Tag: SF/F

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 1

Posted May 28, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 1

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Manga
Pages: 320
Series: Solo Leveling #1
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Known as the the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind, E-rank hunter Jinwoo Sung's contribution to raids amounts to trying not to get killed. Unfortunately, between his mother’s hospital bills, his sister's tuition, and his own lack of job prospects, he has no choice but to continue to put his life on the line. So when an opportunity arises for a bigger payout, he takes it… only to come face-to-face with a being whose power outranks anything he’s ever seen! With the party leader missing an arm and the only healer a quivering mess, can Jinwoo some­how find them a way out?

Someone I follow online has been super enthusiastic about Solo Leveling for a while, so when I found volume one of the manhwa in the local indie bookshop, it seemed like a sign (especially as it didn’t seem much like anything else they have in stock). I liked the art okay, though I didn’t always keep track of who was who very well, probably in part because they were a bit “cannon fodder” ish — this book is really an introduction, and ends with Jinwoo’s first solo instance.

I enjoyed it, though it really does feel like just reading a prologue. It sets up the world and the basics pretty well (it helps for me that I’m familiar with gaming, admittedly), and it gives us a solid feel for who Jinwoo is and what he wants/needs out of life.

I’m curious to see where it goes, and I might check out the light novels as well. It’s hard to say whether it’s for me just from this first volume, because it feels like things could turn out really different once it gets into the meat of the story. We’ll see!

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Drake Hall

Posted May 25, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Drake Hall

Drake Hall

by Christina Baehr

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 203
Series: The Secrets of Ormdale #2
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Edith’s ancient home is full of secrets…and dragons are the least of them.

As the new dragon keeper in the hidden valley of Ormdale, Edith expects her first dragon mating season to involve venomous bites and amorous wyverns. She doesn’t expect to find herself growing closer to an inconveniently appealing suitor next door, or to stumble upon a dragon poacher lurking in the outbuildings, or to uncover a family scandal in the Abbey.

Fortunately, Edith has a mentor to help her sort things out, the spellbinding Helena Drake of Drake Hall. Or does Helena harbour secrets of her own?

For Edith, the dragons were always going to be the easy part.

Christina Baehr’s Drake Hall is the second book of the series, and I think it got off the ground a bit faster than the first book — certainly I didn’t stall partway through reading, and felt pretty impelled through it. I did feel a bit cringy about certain aspects, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen when her cousin finds out what Edith’s been writing exactly (feels like a prime moment for some stupid misunderstanding).

It was definitely interesting to see Edith ending up somewhat in opposition to a particular character; it’s not something I’d been expecting, from the build-up, though we got hints in that direction pretty quickly in this installment.

I’m not quite sold on the potential romance, still, but there does now feel like there’s some space for it to grow, so… we’ll see!

Overall it feels a bit like an episode, or a part of a bigger book, rather than a standalone novel (in some ways, at least) — I’m glad I have the next one to continue onto.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – The All-Nighter, vol 1

Posted May 23, 2025 by Nicky in Uncategorized / 4 Comments

Review – The All-Nighter, vol 1

The All-Nighter

by Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Paris Alleyne, Aditya Bidikar

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Pages: 136
Series: The All-Nighter #1
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Welcome to The All-Nighter, the only diner in town where you can get coffee and a meal from sunset to sunrise! The staff are friendly (kind of) and happy to serve you (sometimes), and it would never cross their minds to drink their customers’ blood…

Alex is bored—flipping burgers for strangers all night is no way for a vampire to live. But he and his fellow vampires Joy, Cynthia, and Ian have agreed to blend into human society. Inspired by superhero movies, one of few passions in his un-life, Alex decides to don a cape and start fighting bad guys. But his decision will have bigger consequences than he realizes—for himself and for everyone he wants to protect.

I read all three volumes of Chip Zdarsky’s The All-Nighter in pretty short order, so apologies if I get the events of each book a little overlapped! The basic premise of the series is that stories have the power to create the creatures they discuss — Dracula came into being for real thanks to Bram Stoker, Frankenstein’s monster due to Mary Shelley, etc. They remember their fictional pasts, but they’ve also lived on since then. And there are, of course, rules. They must not reveal themselves, or The Takers come.

So there’s a bunch of vampires running a diner, appearing only at night, and trying to fake that they’re just humans to avoid a run-in with The Takers. This isn’t always a very satisfying life, though, and one of them (Alex) ends up giving into his urge to show off his strength and power by playing the hero and rescuing someone. It turns out to be a loophole: he can pretend to be a superhero, instead, a vigilante hero who works at night, Batman-style…

And obviously things go wrong. There’s a found-family situation at the diner and of course they get dragged into it, though most of them (other than Joy) aren’t fleshed out much in this first volume, which makes it a bit more difficult to care about that.

