Rai
As a debut novella this is a good start to a larger world that did intrigue me to want to learn more about it. You can tell it's a debut and a self-published one (take that how you will). Greene's prose does feel like it lacks some of the maturity you find in a more established author - at times feeling a bit more like a script, describing how an actor should move in a scene - but I expect this will develop as he hones his writing over time. I caught one typo in the text overall but I'm more than happy to allow for that in self-published work. Overall I liked it and look forward to seeing the story evolve as Daniel evolves as a writer.
I'm not crying, you're crying.
This is an episodic comic/graphical novel hosted on Tapas. It has 31 story episodes and 27 of which you need to ‘unlock' with ‘ink' for 333 a single episode. You can earn ink for free by filling out surveys (which will take you forever) or buy ink via the app, so it'll be around a tenner to get all the episodes unlocked, which is a fair price. I'm not sure if there's a clever way to unlock them all at once as I'm not super familiar with Tapas and only joined specifically to read Magical Boy.
There are some episodes that really hit you in the feels, especially if you're queer or ever had difficulty being accepted (particularly by parents), and the episodes with the most distressing stuff have warnings at the start. That art is exceptional and while there were a couple of typos that's easily forgiven for such a great comic.
It is a really beautiful story and so inspiring; I hope there's one day a physical copy printed or just a follow up that details Max's life as he gets older.
Merged review:
I'm not crying, you're crying.
This is an episodic comic/graphical novel hosted on Tapas. It has 31 story episodes and 27 of which you need to ‘unlock' with ‘ink' for 333 a single episode. You can earn ink for free by filling out surveys (which will take you forever) or buy ink via the app, so it'll be around a tenner to get all the episodes unlocked, which is a fair price. I'm not sure if there's a clever way to unlock them all at once as I'm not super familiar with Tapas and only joined specifically to read Magical Boy.
There are some episodes that really hit you in the feels, especially if you're queer or ever had difficulty being accepted (particularly by parents), and the episodes with the most distressing stuff have warnings at the start. That art is exceptional and while there were a couple of typos that's easily forgiven for such a great comic.
It is a really beautiful story and so inspiring; I hope there's one day a physical copy printed or just a follow up that details Max's life as he gets older.
What use is winning if we lose everything in the process, even ourselves? This is the question that runs central to Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar. We see a war brought to the doors of Sirm; one that has been hundreds of years in the making led by a man, Micah, who is driven as much by vengeance as faith. On the other side, we have Kevah, a retired Janissary famed for his daring victory over a deadly mage ten years prior to the events in Gunmetal Gods. Both Kevah and Micah have lost loved ones, both have suffered and among all the parallels between them it is hard at the start of the book to know who to root for.
To read my full review, please head over to Black Dragon Books: https://www.blackdragonbooks.co.uk/review-gunmetal-gods/
While a little more complex than the blurb makes out, this still feels like a bit of a generic thriller and the framing it as a movie inside a book didn't particularly add much. One of those thrillers where at the start I think “I bet it's so-and-so...” and no matter what twists and turns the author uses to throw me off, it was, in the end, exactly as I predicted. The killer's motives once revealed were quite flat; a Criminal Minds' ‘unsub' would have more depth from a 40 minute episode. The additional dimension of the MC's hallucinations don't really do much besides trying to distract you from the otherwise totally predictable killer's identity.
The Coward takes a look behind the heroes in their tales and sagas to reveal who the real people behind the songs and daring deeds are. Written primarily from the point of view of main character, Kell Kressia, The Coward sees a damaged man thrust back into the world of heroism he had been hiding from for the last ten years. Once, he desperately wanted to be a hero and tagged along on a quest with eleven (11) men to defeat an Ice Lich in the Frozen North that threatened the Five Kingdoms with failing crops, famine and death. Only Kell returned and he is not keen to repeat the ordeal. Now, the weather has turned sour again, crops are failing and the King has summoned Kell to save the world once more.
Kell takes us on his second epic quest as he relives some of the horrors he faced as a teenager. Along the way, he is joined by a rag-tag group of misfits each with their own reasons for following him into the grim Frozen North. What they experience and what they find out in the icy wasteland surprises even the cynical Kell. Meanwhile, the head of the church of the Shepherd, Reverend Mother Britak, is manipulating events in the Five Kingdoms to bring about a holy war to bring all in line under her one true god.
Through Kell's story, Stephen Aryan examines feelings of fear, courage and obligation, as well as the physical and mental toll heroism takes on the individual. Kell describes symptoms much akin to PTSS and it is a refreshing - albeit dark - take on epic fantasy giving it a touch of realism. We explore the tragedies of death, loss and the grief that goes with it but also friendship, belonging and love. The Coward packs a lot into its pages.
