Posted September 29, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Pharos
Genres: Fantasy,
Historical Fiction,
Horror Pages: 160
Rating: 
Synopsis: Set in the early nineteenth century, Pharos is a dazzling ghost story from an award-winning author.
A young woman is washed up on the shores of Jacob's Rock, a remote lighthouse island off the coast of Scotland. She does not know who she is or how she got there. She has no memory. The keeper of the lighthouse and his assistant take her in and feed and clothe her. But this mysterious woman is not all that she seems, and neither is the remote and wind-swept island.
Eerily reminiscent of Turn of the Screw and The Others, Pharos is a breathless tale of the supernatural.
Alice Thompson’s Pharos is more or less a novella in length, and it’s a ghost story. It’s a bit of a weird one to classify. It creates a sense of unease and wrongness without being exactly creepy, and I’m not sure it entirely works as a whole. The sexual current between two of the characters comes out of nowhere (though it’s unclear if one of them wants it at all), and the narration and lack of proper dialogue just… don’t quite manage to pull things together. There’s not much to care about.
I’m also not sure about the use of voodoo and the history of slavery as a backdrop to the story, which is written by a Scottish author. The use of voodoo and the tragic lives of enslaved people to create a story of a vengeful ghost just feels rather overdone and tired. Many strange things can haunt a lighthouse — why this?
Some of the atmosphere created is admittedly really good, though, the claustrophobic chokingness of a group of four people who are ultimately trapped together, no matter how crazy things get.
Rating: 2/5
Tags: Alice Thompson, book reviews, books, horror, SF/F
Posted September 20, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Heaven Official's Blessing
Genres: Fantasy,
Horror,
Mystery,
Romance Pages: 419
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #4 Rating: 
Synopsis: FATES ALIGNED, BODIES INTERTWINED
The Reverend of Empty Words, a monster that feeds off the fears of the fortunate, is hunting Xie Lian’s friend, the Wind Master Shi Qingxuan. Knowing that his abysmal luck inoculates him from the creature’s power, Xie Lian doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into harm’s way—to Hua Cheng’s horror and panic. But another one of the Four Calamities may be closer than anyone knows, and even a ghost as powerful as Hua Cheng can lose control under the right circumstances. With his inhibitions gone, will desire overtake him?
Volume four of Heaven Official’s Blessing certainly goes places! It continues the story opened in the previous volume, digging into what’s going on with Shi Qingxuan and the Reverend of Empty Words, but it also begins a plotline involving Mount Tonglu, and another involving Ling Wen. There are some pretty epic reveals… and it also seems like Xie Lian is beginning to realise that he has feelings for Hua Cheng, as well.
There’s no flashback in this volume, and it really helps with the pacing — along with the fact that Xie Lian never seems to stop. Sure, there are some lovely domestic scenes with Hua Cheng, but there’s also a lot of plot going on. It isn’t like The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, where it’s basically all about Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe — there’s a lot more sidequesting going on, which gives the characters time to breathe and develop, and also shows us a lot more of the world and how things work.
To be clear, I love SVSSS! Different things suit different books. It’s also not to say that the events don’t drive Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s relationship, because there are absolutely developments there the whole time. It just feels like it’s driven more by other stories, in which Xie Lian and Hua Cheng play a part and which contribute to their story.
I’m excited for the stuff on Mount Tonglu, next!
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, horror, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, mystery, romance, SF/F
Posted September 15, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Love Everlasting
Genres: Fantasy,
Graphic Novels,
Horror,
Romance Pages: 137
Series: Love Everlasting #2 Rating: 
Synopsis: The mind-bending story of Joan Peterson's journey through love and horror continues in the second epic and heartbreaking arc of this critically acclaimed, Harvey-nominated series. After traveling from romance to romance, Joan finds herself trapped inside just one story, growing older with the love of her life instead of escaping again and again. And as she becomes a wife, a mother, a grandmother, she is on a bloody quest to discover if everyone in this new world is insane, or if she alone is broken.
Volume two of Tom King’s Love Everlasting is a bit different to the first: instead of multiple short romances, now Joan finds herself trapped in a different kind of love story. This time she gets married, has children and grandchildren, while all the while being haunted by the fact that she knows nothing is real: everything is happening in the year 1962.
