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Oct. 7th, 2009 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsOkay, so Yxta Maya Murray's The Queen Jade is basically like an Indiana Jones movie, right? Except instead of Indy you have Lola Sanchez, a Mexican-American fantasy/adventure bookstore owner who occasionally hosts Tolkein LARPS. And instead of Indy's adventure-loving hotshot professor dad who kicks off the plot by heading off alone into danger and disappearing, you have Lola's adventure-loving hotshot professor mom who kicks off the plot by heading off alone into the jungle and disappearing. And instead of the furious abandoned love interest that the protagonist statutory-raped way back when, you have Yolanda, the furious abandoned archaeologist/GUATEMALAN FREEDOM FIGHTER who was Lola's childhood BFF before the unfortunate incident where Yolanda's dad kind of tried to kill Lola's.
IF YOU DON'T THINK THIS IS AWESOME I DON'T THINK I KNOW YOU.
(There is also an actual dude love interest, but the dramatic tension is all about Yolanda, which is as it should be, because she is a badass. Also she and Lola spend a lot more time wrestling on the floor and dramatically accusing each other of betrayal and HEARTBREAK than Lola and her boyfriend ever do.)
Though I have to say, uh, don't go into this expecting good archaeology and if you are a linguistics or ancient languages major you can probably expect to cry. Murray is a law professor, not an archaeologist, and it shows. (There is a part where they decipher an ancient Mayan cipher that is based on word order. IT HURTS. ;_;) As is standard, there are also the requisite scenes where people stand around "as-you-know-Bob"-ing about things that they clearly already know and need the reader to as well to understand the plot. So basically it is exactly like an Indiana Jones movie, except for the part where the plot is completely driven by awesome ladies of color! WHAT COULD BE BAD.
IF YOU DON'T THINK THIS IS AWESOME I DON'T THINK I KNOW YOU.
(There is also an actual dude love interest, but the dramatic tension is all about Yolanda, which is as it should be, because she is a badass. Also she and Lola spend a lot more time wrestling on the floor and dramatically accusing each other of betrayal and HEARTBREAK than Lola and her boyfriend ever do.)
Though I have to say, uh, don't go into this expecting good archaeology and if you are a linguistics or ancient languages major you can probably expect to cry. Murray is a law professor, not an archaeologist, and it shows. (There is a part where they decipher an ancient Mayan cipher that is based on word order. IT HURTS. ;_;) As is standard, there are also the requisite scenes where people stand around "as-you-know-Bob"-ing about things that they clearly already know and need the reader to as well to understand the plot. So basically it is exactly like an Indiana Jones movie, except for the part where the plot is completely driven by awesome ladies of color! WHAT COULD BE BAD.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 02:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 02:45 pm (UTC)INTERLIBRARY LOAN?
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Date: 2009-10-07 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 04:19 pm (UTC)<.<
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Date: 2009-10-07 04:27 pm (UTC):D?
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Date: 2009-10-07 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 07:00 pm (UTC)DO WANT.
But I will twitch so much at all the archaeology and linguistics and um everything. (You should see me in Indiana Jones movies, too.)
But do want!
SO TORN.
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Date: 2009-10-07 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-07 11:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-08 12:49 am (UTC)