Tag: SF/F

Review – Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Posted October 24, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Before The Coffee Gets Cold

by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 213
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, see their sister one last time, and meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold...

I had suspected that Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold wouldn’t be entirely my thing, so I wasn’t surprised to find that I didn’t love it. It made decent light reading for the car, and I wanted to give it a try since I know other people have really loved it. Mostly, the style (or possibly the translation) didn’t quite work for me — there was quite a bit of reiteration and stating the obvious.

That said, I did enjoy the way it set up time travel with some really heavy constraints, and then played within them to show that you don’t have to change history with time travel to get what you need out of it. The stories are a little sentimental, but more or less in a way I expected, so there’s that. And I did like the story about the guy with Alzheimer’s, and how his wife decided to handle it.

In the end it isn’t deeply profound and life-changing — at least, I didn’t find it to be so — but it was pleasant, and I’m glad I gave it a shot. I might even read the other books at some point, if the library has the ebooks and I feel like they might fit in somewhere.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – A Magical Girl Retires

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

Review – A Magical Girl Retires

A Magical Girl Retires

by Park Seolyeon

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 176
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

A millennial turned magical girl must combat climate change and credit card debt in this delightful, witty, and wildly imaginative ode to magical girl manga.

Twenty-nine, depressed, and drowning in credit card debt after losing her job during the pandemic, a millennial woman decides to end her troubles by jumping off Seoul’s Mapo Bridge.

But her suicide attempt is interrupted by a girl dressed all in white—her guardian angel. Ah Roa is a clairvoyant magical girl on a mission to find the greatest magical girl of all time. And our protagonist just may be that special someone.

But the young woman’s initial excitement turns to frustration when she learns being a magical girl in real life is much different than how it’s portrayed in stories. It isn’t just destiny—it’s work. Magical girls go to job fairs, join trade unions, attend classes. And for this magical girl there are no special powers and no great perks, and despite being magical, she still battles with low self-esteem. Her magic wand . . . is a credit card—which she must use to defeat a terrifying threat that isn’t a monster or an intergalactic war. It’s global climate change. Because magical girls need to think about sustainability, too.

Park Seolyeon reimagines classic fantasy tropes in a novel that explores real-world challenges that are both deeply personal and universal: the search for meaning and the desire to do good in a world that feels like it’s ending. A fun, fast-paced, and enchanting narrative that sparkles thanks to award-nominated translator Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Retires reminds us that we are all magical girls—that fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight can be anyone's game.

I’d been curious about Park Seolyeon’s A Magical Girl Retires for a while, since magical girl stories are fun and the cover art very much calls up that aesthetic and genre. It was available on Kobo Plus, and looked like a quick read, so I snagged it and tore through it: it really is a quick read, very breezily written (despite some dark themes, e.g. the whole first chapter involves the main character considering suicide, and her depression is clear throughout) and with fun art that livens things up.

Unfortunately it felt like it was too much of a quick read — everything happened so fast, each chapter was so short, and I could’ve done with more build-up of the relationship between the main character and Ah Roa (which could’ve been really cute). There’s a lot of fun stuff in the detail of how being a magical girl works, the fact that there’s a magical girl union, etc etc, it just… skips by so fast that it’s difficult to get invested.

Someone else mentioned this was a case where a short story should be expanded into a novel rather than vice versa, and yeah, that’s the feeling I had. The main character is well-drawn as far as it goes (though it’s mostly the depression!) but everything else feels sketched in, and the stakes are so high that that doesn’t seem right. There are definitely neat ideas here, just. Hmmm. It didn’t quite work.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Solo Leveling, vol 6

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

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 6

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 304
Series: Solo Leveling #6
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Jinwoo continues to progress rapidly through the Demon's 6 Castle, climbing toward the top floor with the help of a demon noble who has agreed to escort the intruder if it means not having to fight him herself! Preoccupied with his personal quest, Jinwoo is unaware of the escalating threat outside the dungeon. The ant magic beasts that laid waste to Jeju Island are looking to relocate, and if they reach the mainland, all of Korea could fall. Will the combined S-ranks of Japan and Korea be enough to quell the swarm—and will Jinwoo be joining them?!

Volume 6 of the Solo Leveling manhua is a lot of fun, though it feels a bit weirdly paced, or like the volumes are weirdly split up. The first half is basically all about Jinwoo’s ascent of the Demon’s Castle, with lots of action and fighting that involves Jinwoo being… still clever, but mostly also way overpowered.

The second half is largely about the Jeju Island plot, with Japanese and Korean high-ranked hunters joining up, testing each other, and then starting the raid… and Jinwoo isn’t a super important part of that plot, since he chooses not to get involved due to his mother’s recovery. It feels really weird that he’s not involved, narratively, but I’m guessing he’ll be getting stuck in soon enough. I can’t imagine the system’s super interested in him no longer hunting…

The art and colours continue to be lovely, and while I don’t follow the action scenes well, eh, I never do — just not a visual person. I’m very curious where it’s all going, and also probably curious enough to start reading the light novel.

