Puss Reboots: Blog: May 2010: Bad Matter

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Reviews:
Adventures in Cartooning by James Sturm
Amulet 1: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi
Aya of Yop City by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie
Bad Matter by Alexandra Duncan
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
Civil War on Sunday (Magic Tree House #21) by Mary Pope Osborne
A Country Mouse in the Town House by Henrietta
Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss
Dingoes at Dinnertime (Magic Tree House #20) by Mary Pope Osborne
Dragon of the Red Dawn (Magic Tree House #37) by Mary Pope Osborne
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion by Suzy Kline
Hurry Freedom by Jerry Stanley
I'm Not Going to Chase the Cat Today! by Jessica Harper
Inside Time by Tim Sullivan
Inside a Zoo in the City by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Katie Loves the Kittens by John Himmelman
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
The Last Surgeon by Michael Palmer
Lost Worlds: Adventures in the Tropical Rainforest by Bruce M. Beehler
Loudmouth George and the New Neighbors by Nancy Carlson
Mermaid by Robert Reed
Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks and Sue Hendra
Never Blood Enough by Joe Haldeman
The Nine Lives of Aristotle by Dick King Smith
The Order of Things by Barbara Ann Kipfer
Owly Volume 3: Flying Lessons by Andy Runton
Pigsty by Mark Teague
Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant

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Bad Matter: 05/25/10

Bad Matter by Alexandra Duncan is set in Mumbai but it involves space travel. Travel though is slow and dangerous, like the old days of sea faring. Languages and cultures develop on ships and linguists have made careers studying these ship born dialects.

One of these linguists is called to a ship recently landed, having received a letter about a "virus come upon" a girl named Ete. The linguist, the daughter of the late doctor the letter was meant for, goes to answer the call for help, unsure how much she can possibly help.

Much of this story's strength is in the language. The dialect of the crewe has a cadence similar to the old west dialect (or at least the way it's been rendered on film and tv). In this regard I'm reminded of Firefly.