In the end, they all come together to solve the mess Alex has caused as all kinds of creatures come out of the woodwork using the same loophole of superheroes and supervillains… but obviously the genie can’t be put back in the bottle.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Necrobane

Posted May 19, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Necrobane

Necrobane

by Daniel M. Ford

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 366
Series: The Warden #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Aelis de Lenti, Lone Pine's newly assigned Warden, is in deep trouble. She has just opened the crypts of Mahlgren, releasing an army of the undead into the unprotected backwoods of Ystain.

To protect her village, she must unearth a source of immense Necromantic power at the heart of Mahlgren. The journey will wind through waves of undead, untamed wilderness, and curses far older than anything Aelis has ever encountered. But as strong as Aelis is, this is one quest she cannot face alone.

Along with the brilliant mercenary she's fallen for, her half-orc friend, and a dwarven merchant, Aelis must race the clock to unravel mysteries, slay dread creatures, and stop what she has set in motion before the flames of a bloody war are re-ignited.

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.

I’d meant to dig into Daniel M. Ford’s Necrobane right away after reading the first book, but somehow it didn’t happen. Fortunately, I felt like I was able to plunge back into the world really well — I don’t feel like I could explain to you the magic system of the world in any detail, even after just finishing the book, but it feels lived in. I want to be clear: it’s not a criticism! I feel kind of like the friends and acquaintances Aelis has, watching from the outside her very academic understanding of what she does. There are rules here, it’s just that I don’t know them, and that’s handled well by the story.

The story picks up more or less where we left off, with Aelis hurrying to deal with the aftermath of her actions in The Warden. We get more of Tun and Maurenia as characters, and more cool magic, and a twist that I basically saw coming (though I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to, it was so obvious that the tension was more in waiting for what would come of it, rather than whether something would come of it).

Some of the things that irritated me a bit in the first book, like Aelis’ tendency to talk to herself, were somewhat better here? Or rather, she kept doing so, but it felt less obtrusive and more natural.

I do feel a bit meh about her lack of forward planning, though; it feels like it allows for a somewhat sloppy plot (though it probably feels that way because it’s third-person limited, very tight to Aelis). It doesn’t take a super clever opponent to have her run herself into a trap, but we’re supposed to believe Dalius is very cunning, very clever, and Aelis can still run rings around him while just reacting to every situation rather than planning ahead. Even when she deliberately charges into a trap, her plan is basically “be really fast and strong”. Great. It’s entertaining reading, don’t get me wrong, but it does all feel a bit ad hoc.

In any case, the ending is rather a cliffhanger — some of Aelis’ problems are gone, but now she has a whole new one, which I definitely didn’t predict. I’m keen to pick up The Advocate soon.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – A Letter from the Lonesome Shore

Posted May 18, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – A Letter from the Lonesome Shore

A Letter from the Lonesome Shore

by Sylvie Cathrall

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 384
Series: The Sunken Archive #2
Rating: five-stars
Synopsis:

The charming conclusion to the Sunken Archive duology, a heart-warming magical academia fantasy filled with underwater cities, romance of manners and found family, perfect for fans of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.

Former correspondents E. and Henerey, accustomed to loving each other from afar, did not anticipate continuing their courtship in an enigmatic underwater city. When their journey through the Structure in E.'s garden strands them in a peculiar society preoccupied with the pleasures and perils of knowledge, E. and Henerey come to accept--and, more surprisingly still, embrace--the fact that they may never return home.

A year and a half later, Sophy and Vyerin finally discover one of the elusive Entries that will help them seek their siblings. As the group's efforts bring them closer to E. and Henerey, an ancient, cosmic threat also draws near...

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.

I was a huge fan of Sylvie Cathrall’s debut, so I was very excited to read the follow-up, A Letter from the Lonesome Shore. For the majority of the book, it builds up the little mysteries more and more, and keeps up the same format of letters and documents relating to E. Cidnosin and Henery Clel (both letters between them, and letters relating to their siblings’ search for them).

For the first little bit of the book, I wasn’t quite sure. I didn’t know who the characters were and what their involvement in E. and Henery’s story was, so it seemed like the book might be taking a step back from them, which I didn’t love. But soon enough the letters between E. and Henery began, and their love winds gently through the story — along with the love their siblings have for them, and the determination of Vyerin and Sophy to find them.

I would say that the ending didn’t quite work for me just in that there were so many mysteries built up and not discussed that it broke the tension a little to have anything revealed. You know that principle where the monster in a horror movie is scariest when the director doesn’t show it directly? Like that. I did like the solution of the mysteries, and how the whole book ended: it’s entirely fitting! But the building up of the mysteries did add a lot, and it was weird once things were revealed and out in the open. It was satisfyingly weird, but not “weird beyond my wildest dreams of weird”, which is what all the obfuscation was beginning to make me feel like it ought to be.

