I have one more Rivers of London Novella (and the new novel, Stone & Sky) before I’m caught back up. Time to talk about the novella, The Masquerades of Spring.
Read moreBook Review: The Masquerades of Spring
Book Review: Heavenly Tyrant
Iron Widow’s finale left me looking forward to where this story was going to go in the sequel. I’ve finished reading Heavenly Tyrant, the sequel. Before I get into the weeds, I’ll just say I was not disappointed. However, I am going to have to include some spoilers from Iron Widow.
Read moreBook Review: Fight. Magic. Items
It’s important to say from the jump what Fight. Magic. Items is not. It’s not The JRPG Book. It’s not trying to be a comprehensive overview of the history of JRPGs. It’s not even really a general overview of the global history of the JRPG. Instead, it provides a sort of overview of the evolution of the genre, with a general focus on three companies – Square, Enix, and Sega – and a particular focus on the Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Phantasy Star series, as viewed through the author’s experiences with the genre.
Read moreBook Review: The Ministry Of Time
The Ministry Of Time, by Kaliane Bradley is, of the recent Sword & Laser picks, the most recent one I’ve finished as of this writing. It was an interesting read, but tonally it’s all over the place.
Read moreBook Review: The Ghibliotheque Guide to Anime
It’s been a while since I read a nonfiction book about anime. A couple of years ago, I read Anime: A History by Johnathan Clements and found it enjoyable (though admittedly, I never got around to doing a prose review here—just a video review). Well, I’ve ended up coming across another overview book on Anime—this time from the hosts of the Ghibliotheque podcast, appropriately titled The Ghibliotheque Guide to Anime, so I figured it was worth a read.
Read moreBook Review: Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground
If you know anything about me at all, I have a passion for the history of tabletop roleplaying. One of the books that helped stoke my interest was the book Heroic Worlds, which I read when I was in middle school. That book was a high level overview of the roleplaying game books that were on the market at the time – like the tabletop RPG equivalent of all those Leonard Maltin books giving an overview, one-to-two sentence of a film’s plot, and a one-to-two sentence review combined with a score. Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground provides a more close in view, covering a selection of RPG books from each decade of RPG history to date, with more involved looks at the various games.
Read moreBook Review: The Spear Cuts Through Water
Time to get a review of another Sword & Laser Book Club pick – this time an epic fantasy novel with a very distinct storytelling style.
Book (Video) Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
This week I’ve got a book review of one of the more recent Sword and Laser Book Club picks.
Book Review: Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett puts a bit of weirdness into the urban fantasy genre. It’s not urban – not even close – it’s a very pastoral story. It’s not contemporary, being set in the 1800s. However, it’s definitely not heroic fantasy or horror, and certainly fits more into some elements of urban fantasy than it does to the other subgenres I’m familiar with. It’s also very enjoyable.
Read moreBook Review: Sword of Kaigen
It’s time for another book review – as I take a look at one of the titles that was a recent Sword & Laser Book Club pick.
Book Review: Iron Widow
When Iron Widow came up on the list of the list of rejected Hugo Award nominees in the controversy over the Chengdu Worldcon, I figured that I should bump the book further up my reading list (it was already there, it was just further in). Then it became a Sword & Laser book club pick, and I made sure to get ahold of a copy from the library – and I was not disappointed by this book at all, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the sequel.
Read moreBook (Vlog) Review: System Collapse
I’ve fallen a little behind on my next Nintendo Power Retrospectives episode, so let’s talk about the new Murderbot novel!
Book Review: What Abigail Did That Summer
The second of the Rivers of London novellas I’m reviewing at the moment is one from significantly earlier than Winter’s Gift, and set at basically the opposite time of the year. What Abigail Did That Summer goes back in the timeline to Foxglove Summer, and checks in with what was going on in London, with Peter’s cousin Abigail getting to know the Foxes, and going on some adventures of her own.
Read moreBook Review: Winter’s Gifts
While I’m caught up on the Rivers of London novels, I’ve fallen behind on a couple of the novellas – at the end of 2023, I decided to get caught up on those novellas. The first I decided to get caught up on was Winter’s Gifts. The novel focuses on Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds (first appearing in Whispers Underground), and introduces the demimonde of the United States to the series, the same way that The October Man introduced the demimonde of Germany.
Read moreBook Review: System Collapse
This year had a new full Murderbot novel, System Collapse, which I was eagerly looking forward to the whole year? How eager was I – I pre-ordered the audiobook and spent Kumoricon listening to it when I was going back & forth from the con (instead of listening to anime podcasts like I normally do). So, how well did it meet my expectations? Fantastically.
Read moreBook Review: Low Action
So, I’ve moved on to the next of the Vinyl Detective novels after Flip Back with Low Action, which once again has kept with the trend started with that book of moving between music scenes, after exhausting types of records (more or less – the Detective hasn’t gone after a Picture Disk yet). This time covering the ’70s Punk scene.
Read moreBook Review: The Mimicking of Known Successes
If you asked me to describe The Mimicking of Known Successes by genre, I’d say it’s a queer science fiction cozy mystery that isn’t quite solarpunk, but I’d almost describe it as solarpunk-adjacent. It’s also a nice, brisk read that doesn’t break 200 pages, so if you’re also looking for a mystery that fits those criteria that you’d like to read when heading out for Thanksgiving (or other upcoming holidays), it’s a good book to pick up.
Read moreBook (Video) Review: Fourth Wing
This week I start getting a little caught up with some of the books I’ve read for the Sword & Laser Book Club, with a look at one of the best-selling fantasy novels of 2023 – Fourth Wing.
Book Review: The Library at Mount Char
The Library at Mount Char was October’s pick for the Sword & Laser book club, as a “Sword” pick (meaning fantasy) and something meant to be mildly horror adjacent (as co-host Veronica Belmont doesn’t handle horror well – which is fine). The book itself is some okay splatter horror with a side of urban fantasy, but it didn’t quite land for me.
Read moreBook Review: Ninth House
Time to finally get caught up with the Sword & Laser picks with Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo, the August pick.
As a content warning – in addition to this book discussing a murder, it also includes a discussion of sexual assault, including a character who is raped while drugged.
Read moreBook (Video) Review: Children of Time
I’m continuing to get caught up with the Sword & Laser podcast books, with Children of Time.
Read moreBook (Video) Review: Under Fortunate Stars
I continue to get caught up with my Sword & Laser picks with Under Fortunate Stars.
Read moreBook (Video) Review: Legends & Lattes
I give my thoughts on a nice cozy little fantasy novel feels like it’s being held back from being as cozy as it wants to be.
Read moreBook Review: The JRPG Book
A while back I reviewed The CRPG Book, a book from Bitmap Books covering the history of Computer RPGs through various eras of titles in the medium, with write-ups from various authors. The book has since received a follow-up, The JRPG Book, written by Kurt Kalata with contributions by other authors. I’ve finished reading that, so it’s time to give my thoughts on the book.
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