Review – The Sad Ghost Club, vol 1

Posted November 7, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Sad Ghost Club, vol 1

The Sad Ghost Club

by Lize Meddings

Genres: Graphic Novels
Pages: 248
Series: The Sad Ghost Club #1
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Ever felt anxious or alone? Like you don't belong anywhere? Like you're almost... invisible? Find your kindred spirits at The Sad Ghost Club.

(You are not alone. Shhh. Pass it on.)

This is the story of one of those days - a day so bad you can barely get out of bed, when it's a struggle to leave the house, and when you do, you wish you hadn't. But even the worst of days can surprise you. When one sad ghost, alone at a crowded party, spies another sad ghost across the room, they decide to leave together. What happens next changes everything.

Because that night they start the The Sad Ghost Club - a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don't belong.

The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings is a pretty short graphic novel (took me 15 minutes to read, despite the page count) which features two lonely, awkward teenagers befriending one another after a day of agonising whether they wanted to attend a party, and an awkward evening of not really speaking to anyone at the party. The concerns and anxieties are really familiar from my own teenage years — I was definitely a sad ghost.

I don’t know what it’d have meant to me as a teenager, but as an adult it felt a little overly simplistic, and Socks’ explanation of their difficulties with depression (and the way they urge SG to seek help) felt… cookie-cutter, and laid on with a trowel. Also, it’s really hard to follow which of them is which other than by dialogue. I’m not very visual, so perhaps there are clues I couldn’t pick up, but Socks and SG look pretty identical to me.

It’s probably great for the right audience, but I wasn’t it. Always glad to try new things, though!

Rating: 2/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted November 6, 2024 by Nicky in General / 2 Comments

Wednesday, huh? Let’s have a spot of normality ’round here, even if my schedule’s still a mess.

Cover of The Secret Life of the Owl by John Lewis-StempelWhat have you recently finished reading?

John Lewis-Stempel’s The Secret Life of the Owl, which is basically a miscellany with all the facts he could think of or find out about owls in the UK. It’s short, but it was nice, and I did learn a couple of things, like the fact that owls have asymmetrical ears.

I did also read a volume of R.S. Thomas’ poetry, and wasn’t overwhelmed. I once read and enjoyed a biography of him, Byron Rogers’ The Man Who Went into the West, and that left me feeling pretty… fond, I guess? But the poetry wasn’t for me.

Cover of Agatha Christie, by Lucy WorsleyWhat are you currently reading?

I’m not feeling very inspired by anything I have on the go right now, unfortunately. Pretty tired and meh. I’ve made no progress on The Roads to Rome by Catherine Fletcher, after finding it hard going last week. I should pick that up again soon and give it a couple more chapters to see if I want to finish it.

I’m more or less enjoying Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie, but I don’t really seem to be in the mood to read, so I’ve tried not to force myself.

Speaking of Agatha Christie: on Serial Reader, I’m most of the way through The Secret of Chimneys. I think I see how things are going to shake out… but I’m quite prepared to be surprised, or at least wrong about some aspects. We’ll see!

Cover of The Other Olympians by Michael WatersWhat will you read next?

I’m eyeing up The Other Olympians, by Michael Waters, which I’ve had out of the library a couple weeks and not started yet.

Honestly… I’m rather hoping that writing about it will annoy any covert transphobes into going away and never reading my blog again.

How about you?

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Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 7

Posted November 5, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 7

Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 404
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #7
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

LIFETIMES OF CRUELTY, CENTURIES OF DEVOTION

The Kiln is open, and White No-Face is back to his full power. The past eight hundred years have not blunted his hatred nor his obsession with Xie Lian — he aims to break Xie Lian down to nothing, even if all of humanity and the heavens themselves are collateral damage.

This time, however, Xie Lian will not face him alone. Together with Hua Cheng — powerful ghost king, stalwart protector, and devoted love — can Xie Lian finally reveal the face behind the mask and put an end to the nightmare forever?

It was perhaps a mistake to dash on and read book eight of Heaven Official’s Blessing before I wrote a review for book seven, but here we are, so I’ll do my best! And to be honest, I would recommend reading them that way too. Book seven is back in the “present” (after the flashback in book six), and it’s hurtling rapidly toward a final confrontation which takes up the first half of book eight (the latter half is extras). You won’t want to stop at the end of book seven, especially not given where it ends.

