. These angels include the cruel Kushiel, the guilt-stricken Cassiel, and the wanton Naamah. They are also worshipped by the people of Terre d’Ange, who live by Elua’s credo, “Love as thou wilt,” and have a very open-minded view of sexuality. This is already insanely complicated and I haven’t started on the actual plot of the book.
Kushiel’s Dart is by far my favorite book in the trilogy. Phèdre nó Delaunay, is abandoned by her parents and sold into indentured servitude. No one recognizes that the scarlet mote in her eye marks her as Kushiel’s chosen, an anguissette (extreme masochist) until Anafiel Delaunay purchases her bond. He trains her as a spy and a courtesan, but also becomes a father figure to her. Anafiel, Phèdre, and her foster brother, Alcuin, form a strange sort of family. Political intrigue and sex abound in this book, but its heart is Phèdre’s relationships — with her adopted family and her friends Joscelin, her bodyguard, and Hyacinthe, her childhood companion.
Kushiel’s Chosen got off to a very slow start. Phèdre returns to being a courtesan to uncover a plot against the queen and Joscelin, now her boyfriend, does not approve. A shocking turn of events leads to Phèdre being kidnapped by pirates, which felt repetitive, as she was kidnapped by Skaldi (Vikings) in the first book.
Kushiel’s Avatar takes place ten years after the events of Kushiel’s Chosen. An old enemy asks for Phèdre’s help and she finds herself facing worse hardships than ever before. This book was brilliant in places but also suffered from a slow start and pacing issues.
Phèdre nó Delaunay is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Her journey from abandoned child to respected diplomat who has saved her country several times is compelling. She’s a masochistic prostitute who has a brand of morality all her own. Phèdre never forgets her loved ones, laboring for over a decade to help her childhood friend Hyacinthe. It was refreshing to me that Phèdre is unashamedly sexual but Carey never punishes her for it. Phèdre’s beauty and sexual nature do not get in the way of her intelligence and bravery.
So why didn’t I finish my resolution, if I loved the characters? There are books that are fun to read but a chore to review, and Phèdre’s Trilogy falls squarely into this category. Each book is over 600 pages with a convoluted plot and enormous cast of characters. Kushiel’s Chosen and Kushiel’s Avatar struggled to hold my attention and of course, I got distracted by other books. I may eventually still read the rest of Carey’s books that take place in Terre d’Ange, but I’m doubtful that I will review them.
Kristina Elyse Butke: I was late to the game coming in with a resolution for the Project, but I decided to chronicle my experiences making and wearing a cosplay for Anime Japan, held March 23-24 at Tokyo Big Sight.
This was my first time cosplaying in another country (and in the land of anime and manga, wow!), so I wanted to kick up my costume level quite a few notches by selecting something very, very fancy. I chose to cosplay Edmond Dantes from the anime Gankutusou: The Count of Monte Cristo. This 2004 series from Studio Gonzo is a sci-fi reimagining of the Alexandre Dumas classic and is famed for its unique animation style using textures and patterns, as well as being a simultaneously original and faithful adaptation of the novel. And did I mention THE Anna Sui designed the costumes for the series?
One of the things I like to do when I cosplay is to take something canon and put my unique stamp on it. For this costume, I decided to make the Count a Countess, which came with some challenges. I covered my (mis)adventures in sewing in three posts. In my first Resolution Post, I went over hows and whys of the costume, including images of each piece juxtaposed with images from the anime for comparison, and detailed the first pieces and WIP photos for the flames and black embroidery. Then I wrote the convention review of Anime Japan 2019, and rounded up my resolution story with my last piece discussing the final elements of the costume, the experiences and snafus with my cosplay, and what it’s like cosplaying in Japan versus the US — there are some differences!
It was a wonderful and at times trying experience, and after seeing the level of performance and presentation Japanese cosplayers put into their work, I want to up my game for all my other cosplay in the future. As someone who breaks pretty much every resolution she makes, I’m so relieved I can check this one of my list!
Lane Robins: My goal this year was to revisit Glen Cook’s Chronicles of the Black Company that I’d begun as a callow teen.