Still, I feel like that’s rather a quibble against all else I love about this book. I adore E., I love that her (literal) OCD is presented, and not treated as a superpower nor as something that will prevent her ever achieving any of her aims, but just as a significant and disabling part of her life. Likewise Henery’s anxieties. Having at least three asexual characters with varying degrees of interest in romance is also a lovely thing.

Overall, it’s a lovely, lovely duology — I assume it’s over, given where it’s left, but who knows…

Rating: 5/5

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Review – A Mouthful of Dust

Posted May 15, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – A Mouthful of Dust

A Mouthful of Dust

by Nghi Vo

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 128
Series: The Singing Hills Cycle #6
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Wandering Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant come to the river town of Baolin chasing stories of a legendary famine. Amid tales of dishes served to royalty and desserts made of dust, they discover the secrets of what happens when hunger stalks the land and what the powerful will do to hide their crimes.

Trapped in the mansion of a sinister magistrate, Chih and Almost Brilliant must learn what happened in Baolin when the famine came to call, and they must do so quickly... because the things in the shadows are only growing hungrier.

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.

Pretty much anything by Nghi Vo is an auto-read for me, so I grabbed A Mouthful of Dust eagerly. In this one, Chih is looking for the stories of a recent famine, and plunges straight into a clearly fraught local situation. Cannibalism is more or less taken for granted in these situations, and Chih expects to find it, but people have all kinds of secrets around a famine, and the local magistrate definitely wants to hide something — and it… isn’t cannibalism?

This one’s a bit creepy, and it feels like Chih’s definitely in some danger. It feels really short, though: not incomplete, but it’s a small spare mouthful, lean with famine and shame. I’d maybe have liked one or two more stories; maybe I’d have liked a certain character to tell her story to Chih and give her own point of view…

In any case, this also reminded me that I’d really like to reread some of the earlier books in the series. Like the others, it pretty much stands alone once you have the basic concept, but it references the Empress of Salt and Fortune, and that made me remember how long it is since I read the book of that name, and that I’ve half-forgotten her story.

A lovely, lovely series of novellas, though they go some dark places. It’s an amazing concept for a series which lets Nghi Vo explore a whole range of themes and locations.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Automatic Noodle

Posted May 14, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Automatic Noodle

Automatic Noodle

by Annalee Newitz

Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 160
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food—the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around—for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.

But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other—and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them.

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.

Annalee Newitz’s Automatic Noodle is a cosy found-family-for-bots story set in the aftermath of California seceding from the US. That cosiness sits oddly against what inevitably reads as an allegory of racism in the anti-robot sentiment that the characters face, and against the capitalist nightmare Uber Eats etc etc.

I feel like there was a lot of stuff that was touched on, like Staybehind’s trauma, that could’ve been expanded on in a way that would’ve made it less of a feel-good cosy story, but for me would’ve made it a bit more satisfying. For me, the themes sat oddly with the wrap-up, which gives us a quick triumph against the anti-bot review-bombers and a warm snuggly feeling of community.

I couldn’t help but still be left wondering, could it really be that easy? The bots haven’t exactly escaped t the capitalist hellscape… community and good food don’t really answer the problems it raises. And it’s okay that Newitz didn’t want to write that kind of story, but I couldn’t believe in uncomplicated cosiness and a triumphant happy ending here — it was only a “happy for now”, all too clearly, and all the other stuff just hovers unaddressed.

So I think this one fizzled for me, ultimately, which is a bit of a shame as there was much to like, especially Cayenne and Hands.

Rating: 2/5

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Review – A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 7

Posted May 13, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation, vol 7

A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

by Misaki, Momochi, Lamp, Magonote, Sando

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 192
Series: A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation #7
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Lizel, the gentle noble from another world, generally spends his time relentlessly pursuing his hobbies and challenging himself inside labyrinths alongside his party. This time, Lizel, Gil, and Eleven stumble upon an arm wrestling contest for a prize that Lizel desperately wants: a new book. Will he be able to convince Single Stroke Gil to enter the contest for him?

And later, when a sudden horde of monsters appears near Marcade, Lizel notices that this isn't any ordinary invasion: these monsters are strategizing and targeting certain areas of the city. Will C-Rank Lizel be able to convince the fellow Adventurers defending Marcade to change their strategy in the face of such an abnormal invasion?

Volume seven of A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation featured at least five instances of me giggling and taking my ereader to show my wife a page or panel, at least two instances of “platonic” cheek stroking, one “platonic” tucking-of-hair-behind-an-ear and one platonic Lizel-grabbing-Gil’s-hand to beg him to win him a book.