Book seven sees Xie Lian break out of the Kiln, reunite with Hua Cheng, return to the heavenly court, discover the big bad, play hide and seek with his captor around the heavenly court, and then essentially re-enact some Gundam series or other in an epic battle that takes him into Black Water’s domain. It’s full of action, and the end of the book isn’t really a natural break — it’s a cliffhanger moment, and it makes some sense to end a volume there, but as a reader it’s super annoying (and in terms of actual plot, there’s only half a book left).

This volume also sees Hua Cheng and Xie Lian comfortable in their feelings for each other (if not, in Xie Lian’s case, always happy with public displays of affection, or other people knowing about their relationship). More than ever, Hua Cheng’s total devotion is on show — and so is the answering strength his support wakens in Xie Lian. It’s lovely to read.

The story that’s been building over the previous six volumes is so satisfying at this point, with so many threads (which didn’t always tie together yet) coming together. I keep wondering when I’ll rate any given volume five stars, and it’s difficult to say: no volume alone makes me think “it’s perfect”; it’s the whole that gives me that feeling.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Hunter

Posted November 4, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Hunter

The Hunter

by Richard Stark

Genres: Crime
Pages: 208
Series: Parker #1
Rating: one-star
Synopsis:

Double-crossed, shot, and left for dead — by his wife. The thriller that introduces Parker.

“The funnies call it the syndicate. The goons and hustlers call it the Outfit. You call it the Organization. But I don’t care if you call yourselves the Red Cross, you owe me forty-five thousand dollars and you’ll pay me back whether you like it or not.”

Richard Stark’s The Hunter is the first of a whole series of books about Parker, an awful excuse for a human whose desire for revenge drives this noir classic. Not that there’s a single redeeming male character in the whole thing, given they’re all criminals and cowards — and the narrative simply doesn’t have room for a female perspective, showing everything through Parker or Mal’s perspectives, which is a pretty grubby and brutal place to be. The whole thing is a glorification of violence, particularly against women.

Which is, to be clear, pretty much exactly what I expected. I was curious about this one more because I’m always curious about various aspects of the crime/mystery genre; it shares some DNA with Raymond Chandler’s work, but the writing isn’t nearly as good, and Parker is nothing like Chandler’s “shop-worn Galahad” (though a lot of the misogyny — and racism and homophobia — is the same even so).

Overall, of course, not my thing. It was a quick read, or I wouldn’t have wanted to stay with it any longer, and I won’t be reading more. Curiosity satisfied.

Rating: 1/5

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Review – Haunt Sweet Home

Posted November 3, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

Review – Haunt Sweet Home

Haunt Sweet Home

by Sarah Pinsker

Genres: Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 163
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.

“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along—is herself.

Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sarah Pinsker’s Haunt Sweet Home takes a while to unfold and show you the SF/F side: at first it feels like a coming of age story, albeit one which occurs on the set of a show that tries to renovate people’s houses while convincing them that they’re haunted. The main character, Mara, hasn’t yet managed to achieve anything she set out to do, and her family view her as a bit of a loser — but her cousin manages to give her a spot in the show, and an opportunity to prove herself.

The rest develops a bit more slowly, but give it time; I found it pretty satisfying, and at novella length, it doesn’t take that long to reveal the real haunting. Meanwhile, Mara’s well written; I feel like a lot of us know her type, and instantly find her familiar.

There are some lovely descriptions of Mara’s grandmother’s carving, and the process of creativity around woodworking, etc, too, which will stick with me.

I did find one particular thing a little obvious, but it was still fun to stick around and watch it properly unfold.

Rating: 4/5

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted November 2, 2024 by Nicky in General / 34 Comments

Good morning folks! It’s been a busy week around here, which has meant very little time for reading — even when I was lazing around in the hotel room, since we had difficulty getting the WiFi password and finding out which of the three bins was meant for what. Lovely venue, badly executed amenities…

Anyway, the trip also means I haven’t been to the library this week, so all-in-all it’s a pretty low-key post. That said, I do have a few things to share!

Books acquired this week

Though I haven’t been to the library, I did get myself a book in order to top up an order for same-day delivery for something I needed for the trip, and I also got an e-ARC via Netgalley, so here they are!

