Tag: book reviews

Review – The Man Who Was Thursday

Posted October 16, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Man Who Was Thursday

The Man Who Was Thursday

by G.K. Chesterton

Genres: Classics, Mystery
Pages: 224
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

In a park in London, secret policeman Gabriel Syme strikes up a conversation with an anarchist. Sworn to do his duty, Syme uses his new acquaintance to go undercover in Europe's Central Anarchist Council and infiltrate their deadly mission, even managing to have himself voted to the position of 'Thursday'. When Syme discovers another undercover policeman on the Council, however, he starts to question his role in their operations. And as a desperate chase across Europe begins, his confusion grows, as well as his confidence in his ability to outwit his enemies. But he has still to face the greatest terror that the Council has: a man named Sunday, whose true nature is worse than Syme could ever have imagined...

I don’t know quite what I expected from G.K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. It’s a book I’ve known about for a long time, but I had no idea about any details, other than that it was kind of a thriller and that it was pretty influential (or at least popular or talked about).

Having read it now, I wouldn’t have pegged it as being by the same guy as the Father Brown stories. I also still couldn’t tell you entirely what I think it’s about: it does have thriller elements, as Syme and later others go up against anarchists, culminating in a weird chase across the country (twice). I know it’s a spoiler, but it’s hard to explain how weird this book is without adding that of course it later turns out to have all been a dream.

It’s hard to know how to take it all in part because it all turns out to have been a dream. There are parts which are pretty funny, but then there are also moments where Syme’s repugnance really comes through and it feels almost horrifying.

Such a weird mix, and I don’t think I enjoyed it, though it’s interesting to have read it and have it logged as context somewhere in the back of my mind when people write about it or mention it in passing.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Deadly Earnest

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

Review – Deadly Earnest

Deadly Earnest

by Joan Cockin

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 288
Series: Inspector Cam #3
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

They were eight candidates who arrived in 'Humpstead Manor' - otherwise known as 'the Hump' - all of whom were part of an elite interview process for a major job in Africa. But even before the examinations began, one of the assembled seemed to be being singled out for something rather more a great job. Murder. Inspector Cam finds that what he thought was a relaxed trip observing how the process worked, finds he is needed to do a lot more than observe. Deadly Earnest, published in 1952 was the third and final novel that came from the Joan Cockin stable. It's a strong candidate to be her best.

Joan Cockin’s Deadly Earnest is a very classic kind of mystery, which was exactly what I wanted of it: methodical in building up a situation, letting it all fall apart like a house of cards, and then letting the detective set everything to rights and recreate order. It’s quite atmospheric at times, but in the end it delivers the expected payoff.

Most of the cast comes across as rather unpleasant, and even Inspector Cam — who I’ve liked in past books — didn’t always sit well with me. It’s partly the rather nasty atmosphere, I think, and from a modern perspective, also the smug colonialist attitudes of the characters who plan to go off and become administrators of the Empire.

Not a favourite, but overall it delivered what I was hoping for from it.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – Paladin’s Strength

Posted October 13, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Paladin’s Strength

Paladin's Strength

by T. Kingfisher

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Pages: 426
Series: The Saint of Steel #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

From two-time Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Paladin's Strength, the perfect blend of cosy fantasy romance and classic fantasy adventure featuring an order of secretive nuns, a swashbuckling paladin and a strange hive of rabbits.

He's a paladin of a dead god, tracking a supernatural killer across a continent. She's a nun from a secretive order on the trail of the raiders who burned her convent and kidnapped her sisters.

When their paths cross at the point of a sword, Istvhan and Clara will be pitched headlong into each other's quests, facing off against enemies both living and dead. But Clara has a secret that could jeopardise the growing trust between them, a secret that will lead them to the gladiatorial pits of a corrupt city, and beyond...

I really enjoyed T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Strength, even though at times I think it could’ve used being a bit shorter — a few pages less here and there. I think I had the same thought about The Wonder Engine, so I suspect it’s partly a matter of style, and I do enjoy T. Kingfisher’s writing quite a bit. She has a thing about paladins, and Istvhan is a fun example of the breed: a little less absolutely subsumed by being a paladin than Stephen, a bit less haunted than Galen, but still profoundly bound by requiring himself to be decent.

So decent that he can’t see that Clara’s a perfectly capable, willing women who would like to go to bed with him. The will they/won’t they is pretty frustrating given we see both sides of the potential relationship and thus know that they’re just totally failing to communicate, and I think it’s here that some pages could’ve been cut profitably. It all feels like it drags out a bit too long, though on the other hand, they’re both so stubborn that I guess it’s not super surprising that they have to be dragged slowly to a conclusion.