The art style is great and expressive, and mostly I just want to be thrown a bit more of a bone story-wise. Just as it felt like it lingered too long on the random romances, it felt like it lingered too long on Joan’s fake family. We get no nearer to knowing why her mother(?) is putting her through this.
I’m still intrigued and would still pick up the third TPB if one gets released (seemingly not so far). But I do feel like as a reader I need a little more to hang onto here.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Clayton Cowles, Elsa Charretier, horror, Matt Hollingsworth, romance, SF/F, Tom King
Posted September 8, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Heaven Official's Blessing
Genres: Fantasy,
Horror,
Mystery,
Romance Pages: 476
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #3 Rating: Synopsis: SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR, SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR
Gods should never meddle in the affairs of mortals, but Xie Lian is not one to follow the rules when lives are at risk. He spits in the face of heaven and its laws and descends in a fury to save his country from drought and civil war. Yet this golden child gets a harsh dose of reality when he discovers just how little one individual—even a god—can do to save a crumbling nation. As the people reject and betray him, one young soldier stands by Xie Lian—a boy with a face wrapped in bandages and a fierce loyalty in his heart. In this chaotic past, can an unshakable bond grow from the ashes of unimaginable destruction?
Volume three of Heaven Official’s Blessing is very up-and-down. The first part is the conclusion of the second arc, which is an extended flashback filling in details of events we pretty much knew about already. Much as I liked seeing Xie Lian in an earlier stage of his life, that quickly palled. While I know the significance of seeing Honghong-er and the unnamed little soldier, and it was important to see Xie Lian fallible and foolhardy, and you gotta appreciate the rudimentary epidemiology (at least, you do if you’re me)… it feels like it all just took too long.
That said, the third arc hits the ground running and had me quickly grabbing volume four to continue the story. It feels like so much happens in the “present” arc, including a lot of delightful moments like the lanterns for Xie Lian and his utter freakout about the underwater “kiss”; the second arc really suffers in comparison to that as well, because the third arc is just one thing after the other, adventure leading into adventure… and of course, it also features more Hua Cheng. The second arc is predictable because it’s covering details we already know, and Hua Cheng isn’t present — at least, not in the way we know him by now.
In some ways, I feel like there was a similar problem in The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System. The character whose mind we most wanted to understand was Luo Binghe, but the narrative sticks close to Shen Qingqiu, who doesn’t understand what’s going on. Xie Lian is a different flavour of oblivious, but he’s still oblivious, and I really want to know what Hua Cheng is thinking.
Not that that relationship is the be-all and end-all — there’s also a fascinating story going on with other characters, which I’m excited to dig into. As ever, the cut-off happens mid-arc, so have volume four at the ready.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, horror, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, mystery, romance, SF/F
Posted August 30, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Heaven Official's Blessing
Genres: Fantasy,
Horror,
Mystery,
Romance Pages: 438
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #2 Rating: Synopsis: THE TOUCH OF A HAND, A ROLL OF THE DICE
Xie Lian has confirmed that the bewitching youth San Lang is actually Hua Cheng, one of the Four Calamities and a supreme ghost despised by all heavenly officials. Still, he has trouble matching the terror of his companion’s reputation with the charming, clever, and protective young man he’s come to know.
When a distress signal leads Xie Lian into Ghost City, a bustling metropolis containing all the horrors and delights of the dead, he sees Hua Cheng in his element—and his true form—for the first time. But despite their chemistry and care for one another, there are missions to fulfill and secrets to uncover, and Xie Lian’s centuries of troubled history are never far behind.
The second volume of Heaven Official’s Blessing finishes up with arc 1 and begins arc 2: I can see why some readers complain that the volumes are split in weird places, but I think it’d end up with ridiculously chunky volumes and then really skinny ones if it was split by arcs or something, and I bet you people wouldn’t like that either. Still, I agree it feels weird that it’s basically one continuous story, and you can’t stop and feel satisfied at the end of a volume; that’s kind of unavoidable, given it was a webnovel first.
As with the first volume, I’m sure that there are critiques of the translation, but it’s pretty internally consistent and it’s definitely readable, and not significantly better/worse than the translation of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, for example. I believe the translators are different, but something of the underlying style does seem to come through — though at times I could do without it (stop yelling, Qi Rong).