If this sounds heavy, fret not, as the prose is accessible and short chapters will have you sailing through it in no time. This could easily be read as a standalone if you're worried about waiting for book two (The Warrior) but there's still enough there to set the stage for a sequel. My only real criticism is that, for a traditionally published book, there were quite a few editing/proofreading misses and mistakes. The overall experience made up for it but nevertheless it did lose some points in my mind over this (I was reading the paperback version, these issues may have been rectified in digital copies or later printings).
Black Tide brings together a “human car wreck” and a depressed movie producer at the end of the world to save each other from themselves and some new inhabitants to Earth. This is a small-scale, focussed sci-fi horror that plays out primarily on a distant beach in the Pacific Northwest as our two misfits get trapped by lost keys and terrible maws full of razorblade teeth.
In some ways, Black Tide gives off 80's action vibes (think Alien, or Predator), and it's quite self aware - no sooner had the comparison with Alien popped into my head than one of our main characters name dropped Ellen Ripley. The book nods to the movie world in a few other places, which should be expected with a producer among our very small cast and feels like Jones writing what he knows for his first novel (he graduated with a degree in Film Production, afterall). As such it makes Black Tide feel cinematic and something I could certainly imagine getting optioned for a feature film.
My one tip to new readers would be not to be put off by the prologue; I found it a little bit navel-gazey and relied a lot on telling rather than showing. After the slightly painful meeting of our two MCs in the first couple of chapters, things pick up exponentially.
This isn't exactly your typical alien invasion story and it shines for it, adding a bit of cleverness into the mix that you don't always see in horror. There's plenty of tight, tense scenes; uneasy moments, and; injuries a-plenty, all mixed up with human resilience, fortitude and badassery.
When We Cease to Understand the World features an exploration of major scientific advances in the 20th century alongside the idea that genius is often beset by madness. It is important to note, however, that there are increasing fictionalised elements as the book goes on and it becomes hard to determine what is truth and what is fiction. I was unsure how to rate this book because of this. On the one hand, I enjoyed the scientific content whereas on the other hand I would've appreciated more a genuine account of genius vs madness, to see what the real correlation is (if, indeed, there is one).
In order to separate facts from fiction, the onus is placed on the reader to go and do further research to determine what is true and I have two issues with this:
1) I don't read a book in order to be left with the prospect of extensive research to unravel it, and;
2) There is a risk others will not read the Author's Note (noticeably at the end of the book) to see that parts have been fictionalised and continue believing everything within it's pages as truth and fact. In an age of ‘Post-Truth' this is a bit of a risk to take and I felt like the scientific discoveries detailed are diminished because of this.
Otherwise, the book is well written and interesting. It's not too heavy to read and seems to have been translated well.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes exquisite prose and weaves amazing stories and worlds, seemingly, effortlessly. When Noemí arrives at High Place to find her cousin Catalina taken ill, after receiving such an alarming letter from her some weeks before, she is immediately suspicious - as are we, the readers. What follows is an expert lesson in the Gothic full of intrigue and suspense in a remote 1950's mould-ridden mansion in Mexico, inhabited by some very peculiar characters in the Doyle family. A family obsessed with England and holding on to some very racist and misogynist ideals in an overly strict household that ‘no one leaves'.
Without giving too much away, Mexican Gothic will have you guessing from the start as to what is really going on at High Place. Where Noemí's nightmares may take you one way, her conversations with the various Doyles will take you another, and all the while we wonder what is really behind Catalina's sickness? This is a great book from a brilliant writer and a must-read for any Gothic Horror fans. For me, the Gothic genre is not quite my thing, which is why I've given it 4 stars instead of 5.
With lovely art style and a story told with compassion, Invisible Differences is about a woman in her late 20's being diagnosed with Asperger's in a country that doesn't give it much credence where misinformation is rife. While Marguerite's story is centred around autism, this is a story that anyone with a form of neuro-divergence can recognise themselves in and find a bit of comfort in seeing Marguerite triumph.
It is also wonderful as an educational tool to explain what living with ASD (or generally being neuro-atypical, or having a chronic condition) is like in a way that isn't condescending or light-footed. It's perfect to evoke an empathy and understanding in others who may not have first hand experience of conditions like this. To those of us who have, Dachez leaves us a heartwarming note at the beginning of the book to remind us we shouldn't hold ourselves to the standards of others and to live our lives without fear. Something we could all do with being reminded of now and then.
