Tag: SF/F

Review – The Vampyre

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

Review – The Vampyre

The Vampyre

by John William Polidori

Genres: Classics, Fantasy
Pages: 54
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Lord Ruthven is a mysterious newcomer among England’s social elite. A young gentleman named Aubrey is fascinated by the suave stranger and is intrigued by his often curious behaviour. While travelling in Europe amid rumours of vampire killings, the pair are attacked, leaving Ruthven on his death bed. As he draws his last breaths, he pleads with Aubrey to keep his death a secret for just over a year. When Ruthven reappears in London alive and well, Aubrey realises that his friend might be hiding dark and horrifying truths behind his seductive fabrication.

The Vampyre was written during the ‘Lost Summer of 1816’, when John William Polidori was among the group of friends who accompanied Lord Byron to the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva. This short, stormy stay in the mansion led to a horror story writing competition in which famous tales such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein were first produced.

Decadent, sinister, and macabre The Vampyre started the enduring fascination with bloodsucking monsters that produced stories such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula. This chilling tale is not to be missed by lovers of fantasy and horror fiction.

I basically read John William Polidori’s ‘The Vampyre’ because Lord Ruthven (the vampire of the title) is a major character in Vivian Shaw’s Greta Helsing books, which I adore. To be fair, the character would hate that anyone read this, but… sorry, got curious! Especially since Polidori certainly had an influence on later portrayals of vampires.

Often viewed as a diss of Byron, it’s definitely readable as such, and it’s definitely at least heavily linked with Byron, given Caroline Lamb’s previous use of the name for a thinly-disguised Byron. It’s pretty fun to read it as a diss, though poking around a bit there’s some criticism of that reading, which also seems reasonable (it would hardly be the declaration of independence from Byron that some people think it is if it’s also centering a triumphant Byron stand-in). There’s that whole vampire-typical loathing/fascination thing going on…
And hey, a rare seasonally appropriate read for me! Spoopy season, that is; I finished this in October.
Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – Audition for the Fox

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

Review – Audition for the Fox

Audition for the Fox

by Martin Cahill

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 128
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Nesi is desperate to earn the patronage of one of the Ninety-Nine Pillars of Heaven. As a child with godly blood in her, if she cannot earn a divine chaperone, she will never be allowed to leave her temple home. But with ninety-six failed auditions and few options left, Nesi makes a risky prayer to T’sidaan, the Fox of Tricks.

In folk tales, the Fox is a loveable prankster. But despite their humor and charm, T’sidaan, and their audition, is no joke. They throw Nesi back in time three hundred years, when her homeland is occupied by the brutal Wolfhounds of Zemin.

Now, Nesi must ally with her besieged people and learn a trickster’s guile to snatch a fortress from the disgraced and exiled 100th Pillar: The Wolf of the Hunt.

Martin Cahill’s Audition for the Fox was a pretty random find, about which I knew very little other than that it was a novella that had just released. It turned out to be set in a fantasy world with many gods and many stories, and it felt very much like a single person’s story within a broader and richer world, which is something I always appreciate.

It’s a coming of age story for the main character, Nesi, who gets scent back in time by the fox god as part of her test for whether she can become an acolyte — and as with many coming of age stories, Nesi starts out a bit sheltered and spoiled, wanting to just call the Fox to help her and get out of the situation. Eventually she settles down and understands that she needs to work within the time period she’s been sent to and get the Fox’s work done, and she begins to understand what the trickster does exactly.

T’sidaan, the trickster, is one of the loveable trickster types: they’ll take a sibling down a peg when they need to, and sometimes the laugh’s on them. The conflict they bring Nesi to is darker than that, though, a fierce rivalry between T’sidaan and the wolf god — and Nesi comes to understand both why T’sidaan finds this particular conflict so important, and also why T’sidaan won’t descend to the wolf god’s level, always contending with him on their own terms. It’s a very effective illustration of being careful not to become the thing you’re fighting, and the scene where it’s all revealed is good.

I liked the world, and Nesi’s allies, and there’s a genuine wrenching when Nesi’s test is over and she returns to her own time, which I also liked. It’s not a bloodless story, even though T’sidaan and Nesi are acting as tricksters, destabilising through meddling rather than outright war: it has teeth.