I wanted to look at them as an adult and see what made them such an influential grimdark series and to catch up so that I could finish off the series as Cook put out the last book.
I expected to be enthralled by the books — I was as a teen — and to get a deeper understanding of them, reading as an adult.
But…
Okay, the problem is I just don’t like grimdark.
When I was a teen, I liked all books (most books). I sucked them up and didn’t really question what was presented to me. As an adult, I have decided opinions about what I do and do not want to read.
The problem with grimdark is not that it’s often violent or morbid (or both!), it’s that it ends up being nihilistic. And not even purely nihilistic in the sense that our existence has no larger meaning. No, it’s the negative nihilism that permeates grimdark books. “People suck,” they seem to say, “they’re innately selfish and horrible and I, your ostensible hero, might suck less than others, but I’m still a terrible person and the world is intrinsically a terrible place.”
When I was a teen, that was exciting. Now I’m tired and prone to depression so… Nope! Give me a dark-edged fantasy but give me a hopeful ending. Give me a protagonist who actually makes things better. Grimdark books can be beautifully written, but I just don’t want to be their reader.
What this meant for my resolution was that I read the first book — The Black Company — with increasing concern, then bounced off the second book over and over again until I gave up.
Nancy O’Toole Meservier: Long books can be a real challenge for me. I’m often intimidated by large page counts, and sometimes lack the necessary patience to finish them. And that can be a real problem with fantasy, known for having super-sized series fiction. So, for my 2019 Resolution Project, I wanted to tackle three long books that that were second books in trilogies I was already enjoying. These books were The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, Jade War by Fonda Lee, and European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss. All together, these added up to just shy of 2,000 pages of reading.
And they were all worth it.
The Kingdom of Copper took everything that I loved about The City of Brass and turned it up to eleven. The characters were even more complex, the twists more dramatic, and the ending made me hungry for more. Jade War expanded upon the gritty world of Jade City, while also going deeper on a character level. And while I didn’t like European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman and much as The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, I still enjoyed getting to spend so much time with the book’s wonderful cast of female characters.
Over the years, my opinion on longer books (600 pages or more) has really developed. The truth is, I love a good door stopper. One of my favorite authors is Brandon Sanderson, and his books almost always fall into this category. But if you’re going to expect me to commit to a massive tome, you need to make it worth it. A 150-page novella can get away with being okay; a 700-page book needs to be great. And unfortunately, there are a lot of big books that are overstuffed with unnecessary and repetitive content (I just DNF’d a 700-pager for this very reason). As someone who’s reading time is typically just a half hour at the end of the day, I’m not going to have the patience for all that padding.
Fortunately, the three books I picked for my resolution were more than worth my time. And since they were all second books in trilogies, I fully intend on tackling all three finales on a future date.
Nicole Taft: My original plan was a simple one. I have too many games in my Steam library that I haven’t played. The remedy and resolution? To play at least three of those games.
I have failed. Completely.
I started out fairly strong, but made a massive mistake in game choice. I’d received Hollow Knight as a prize during a Twitch stream. It looked cute, it was a 2D platformer like the sort of games I grew up on (I owned a SEGA Genesis for decades before being graced with an N64), and seemed like something I could get into, finish, and then move on to my next game.
Oh, how wrong I was.
I started playing it in February, eventually realizing the game was much larger — and longer — than I thought. Also harder. There were boss fights that got me hooked into that “Ok, just one more,” mode, convinced I could beat it if I tried just one more time. Then there were others in which I simply threw in the towel. I got to a point where I knew what I had to do, but the idea of doing so was exhausting. My thumb, unused to a game controller, was getting sore and a little on the blistered side. So I decided to take a break — and then made another huge mistake.