I see a lot of myself in Marguerite: sensitive to noise, drained by social interactions and the spoon theory as well as some of the negative interactions she goes through before officially receiving her diagnosis. The uplifting outcome is all the better for knowing this is a true story of the author and her artist friend.
This has been a translation from a French original and I didn't detect any jilted phrases along the way so excellent in every respect.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for offering an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) in exchange for honest reviews.
You can also read this review on my external blog, Aspects of Me: https://aspectsof.me/2020/05/15/read-invisible-differences/
If you've watched Kindred Spirits, some of the stories Amy recounts as examples in each chapter may be quite familiar! This is an interesting memoir of a paranormal investigator who was at the forefront of the resurgent wave in the early 00's when TV shows hunting ghosts saw a huge boom. She talks about her paranormal experiences as a child growing up in a haunted house and her amateur/hobby investigations before joining up with the team that'd later land her in front of the camera. Amy speaks about the change in her investigation style to try and focus more on helping spirits and the humans they share spaces with - resulting in the Kindred Spirits show. There are plenty of spooky encounters she speaks about and quotes some of her colleagues and other paranormal experts throughout. While probably not appealing to hard sceptics; this memoir will likely still be interesting to some softer sceptics, those who are on-the-fence and believers in the paranormal.
This little book has a lot to offer. Nine short stories all with a shade of the Gothic or the macabre about them as they explore different comings, goings and phases in women's lives. All are well-written, clever and engaging. These are stories that can make you ache with feeling.
There are romantic relationships - queer and straight - that are fraught with difficulties, pain and loss. There are sisterly relationships; both affirming and fractious. There is a hint of the monstrous in each story, which seems to make each one evermore human.
The missing star between 4 and 5 is simply because some of the stories didn't hit 5/5 for me, personally, and you should definitely read salt slow for yourself as they may resonate with you perfectly.
An exciting read in the first installment of a new book series, inspired by Norse mythology and history, from reknowned fantasy author John Gwynne.
This was my first John Gwynne (I know, I know, for shame!) and I was not disappointed, especially given the hype around him as an author among fantasy bookish types! I am usually one to avoid hyped books/authors for fear of being let down but I can attest that neither he, nor this book, did that.
The book is well-written and well-researched, which is a boon to any fantasy story. The characters feel real and the prose is easy to read. Yes there are some Nordic words in there but what you can't interpret from context only adds to the flavour.
The story is fairly fast paced but never feels rushed. There's action and violence that is well balanced and doesn't veer into goreporn (thankfully). Some of it is grim but it is never over-described to the point where you'll lose your lunch. Consequences are legit in this world and there are no lazy shortcuts in the story/writing.
Overall, a great book and I can't wait for the next installment to get some more of those ravens!
3.5 Stars
I had been expecting, from the blurb, for this to take place at Oomza University but it's mostly focused on Binti's journey to get there, which is eventful and historically important in this universe. Some of the elements felt a little convenient and deus ex machina-esque, which I can forgive as it's only a 96 page novella and going into great detail about the source and significance of some of those elements would take time.
The obvious racism Binti faces is something that we can see around us now, on our Earth, in our time, and for that I feel it's an important read to experience some of the micro-aggressions as Binti does.
It only took me a couple of hours to read and it is well worth the effort. I'll definitely continue the series as Nnedi Okorafor has managed to make Binti a character to invest in despite the short form of the story.
Brave New World was first published in 1932 by a man who was nominated for a Nobel Prize on nine separate occasions, so you can imagine that much of what can be said about Brave New World has already been said. It is used as set texts in school curricula and has had innumerable books, articles and research papers written about it. In context, this review is but a drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, I'll do my best to express my thoughts on this, one of the top three dystopian classics.
I am always wary around titles that have been deemed ‘classics' as history has taught me that I usually find them quite disappointing. There is an element of that here as my immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were to wonder if it were really a dystopian novel or just a philosophical thought-experiment from the 1930s. I found the treatment and portrayal of women in the book to be quite frustrating and very misogynistic. Huxley seems scared stiff of women and their potential for sexual liberation and so paints them in an damning light and punishes them terribly.
Huxley's misogyny has been criticised and acknowledged on a much wider scale, for example, Higdon wrote that it plagued much of Huxley's work pre-1931 and continues on to summarise exactly what I was feeling:
A careful consideration of Lenina's attitudes, decisions, and actions shows that the overlay of misogyny careened Huxley into contradicting his ideas, into failing to see that Lenina is more heroic in her resistance to the Fordian world than are the men his narrative praises, and into taking an unearned and mean-spirited revenge on Lenina. In brief, Lenina's resistance goes unnoticed in the novel because of the novel's misogyny. (Higdon, 2002)
...in an enlightening general discussion of misogyny in dystopias, Deanna Madden concludes that the men in Brave New World “have a spiritual dimension that the women lack ... mired in the physical, the women interfere with or prevent the men from achieving spiritually” and that “Huxley's misogyny has its obvious roots in a more general inability to accept the body.” (ibid.)
