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Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur / We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter

Full English title (it's too long for a post subject lol) is: We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State – How Biometric Control and Censorship Threaten Global Freedom and Privacy

German China correspondent Kai Strittmatter wrote this book after he retired, knowing he'd never be let back into China afterwards. He describes how China is developing widespread surveillance to help the ruling party stay in power. He describes the evolution of dictatorship in China, where it's heading, and what the consequences for the rest of the world might be.

The only non-fiction book on my list this year.

The book is based on a lot of interviews he conducted in China, with dissidents/artists/intellectuals as well as people involved in the implementation of surveillance. It reads like a very well researched book. It's not all that new - from 2020 - and it should be noted that it was written by a German, and thus does not specifically get into the developments in the US in that same area. I read the book in German.

I don't really have anything detailed to say about this book. Most of the historical developments were not news to me. I already found things terribly repressive when I was in China decades ago, and it has only gotten worse, and the book illustrates this very well. As for the newer developments, there were quite a few things that I didn't know before or not in that much detail. It's a depressing read, but for me it was worth it.

4 stars - Well researched, important book.



1 - 5 stars - Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture #1 [DW link]
2 - 2 stars - Miss Merkel: Mord auf dem Friedhof by David Safier Miss Merkel #2 [DW link]
3 - 4 stars - Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Toby Daye #10 [DW link]
4 - 1 star - Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin [DW link]
5 - 5 stars - Murderbot Diaries 1-4 by Martha Wells [DW link]
6 - 4 stars - Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur/We Have Been Harmonized by Kai Strittmatter [DW link]

The theme of fandom10in30's current round "Ice Ice Baby" is winter, snow, and ice, so I went with Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, and then when I ran out of properly snowy caps, filled it up with Frozen and North of North. Enjoy!



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Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells
Murderbot Diaries #1-#4

SecUnit, a human-machine hybrid, is owned by an evil megacorporation, but it has hacked its own system so it can now do what it wants. It's mostly bored by its job and the boring humans it has to protect, so spends most of its time watching tv shows instead. Over time, it grows emotionally, and gets attached to its favorite clients, despite itself.

Murderbot has always been a wonderful first-person narrator. Very unreliable, my favorite, very snarky, also my favorite, and addicted to tv shows, very relatable. :D

I had read the first novella years ago and then never continued because I found them too expensive. But now that there's a tv adaptation, I wanted to reread, and so I borrowed the first four from a friend and read them all in one go.

thoughts - not very spoilery, I think? Y'all have read them all already anyway, right?

* Man how I love murderbot. I already did the first time I read the first novella, and the three other ones have only deepened that impression. Although of course it's not the easiest to live with. Or like Arada (or was it Pin-Lee? I keep confusing those two) says in book 4: "I'd forgotten what an asshole you are." :D

* When I read the first book, I always thought of murderbot as female - for no other reason than that it's a fan of tv shows, like me (and everyone else I know). Androgynous/non-binary would have been better. The tv adaptation now looks very male. I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle.

* Mensah is just such a sweet character (maybe a bit too ideal, but oh well). No wonder murderbot imprinted on her so much. <3

* I liked all the progressions from "I hacked the weapons scans" to "now I have experience in hacking surveillance and scans and I can do several of them at once" and "I couldn't have gotten through this security check a while ago".

* I love how a lot of the characters are women, and sometimes not specifically mentioned. The two security guards in book 3 for example, which I'd originally pegged as male, but it's revealed late in the book that they're both female.

* I loved ART. Awesome smart, nerdy, and arrogant character, which I would love to meet again (and so would murderbot, I think, even if it claims otherwise).

* To me, the physical changes that ART makes to murderbot (to make it blend in and not look so much like a secunit) sounded like it changed its hairstyle to something more female-looking. It's never actually stated outright, but I liked the idea.

* Through all the novellas, murderbot's voice stays funny and snarky, but small changes are noticeable and I love how it grows, not only in technical skill but also emotionally. It still needs to be dragged into saving its people sometimes, but somehow it does it of its own accord, and I love both.

5 stars - Wonderful unreliable narration, great worldbuilding, neuro-atypical characters galore



1 - 5 stars - Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Final Architecture #1 [DW link]
2 - 2 stars - Miss Merkel: Mord auf dem Friedhof by David Safier Miss Merkel #2 [DW link]
3 - 4 stars - Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Toby Daye #10 [DW link]
4 - 1 star - Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin [DW link]
5 - 5 stars - Murderbot Diaries 1-4 by Martha Wells [DW link]

Continuing the low-brain streak, here's what I watched in November:

TV finished

I finished my side distraction: the 24-ep shorty Starlit Bloom on viki. While most of it was okay, the ending was much worse than I'd expected, omg. The last third devolved into some crude psycho villain revenge plot and the ending was just missing completely. I haven't seen such a bad ending in a long time.