So overall, really enjoyable, especially the sense that there are so many other stories, a whole world that’s been thought out (or could be thought out) in order to play in.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Solo Leveling, vol 7

Posted November 11, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Solo Leveling, vol 7

Solo Leveling

by Dubu, Chugong

Genres: Fantasy, Manga
Pages: 304
Series: Solo Leveling #7
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

The joint expedition between South Korea and Japan to the ant-infested Jeju Island is well underway, and the Korean team has successfully located the queen. Taking her out should finally spell the long-awaited closing of the S-rank gate. But little do they know that wings aren't the only mutation the latest generation of ants has gone through— and having made short work of the Japanese hunters, the queen’s strongest soldier is now headed straight for them!

Volume 7 of the Solo Leveling manhwa features Jinwoo being more overpowered than ever, with him finally jumping into the action at Jeju Island, along with some aftermath stuff that makes it increasingly obvious how different he is to other hunters. There’s a reference again to the earlier reappearance of his father, though I’m impatient for that to get somewhere so we can find out more about where he’s been, whether it really is him, etc, etc.

The tension doesn’t come from wondering whether/how Jinwoo will win, at this point: it’s obvious that he will, that he’s constantly leveling up, and can outmatch anything thrown at him. Instead, it’s about what the System is, what certain mysterious characters/conversations mean, and so on. I’m getting really curious about what it’s building up to, and when we’ll finally see something that really tests Jinwoo.

I wish there’d been a tad more about his mother and sister, given the development in the last book, as well.

Anyway, looking forward to reading more, though not sure what exactly is next after Jeju Island!

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – Mockingbird Court

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

Review – Mockingbird Court

Mockingbird Court

by Juneau Black

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 249
Series: Shady Hollow #6
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

In the latest installment in the beloved Shady Hollow series, everyone’s favorite vulpine investigator Vera Vixen must contend with a cold-hearted killer—and the ghost of her own past.

It’s a crisp, cool autumn in Shady Hollow, and preparations are underway for the annual Harvest Festival. Creatures have flocked from far and wide to partake in the seasonal festivities, from pumpkin carving to pie tasting to soup throwing. With all these new faces around town, it’s the perfect time for someone to slip in unnoticed.

Unless that someone is Bradley Marvel, the most famous author—and most noticeable personality—in any woodland warren. It seems the wolf is on the lam. Back in the city, a body was found in his penthouse apartment at Mockingbird Court, and Marvel skipped town before the questioning could commence.

Marvel claims to be innocent, and it’s up to Vera and her friends to piece together what might have happened that fateful night so many miles away in the beating heart of the big city. But things get complicated when Vera learns that she also knows the victim … and might even be implicated herself.

I snagged Juneau Black’s Mockingbird Court as soon as I could lay hands on it, of course — I love the Shady Hollow series, and this installment takes us back to the town and to the usual cast, after Summer’s End took us to another town. This time Vera’s in trouble, with Bradley Marvel showing up again, and skeletons from her past — barely hinted at in previous books — tumble out of the closet.

I did find the book a bit frustrating in that it felt like Vera’s relationship with Orville has barely progressed, with Orville coming off all righteous and cross, Vera failing to communicate, etc, etc. It wouldn’t have hurt to have Orville actually come after Vera for an explanation, for instance, or for Vera to stay and explain things rather than running away.

Still, it’s cute how the town come together to try to protect Vera, and it’s also nice to start to understand her backstory and how she came to Shady Hollow. I will say that I worked out the culprit quite a bit before she does, and I was a liiiittle worried by the dramatic confrontation scene — that could have been majorly frustrating! But the way it worked out wasn’t so bad.

Not my favourite of the series, I’d say, but some nice autumnal vibes, good character moments, and a reasonable if not super-exciting mystery.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)

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Review – Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur

Posted November 8, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur

Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur

by Ian McDonald

Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 128
Rating: two-stars
Synopsis:

Tif Tamim wants nothing more than to be a dinosaur buckaroo. An orphan in search of a place to rest his head and a job to weigh down his pockets, Tif has bounced from circus to circus, yearning for a chance to ride a prehistoric beauty under the sparkling lights of a big-top.

