Genre: Fantasy

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 2

Posted July 14, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 2

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 300
Series: Solo Leveling #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Ever since he woke up in the hospital, Jinwoo's been thrown into a world of cryptic messages, daily quests, and strange dungeons overflowing with creatures he's never even heard of. As he tests out his new abilities, it starts to sink in that he is no longer the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind. Maybe he can finally attain what he’s always wanted — enough power to protect himself — but a run-in with an unexpected foe forces Jinwoo to consider just how far he's willing to go to obtain it!

I found volume two of theĀ Solo Leveling manhwa really fascinating. It adds a bit more about the new “system” which is helping Jinwoo level up, which feels rather familiar as a long-term gamer, and then plunges into another dungeon with a new set of characters. I rather liked Jinho, even if he seems like a bit of a nepo baby, and I’m curious to see whether he’s a recurring character — my guess would be yes.

The plot does stay pretty dark, this time with the system forcing Jinwoo to kill (not just incapacitate) some people who’ve betrayed him. We also get to see that from outside, with Jinho’s interpretation of events, which was pretty cool and added to the depth of the worldbuilding.

I really liked the bit where Jinwoo goes faster and faster trying to run enough to hit his daily goal, so he can use the reward to fully heal; it’s one of those things you can leverage in some games, and it’s neat to see that played out in this setup.

I ended up getting the next two volumes because I’m definitely pretty into this right now! Looking forward to digging into those.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Moomins and the Great Flood

Posted July 13, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

Review – The Moomins and the Great Flood

The Moomins and the Great Flood

by Tove Jansson

Genres: Children's, Fantasy
Pages: 64
Series: Moomintrolls #1
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Essential reading for any lover of the Moomins. This is where it all began: The Moomins and the Great Flood offers an extraordinary glimpse into the creativity and imagination that launched the Moomin books. Moominmamma and young Moomintroll search for the long lost Moominpappa through forest and flood, meeting a little creature (an early Sniff) and the elegantly strange Tulippa along the way.

I’m not sure which of Tove Jansson’s Moomin novels I’ve actually read; I know I’ve read most if not all of the comic versions, thanks to Cardiff Library, but the novels so far have been sort of half-familiar. IĀ think I have read this first one,Ā The Moomins and the Great Flood before, because some of the episodes definitely felt familiar, down to the phrasing — like the marabou stork and his glasses — but in the end… who knows?

It was a fun revisit, even if it feels like the world isn’t fully set up yet in the final configuration (does Sniff get named at all in this? I don’t think so). If I recall rightly, it’s pretty skippable, but I’m glad I didn’t: I always like to see where things began.

It’s a bit of a madcap ride, really, from one random event to the other, but it’s charming all the same.

Rating: 3/5 (liked it)

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Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, vol 1 (LN)

Posted July 11, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, vol 1 (LN)

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter: Holy Maiden Summoning Improvement Plan

by Yatsuki Wakutsu

Genres: Fantasy, Light Novels, Romance
Pages: 288
Series: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (light novel) #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Seiichirou Kondou is a 29-year-old accountant and major workaholic. When he's accidentally transported to another world, not only does he demand a job, he starts whipping the lackadaisical Royal Accounting Department into shape! But when he gets in over his head and nearly dies from overwork, the handsome Commander Aresh steps in to save him, and the two develop a unique, physical relationship... as a form of medical treatment?!

I’ve been reading the manga adaptation ofĀ The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter, so now I’ve turned to the original light novel, by Yatsuki Wakutsu. Like most light novels I’ve come across, it has some illustrations, which are very similar in character design to the manga, but I might like them just a touch more.

I always think when reading a light novel that it’ll add a bit more to what I learned/experienced in the light novel, but then get amazed reading the light novel how faithful and complete the manga actually was. The same was true here: there are some extra snippets of characters’ thoughts and feelings, but really, I knew everything I needed to from reading the manga.

