A few years ago, I wondered why I hadn’t gotten into manga the same way I had graphic novels, so I decided to give it a go. I went with Fairy Tail after binging the first few seasons of the anime already on Netflix. In retrospect I probably should have started with a series that has already ended, so I have some sort of goal line on the horizon, but, you know, hindsight and all. So I yoked myself to a current series and the burden […]
Big or small; an animal familiar is always useful in a quest
Young Rhea is the daughter of a poor family that survives by running a grain mill. Despite the family living and working in the same mill for generations, they are not the owners and are at the mercy of the aristocrats who rule the land. Therefore, the family has no choice but agree to Rhea to become engaged to be married under suspicious circumstances or face the possibility of angering the nobility and being evicted. As you can tell from the title, Rhea is not the […]
Light and dark are exactly what they seem
When Leigh Bardugo’s first novel from a new series dropped in 2015 and started getting all kinds of raves, I knew I’d have to go back post haste to the ever-growing TBR and pick up the first series, which I had been intending to read for some time. The Grisha Trilogy imagines a fantasy world based out of a Russian analog country, where those possessed of magical abilities are called the Grisha, and anyone who is not Grisha is probably either a peasant or a […]
When I’m Missing My Dad, I Read This
Everything about my dad was big. Even without an arm, leg and three fingers (Vietnam injuries), he rode a motorcycle (modified of course), was part of a biker gang, had curse words tattooed on his arm(! that went over well in private school, believe me!!!) and everyone who has ever met him has had a story about him. He was an imposing man, with a giant beard and a very loud voice (also probably due to becoming a bit hard of hearing in Vietnam). He […]
The End is the Beginning
Whoa boy. I’ve read all three books of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, and I still don’t know how to describe them. I heard about them after they won some fantasy award, but they’re not quite fantasy. They’re in part sci-fi, dystopian and mystery, but those labels don’t really mean much to the book. The people tasked with solving the puzzle of the mysterious Area X know that they’re never going actually solve the mystery. They’re just hacking away at what they can. And we […]
Definitely fantasy genre now
When The Dark is Rising started I was very confused. It was supposed to be the second book in a series, right? But, it starts with completely different characters and in a different village than Over Sea, Under Stone. Only as time goes on, do we see the connection. Will Stanton is the seventh son of a seventh son and just about to turn 11 years old. Up until that point, he is a normal kid who has no idea there is anything special about […]