The discovery of the origins of the smooth men is fascinating — and definitely surprised me, since I figured it was going to be a bigger plot running through all four books, and it seems kinda… wrapped up? And it was fascinating to explore more of the world too, learning about St Ursa, the Aral, Morstone…

Looking forward to the next book, which looks quite short compared to this one!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 4

Posted October 12, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 4

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter

Pages: 178
Series: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga) #4
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

So it’s been a bit, but an accountant guy somehow went down a portalhole and into a fantasy world. Once he got there, the first thing he asked for was a job. That’s how Kondou’s career in the Romany Kingdom’s Accounting Department began and part of the reason a stunning knight captain stumbled upon a bean counter in distress. Venturing to the depths of a dangerous forest on a quest to clear the miasma is the exact opposite of what Kondou’s knight in shining armor wants him to do. However, our intrepid bean counter is a man with a plan, so venture forth he does—much to the captain’s dismay. But turnabout is fair play, which is why Captain Aresh makes his own declaration on their way back…

I’m enjoying The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter in many ways, especially as in this volume we’re getting to see more of the world (and the Holy Maiden realises her situation a bit better, and thankfully seems to be a bit less of a brat/less inclined to angle for Aresh). Seiichirou is ridiculously competent, but that’s always fun — I can’t help but compare him a bit to Lizel, of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation.

That said… this series has some problems, and they eclipse the good stuff so much I need to talk about them at more length right now.

I am still giving it three stars, but I want to heavily caveat that: there’s a lot of dubious consent and potential coercion here. I think we’re perhaps supposed to understand that Seiichirou has powerful allies and could get out of the situation if he really wanted to, and that in a way he’s using Aresh — but this isn’t always explicit enough. It seems like Aresh is perhaps taking advantage of Seiichirou’s need for protection to be intimate with him, and that’s a bit of a red flag, even if Aresh wasn’t being so controlling “for Seiichirou’s own good”.

I’m wondering if this is better or worse in the light novel, and will be finding out since I’ve ordered all three! But it’s worth knowing going in about the coercive control (however well-intentioned) and dubious consent, which is not really examined. There’s an extent to which I can roll with that (The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System is calling) but I think one still has to look at it and admit that it’s problematic.

N.B. Since writing this review I read the light novels, and actually ended up posting those reviews first! You can read those reviews here. Tl;dr summary: I preferred the light novels and felt that the relationship was more explicitly mutual there.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker

Posted October 12, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker: The story of Britain through its census, since 1801

by Roger Hutchinson

Genres: History, Non-fiction
Pages: 352
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

At the beginning of each decade for 200 years the national census has presented a self-portrait of the British Isles. The census has surveyed Britain from the Napoleonic wars to the age of the internet, through the agricultural and industrial revolutions, possession of the biggest empire on earth and the devastation of the 20th century's two world wars.

In The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker, Roger Hutchinson looks at every census between the first in 1801 and the latest in 2011. He uses this much-loved resource of family historians to paint a vivid picture of a society experiencing unprecedented changes.

Hutchinson explores the controversial creation of the British census. He follows its development from a head-count of the population conducted by clerks with quill pens, to a computerised survey which is designed to discover 'the address, place of birth, religion, marital status, ability to speak English and self-perceived national identity of every twenty-seven-year-old Welsh-speaking Sikh metalworker living in Swansea'.

All human life is here, from prime ministers to peasants and paupers, from Irish rebels to English patriots, from the last native speakers of Cornish to the first professional footballers, from communities of prostitutes to individuals called 'abecedarians' who made a living from teaching the alphabet.

Roger Hutchinson’s The Butcher, The Baker, the Candlestick-Maker proves to be not just “the story of Britain through its census”, but also the story of the census itself, about which I knew comparatively little. It was fascinating to read about the development of the census, the difficulties with implementing it, and of course the findings.

Hutchinson chooses some examples at times to illustrate his point, though sometimes he must either be making it up or going far beyond the census data in his discussions of some people’s lives. I found it really fascinating to explore the impact of events like the Potato Famine, emigration to America, the Highland Clearances, and of course the World Wars: it’s pretty much what you’d expect, but the census data makes it starkly clear. Hutchinson also has an interest in the charting of the decline of the non-English British languages, which I enjoyed.