The end of arc 1 gives us a visit to Hua Cheng’s domain, followed by some answers about Xie Lian’s past in the form of confronting Qi Rong, his cousin, with Hua Cheng figuring out what happened during an infamous and bloody event, and manipulating matters so that Xie Lian can no longer claim all the blame for himself. There are some really nice character/relationship moments there, and then act 2 begins, which seems to be all a long flashback to Xie Lian’s life before godhood (going into his first ascension afterwards, in book 3).
All in all I’m really enjoying it. There’s a lot more detail and complexity than in SVSSS, which makes sense since there are eight books in total. I fear how MXTX is going to torture Xie Lian and Hua Chung… but I’m all-in.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, horror, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, mystery, romance, SF/F
Posted August 22, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Heaven Official's Blessing
Genres: Fantasy,
Horror,
Mystery,
Romance Pages: 417
Series: Heaven Official's Blessing / Tian Guan Ci Fu #1 Rating: Synopsis: A GOD FALLEN, A GHOST RISEN
Born the crown prince of a prosperous kingdom, Xie Lian was renowned for his beauty, strength, and purity. His years of dedicated study and noble deeds allowed him to ascend to godhood. But those who rise may also fall, and fall he does–cast from the heavens and banished to the world below.
Eight hundred years after his mortal life, Xie Lian has ascended to godhood for the third time, angering most of the gods in the process. To repay his debts, he is sent to the Mortal Realm to hunt down violent ghosts and troublemaking spirits who prey on the living. Along his travels, he meets the fascinating and brilliant San Lang, a young man with whom he feels an instant connection. Yet San Lang is clearly more than he appears… What mysteries lie behind that carefree smile?
As a lover of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, it was only a matter of time before I tried something else by MXTX. Heaven Official’s Blessing was what my hand met first when I reached to the shelves, and I was very quickly engrossed — so here I go, setting out on an eight-book journey. Though… I don’t think the books are divided in any particular thought-out way, because it feels like the first chapter of the next book follows immediately from the last. Which makes sense, since it was originally a webnovel, but could get frustrating if you were hoping for some resolution at the end of the volume.
I can’t comment on the translation quality, as I don’t speak the original language at all. What I will say is that translation is always an interpretation, and often requires some localisation, and that’s very tricky to get right and please everyone. I found the translation readable, though the unfamiliar names and traditions sometimes keep me on my toes trying to keep up. (I’ve been recommended the first season of the donghua, to help me get up to speed.)
The illustrations are cute, and I do enjoy the growing dynamic between Xie Lian and San Lang/Hua Cheng. Very excited for him to see Hua Cheng’s face. And Xie Lian seems like such a sweetheart — though I wonder if he’s going to be as clueless as Shen Qingqiu about his feelings. I have some suspicions about other characters, but maybe I’m jumping at shadows.
All in all, eager to continue!
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, danmei, Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù, romance, SF/F
Posted August 1, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
Love Everlasting
Genres: Fantasy,
Graphic Novels,
Horror,
Mystery,
Romance Pages: 136
Series: Love Everlasting #1 Rating: Synopsis: Joan Peterson discovers that she is trapped in an endless, terrifying cycle of"romance" -- a problem to be solved, a man to marry -- and everytime she falls in love she's torn from her world and thrust into another tear-soaked tale.
I really loved the art in volume one of Tom King and Elsa Charretier’s Love Everlasting. It’s stylised and expressive, with well-differentiated characters and designs. It’s a fun race through a bunch of different styles of love story, with the main character Joan Peterson always dying just as soon as she’s declared her love for someone.
The fact that Joan — and a weird masked cowboy — are the only constants does mean that there’s not really much character-building, especially as Joan herself isn’t really exactly the same in every single scenario. The concept is the most interesting thing there, rather than the character (though Joan’s approach to her problems is, ah, entertaining).
By the end, it’s getting a touch too repetitive without any explanation, but it’s a really fun concept, and I am itching to know a bit more. I hope the second volume will explore the plot stuff from the fifth issue and deepen the story a bit.
Rating: 4/5
Tags: book reviews, books, comics, Elsa Charretier, horror, Matt Hollingsworth, romance, SF/F, Tom King
Posted February 2, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Road of Bones
Genres: Graphic Novels,
Horror Pages: 128
Rating: Synopsis: Horror, history, and Russian folklore collide in this brutal survival tale, where the worst prison in the world is merely the gateway to even darker terrors.
