The privilege of the sword

(This is a rambletastic entry since I am sick today but have a feeling I'll be sicker tomorrow and write it even worse. I am in a posty mood)

EDIT: This is a squee, not an objective review :) Also the book may be triggery for some people, though not as much as a lot of fantasy (I say as a non-triggery person).

So, people, when I said I was sad that I would never find another "Fairytale about rescuing a princess where both protagonists are women and there's lots of stabbing of arrogant misogynistic men with swords", what y'all should have said was "Read 'the Privilege of the sword' by Ellen Kushner"(*). Well, ok, the story doesn't focus mainly on the bond between the two girls (and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had). And it's alternate-universe-regency-ish rather than fairytale... but that just means extra swashbucking! It was a lot of fun, and to round out the "aimed straight at me"ness it even has a snarky woman mathematician (She does not hit anyone with swords, but that's ok) I found "Swordspoint" (the precursor to this book, though you could get away without reading it) confusing and simply couldn't bring myself to care much about the protagonists or their political wranglings, and felt pretty much the same way about those sections of this book from the POV of Swordspoint's protagonist, but since these were short and not too frequent didn't mind.
( more rambling )

Next on my lost of reserved books to read would be "Fledgling" by Octavia Butler, but it turns out that it's a bad idea to try to start a serious vampire novel just after reading these snarky Twilight synopses :)

(*)and if you have any other stories like that up your sleeves I would like them please. Or I'll have to write one myself or give unexpected prompts to drabble requests or something, and nobody wants that
(**)Yes, that's right, I want light fluffy fantasy which subverts the genre and questions the underlying power structures. This is why I tend to make things simple and say "I don't like fantasy" :)

Top ten underrated sf movies (I said I was in a posty mood!)

Ten Truly Underrated Sci-Fi Movies via linkmachinego. Don't forget the follow up post at the bottom.

Those I've seen, all worth watching if you like sf:
Primer: Best movie time travel ever
Tron: Absolutely classic, also has amusing-in-retrospect Sheridan & Londo scene :)
Existenz: Kind of crap, imo, but still really interesting
Gattacca: Awesome, like Primer actually takes it's material seriously
Dark City: Really interesting and effective style, even if it didn't make sense in parts. Borderline fantasy.
Cypher: I found this a bit shallow under it's cleverness, and very much reminiscent of a book I read in primary school (I won't say which for spoiler reasons)
The Quiet Earth: Saw this at Swancon, very strange and slow but unique and interesting. Are there any other NZ sf films?

I've read the story of "A boy and his dog" and it was effectively creepy, don't think I'd like the film.

Added to Quickflix queue: "Enemy Mine", "Silent Running" and "Strange days".

You HAVE to watch the trailer for "Enemy Mine". I can see why it's considered one of the slashiest canons ever "Hatred..turns to love tolerance. Tolerance..turns to love friendship. Friendship..turns to love."

Also, I don't care what they say, it may be cheesy and shallow but I liked Equilibrium :P