Tag: books

Review – Clockwork Boys

Posted September 21, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 1 Comment

Clockwork Boys

by T. Kingfisher

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 282
Series: Clocktaur War #1
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
In the first book of this touching and darkly comic duology, a paladin, a forger, an assassin and a scholar ride out of town on an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. When forger Slate is convicted of treason, she faces a death sentence. But her unique gift for sniffing out magic (literally) earns her a reprieve-of sorts. Along with a paladin, Caliban, possessed by a demon, her murderous ex-lover, and an irritating misogynist scholar, Slate sets off on a mission to learn about the Clockwork Boys, deadly mechanical soldiers from a neighbouring kingdom who have been terrorising their lands. If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but they must survive a long journey through enemy territory to reach Anuket City. And Slate has her own reasons to dread returning to her former home. Slate and her crew aren't the first to be sent on this mission. None of their predecessors have returned, and Slate can't help but feel they've exchanged one death sentence for another. Her increasing closeness to Caliban isn't helping matters: for the first time in a long time, Slate might actually care about surviving.

T. Kingfisher’s Clockwork Boys has been issued in a new UK print edition, which finally spurred me to get round to reading it — and now I’m glad that I have the sequel in ebook already, because the UK print edition isn’t out, but the duology is really the same story just split between two books. It doesn’t end in this volume by any means.

I found it all very enjoyable: quintessentially Kingfisher-ish, of course, from her physically nondescript female lead to her magic system to her paladin character and his particular hangups. It’s your classic fantasy journey to solve a problem, a biiiig ol’ problem, with a mismatched group consisting of one volunteer and three felons being compelled by a tattoo that’ll eat them if they betray the mission (fascinating concept). It all has her usual humour and warmth, along with truly terrifying ideas (see also: the tattoo that can eat you).

Of course I’ve read Paladin’s Grace, in the same world but (IIRC) written later, so I had some prior grounding on the world, which means I was also trying to slot it into what I know of that book.

It’s very fun and goes by pretty quickly, even if occasionally I want to whack Caliban upside the head, and I’m eager for the next book.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, SF/F, T. Kingfisher

Review – I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf

Posted September 20, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf

by Grant Snider

Genres: Graphic Novels
Pages: 128
Rating: two-stars

Synopsis:
It's no secret, but we are judged by our bookshelves. We learn to read at an early age, and as we grow older we shed our beloved books for new ones. But some of us surround ourselves with books. We collect them, decorate with them, are inspired by them, and treat our books as sacred objects. In this lighthearted collection of one- and two-page comics, writer-artist Grant Snider explores bookishness in all its forms, and the love of writing and reading, building on the beloved literary comics featured on his website, Incidental Comics.

Grant Snider’s I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf is a fun bookish set of comics, though I wouldn’t recommend it as one to sit down and read in one go, because it gets a little repetitive. I like the style, and it did provoke a few smiles, don’t get me wrong! But when it feels so samey, the joke kind of palls, and worse, it reminded me a lot of other reader-focused humour (and personally amongst all of that, Tom Gauld’s strips are usually my favourites).

It might be a fun one to have around and dip in and out of, or read a couple of pages a day, or something like that, and I’m sure there’s something in here that every reader will recognise themselves in.

If you have Kobo Plus, it’s included in that, so you could take a peek there if you’d like to check it out rather than buy a physical copy right away!

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

Tags: book reviews, books, comics, Grant Snider, graphic novels

Stacking the Shelves & The Sunday Post

Posted September 20, 2025 by Nicky in General / 20 Comments

Welp, I’m back home! And taking a couple of days off to turn this into a long weekend and get some chill time, because oooof.

Books acquired this week

This week featured a quick library trip to grab my hold, and a few impulsive/random choices!

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers was the hold, the others were random choices. Of the poetry, I know I like some of Simon Armitage’s work, but Andrew Motion’s has previously left me cold and I don’t think I’ve read anything by Helen Tookey before, except maaaaybe in an anthology. So we’ll see how I get on with those — I’ve already made a start!

I did also snag a book from Netgalley because I felt like reading a novella, I have auto-approval, and… dinosaurs.