Rating: 4/5 (“really 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 Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

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

Review – The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

by Caitlin Rozakis

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 365
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Two parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter try to fit into a privileged New England society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale.

When Vivian’s kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.

As Vivian careens from hellhounds in the school corridors and demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society – shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents’ WhatsApp group.

And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it’s about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…

Caitlin Rozakis’ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association is a pretty fun book about parenting a werewolf kid, learning to fit into a whole new community, and the fact that there’s always the mean clique, wherever you go.

I’ve seen it touted as cosy, so I would point out that the main character has childhood trauma (which isn’t discussed in great detail, but is obvious from the way she blames herself for every single thing) and adulthood trauma from seeing her child’s throat bitten out by a werewolf right in front of her. There’s a lot of drama, and though there’s fun worldbuilding and amusing references and all of that, there’s also a lot of emotional stuff going on.

Speaking of which, Vivian honestly gets a bit frustrating at times because of this: she tries to blame everything on herself, she shuts her husband out (though he’s not blameless either, to be clear), she sees things in black and white, and is quite prepared to repeat her parents’ mistakes. There’s some ambiguity about some of the people she’s choosing to suck up to, but Cecily is an obvious awful snob the entire time, and Vivian herself blindly ignores all the warning bells because this will be “best for Aria” (when it clearly isn’t). She is trying very hard, buuut at times her behaviour and wilful ignorance is annoying.

For those wary of anything mentioning Harry Potter, this book doesn’t mention it by name, but references it a couple of times (not super positively). So that’s worth knowing, and it’s definitely unavoidably influenced by it (though personally I’d have skipped mentioning it at all). It’s not just Hogwarts with the serial numbers filed off, to be clear: it deals with younger children, and feels very American.

It did get to a point near the end where I kinda went, c’mon, we’ve figured it out already, let’s wrap this up, and certain aspects of it were pretty predictable… but mostly I enjoyed the wrap-up, even if I could’ve done with a bit less of Vivian kicking herself first. Overall, worked pretty well, and I had fun.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Mooncop

Posted October 1, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 6 Comments

Review – Mooncop

Mooncop

by Tom Gauld

Genres: Graphic Novels, Science Fiction
Pages: 96
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

"Living on the moon . . . Whatever were we thinking? . . . It seems so silly now."

The lunar colony is slowly winding down, like a small town circumvented by a new super highway. As our hero, the Mooncop, makes his daily rounds, his beat grows ever smaller, the population dwindles. A young girl runs away, a dog breaks off his leash, an automaton wanders off from the Museum of the Moon.

Mooncop is equal parts funny and melancholy. capturing essential truths about humanity and making this a story of the past, present, and future, all in one. Like his Guardian and New Scientist strips, as well as his previous graphic novel, Goliath, Mooncop is told with Tom Gauld's distinctive, matter-of-fact storytelling and dry humor -- an approach that has earned him fans around the world.

If you like Tom Gauld’s art, Mooncop isn’t exactly a great departure for him in style. It’s pretty much exactly the style he uses in his strips for New Scientist and the Guardian, but this time it’s a continuous story. Not a very plotty story, it must be admitted, but nonetheless there’s a narrative here.

It’s a surprisingly melancholy one, and that feeling comes through perfectly despite an art style that I’d more usually associate with funny science or reading-based humour. There are very few characters, and quite a bit of repetition, showing us the life of the “Mooncop” as people leave the moon and head back to Earth.

It ends on an open note, preserving the melancholy feel. Will Mooncop stay on the moon much longer? Will the last other remaining person go back to Earth, too? That’s left for you to imagine.

I rather enjoyed it — it’s simple, but effective.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Wonder Engine

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

Review – The Wonder Engine

The Wonder Engine

by T. Kingfisher

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 366
Series: Clocktaur War #2
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

In the sequel to Clockwork Boys, Slate, Brenner, Caliban and Learned Edmund have arrived in Anuket City, the source of the mysterious Clockwork Boys. They even managed to build some trust in each other's skills. That trust is built on quicksand as the risks continue to escalate. But the secrets they're keeping could well destroy them, before the city even gets the chance...
Old foes and consequences of past decisions lurk in the shadows. Every team member's skills are required to succeed--even more so if they hope to survive.

I found T. Kingfisher’s The Wonder Engine a touch less well-paced then Clockwork Boys: it’s a bit chunkier, and it’s not entirely clear to me that all of it is needed. I don’t mean any major events should be cut, I think, but some of the will-they-won’t-they could’ve been condensed, at least, and maybe some of the events around the reason why Slate didn’t want to return to Anuket City. (I’m trying to avoid spoilers here.)