TV new (ongoing)

A friend recced The Mandate to me, a Thai BL set in the world of politics. I loved the first episode, it was well done. I really liked that it was basically impossible to tell that there's going to be a romance - the setup was thorough and fanservice-free. I was a bit disappointed by episode 2, because I couldn't quite follow the lead's change of heart. Apart from that, it was pretty good, too, and I think I'll continue it (although I haven't touched it in weeks, so... who knows). There are only 8 episodes total, and most fans seem to agree that the last two suck. I also don't know where to watch it legally.

I started Love at Night on viki, because I wanted to see if Liu Xueyi (the ML in A Moment But Forever) is any good at modern drama, but the drama itself is... mediocre. He's... also mediocre so far? Zhang Yuxi is his FL, and I really like her acting. His is... well. His mannerisms are pretty natural? I liked that about him in AMBF as well, but I'm not sure it's enough. But the story OMG the story is so bad. I was delighted to see an actress (Zhao Yuanyuan) from When A Snail Falls in Love as the 2FL, and in true cdrama fashion she looks not a day older than she did in 2016. I am still watching this (now on ep 14 of 30) and still finding it preposterous. But my brain is gone (I blame work), so silly things are all I can watch right now. Oh, and I learned that Liu Xueyi played Xiao Hua in TLT2 (which I haven't seen).

Aaaand I just finished the first ep of Heated Rivalry, the hockey rpf romance and really like it so far. (It's on HBO Max.) Interesting characters, good acting, quite a lot of sex scenes. I hope I can manage to stick with it, considering the no brain situation - and the fact that I'll have to wait a week for each episode. (Although I usually really like that, so it should be fine, and there are only 6 eps total.) I might read the book, too.

TV continued

I am going slowly, very slowly, through The Long Ballad, and the romance there has gotten a fine bolstering. Nothing physical or intimate, but an actual confession of feelings and lots of smiles between the leads. I'll take it! Some of the conflicts sound like they should not be resolvable, but somehow they always turn them around before bridges are burned. The covid analogies were very O_O, and while the ML had nothing much to do while the FL went off to solve yet another crisis, I still enjoyed it. There were hugs and smiles! Then came ep 40 (of 49), and I really really loved it. Okay, I ranted very much at the screen for them not giving us a kiss (when they had no problems letting the fricking 3rd couple kiss in close-up and slomo, ugh). I suspect Wu Lei's contract was to blame, nothing else makes sense. There haven't been any scenes at all of the second couple in a while, they'll probably hog some of the remaining ep screentime. I'll find out soon, but I'm going through it extremely slowly now because I don't want it to end. Still my absolute fave show right now.

I also stalled on A Moment But Forever with five eps left (of 36). It was kind of meandering along for a few eps there, I doubted whether they'd ever get together, but the main couple were sweet enough for me to keep enjoying it. I also still enjoy the silly xianxia magic, and the steampunk craftsmanship. They even had a surprise baby acquisition, lol, but he grew up fast, phew for fantasy worlds! It then got a bit tense when the ML and FL realized they're not playing with open cards and may in fact be on opposite sides, but then they resolved their problems (or did they?) and the romance materialized! Is that good or bad? Will they ruin it in the remaining five episodes? I'll find out!

TV (dropped)

I started Love's Ambition, mostly despite myself. It's also a relatively tense modern romance drama starring William Chen and Zhao Lusi - her last one to date. Who knows if she'll make any more dramas. The first episode sets her up as something of a con artist, faking her way into a marriage with the man of her dreams. I'm thinking what could save it would be if he'll turn out to be just as fake as she is, but it's way too early to tell. I only watched two eps and then stopped, because it wasn't gripping me. I don't think I want to invest my time into 30+ eps (unless I develop a Zhao Lusi craving).

Book

I know books don't really belong here, but I'm only reading this because of Wu Lei, so I'll just put it here anyway:

In another attempt to do *anything* Wu Lei-related, I am trying to read Jian Lai, variously translated as Unsheathed, Sword of Coming, and The One. Wu Lei just started filming the cdrama adaptation: shooting will take five months, and the drama likely won't be released until 2027. The novel is very wuxia cultivation-heavy, a paragon of the genre, and very much not my thing. :D What am I doing? /o\ I made it up to chapter 50 so far, and am trying to at least finish the first book (84 chapters), which just barely sets up the story of 1500 chapters and counting. You can read a (good!) English translation here: https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/unsheathed/



Things I looked at but did not really pick up (yet) :

Maxton Hall season 2 came out in November, but I'm a bit hesitant because the lead actor said that it was pretty dark and he had a hard time filming it. I actually made it about ten minutes in before it got too tense for my current state. Maybe later.