Posts from this week

I kept up posting, mostly, though I skipped Top Ten Tuesday this week due to a combo of circumstances and a prompt that didn’t call to me. So it’s mostly reviews:

Fantasy manga: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter manga, vol. 3, by Kazuki Irodori (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Classic play: R.U.R., by Karel Čapek (3/5 stars, “liked it”)
Non-fiction: It’s The End of the World, by Adam Roberts (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
Romance: Mr Collins in Love, by Lee Welch (4/5 stars, “really liked it”)
Short mysteries: Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries, ed. Martin Edwards (2/5 stars, “it was okay”)
Non-fiction: Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages, by Jack Hartnell (3/5 stars, “liked it”)

And I did post a What Are You Reading Wednesday post!

What I’m reading

I’ve been reading a lot again this week, especially with being mostly offline from Saturday through to late night on Tuesday! Here’s the usual sneak peek at what I’ve finished and plan to review on the blog — it doesn’t look quite as impressive as last week, but some of the books were quite long/slow.

I’m not sure what I’ll focus on over the weekend, yet. Maybe I’ll finally start on KJ Charles’ The Duke at Hazard, and there’s a good chance I’ll start reading another British Library Crime Classics collection (probably Blood on the Tracks)… but to be honest, I haven’t settled to anything yet!

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

Tags: books, Stacking the Shelves, weekly roundup

Review – Medieval Bodies

Posted September 19, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages

by Jack Hartnell

Genres: History, Non-fiction, Science
Pages: 352
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different to our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule.

In this richly-illustrated and unusual history, Jack Hartnell uncovers the fascinating ways in which people thought about, explored and experienced their physical selves in the Middle Ages, from Constantinople to Cairo and Canterbury. Unfolding like a medieval pageant, and filled with saints, soldiers, caliphs, queens, monks and monstrous beasts, it throws light on the medieval body from head to toe - revealing the surprisingly sophisticated medical knowledge of the time in the process.

Bringing together medicine, art, music, politics, philosophy and social history, there is no better guide to what life was really like for the men and women who lived and died in the Middle Ages.

Jack Hartnell’s Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages is a very attractive book, with in-line colour illustrations. It’s definitely aimed at a pretty casual audience, with little by the way of referenced sources: mostly it’s a conversation with the author, in chapters arranged by theme (skin, feet, heart, etc) with various pieces of art and discussions of medicine that illuminate little pieces of how medieval people viewed the world.

I found it a bit shallow and random at times, because it tries to cover a lot of ground and cover things the author finds especially interesting, and it kind of feels like there’s no throughline that brings it all together beyond curiosity. Which is laudable, don’t get me wrong, but means there’s not so much of a solid narrative to get you through the book and link things up.

Being fair, there is a bibliography at the back if you want to try to look up sources, and it is beautifully presented! Just doesn’t quite come together, at least for me.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, history, Jack Hartnell, non-fiction, science

Review – Resorting to Murder

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

Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries

by Martin Edwards (editor)

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Short Stories
Pages: 317
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating: two-stars

Synopsis:
Holidays offer us the luxury of getting away from it all. So, in a different way, do detective stories. This collection of vintage mysteries combines both those pleasures. From a golf course at the English seaside to a pension in Paris, and from a Swiss mountain resort to the cliffs of Normandy, this new selection shows the enjoyable and unexpected ways in which crime writers have used summer holidays as a theme.

These fourteen stories range widely across the golden age of British crime fiction. Stellar names from the past are well represented - Arthur Conan Doyle and G. K. Chesterton, for instance - with classic stories that have won acclaim over the decades. The collection also uncovers a wide range of hidden gems: Anthony Berkeley - whose brilliance with plot had even Agatha Christie in raptures - is represented by a story so (undeservedly) obscure that even the British Library does not own a copy. The stories by Phyllis Bentley and Helen Simpson are almost equally rare, despite the success which both writers achieved, while those by H. C. Bailey, Leo Bruce and the little-known Gerald Findler have seldom been reprinted.