To become a buckaroo, Tif needs to learn the tools of the trade, yet few dino maestros want to take a scrawny nobody from nowhere under their wing. But when Tif frees a dino from an abusive owner and braves the roving gangs of the formerly-American west to bring the dino to safety, he catches someone’s eye. And boy, how those eyes dazzle Tif from the back of a bucking carnotaur.

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 shoo-in for picking up Ian McDonald’s Boy, With Accidental Dinosaur, because… well… dinosaurs! There’s a whole world here built around the rodeo culture that grows up when dinosaurs can be brought through from the past, and it’s not always clear how important it is in general, whether dinosaurs are used outside the rodeo circuits, and even exactly how the rodeo world works. It feels like there’s a lot of potential that isn’t used, and there’s no reckoning with stuff that seems like it should be important (like a dinosaur getting sent back to the past after being shot with bullets which obviously shouldn’t be present in the past).

Mostly, it’s a sort of coming of age story for the main character, Latif, but even that seems a bit unfocused. I felt like I couldn’t see where the story was going, and once finished, I couldn’t see that we’d got much of anywhere at all. It felt like the author playing with the world more than creating a satisfying story.

There are some neat details and ideas, like the ocarinas/whistling used to communicate with the dinosaurs, and hints at the world outside the rodeo and the levels of technology around… but for me it didn’t come together.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)

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Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 5

Posted November 7, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga), vol 5

The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter

by Kazuki Irodori, Yatsuki Wakutsu

Genres: Fantasy, Manga, Romance
Pages: 176
Series: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter (manga) #5
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Tasked with investigating the church, this intrepid bean counter must somehow survive not just the potential political intrigue going on behind the scenes, but also the very air around him! Since magic itself is toxic to Kondou, stepping into a place so inundated could be considered a death sentence...! What's worse, his dashing knight captain, Aresh, gets called away to deal with a dangerous magical beast...

The fifth volume of Kazuki Irodori’s manga adaptation of The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (originally a light novel by Yatsuki Wakutsu) is quite fun. Aresh is actually absent for most of the story, though we do see some glimpses of him and what he’s up to (slightly more than in the original light novel, though it doesn’t add new information as such), but we get a very extremely adorable scene where Seiichirou reads his letters… and hugs one tight.

It doesn’t quite get up to the end of volume two of the light novels, so the story has some ways to go, but for those only following via the manga, it does take a step forward, with Seiichirou beginning to accept his feelings for Aresh and understand his position properly.

Aresh’s controlling behaviour is also less of an issue in this volume than some of the others, since they’re apart. Still, that is a potential issue with this series, even if I found it seemed a bit less obtrusive in the light novels. It’s a pretty intrinsic part of the story.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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Review – The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife

Posted October 30, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife

The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man's Wife

by Premee Mohamed

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 115
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Lucas is dismayed when his brother Kit is chosen to take part in the Hunt: a chase that takes place every seven years and acts as a sacrifice to the Rider and his Wife, ensuring a plentiful harvest, at least that year. Determined to save his brother, all he has left, Lucas hatches a plan to save Kit and accompany him in his struggle to survive—setting the scene for a race through a post-apocalyptic landscape filled with more danger than either boy could ever imagine. The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife is a thrilling, post-apocalyptic chase, marrying Fairy Tale, Western and Adventure. Hang on tight!

Premee Mohamed’s The Rider, The Ride, The Rich Man’s Wife is weird and atmospheric, like many of her novellas. I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of them, if not all, and this one’s gonna linger with me a bit as well, pondering its secrets. It’s basically a story about a kind of Wild Hunt, wrapped round with some rules (one victim, marked, anyone who interferes can also be killed, if the victim can survive until morning they’re safe) and spiced up with twins, where of course only one of them gets marked.

I loved Luke and Kit’s closeness, it felt really organic and grown out of the life they were living, and I loved the setting as well. Mohamed doesn’t tell us everything, sketching in the world and the boundaries of it, and that leaves plenty of scope for imagination. What exactly is going on in the other world they step into? Does the girl they meet escape? Will there be retribution for what Lucas and Kit do in order for Kit to escape? And why exactly is the hunt happening, anyway? And so many other questions.

It’s a fascinating novella that leaves lots of questions lingering, taking its power from that atmosphere and the bond between the two boys. I wasn’t even sure entirely what was happening at times, but… nonetheless, it got under my skin.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

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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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