I watched a speedrun of Hollow Knight.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a speedrun is where a player will blast through the game as fast as humanly possible. Sometimes they use glitches to get from point A to point B, skipping entire levels/quests/cutscenes. I’d already played Hollow Knight for 37 hours; I watched a player named Vysuals thrash the game just shy of 1 hour and 23 minutes. My original plan was to watch until he reached where I was in the game. Part of me wanted to see how he defeated a few foes that were utterly kicking my ass (which is kind of silly considering he’s done it so many times it’s child’s play for him, and makes it look ridiculously easy). But then I couldn’t stop myself and kept watching, fascinated, until I saw him beat the entire game. So now I know how it ends. (And then he went on to play one of the most horrifying after-game levels I think I’ve ever seen and earned from me a very resounding Sigourney Weaver/Galaxy Quest “Well FUCK THAT.” (Don’t argue with me — she dubbed herself. Watch her lips, she very clearly says “fuck.”)
If I had to guess I’d say I’m 3/4 of the way through the game. But my break, life, and the universe happened (complete with a brand-new job that has me staring at a screen all day instead of trouncing around a bookstore), so I never got back into it. Even worse, I know I’ll have forgotten all of the moves, and will have to reacclimatize myself with handling the character and go right back to getting my ass handed to me, since that’s where I left off.
So in the twelve months that have gone by, I’ve completed one game: LIMBO. And even then not exactly from start to finish. Will I finish Hollow Knight? Hard to say. Will I start a new game (maybe a smaller or easier one) next year instead? I have no idea. At the rate I’m going, the outlook doesn’t seem all that great, but hey, hindsight is 20/20, right? (Pun intended.)
Sherry Peters: This year, my resolution was to re-watch all of the Star Wars movies in order of release date. I have to say, it was a bit of a roller coaster ride. The original trilogy of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi were filled with magic and nostalgia of the movies themselves, but also of a lot of my childhood memories around these movies, like my crush on Mark Hamill, playing Star Wars with the neighbor kids, and desperately wanting a lightsaber.
Though the magic and nostalgia were wearing off by Return of the Jedi, it vanished with the prequel trilogy. Good God they are even worse than I remembered. I almost quit the resolution with these. Clone Wars did nothing to persuade me otherwise. They were absolutely painful and I questioned my loyalty to the franchise. What kept me coming back though, were the next movies: The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi. Solo was fun too, though totally unnecessary. I think, if I were to do it again, I would watch them in order of timeline, so start with the god-awful prequels, then Solo, Rogue One, A New Hope, and so on — I’d leave out Clone Wars altogether — to see if the story as it would have unfolded linearly.
What I did like about watching them in the order that I did, is that I am SO ready to see The Rise of Skywalker. I feel like I have shared my life-long journey with the Skywalkers this year. As much as I’m looking forward to seeing how the saga ends, it will be a bit bittersweet. Overall, this resolution has left me with a deeper love and appreciation for Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia/General Organa, and for resisting evil when we see it, by taking action and helping others, even when we think we are small and insignificant. And of course, I still want a lightsaber!
“May the Force will be with you. Always.”
Congratulations to all of our contributors this year, whether they completed their Resolution Project or not. It takes a special kind of courage to give voice to a goal and make it manifest — and I know everyone worked hard on choosing their projects and working through them. But now it’s time to look ahead to the future. Onward to 2020 and brand-new resolutions!
Hanna, I still maintain that I wish I’d read along with you. I tried to pick up the series where I left off and felt way out of touch. I’ve got all of these paperbacks somewhere, and the end of the series is on my Kindle. One day!
Sherry, kudos to you for keeping your resolution as well! I have very new thoughts about the prequel trilogy, because we’re showing the saga to someone who’s never seen it before, and because I’m weird, I decided to start with Episode I. Watching these movies as if I didn’t have a relationship with the franchise is interesting, and illuminating.
Congrats to Nancy as well! It’s good to get over those humps in our reading, and Lord only knows how many series/trilogies I’ve started with book one but haven’t continued. Hats off to this particular resolution!
For those of you who didn’t quite get there, don’t beat yourselves up! You tried at least, and there’s always a new year!
I’ve heard so many good things about Ilona Andrews; I really need to give this series a try.
If you start with the Kate Daniels books, know that the first, MAGIC BITES, was their debut and give it a little grace. Book 2 was the one that really lured me in. 🙂