Each story is introduced by the editor, Martin Edwards, who sheds light on the authors' lives and the background to their writing.

Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries is, like all the short story collections in the British Library Crime Classics series, edited by Martin Edwards, so it’s the usual spread of stories which includes some well-known ones (Conan Doyle), some standbys for the series (H.C. Bailey) and a couple of lesser-known ones, including one where the author is virtually unknown — or was at the time of publication.

For someone interested in crime fiction in general, then, it has the usual interest of being a survey of mystery stories around this theme, etc, etc. I must admit it was far from being a favourite for me, not helped by the fact that one of the stories (the one from Anthony Berkeley, if I recall) has been used in one of the other collections before or since (not sure which one, but I know the story, and that’s the only reason I would).

There are some fun stories in this collection, don’t get me wrong (I liked the atmosphere in “Where Is Mr Manetot?” for instance), but overall it didn’t grab me.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

Tags: book reviews, books, crime, Martin Edwards, mystery, short stories

Review – Mr Collins in Love

Posted September 17, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Mr Collins in Love

by Lee Welch

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 151
Rating: four-stars

Synopsis:
The year is 1811 and the new rector of Hunsford, Mr William Collins, must be above reproach. He must be respectable, pious, good at losing at quadrille, and disapproving of popular novels. Above all, he must obey his terrifying patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

When William’s boyhood friend Jem arrives, looking for safe harbour from the press-gangs, William’s ‘perfect clergyman’ disguise begins to slip. A farm labourer’s son, Jem is gentle and loyal, and being with him is all William wants. Soon, Jem and William renew their youthful intimacies—until Lady Catherine’s demands come between them.

Can William find a way to navigate the Regency marriage market without losing his beloved Jem?

This m/m historical romance is a Pride and Prejudice spin-off and features characters from the original novel by Jane Austen alongside original characters.

Lee Welch’s Mr Collins in Love is based around, yep, Mr Collins from Pride & Prejudice: the book is written from his point of view, and with empathy toward him. Here he’s coded as being on the spectrum, and powerfully concerned with keeping up appearances in order to be able to maintain the quiet home life he loves — which leaves him stuck between the problem of needing to marry to satisfy his patroness, while not wanting to bring home a young wife who will disrupt his household.

That need intensifies when a friend from his boyhood arrives and asks to be taken in. They aren’t of the same social status, but that never mattered when they were kids, and Mr Collins finds that it doesn’t matter when they’re alone together now, either, which becomes a powerful comfort to him.

The vibe here is really gentle, and it’s less about all-consuming romance than comfort and having someone you can be yourself with. Mr Collins loves Jem, undoubtedly, and he does say so, but it’s more about the companionship between them, and finding a way to continue the way they’ve been. They don’t kiss, they barely touch, and I can see why some readers don’t find it much of a romance, but relationships don’t all have to look exactly the same to be a real romance.

I did also enjoy the stuff that fleshed out Mr Collins’ everyday world — the work he does as a rector, the work he enjoys in the garden — and the practical arrangement he comes to with Charlotte Lucas, which promises another potential kindred soul, or at least the continuation of his quiet and peaceful world.

I think Welch did a great job; I’m not a Pride & Prejudice fan, nor a superfan of Austen in general, so maybe purists would hate it, or fans would want more of it to be explored, like Collins’ interactions with the Bennets (we only really see Mr Bennet). Personally I don’t think I’d have wanted much more of it (and I found the scene with Mr Bennet quite awful because he so clearly mocks Collins), so it seemed perfect to me. I might’ve liked a little more of the aftermath, with Charlotte Lucas moving into Collins’ home, but the promise of gentle contentment is enough.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, historical fiction, Lee Welch, romance

WWW Wednesday

Posted September 17, 2025 by Nicky in General / 0 Comments

What have you recently finished reading?

Yesterday I finished up Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis and KJ Charles’ Copper Script. I enjoyed both, though I had a few embarrassment-squick moments with The Love Hypothesis, and thought that Copper Script ended maybe a bit abruptly.

Still, both of them made for fun reading on a long car drive (and in the case of Copper Script, when I didn’t feel like going to bed once I arrived home, heh).