In 1953, the Siberian Gulag of Kolyma is hell on Earth--which is why Roman Morozov leaps at the chance to escape it. But even if they make it out, Roman and his fellow escapees still have hundreds of miles of frozen tundra between them and freedom. With the help of a mysterious being straight out of his childhood fairy tale stories, Roman just might make it--or is the being simply a manifestation of the brutal circumstances driving him insane?
Rich Douek’s Road of Bones is horrifying, and it’s one of those stories that is horrifying more because of the humans in it than anything else. The art is heavy, dark, in a way that’s appropriate but erases the individuality of people: there’s only the brutality of the Gulag and the brutality it breeds in everyone. It doesn’t always make it easy to follow exactly who is talking and to whom, though, and sometimes that’s important.
It ends up being a very gory story, and a harsh message; in the end, it almost feels like a cop-out that there’s a supernatural element here, given the real history and the real ways humans can be absolutely terrible. It just feels a little too obvious. It’s not shying from the brutality, but it risks giving it an excuse. A reason other than “humans are flawed, especially under pressure”.
I can’t say it was enjoyable, given the topic, but it was fascinating.
Rating: 3/5
Tags: Alex Cormack, book reviews, books, comics, graphic novels, horror, Justin Birch, Rich Douek
Posted January 17, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments
House of Drought
Genres: Fantasy,
Horror Pages: 117
Rating: Synopsis: On the island of Sri Lanka, at a colonial mansion between the forest and the paddy fields, a caretaker arrives with four children in tow after pledging to keep them safe. When violent thugs storm the house demanding that Ushu repay his debt, young Jasmit and the other children hide in an upstairs bathroom where a running tap opens a gateway to escape. But the Dry House is not the only force at work in the place where the forest and the estate meet—something else stirs in the trees, something ancient, something that demands retribution.
The Sap Mother bides her time, watching and learning from the house’s inhabitants. She burrows beneath the foundations of the Dry House, hungry for atonement. Pulled between these warring powers, Jasmit must choose between saving those trapped in the mansion’s bulging stomachs and preparing the house for when the Mother emerges again.
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.
This horror novella didn’t entirely work for me, though I appreciated a number of things about it (the setting, the tension, the fact that it didn’t give the reader too many answers too quickly). The structure kind of annoyed me, with the order of events jerking around. It’s hard to describe, but first you get the frame story, the “present day” if you will. Then you jump back in time to the crisis point of other characters’ story… then forward just a little to how those characters got into that situation. Then forward back to the present day, and then a new set of characters.
It feels like the story tried very hard to come full circle, bring things together and find a way to end the story — but it felt like it missed a step. How did a certain character figure things out? Why is she so eager to save people she doesn’t know?
It’s an interesting novella but I didn’t find it wholly successful.
Rating: 2/5
Tags: book reviews, books, Dennis Mombauer, horror, SF/F
Posted January 9, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments
Clean Room: Waiting For the Stars to Fall
Genres: Graphic Novels,
Horror,
Science Fiction Pages: 144
Series: Clean Room #3 Rating: Synopsis: In this new installment of Gail Simone's Clean Room, go back to the beginning to learn how Astrid was first affected after her hospitalization...through the eyes of one who cannot see what she sees: her would-be assassin and brother, Peter Mueller.
Then, a young woman devastated by the violent loss of her husband finds comfort in Astrid Mueller's teachings, only to face the woman herself in the most nightmarish reaches of the Clean Room!
The third volume of Gail Simone’s Clean Room cleans everything up — more or less, though one shouldn’t get too strict about the definition of “clean up” here. The world’s definitely a mess at the end, and the book doesn’t chart the recovery, or even really the recovery of the main characters, just the very beginnings of it. Assuming that Chloe ever does recover.
There’s plenty of gore and creepiness, as you’d expect from this series, now including a creepy, creepy baby.
I would say that I didn’t quite understand Astrid’s behaviour throughout the book; part of it seemed inconsistent and left me with definite questions about what was going through her mind, which weren’t really answered. And it felt like things were resolved very quickly, as if the story had to be jammed into this final volume — it made Astrid’s solution feel a little too easy.
Still, a fun series, especially if you’re more into horror than I am!
Rating: 3/5
Tags: book reviews, books, comics, Gail Simone, Quinton Winter, Sanya Anwar, Walter Giovani