It’s still fun though to experience it in this format. Seiichirou is such an idiot, and Aresh’s overprotectiveness feels pretty justified when it’s so clearly laid out what an idiot he’s being with his own health.

That said, there’s already more than a hint of Aresh being a bit too controlling, which drives me mad in the manga versions. Seiichirou can make his own decisions, even if they’re objectively terrible ones. I really hope that they do eventually have a reckoning about this, but we’ll see!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Siren Queen

Posted July 10, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Siren Queen

Siren Queen

by Nghi Vo

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 282
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

It was magic. In every world, it was a kind of magic.

ā€œNo maids, no funny talking, no fainting flowers.ā€ Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill — but she doesn't care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid.

But in Luli's world, the worst monsters in Hollywood are not the ones on screen. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. For those who do survive to earn their fame, success comes with a steep price. Luli is willing to do whatever it takes—even if that means becoming the monster herself.

Siren Queen offers up an enthralling exploration of an outsider achieving stardom on her own terms, in a fantastical Hollywood where the monsters are real and the magic of the silver screen illuminates every page.

This is a review I wrote quite a while ago but which somehow never got posted!

When this book says Hollywood is full of monsters, that’s only the literal truth. Stars on the screen are also stars in the sky, and some people sell their soul trying to get there. That’s the premise ofĀ Siren Queen, and I really don’t want to say more than that, because I really enjoyed slowly figuring out what was literal, how this world differs from our own, where the metaphors have become reality.

Luli is Chinese-American, and she knows full well what kind of roles await her in Hollywood — but she’s going to go there on her own terms and do what she can.Ā Whether she’s going to get there never seems like an option: she wants to be seen, she wants millions to see her, she wants to be just like the people she’s seen at the local cinema. She never really questions this desire or her determination to go there; she’s almost possessed by it. I could definitely have stood to understand that better; I understood Luli’s ambivalent feelings about her home and her sister, and understood her drive toward Emmaline and her friendship with Greta… but I wanted to understand more of her drive to be seen, to rise, because the brief references to that felt powerful.

Luli is surrounded by characters who almost all want the same thing: they didn’t just somehow end up there, against their will — except for Greta, of course — and I found myself at risk of forgetting that with people like Harry Long and Emmaline and maybe even Brandt Hiller. But they chose this, just like Luli did, and the ways they are trapped and hurt each other arise from that as well. It adds a little complexity to the sympathy you feel for them sometimes. Luli’s far from perfect, but Emmaline has made the same choices in many ways.

There’s a lot that isn’t explained, a lot that you’re left to intuit or guess or imagine for yourself, and I really liked that. It stays with the central concept and doesn’t try to elaborate it too much, and there are mysteries that we don’t get to understand. I like that a lot; I don’t think it should have tried to unravel Oberlin Wolfe’s existence or why certain things are as they are — this is Luli’s story, shaped by those mysteries but never seeking to understand them.

People have compared this to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and there are similarities there, for sure. I’ve certainly enjoyed both!

Rating: 4/5

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Review – A Breviary of Fire

Posted July 4, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – A Breviary of Fire

A Breviary of Fire

by Marie Brennan

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories
Pages: 168
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

ā€œTradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.ā€

The words of composer Gustav Mahler animate this collection of sixteen tales from award-winning author Marie Brennan, inspired by mythological and folkloric traditions around the world. Here you will find flames of revenge, immortality, and grace, as a valkyrie seeks peace, a queen weaves and unweaves her own fate, and a goddess vanishes from mortal memory — but never from the page.

Marie Brennan’s A Breviary of Fire is a collection of short stories — some shorter than others — that fit broadly into the traditions of several different world-regions, each being based on mythology, or at least mythology-adjacent. It’s a pretty quick read, especially as some of the stories are more like prose poems or at least microfiction (which, to be clear, is something I’m enthusiastic about).

