I really enjoy recommending things, and I really enjoy China Mieville, but up till now I haven’t had a go-to China book to recommend to people. He’s not the most easily digestible author, although his stuff is fantastic. I found Railsea in the young adult section of the library, and that might be why it’s a little more accessible, but it doesn’t lack any of his trademark atmosphere and incredible world-building. Sham ap Soorap has been apprenticed to a doctor on a mole-hunting train. The […]
What even is this nonsense I just wrote.
Okay, so, context: 1. Superman is my favorite superhero. I have been smitten since watching the old Fleischer Technicolor Superman cartoons my dad bought me on VHS when I was five years old, but the big oaf became a life-long love in 1994 when Lois & Clark premiered on TV. Each iteration I’ve seen since has only made me love the character more (excepting Man of Steel and its sequel, which do not represent anything that I love about the character, which in fact actively takes […]
A story about a flea, and also about how magic and fantasy are taken away from us
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is two things: it’s a fantasy story about a seven year old boy who encounters some terrible, unbelievable things, as well as some wonderful, unbelievable things. It’s also a neat little ode to childhood and commentary on growing up. The unnamed narrator returns to his childhood home, which isn’t even there any longer, to attend a funeral, and finds himself taking a diversionary trip to the farm at the end of the lane. He vaguely remembers there […]
The Hannibal of books
The Devourers is one of those books where I liked it so much that I don’t even know what to say about it. I read it in one sitting, ensconced in a fever dream, and because it was so intense and then over so quickly I had such a hangover afterward, wanting more. It’s like the Hannibal of books: fellow fans of the (too-short) TV show will understand when I say that it has that same quality of being breathtaking and captivating, literally beautiful, but […]
My Dad is a Paranoid Megalomanic Wizard Who Refuses to Respect my Boundaries.
Short non-spoilery review – this is a solid entry in an excellent series. If you aren’t reading the Kate Daniels series, you should start. On to the longer and inevitably spoilery review (there is no way to talk about book 9 in a series without getting spoilery). Planning a wedding was never going to be Kate’s favorite thing to do, but tensions rising with her father and oracles calling with dark prophecies push wedding planning even farther down the list of priorities. Worse, Kate’s claiming […]
For trust not him that hath once broken faith
This is book ten in an ongoing series, and as such, REALLY not the place to start. While my review may not have too many spoilers about earlier books in the series, there is a whole lot of history in the books before that is required for this book to be fully satisfying to a reader. Start at the beginning with Rosemary and Rue. After changeling knight and sometime champion of the realm, October “Toby” Daye’s adventures in the Kingdom of the Silences, there is […]