All of which is not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did, it’s just that Clockwork Boys felt a bit more streamlined, and I began to lose patience with Caliban and Slate’s inability to communicate properly. Grimehug is right, of course, they can’t smell each other, but a gnole could wish humans would manage to speak with words, allegedly their strong point!

I enjoy this world and seeing a bit more of it, and I enjoyed the characters for the most part — even Learned Edmund, to my surprise, now that he’s understood a bit more of the real world. There was a “twist” that shouldn’t have surprised me but sort of did (I’d been expecting something to happen, but not that specifically), and the way everything wrapped up definitely had punch, with room for healing and a happy ending for some of the characters.

I’ll definitely grab the UK edition when it comes out, to match Clockwork Boys; it’s a series I want to keep around, and I was surprised by how quickly I wanted to go on and read The Wonder Engine right away, because normally I space out a series by at least an unrelated book or two.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Solo Leveling, vol. 5

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

Review – Solo Leveling, vol. 5

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 314
Series: Solo Leveling #5
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Jinwoo knows it won't be long before his true power fully comes to light and the guilds and Hunter's Association of Korea descend, seeking his allegiance. Since his training has thus far been a solo endeavor, Jinwoo decides he ought to at least see what an A-rank raid is really like. Joining the Hunters' excavation team is the perfect opportunity to assess a high-level guild in action, even if his role is limited to hauling and mining. That is, until a particularly nasty dungeon boss requires the luggage carrier to step up to carry the team as well!!

Volume five of Solo Leveling feels a bit… like filler? Jinwoo hitches himself a ride with a guild on the “excavation” team, and we get to see a bit more about how the guilds make money by totally stripping out the dungeons, so it’s not bad for worldbuilding, but it felt like the bit about the re-evaluation was kinda stretched out.

Still, we meet Cha Hae-In, who seems pretty cool, and it was kinda nice to tone down the darkness a touch and have Jinwoo spend some time reminding himself what it used to be like when he went on raids with other people. Despite thinking he’s not going to rely on other people etc etc, Jinwoo’s still actually protecting the innocent, which is good to see.

He is getting super overpowered though, like me overlevelling in the first dungeon of a game. I’m thinking the ants are gonna be a good opponent for him; it’d be pretty disappointing if that doesn’t even challenge him either.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – Reignclowd Palace

Posted September 23, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Reignclowd Palace

Reignclowd Palace

by Philippa Rice

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 400
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Evnie Treedle makes magical things and for the last few years she has been selling them in magical knickknacks shop, the Magpie Nest.

But everything changes when one day Evnie's crafting abilities catch the attention of the nearby Reignclowd Palace. She is asked to become their resident spellsmith... the original spellsmith suddenly ill under mysterious circumstances.

Evnie is soon put to work making and mending magical objects. Yet, problems start to appear when she realises there's much more at stake than friendship or romance; a dragon looms over the kingdom looking for a soul to devour, and it's eyes are set on their princess.

I picked up Philippa Rice’s Reignclowd Palace on an absolute whim — more accurately, I spotted it in a bookshop, was curious about the colourful cover, and ended up putting it on my wishlist. I hadn’t seen anyone else talk about it or review it, which is pretty unusual for me at this point: a lot of my reading decisions are based on seeing other people’s thoughts about the books first.

Aaand I really enjoyed it: it kinda had Howl’s Moving Castle vibes to me in many ways (which is not to say it was a rip-off of Howl’s Moving Castle, just that something about the world and relationships felt adjacent). Evnie is a pretty good protagonist, new to the palace and thus open-eyed to its wonders and quirks, giving us a good chance to explore alongside her but making it make sense that she doesn’t know what’s going on all the time or figure out the intricacies of it.

I feel like there were maybe one or two inconsistencies that I’d have to flick through the book to check back on (why would Fantacci go and get Evnie if the Oracle is so blind to her and what she’s going to do?), and there were a couple of notes that felt off (what happens to the youngest prince in the end makes sense, but felt abrupt) or things that were just a tad weird but never came to anything much (Ren’s crush on Hadriana really seemed a bit creepy/obsessive).

I loved the way dragons work in this world, though, and the chaos of the palace, the nature of Evnie’s magic, the way that it slowly becomes clear what dragons are and what happened to Evnie’s village… And I liked that it works as a standalone: I’ve no idea if there’s other stuff planned in this world, there would certainly be space for it, but there doesn’t need to be.

Overall, a gamble that paid off. It was a nice semi-cosy book for my mood — by which I mean there’s a cosiness to the fact that Evnie’s spellwork happens through knitting and sewing at times, in the friendships growing up around the palace, the light romance, etc, but there is also peril and trauma. There’s a warmth to it that I appreciated a lot.

Rating; 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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