For me the most memorable ones were probably the Norse and Greek stories, just because they’re the mythologies I’m most familiar with (having studied them from the English Lit/learning to translate Old Norse angle); I really liked her take on Penelope, and her ponderings on the fate of Hella in Norse myth.

I enjoyed pretty much all of them, though; they all felt like they were at exactly the length the idea required, which can be a really annoying thing with short fiction.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 8

Posted July 3, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 8

A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

by Misaki, Momochi, Sando, Lamp, Magonote

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 162
Series: A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation #8
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

When Lizel mysteriously finds himself in a city that bears odd similarities to his own but clearly isn't, he quickly comes to terms with the unlikely truth: this is an entirely different world. Even so, laid-back Lizel isn't the type to panic. He immediately sets out to learn more about this strange place, and to help him do so, hires a seasoned adventurer named Gil as his tour guide and protector.

Until he's able to find a way home, Lizel figures this is a perfect opportunity to explore a new way of life adventuring as part of a guild. After all, he's sure he'll go home eventually... might as well enjoy the otherworldly vacation for now!

Volume eight ofĀ A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation continues the action of the previous volume — and Lizel’s manipulation of events. Someday someone is going to outmanoeuvre him and he’s going to get quite the shock, but for now he’s the master. I loved the extra glimpses of Shadow and his attempts to suss what Lizel’s up to.

And, look, you can say “deep camaraderie” all you want, but in this volume Eleven goes to sit at Lizel’s feet while he’s reading, gets his hair pet and cheek scritched, and then nibbles on Lizel’s finger. Come on now.

We have some real Gil/Lizel moments too, don’t get me wrong — Gil’s face when he thinks that Lizel’s trying to do something in order to go home, aaah. I think it’s both determination to do it if that’s what Lizel needs, and grief at the idea of losing him.

Very curious what else will happen to wrap up the invasion of Marcade, and then what Lizel does to get back to what he was doing before…

Rating: 4/5Ā 

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Review – Mortal Follies

Posted June 29, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Mortal Follies

Mortal Follies

by Alexis Hall

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 402
Series: Mortal Follies #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

It is the year 1814 and Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into the highest society of Bath hindered by an irritating curse. It begins innocuously enough, with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening at the ball of the season, a scandal she only narrowly manages to escape.

However, as the curse progresses to more fatal proportions, she realises she must seek out urgent assistance, even if that means mixing with the most undesirable company-and there are few less desirable allies than the brooding Lady Georgiana Landrake-who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune.

If one is to believe the gossip, she might be some kind of malign enchantress.

Then again, a malign enchantress might be exactly what Miss Mitchelmore needs.

Alexis Hall’sĀ Mortal Follies is a lot of fun: I love the conceit that it’s narrated by Puck (as in, Oberon’s servant). I thought that might become tiresome, but actually it’s well done. Hall knows how to let the narrative voice get out of the story’s way at the right moment, so it doesn’t create a weird distance, despite the fact that technically we’re being told everything at second-hand by an invisible fairy turned narrator.

I love Maelys and Georgiana, too: yes, at times I felt like yelling at Georgiana to open her eyes and see the woman in front of her not her own fears, but at the same time, she has a lot of good reasons for her fears. And Maelys can at times be a bit inclined to sit back and see what happens, but she does learn through the story to take things into her own hands when she needs to, and that works well.

And let’s face it, Miss Bickle’s adorable and deserves her very own amazing romance.

At times it felt like this was dragging just aĀ touch, because there’s a lot of back and forth, a certain amount of will-they-won’t-they, and some repetitive elements — but once I was into the book, that seemed a very minor quibble. I ended it reluctant to let the characters go, and eager to readĀ Confounding Oaths (although it doesn’t follow Maelys and Georgiana, it should still have the fun narrative voice).