What are you currently reading?

The only thing I’m very actively reading is a library book, Boria Sax’s City of Ravens. I’m — hm. A touch sceptical about the links between the ravens of the Tower and Bran the Blessed, I must admit. But I’m early in the book, and maybe it’ll get round to discussing more links and research rather than just “Bran was associated with ravens and some people say the location his head was buried was the Tower”. I’d need to see a link between the two in order to feel that the one almost-forgotten tradition influenced the other very new one.

Other than that, I actually focused on finishing a bunch of books over the weekend! I still have a couple that’ve been backburnered for a while, which I want to go back to, e.g. my ARC of Georgia Summers’ The Bookshop Below.

What will you read next?

Excellent question, who knows? I’ll probably focus on some of the books I have already on the go, mostly, though I’ll probably also read the British Library Crime Classic collection Blood on the Tracks soon, since it’s on my bingo card and, being a short story collection, good when I need something bitesize. Some of the books I have on the go — like Lucy Cooke’s Bitch, which is non-fiction about female animals — are quite dense, so that’d break things up nicely.

Tags: books, WWW Wednesday

Review – It’s The End of the World

Posted September 16, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

It's the End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid Of?

by Adam Roberts

Genres: Non-fiction
Pages: 202
Rating: two-stars

Synopsis:
A trailblazing and highly topical look at how - and why - we imagine the world is going to end.

Are we doomed? Is an almighty power or an earth-shattering meteor waiting for us just around the corner?

In this thought-provoking book, Professor Adam Roberts explores our many different cultural visions of the end of the world - likely and unlikely, mundane and bizarre - and what they say about how we see ourselves and our societies. What is it is that we are really afraid of? An uncaring universe; an uncontrollable environment; the human capacity for destruction; or just our own, personal apocalypse - our mortality?

From last man and dying earth fiction to zombies swarming on screen and the ruined landscapes of immersive gaming, via sweeping contagions, invading aliens, falling bombs and rising robots, buckle up for the end of the world.

I felt like Adam Roberts’ It’s The End of the World: But What Are We Really Afraid Of? was less insightful than I’d hoped. It uses a few examples per chapter to discuss various kinds of apocalypse stories and why we’re fascinated by them, but it mostly seemed pretty obvious — though this might in part be due to my background in literature, so it may be more exciting/surprising to someone who hasn’t really explored the idea before.

I think Roberts should proooobably stay in his lane, though, since he opines on epidemiology without apparently doing any research, suggesting that globalisation reduces the risks of disease spreading:

As the global population increases, and as globalisation mixes up populations, epidemics have less bite, thanks to a better understanding of how to prevent the spread of disease, and the twinned healthcare countermeasures of immunisation and the improved treatment of those who fall sick.

The global population increase contributes to people being packed in closer together in cities, which makes epidemics more risky. The mixing of populations increases the risk of transmission between groups that wouldn’t have formerly come into contact. The expansion and mobility of the population encroaches further and further on the remaining “wild” areas, which lead to people being more in contact with animals who may harbour zoonotic diseases. We don’t have vaccines for diseases we’ve never encountered before, and those definitely still exist. We don’t have good treatments for many of the diseases we already know about, let alone ones we’ve never encounted or have never encountered at scale.

He’s just wrong in basically every way to say this, and he should probably stick to literary criticism rather than casually spread misinformation. He also later says that:

No plague will kill 4,999 out of every 5,000 humans — as we’ve seen [from SARS-CoV-2], even if the numbers are high, in terms of percentage of population it’s likely to be very low.

I don’t want to get on my soapbox for too long about a short chapter in a short book about science fiction, but I feel like this kind of pronouncement is so naive and such a threat that it needs calling out every single time. SARS-CoV-2 didn’t prove that there will never be a more dangerous pandemic. That we’ve survived this one doesn’t mean we’ll survive the next.

So, overall a bit disappointing, this one. By the nature of the beast, he also missed out many really great examples, but I wouldn’t ding him for that; mostly I just feel that it didn’t go very deep into this stuff, and that he should stay in his lane.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

Tags: Adam Roberts, book reviews, books, non-fiction

Review – R.U.R.

