I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ESME PATTERSON-Tiny Desk Concert #598 (February 10, 2017).

I saw Esmé Patterson at the XPNFest last year.  Her live show was dynamic and fun and she was really charming.  I got to meet her briefly after the show and she was super friendly as well.

This Tiny Desk Concert (in which she has totally shaved off her big wavy hair), is a somewhat quieter, but overall accurate representation of her live show.

I love that she’s playing a big echoing guitar while the rest of the band Alex Koshak (drums); Jeremy Averitt (bass) and Jake Miller (lead guitar) support her perfectly–the lead guitar lines especially.

I have listened to her record a few times and I never considered that she sounds a bit (vocally) like Edie Brickell.  Well on “No River,” the comparison is apt.  Especially given the lyrics.  But the cute squeak in the vocals is quite endearing.

“Wantin’ Ain’t Gettin” is a cool song with a surprising twist on the theme of the lyrics:

When I ask if you love me / And you say that you might
…
I’ve got your love wrapped around me / So I put up a fight
Cause I wanna believe you
…
But I’ve heard that
Wantin ain’t gettin
No, wantin ain’t getting.

I like some of the staggered moments in the song too.  And she’s adorably smiley, throughout, even after singing a fairly dark song like that.

“Yours And Mine” has some great flanging echo on her guitar.   It’s a slow sweet song with nice guitar harmonics throughout.

[READ: January 20, 2017] LastMan 5

This book was originally written in French (and called Lastman there as well).  These editions were translated by Alexis Siegel.

Book five opens by returning to the Village of Kings (the home of Adrain and Marianne–where the first two books were set).  Everyone is despondent at the loss of the Velbas. Master Jansen–spurned by Marianne has been inconsolable and all of his students have left him.  Although Elorna has stayed faithful and is ever training (although she thinks that Marianne is a ditz for falling for Richard).

A meeting with the leaders also shows that Richard’s arrival has meant nothing but trouble for them.  They believe that the iguana queen resides in the canyon at the edge of their village (the one that Richard and Marianne crossed).  They believe that a medieval king closed the opening when he sacrificed himself by jumping in.  And he insists that they reinstate the Royal Guardians at once.

Then we move back to Paxtown, where the action has been for the last two books.  The reporter has been researching the strange lion symbol and when he finds out something he realizes that everyone is in trouble.

Back at the arena, Marianne and Adrian are preparing for their semifinal fight.  But Adrian has had a lot on his mind.  He doesn’t like the world of show business–the drugs that he has seen people take and the life that Tomie is living . He wants out.  So Marianne tells him that they don’t have to fight anymore.

This is, by the way, as they are about to enter the ring.  The crowd is furious.  Amid the commotion and name-calling, a nasty fighter named Banus steps up and says that they will fight.  Marianne isn’t afraid of him, though.  However, it is Richard who comes out and gets into the ring–this is actually more exciting than the Velbas because it is Richard Aldona’s first return to the ring after the Incident.  And the crowd goes berserk.

Richard is getting the snot beaten out of him but then Adrian asks him to tag him in.  Which he does at the last second and Adrian uses all his power on the man.  Then Adrian and Richard tag team the fighters in a spectacular page of fighting panels.

When the match is over, Richard knows they’re in big trouble with Milo, so he tries to get them all out of the arena quickly.  But as soon as they get outside one of Milo’s men, H, is waiting for them.

Through a story that I think maybe we hadn’t actually been told until this book, we lean that H is actually a spy–deep undercover–against Milo.  And he is willing to help Richard and friends.

But as they are about to leave, a caped creature blocks them  It turns out to be Duke Diamonds.

Duke Diamond was Richard’s partner –the reason that Richard has been in so much trouble and in exile.  We don’t learn details, but I gather that Duke was doing the drugs that are all over this book and perhaps Richard turned on him–maybe even killed him?  At any rate, Duke was supposed to be dead.  But there he is–fully enhanced and apparently indestructible.

The bad guys (and who knows just exactly who they are at this point) are searching for Marianne’s half of the map (Richard still has his other half).   In addition to Duke Diamonds there’s another guy who is attached to machines of some sort and has super powers–he seems to be able to freeze things.

This puts Tomie in grave danger because she is the only one at home when the thugs come looking for the map.  She holds her own pretty well (Tomie is so obscenely out of proportion–I wish she was drawn more realistically, but as with any absurdly large-chested heroine, she still manages to kick ass when needed).  But when things look bleak, she is saved by Cristo Canyon (who actually speaks).

There is always time for a flashback and we learn exactly what happened to make Richard leave Marianne (and that he had been planning to settle down there with her).

The end of the book is terribly exciting–everyone is in danger, there are bullets flying everywhere, there’s the enhanced bad guys.

And, in a fairly shocking reveal, one well-known character dies and another one also appears to die.  I’m not sure exactly if that will happen since it is played a s cliffhanger of sorts.  But suffice it to say that all of our heroes (and heroines) are in grave danger.

The book ends back in the Valley of Kings with his Majesty seeing a vision of the whole valley in flames.  He makes a proclamation to the whole village that Richard Aldana is their enemy and he must be found–they must go to the highest peaks and the lowest depths to get him.

And then the King announces that he has reinstated the Royal Guardians (to much gasping).  He explains that the schools where everyone trains to fight in the competition were originally designed to create warriors to become Royal Guardians.

The man behind all of this is Lord Cudna (who I don’t exactly remember from the early books, but I know he was a jerk).  He’s the last guy in the world you want to give power too–lets call him Trump.

The final scene in the book show Elorna eating with her father.  He tells her that he is going to open up his old school again.  She will train with him and he will be twice as demanding of her.

I never would have guessed that this story which began with a kind of supernatural boxing match would have traveled so far–to a major city with drugs and a kind of mafia and would now end with a coup in the peaceful village.

These books are certainly long enough that it could end with volume 6, but I almost can’t imagine it–and I’m not sure if I’m, ready for it to end yet.