Overall, at times it feels a little bitty — and like so many of these books, I feel it’s a history rather than the history, and another story might be told from the same data. But I found it interesting, and a surprisingly compulsive read, though the bibliography is worryingly thin.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted October 11, 2025 by Nicky in General / 30 Comments

Welp, that sure was a week! It felt weirdly both fast and slow… but it’s done, and now it’s time for the weekend and lots of books. Right?!

Books acquired this week

This week saw the arrival of a couple of preorders, some longer-awaited than others…

Cover of Love in the Palm of His Hand vol 2 by Rinteku Cover of Mockingbird Court by Juneau Black Cover of All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles Cover of Death in Ambush by Susan Gilruth

I only read the first volume of Love in the Palm of His Hand a week or two ago, so I was lucky the next volume was out so soon! But I’ve been waiting a while for Mockingbird Court and All of Us Murderers, and I’m excited to get round to them.

And of course, there’s also my British Library Crime Classics subscription book for the month — I’d forgotten that was due to arrive! It’s a Christmas mystery, so I’ll probably leave it until December, though.

Posts from this week

First off, let’s do the usual roundup of reviews:

And a couple of other posts, the usual features:

What I’m reading

It’s been quite the week for reading, in part due to trying out some more manga — as usual, here’s a sneak peek of the books I plan to review soon:

Cover of Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher Cover of Continental Crimes ed. Martin Edwards Cover of Hold Back The Tide by Melinda Salisbury Cover of Into the Dark by Jordan L. Hawk

Cover of So Far So Good by Ursula Le Guin Cover of Glass Town by Isabel Greenberg Cover of The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis Cover of Love in the Palm of His Hand vol 2 by Rinteku

Cover of Loving You When the World Ended by Gene Cover of Mockingbird Court by Juneau Black Cover of The Light Conjurer by Gene Cover of Love Everlasting vol 3 by Tom King et al

I did also read one or two others which I’m not planning to review (e.g. Jordan L. Hawk’s Rattling Bone, which was a reread that I’ve reviewed here before), so it really was a busy week.

For this weekend, I’ve got a few plans. It’s Bookshop Day UK, and I’d like to be able to get a couple books to support local bookshops… but I still have my self-imposed cap of 20 books bought in 2025 and not started, and I’m currently on 19. I just started Eating to Extinction last night, which I’d like to read more of, and maybe I’ll dig into KJ Charles’ new book, and find out how I feel about The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish. If I like it, maybe I’ll get the rest of the series to celebrate Bookshop Day!

Either way, I will as ever be following my whim.

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

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Review – Missel-Child

Posted October 10, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Missel-Child

Missel-Child

by Helen Tookey

Genres: Poetry
Pages: 71
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

According to the seventeenth-century herbarium The Garden of Eden, a 'missel-child' is a mysterious being found beneath a mistletoe-covered tree - a changeling, perhaps, 'whereof many strange things are conceived'. Helen Tookey's first full collection of poems starts from the missel-child to explore archaeologies of identity, place and language. She is a formally inventive writer, using collage and syllabics, exploring elegy and myth. The poems in this book create a space in which language enables something to be said and also to be shown.

I hadn’t heard of Helen Tookey’s work before; Missel-Child, apparently a first volume, was a random choice at the library (I like picking random poetry I’ve not read and giving it a shot, since it’s never a huge time investment, and the library’s really the best way to do that).

I liked the glimpses at what sparked some of the poems, and some of the turns of phrase, but I finished it feeling pretty untouched by it… it just slid by without sinking any barbs in, despite liking the way it was written.

I’d give Tookey’s work another shot, but I wasn’t in love based on this experience.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Copper Script

Posted October 9, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Copper Script

Copper Script

by KJ Charles

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Romance
Pages: 269
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Detective Sergeant Aaron Fowler of the Metropolitan Police doesn’t count himself a gullible man. When he encounters a graphologist who reads people’s characters and even actions from their handwriting with impossible accuracy, he needs to find out how the trick is done. Even if that involves spending more time with the intriguing, flirtatious Joel Wildsmith than feels quite safe.

Joel’s not an admirer of the police, but DS Fowler has the most irresistible handwriting he’s ever seen. If the policeman’s tests let him spend time unnerving the handsome copper, why not play along?

But when Joel looks at a powerful man's handwriting and sees a murderer, the policeman and the graphologist are plunged into deadly danger. Their enemy will protect himself at any cost—unless Joel and Aaron can come together to prove his guilt and save each other.