I fear I must be some sort of literary contrarian as despite this book's huge acclaim and following, I genuinely did not find it anything other than boring bluster. I can see and pick out all the ideas and techniques Salinger uses and I can also see why other people appreciate and revere those same techniques. To me, however, because I can see what he's trying to do it feels very obvious, that he's trying too hard, and at that point the book just becomes dull. There are many better “must reads” out there.
The Nothing Man offers something a bit different to the serial killer, cat-and-mouse thriller staple and two nights running I read up until midnight because I wanted to know what would happen. Initially, the book-in-a-book idea made me a little sceptical but I needn't have been. We have two narrators; the first, of our book, is Jim Doyle, who we already know is the serial killer in question; the second, of the book he's reading, is Eve Black, a woman who survived Jim's most brutal attack as a child. Neither are 100% trustworthy, which adds some nice extra layers of mystery. Catherine Ryan Howard has done well to make Jim a really odious figure and - despite him being our primary narrator - we really want him to get caught.
Added bonus is this is not a thriller set in America, like so many are; it's set in Ireland, in otherwise sleepy Co. Cork, and this gives the impact of the murders a little more punch because they truly stand out in the collective memories and because we know then that law enforcement was never prepared for such crimes.
Overall, this is a captivating read and well worth looking into for a bit of a different approach to storytelling in the thriller genre.
This was an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley & the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
3.5/5
I dropped it a half star in my mind because I guessed who the killer was in the first half.
We Are All the Same in the Dark is a mystery/thriller set in small town Texas where the stories of two missing girls ten years apart weave and wind together as local cops try to solve these cases.
The PoV switches quite dramatically midway through so we primarily see things through the eyes of two different women. This keeps the story fresh and sets it apart from some the usual police-hunt-badguys thriller staples out there.
Heaberlin builds up two solid, well built main characters who we can sympathise with and understand their motivations. Some of the supplementary characters are a little more obtuse but that's necessity of the mystery genre.
Overall it's a well-structured, -paced and -finished novel that delivers a good storyline with believable characters.
A very good mystery/thriller with some horror/supernatural elements weaved in. The book-within-a-book switching between present day and the past was engaging and added to the creepy atmosphere of the novel. Well-written with good character work and a thrilling conclusion.
This is floating somewhere between a 3 and a 3.5 for me so I'm hedging my bets with a 3.
I really enjoyed the folkloric elements of this story especially Vasya's interactions with the various spirits she encountered as well as her affinity with the horses as another part of the natural world. The conflict between Christianity and the old ways is a fraught one and I found myself getting frustrated with the characters championing ‘good Christians', which is testament to Arden's writing that I'm supposed to hate those characters and did! The same can be said of getting frustrated by the very patriarchal and sexist society (historically accurate, I'm sure) and many people constantly reminding Vasya's that it's “just a woman's lot” to get married and have babies or get hidden away in a convent. This really helps to push your sympathies towards Vasya as a character who doesn't seem to fit in.
The book overall felt a little more like an origin story you might read as an extra to an existing trilogy or series and I would've liked it to feel a little more like the start of a trilogy than it did. I can see where threads will be picked up in book 2 but this one feels like a completed story on its own; the threads that continue (based on reading book 2's blurb) are really quite negligible in this book that they're almost forgotten entirely. I was expecting Vasya and Morozko to meet properly a lot sooner than the 75% mark and while I can see why the set-up before this was useful it did make the final section of the book seem a bit quick or rushed.
I'm curious to see where Vasya goes next, yes, but I have a lot of other books I'll be prioritising above continuing this series.
A book with much more to it than the blurb suggests. Narrated by Tim from a much later point in his life as he looks back on his even-more-than-average tumultuous teenage years. Set in England in the 1970s, Tim gets caught up in an experiment to find a ghost at an aged country house in Suffolk with some explosive consequences.
The prose and pacing are both excellent from Maclean and here he has produced a great haunted house tale with a twist. Without giving too much more away, this is a great read and - as a debut - a definite indicator a talent I will be keeping an eye on!
Sarah Graley is, as always, on top form with Donut the Destroyer. The story of a young hero trying to break away from a family history of supervillainy, this book follows Donut through the first month of Hero school; making new friends, confronting old ones and trying to juggle a reputation that preceded them.