Posted September 15, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

R.U.R.

by Karel Čapek

Genres: Classics, Plays, Science Fiction
Pages: 73
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
R.U.R. - written in 1920, premiered in Prague in 1921, and first performed in New York in 1922 - garnered worldwide acclaim for its author and popularized the word 'robot'. Mass-produced as efficient laborers to serve man, Capek's Robots are an android product-they remember everything but think of nothing new. But the Utopian life they provide ultimately lacks meaning, and the humans they serve stop reproducing. When the Robots revolt, killing all but one of their masters, they must strain to learn the secret of self-duplication. It is not until two Robots fall in love and are christened "Adam" and "Eve" by the last surviving human that Nature emerges triumphant.

It’s always difficult (for me, anyway!) to review a classic like Karel Čapek’s R.U.R., because I usually rate on enjoyment of the story or quality of the book, but classics tempt me to rate based on significance as well. When I first read R.U.R. — which I’d actually forgotten that I had even read it before — I clearly didn’t really like it or get it, which is interesting.

This time… well, it’s still incredibly weird that all the main characters are in love with Helena, but other stuff stuck with me more, like this quotation:

“And that‘s not what your R. U. R. shareholders dream of either. They dream of dividends, and their dividends are the ruin of mankind.”

Oof. Just, oof.

In a way, it’s very predictable to the reader now, but also… unfortunately recognisable. That wasn’t the only bit that made me wince with recognition, for sure.

It’s also, of course, important for being the first use of the word “robots”, and there’s a line running through from R.U.R. to The Murderbot Diaries, even if it’s a long lineage. I’m glad I reread it and gave it some time again.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, classics, Karel Čapek, plays, SF/F

Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 3

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

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga)

by Kazuki Irodori, Yatsuki Wakutsu

Genres: Fantasy, Manga, Romance
Pages: 178
Series: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga) #3
Rating: three-stars

Synopsis:
Just the other day, an office worker was dragged through a portal to a fantasy world in a different dimension. He requests only one thing — a job. So began Kondou’s career as an accountant for the Romany Kingdom. However, when Aresh finds said bean counter in dire straits, the dashing knight captain takes it upon himself to care for Kondou. Soon after, Kondou catches the attention of the prime minister, resulting in his promotion to a middle management position. With his new title, Kondou finds his workload increasing along with the dangers associated with him. As a consequence, Aresh faces an entirely new obstacle — how to protect his bean counter from not only himself but the outside world as well…

NB: this review is actually from before I read the light novels, since I try to space out my reviews and provide some diversity! So now I know how the plot all turns out… but I didn’t bother editing this review, and it remains my first impressions.

The third volume of The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter certainly goes places! I found it a bit less light-hearted than the other volumes, since Seiichirou is violently beaten and left for dead, and then dragged into very certain danger for political reasons.

Aresh’s devotion to him continues to be somewhat sweet, though still rather controlling. And yeah, it’s to save his life — and yeah, Seiichirou is annoyingly careless and in fact actively endangering himself to no real purpose — but there has to be a place where it stops, and I’m not certain I believe Aresh knows that (and sometimes he crosses the line). It’s really clear that they need to have a conversation about Aresh’s feelings, though Seiichirou is pretty unreadable on that front, only seeming to think about what he owes Aresh.

I find it disappointing that the Holy Maiden is kind of oblivious. I wonder if she’ll become more of an ally to Seiichirou now, or whether there’s something deliberate and malicious under the girlishness. Her interest in Aresh is pretty annoying, but I find it uncomfortable that I’m annoyed about it — it seems like she’s set up to be hated for being interested in one of the (gay) male leads, a pattern I always hated in fic as a teen and actively avoid now.

Overall, curious where the plot is going, and where Aresh and Seiichirou’s relationship will end up, but I definitely need them to communicate and examine their own feelings (preferably in the reverse of that order).

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

Tags: book reviews, books, Kazuki Irodori, manga, romance, SF/F, Yatsuki Wakutsu