I’m a bit torn between a 3-star and a 4-star rating for this: I’ve enjoyed everything KJ Charles writes, but Copper Script isn’t a favourite. On the other hand, I did tear through it, and stay up to finish it: I don’t think it was bad.

So I guess I’ll mostly let my review speak for me! I enjoyed Joel’s character a lot, his lack of apology for everything he is, but was less taken with Aaron, who was… well, as Joel tells him, he’s very buttoned up. The chemistry between them worked quite well, but it felt like Aaron still kept a lot bottled up, and wasn’t entirely fair to Joel in the way he was blowing hot and cold (even if it was partly due to circumstances and not wanting to lead trouble to Joel, he clearly already was leading trouble to him).

Mostly, it felt like there was one pace at the start and then everything flat-out accelerated, and the pacing didn’t quite work for me as a result: the eventual ending felt like it happened way too fast after the build-up, and thus kind of fizzled. It’s not that it was totally lacking in consequences, since Aaron’s job is affected, Joel’s plan to get a prosthetic arm, and of course their relationship… but the tension and danger just sort of fizzled, and felt solved very conveniently. On the one hand, how it resolved makes sense — we know Joel can glean a lot from someone’s handwriting, that’s been kind of the whole thing — but it did somewhat shortcircuit some of the drama, I guess?

That said, I did love Joel, and here’s hoping he can undo all Aaron’s buttons, I’m sure he wants to!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Cackle

Posted October 7, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 7 Comments

Review – Cackle

Cackle

by Rachel Harrison

Genres: Horror
Pages: 320
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her long-time boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching job that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. Her new home is picturesque and perfect. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is lovely too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.

Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the town seems… a little afraid of her. And, okay. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power… but she couldn’t be… could she?

Rachel Harrison’s Cackle starts out feeling surprisingly cosy and familiar: a girl breaks up with her long-term boyfriend (who clearly doesn’t appreciate her enough), and strikes out on her own to a small town where everyone’s friendly and everything feels warm and welcoming. Life’s still hard and she’s grieving the relationship, but she meets a new friend who’s warm and encouraging and helps her open up to more of the world’s possibilities.

With spiders. And maybe ghosts? And curses? Everyone in the town is scared of this friend, Sophie, even though she’s always nice to Annie. The unease builds up slowly, and at the same time there’s still that cosiness: Sophie sees Annie and wants to bake with her, make her pretty clothes, watch Netflix with her. The spider is surprisingly endearing.

It all ends up feeling weirdly… ambivalent? Sure, Sophie scares the townspeople, and it’s fairly clear that she’s amoral and self-centered. At the same time, some comeuppance is deserved, and Annie does deserve to be valued, and to learn that she didn’t need that guy: some of the stuff that is unsettling is just that Sophie has power, without it being obvious that she’s actually going to do anything with it (whether that’s evict someone or curse them).

Cosy-unsettling is a fascinating vibe, and overall I really enjoyed this. Annie’s self-pity got a bit wearing at times, and Sophie’s attitude to others sometimes feels a bit too off — but you can’t help but be eager for Annie’s freedom, once she finally figures things out.

One thing I would say: if you’re struggling with depression or alcoholism, this probably isn’t the book for you. Annie’s definitely depressed and definitely self-medicates with alcohol.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Fence, vol 5

Posted October 6, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Fence, vol 5

Fence: Rise

by C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joanna LaFuente, Jim Campbell

Genres: Graphic Novels
Pages: 110
Series: Fence #5
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

En Garde! Excitement is in the air as Nicholas and his friends celebrate their prestigious invitation to the Halverton Training Camp. But they soon find themselves pushed to their limits as they come face-to-face with the best teams in the country. Will a new addition to the opposing team help Nicholas awaken the fighting spirit he needs to prevail? And what will it mean for his friendship with Seiji?

So much to love about the fifth volume of C.S. Pacat and Johanna the Mad’s Fence! Bobby is adorable, and I love that he gets to be the team manager, and I especially love the relationship between him and Dante. The fact that Dante would clearly get into anything Bobby wants to do is just… gaah, so cute.

Nicholas and Seiji’s relationship continues to develop, as well, and I like that though Nicholas has some flashes of brilliance and speed, the story never pretends he’s going to easily skill-up to beat Seiji. He has a long way to go, for all his enthusiasm and bluster, and we see that repeatedly, even where it might be tempting to give him a quick glow-up to match Seiji.

I do also enjoy Harvard and Aiden’s closeness; please just date, you idiots.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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