Graphic Novel: The Homeland Directive, Robert Venditti & Mike Huddleston

The Homeland Directive
author Robert Venditti
artist Mike Huddleston
ISBN: 9781603090247
Multiple styles of illustration are all flawlessly executed in a spy-thriller story with serviceable fill-in-the-numbers characters.
Graphic Novel Club book for August

I really like Venditti's writing, and this single-arc story was great fun.  Paired with Huddleston's impresario showcase of art styles, it was a delight to read and to browse through afterwards.  The basic premise is pretty simple, and familiar to anyone who has ever watched a Jason Bourne or Mission Impossible movie: an insider from government complex has some nasty ideas, and a plucky gang of archtypes are gathered to oppose the insidious plan.

I really can't talk about the story without ruining it, and it really is a fun story to experience, so I'm limited to gushing about the artwork, and praising the effortless easy pacing and energy that kept everything to a snappy tempo all the way to the very last page.  

Check it out - it's well worth the time, and a nice little filmic stand-alone spy story.

Science Fiction: Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie

Ancillary Justice
Ann Leckie
ISBN: 9780316246620
First of Imperial Radch series, followed by Ancillary Sword, and (TBA) Ancillary Mercy
Read January 31, 2015.

I just don't even know where to start.  I've been putting it off because I've wanted to get to the sequel before I wrote this, but that's not working out so well (my brain is weird and life has been busy).

It's amazing.  The concepts are fantastic, the writing is superb, and the characters, especially our lead, are just phenomenal.  Read it and be inspired.  I'll come back later with an actual spoilery review (I really can't see any other way to do it) and more gushing, but this is really all I've got right now.  It was just so very very good to read and it's even more fun thinking about it these past few weeks - parsing through all the implications and possibilities of that world.