The book touches on themes around friendship, fitting in and being true to yourself no matter what with a hint towards there being a lot more to life than heroism and villainy. Not everything is quite so simple.
Great fun and great art; this is an excellent graphic novel and I look forward to reading (& seeing) more of Donut in the future! I only wish it had covered more time but I know there's constraints on the format when it comes to length.
This is a (really) short novella featuring Nick and Charlie from the Heartstopper series. This is 2 years into their relationship and Nick is finishes Sixth Form and will be off to uni after the summer and this is putting some pressure on the relationship. The boys have a fight and end up not speaking for a while, later making up and going back to being the sweet, cute couple we know and love. There's some artwork throughout the book but otherwise that's about it.
Unless you're specifically collection Oseman's books, I'm not sure it's worth buying as a paperback for such a short story, however good that story is.
I have not read any Paolini before, so I am not coming in with any nostalgia over Eragon. I umm-ed and ahh-ed about the star rating for this but in the spirit of trying to be a bit more generous with my ratings I'm plumping for 5 stars.
I read the ‘sneak peak' last year, which comprised of “Part One” of the total novel, and really enjoyed it. It took me a while to get back to finish it off as I am a mood reader and the intervening mood between TSIASOS's release and now has been overwhelmingly fantasy based. It took a while to get back into it given the almost-a-year gap between reading Part One and continuing from Part Two and I had forgotten a couple of things but nothing that made too much difference.
Looking through other reviews, this seems to have been a polarising book but I'm definitely in the positive camp. I was possibly a little more invested in the story/history of the xeno/alien that Kira first encounters as opposed to the, erhum, ‘space squid' as others have dubbed them. I would certainly read more around Kira in the future and the crew of the Wallfish who she encountered along the way.
No, it isn't perfect but no book really is. Some of the dialogue/language used was a little hammy but I can forgive it because of the enjoyment I had from the rest of the book. Yes, it is long. I think it was worth it. If you don't want to read 800+ pages though, don't, that's up to you.
This and my other reviews are on my site: Aspects of Me.I read the original trilogy shortly after publication and discovering there was to be a new instalment in the saga was a wonderful surprise. After 14 years, I certainly hadn't expected a new book in the series! That's also a reason I delayed reading it. ‘What if it spoilt the memory of the originals? What if my tastes have changed and I don't like it?' I was both excited and anxious to read The Arkhel Conundrum and in the end I needn't have been worried: it is every bit as excellent as the first three books.The rear cover has a quote comparing [a:Sarah Ash 127082 Sarah Ash https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1482140735p2/127082.jpg] to [a:Robert Jordan 6252 Robert Jordan https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1538507642p2/6252.jpg] and [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] and rightly so; she is an expert in weaving a tale of epic proportions with a wide cast, all of whom are well-written and fleshed out, without falling foul of overly complex plot threads. Yes, you will almost certainly need to read the Tears of Artamon in full in order to appreciate The Arkhel Conundrum as there are references back to events in the previous books that you might not understand without reading them. You could go in straight at book 4 and get by with what's in the book alone and still enjoy the new story-lines but I heartily recommend the trilogy as it is excellent.In this instalment we meet back up with Gavril and Kiukiu and start the story in earnest almost a year after the end of [b:Children of the Serpent Gate 372091 Children of the Serpent Gate (Tears of Artamon, #3) Sarah Ash https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389164715l/372091.SY75.jpg 362037] and after the birth of their daughter who, it turns out, was conceived before Gavril was freed of his dragon-demon Khezef. Little Larisa is a very special baby and once Elder Ones and Heavenly Guardians alike discover her existence, she becomes very popular indeed.Emperor Eugene, in the absence of his mentor and magus Kaspar Linnaius, launches a competition to construct a flying craft, which accidentally opens him up to new threats. We're also introduced to a handful of new characters, including Toran Arkhel and Gerard Bernay, who feel like we've known them long before this book, such is the strength of their characterisation. In the high/epic fantasy style there are different plots weaving together towards two climax points that are expertly done and I foresee those two story-lines coming together in a 5th book. PoV shifts between chapters so that we can feel and experience the world from different character perspectives where even seemingly minor characters are still key to the overall story.I feel I cannot proselytise about this series enough. I loved it when I first read it and still love it now. I look forward to the next book and won't be quite so anxious to keep going next time!
An interesting look into faith in the space-faring age of the future that includes the uncomfortable use of religion in empire building and a touch of queer representation with a budding WLW relationship.