Yep, I continue extremely sceptical about how these books are totally just showing “deep camaraderie”. Which, don’t get me wrong, is a lovely thing, but this doesn’t feel like that. It genuinely seems like Gil and Eleven love Lizel, while Studd and Judge have serious crushes — and their physical intimacies don’t help at all with that, though they’re not the only reason.

I loved that we get several glimpses at Gil fighting, and how very, very overpowered he is. I’m also very curious what Lizel’s up to, overall (the man’s mind is wheels within wheels), and what’s going on with the attack on Marcade.

So, yep, still in love with this series, still wish more people would read it. I do feel at times like explanations are a bit lacking, which is probably part the format and part the translation, plus some cultural stuff (the things that go without saying in a particular culture’s stories, or are heavily implied by something else in the story, may need to be spelled out in that of another, perhaps).

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Carmilla

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

Review – Carmilla

Carmilla

by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Horror
Pages: 122
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In a lonely castle deep in the Styrian forest, Laura leads a solitary life with only her elderly father for company – until a moonlit night brings an unexpected guest to the schloss. At first Laura is glad to finally have a female companion of her own age, but her new friend’s strange habits and eerie nocturnal wanderings quickly become unsettling, and soon a ghastly truth is revealed.

Suffused with gothic horror and sexual tension, Carmilla predated Dracula by 26 years, has inspired generations of writers and is the foundation of the lesbian vampire myth.

J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla is a classic, but not one I’d actually read yet, so I picked it up via Serial Reader to get myself acquainted ahead of reading a retelling that I’m curious about. As expected (and fairly typical of a vampire narrative), it’s homoerotic and full of confused desire between the victim and the vampire (in this case Laura and Carmilla), but it’s really open here.

Not a lot happens, the page count mostly occupies itself with building up atmosphere and that tangled, repulsive attraction that Laura has for Carmilla. Though the narrative is from Laura’s point of view, and she wasn’t aware of what was going on at the time, it’s very very obvious, to the point that the clues seem almost too spelled out at times… It’s perfectly readable, but a little long-winded at times.

I’m glad I got round to reading it, but I’m fascinated to see what modern retellings might make of it, more than anything.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – A Drop of Corruption

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

Review – A Drop of Corruption

A Drop of Corruption

by Robert Jackson Bennett

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 454
Series: Shadow of the Leviathan #2
Rating: five-stars
Synopsis:

An impossible crime has occurred. A Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air – abducted from his quarters in a building whose entrances and exits are all sealed.

The brilliant and mercurial investigator, Ana Dolabra, and her assistant Dinios Kol have been called in to crack the case.

Before long, Ana discovers that they’re actually investigating a murder. Worse, the adversary seems to be able to pass through warded doors like a ghost, and can predict every one of Ana’s moves as though they can see the future.

Ana’s solved impossible cases before. But this time, with the stakes higher than ever and the investigators seemingly a step behind their adversary at every turn, has Ana finally met an enemy she can’t defeat?

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.

A Drop of Corruption is a wonderful follow-up to the first book, The Tainted Cup. I’ve had the same experience with all of Robert Jackson Bennett’s books that I’ve read so far: I sink right into them and want to gobble them up, and this was no exception. To be very reductive, you might say it’s basically Sherlock Holmes in a fantasy world, but I think you’d be doing it a disservice: it’s imagining a whole fantasy world in which someone manufactured to be like Sherlock Holmes has a place and function. It’s not a retelling, not even close.

The world it’s set in is fascinating, and it expands a bit more in this installment, as we explore a kingdom not yet absorbed into the Empire but on the cusp of being so, and also get a step closer to the leviathans that haunt the edges of both books and threaten Din and Ana’s world. Din’s had a bit longer to settle into the work now, so we also follow his struggle with accepting that this is all he can do, that he and Ana will come in after the fact, and cannot prevent murders, only explain them, maybe avert some of the consequences of them and further tragedies.

In this one, Ana has an opponent a bit more worthy of her, as well. I think the only thing that didn’t quite work for me is that I could also make the leap that Ana does in figuring out the culprit and (to be euphemistic about the solution) what Thelenai needs to do, and I don’t think the reader should be able to when it’s described the way it is here. Ana is something else, and if anything the Sherlock Holmes thing also falls apart here, because she’s capable of not just connecting patterns and making logical inferences like anyone can, she’s capable of connecting the tiniest stray facts, seeing patterns that require her to tiptoe right up to total madness.

But overall I was fixated, really loved it. It’s not perfect, perhaps (nothing is), but it was a wonderful experience that exactly matched what I wanted to read right now.

Rating: 5/5

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