Rating: 4/5Ā 

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Review – The All-Nighter, vol 2

Posted June 27, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The All-Nighter, vol 2

The All-Nighter

by Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Paris Alleyne, Aditya Bidikar, Allison O'Toole

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 119
Series: The All-Nighter #2
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In the wake of Ian's disappearance, tensions are running high at the diner. Alex and Joy are stuck covering shifts when they'd rather be out fighting bad guys. To make things worse, people start disappearing just as a new super hero team arrives in town--could the two be related?

What if they're dealing with something bigger and more dangerous than super villains--and what if Alex's decision to become Nightshock put it all in motion?

“Season Two” of Chip Zdarsky’sĀ The All-Nighter picks up not long after the first volume, with everyone trying to reckon with the disappearance of Ian at the end of the volume. We see a bit more of the “found family” aspect in this volume, even if it fragments a bit toward the end, and we also see a bit more development of Cynthia as a character.

And of course, come the end of the book there are some preeeetty big consequences for Alex’s actions, and everyone’s thrown into even worse turmoil.

I haven’t said much about the art so far. It doesn’t bowl me over but it works, characters and events are pretty clear and easy to follow.

Overall, the middle volume is okay, and the ending sets things up for an explosive finale.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Starling House

Posted June 24, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Starling House

Starling House

by Alix E. Harrow

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 308
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

I dream sometimes about a house I’ve never seen….

Opal is a lot of things — orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier — but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago.

All she left behind were dark rumors — and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

I should be scared, but in the dream I don’t hesitate.

Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House — and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund — she can't resist.

But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

In my dream, I’m home.

And now she’ll have to fight.

Welcome to Starling House: enter, if you dare.

I got the weirdest sense of deja vu when reading Alix E. Harrow’s Starling House; I definitely haven’t read it before, and I’m not sure what it reminded me of, but there were numerous elements that somehow rang a bell — like the book published by the original owner of the house, for example… There’s some overlap with Ava Reid’sĀ A Study in Drowning, I think, but that’s not it. There’s also the life in the motel room, which is maybe reminding me of Supernatural? Maybe something else.

It’s got quite a bit of “Beauty and the Beast” DNA, after all, so maybe it’s just a bunch of similarities from a lot of different places, but anyway, it’s kind of distracting. There were aspects of the book I enjoyed, and when I was reading it I was pretty immersed, but Opal’s really self-defeating in a way that’s super frustrating to read, and I had trouble with the transition to romance as well.

The thing I loved was Opal’s relationship with her younger brother, Jasper, and her willingness to do just about anything for him (shades of Dean Winchester and Supernatural again). That was probably the strongest theme, and it was really believable and well-written that Opal would revolve around him like that. I was a bit surprised by how that ended up, though.

Overall, an interesting read and one I might’ve enjoyed more in another mood, with more patience to give to Opal’s failings? I’m not sure.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz

Posted June 18, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz

by Garth Nix

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories
Pages: 304
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Sir Hereward: the only male child of an ancient society of witches. Knight, artillerist, swordsman. Mercenary for hire. Ill-starred lover.

Mister Fitz: puppet, sorcerer, loremaster. Practitioner of arcane arts and wielder of sorcerous needles.

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz: godslayers. Agents of the Council of the Treaty for the Safety of the World, charged with the location and removal of listed extra-dimensional entities, more commonly known as gods. Together, they are relentless travelers in a treacherous world of magic, gunpowder, and adventure.

Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz is a collection of short stories in the same world, by Garth Nix, and I think it suffers for being a bunch of stories written in the same world but not necessarily for the same exact audience. The stories have similar themes and structures, and each is meant to stand somewhat alone, meaning it feels a bit… repetitive.

There are certainly concepts which I found interesting, and I might have enjoyed the stories quite a bit if I’d read them separately, one at a time, in separate magazines or anthologies. There’s some really fun worldbuilding!

But… as a sit-down-and-read-straight-through experience, it didn’t really work well for me. It’s perfectly readable, and there’s a “Nix”ness about it that I enjoy — it’s why I picked up this based on seeing his name on it, after all — but overall, no, not in this format.

Rating: 2/5

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