Cover of The Virtues of Underwear by Nina Edwards Cover of The Incandescent by Emily Tesh

Two very different vibes there, I know! I’m quite curious about The Virtues of Underwear, though it was a bit of an impulse-buy… and I’ve loved Emily Tesh’s novellas, so I’m excited for this novel.

Posts from this week

I’m getting enough of a backlog of reviews that I posted some even on days I had another type of post going up, so it’s a bumper crop this week!

Other posts:

What I’m reading

First of all, let’s start with the usual: what books have I finished in the last week and plan to review here soon? Let’s see…

Cover of Saints by Amy Jeffs Cover of Rope's End, Rogue's End by E.C.R. Lorac Cover of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings, by Natalie Lawrence

As you see, not as much reading as usual, but nonetheless, there we go! And for this weekend… I’m really not sure. I want to read some more manga, which I don’t usually review here, but I’m also knee-deep in Lucy Worsley’s biography of Agatha Christie, and The Book-Makers by Adam Smyth is due back at the library on Monday, so there’s plenty to be getting on with!

Linking up with Reading Reality’s Stacking the Shelves, Caffeinated Reviewer’s The Sunday Post, and the Sunday Salon over at Readerbuzz, as usual!

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Review – The Real Valkyrie

Posted November 1, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Real Valkyrie

The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women

by Nancy Marie Brown

Genres: Historical Fiction, History, Non-fiction
Pages: 336
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden, was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history and literature to reinvent her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown links the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines Hervor’s adventures intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as the Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, the sagas, poetry and myth carry weapons. In this compelling narrative, Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.

This is a much-belated post for a book I read and reviewed a while ago, and realised I never reviewed here. My memory of the book’s contents isn’t the sharpest now, but I can try, if anyone has questions!

The Real Valkyrie is about 40% fiction by volume, which is not entirely what I expected. The author has chosen to name and give a fictional biography to the Viking warrior found in Birka who was, after DNA testing, proven to be a woman. The author names her Hervor, and vividly reimagines her life using a mixture of information gained from archaeology and information gained by reading the sagas that have been recorded and handed down.

It’s well-known that the sagas contain quite a lot of truthful detail and history, e.g. in making it clear that Vikings went as far as the Americas in their voyaging, and Brown makes the very good point that the number of female warriors in them probably doesn’t reflect pure fantasy either. I think she’s at her most interesting while discussing the sagas, to be honest: her fictional biography of Hervor made her lose sight of how little she actually could say about the real warrior, and she kept believing far too much in her own story. (The Birka warrior and Ragnhild probably never met, so that’s why they didn’t stay friends…)

It’s an interesting reconstruction, but I’d have preferred to stay focused on the facts (even including those picked from sagas).

Rating: 3/5

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Review – .self

Posted October 31, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – .self

.self

by Christopher Sebela, Cara McGee, Rebecca Nalty, Aditya Bidikar

Genres: Graphic Novels, Science Fiction
Pages: 146
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Postscript backs up everything about a person into a file ready to be loaded in a printed body that offers one final chance to wrap up loose ends after they’ve died.

Nat Winters has finally achieved something like a perfect life. No more scraping or getting by. She has a home, a husband and a job turning into a career.

When Nat’s Postscript gets hacked and her file is torrented, her life gets set on fire by these tweaked copies of her running around the world, chasing down their own versions of her deferred dreams. As more of them begin coming to town, looking for her, Nat will be forced to confront a dozen different sides of herself and try to fix the mess they’ve made. But as she tries to contain things, Nat finds out there’s a contingent of Blanks out there who want to hurt her, even kill her, on the orders of a mysterious enemy who is looking to make this identity theft permanent.

.self starts with an interesting concept: there’s a service that allows you to record all your experiences, right up until you die. Once you die, you’re uploaded into a blank body in order to allow you to move around, meet people, and provide closure. But what if that file gets out into the world early? What if dozens of people torrent it, download you, and put create copies of you? What will those copies do?

I think there’s a lot that could be done with this concept, but .self goes with a fairly straightforward route. Some clones want to kill Nat and take over her life, some want to punish her, some want to be their own person, etc, etc. I wasn’t sold on the idea that these clones were what they said they were: one tells Nat that they’re alternate versions of herself, versions that took a different path, but how? If they’re based on her recent data, they’re all the same. And they all seem to know what they are, and have no blurring of identity between their new self and Nat.

They’ve also all been downloaded into all kinds of bodies, not ones that look like Nat, but there’s little exploration of how weird that might be.

Overall, I thought that at each turn, the most predictable choice was made, and a story that could’ve dug into identity mostly just turned out to be about a modicum of personal growth for Nat, unconvincingly presented.

The character designs are cool, though.

Rating: 2/5

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WWW Wednesday

Posted October 30, 2024 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

Just back from a wedding, and just enough time to write a quick reading update!

Cover of Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings, by Natalie LawrenceWhat have you recently finished reading?

Over the past few days, I haven’t finished much aside from a single volume of the Fairy Tail manga, and the last thing I finished other than that was one of my weekend reads… looks like it was Enchanted Creatures, by Natalie Lawrence, which tries to dig into why humans have come up with certain kinds of stories. I really need to chew over what I thought of this and look up a couple of things that gave me pause (is a phobia of snakes really the most common human fear, for instance?). It was an alright read, but nothing too surprising, in any case.

Cover of The Roads to Rome by Catherine FletcherWhat are you currently reading?

I started on The Roads to Rome, by Catherine Fletcher. Unfortunately, my mind kept wandering and I’m not sure I’ve retained anything so far, other than the fact that there is actually a place called Narnia (Narni, now, but Narnia in Latin), which is where C.S. Lewis got the name from. I’m not sure if it’s the book or just the fact that there was a lot going on around me, so I’ll give it a bit longer now I’m home… but it might be a write-off for me.

Cover of Murder at the British Museum by Jim EldridgeWhat will you read next?

I keep throwing out ideas and then not adhering to them, so this should always be taken with a pinch of salt — but I’m fairly certain I’m going to read Jim Eldridge’s Murder at the British Museum. The first book was just okay, not wonderful, but I like the idea of mysteries set in museums enough to keep going with the next book, at least for now.

Other than that… who knows? But the biography of Agatha Christie I borrowed is my most-renewed book that’s due back at the library next, so maybe that one, just in case they still have a limit on the number of times you can renew a book.

What about you?

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Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 6

Posted October 30, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Heaven Official’s Blessing, vol 6

Heaven Official's Blessing

by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Pages: 403
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #6
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

BODY IN ABYSS, HEART IN PARADISE

White No-Face, Xie Lian’s greatest fear and most hated enemy, has arrived…or so it seems. While the ghost with the half-crying, half-smiling mask is somewhere nearby, the creature is elusive as always, taunting Xie Lian from just out of reach and promising the total destruction of everything he holds dear.

As Xie Lian confronts the trauma of his last encounter with the terrifying ghost, Hua Cheng will do anything in his power to protect him. But White No-Face’s identity and purpose are not the only mysteries to unravel, as Hua Cheng also has a history in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath Mount Tonglu. Will Xie Lian finally discover the full connection they share—and learn the true depths of Hua Cheng’s devotion?

The sixth volume of MXTX’s Heaven Official’s Blessing is certainly full of ups and downs. The first section, in the “present” of the narrative, answers a few mysteries and gives us a moment we’ve been waiting for since the first book: Xie Lian acknowledges Hua Cheng’s feelings for him, and indicates that he returns them. It’s a lovely, lovely scene…

And then we slip off into a flashback even darker and sadder than the first. It’s better-paced, in my opinion, but it’s an extremely rough read, as Xie Lian is manipulated and cast down by his people. He loses his way severely, and it doesn’t really help to know that he ends up being true to himself again — you still have to read about him going through it.

Reading it with an eye for metaphor, and remembering how important Xie Lian’s virginity is as a theme, it’s hard to avoid drawing parallels with the incidents on Beizi Hill in the first flashback, and reading the mass-stabbing as a literal and metaphorical violation, so it’s all a bit dark.

There’s important stuff in this volume, but the flashback is a really rough read. It’s hard to decide quite how to rate it — but the scene from the cover is so good it has to be a 4/5, even with all the misery of the flashback.

Rating: 4/5

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