Review: Of Flame and Fury

Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I rather enjoyed this!

Also grateful that the romance was nice and tame.

Kel is part of the Howlers - a phoenix racing team. She's the tamer, and her bond with her phoenix, Savita, is special. Unfortunately, their team is about to change, including the addition of Warren Coupers - a reckless rider and Kel's mortal enemy. They'll be forced to work together under the sponsorship of tech wiz and suspicious billionaire Cristo.

Savita was easily the star of the book, and I really wanted to get to know her and the other phoenixes a little better. The concept was quite interesting and unique, and while the racing itself didn't really interest me, the notion of taming phoenixes did.

The story was easy to follow with a natural progression and plenty of elements to make things interesting. I mostly enjoyed the cast of characters, though the bickering between Kel and Coup was incredibly frustrating at the start, and Dira wasn't particularly likeable at all. I enjoyed the way they worked together though.

I think probably my main issue is just that it didn't feel like there was a lot of character depth. The story was fun and interesting but it was hard to really understand the characters and their motivations on a deeper level.

Still, a really interesting, unique idea and a fun story. I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a different take within the fantasy genre.

My copy signed by the author at Supanova '26

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Review: Gerald's Game

Gerald's Game by Stephen King
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Honestly? Not one of his best.

This felt like it was trying to do Misery but failed.

The premise is interesting - a woman ends up half-naked, handcuffed to a bed in a quiet lakehouse where no one can hear her scream.

Ok, cool.

But then we get an agonisingly slow account of her weekend, as she thinks a lot of thoughts, reflects on her life's traumas and hallucinates a bunch.

It was sooooooo slooooooooow.

I love Stephen King's writing and he's excellent at turning boring, mundane things into tense moments but he was really just trying too hard here.

Then finally towards the last 20 or so pages of the book things get hectic?? New ideas are introduced??? And while it was captivating it was just too little, too late. I appreciated it in a curious sort of manner, but since I'd already experienced the rest of the book it didn't really mean a lot to me.

So a long slog for not a lot of payoff.

This is probably the first King book that I've rated this low, but it really was my worst experience of his work I think.

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Review: I, Medusa

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I quite liked this. I could have used a little more vengeance, but I liked what I got.

This story humanises Medusa a little more, giving her a tale prior to the fearsome gorgon we know from Greek mythology. Here, we learn how 'Meddy' became a priestess of Athena and the path that led ultimately to her destruction.

There are some beautiful ideas here, and Meddy is a likeable character. She has some fun moments of righteous anger which I really enjoyed, and I liked seeing a character that was a little more unforgiving.

Given her 'relationship' with Poseidon, there are also some extremely relevent moments allowing for a better understanding of rape culture and manipulation. I thought it was handled brilliantly.

I did find some of it a little questionable - Apollonia's place in the story suited at first but the second and third portions of her involvement in the story left me scratching my head a little. I don't think it was necessary, and I felt it detracted from Medusa's story.

I loved her relationship with her sisters, and would have liked more there, but what we had was still fun.

Ultimately, the ending was a little too off-track for me, but nevertheless I really enjoyed this retelling. We need more righteous vengeance in these retellings, I think.

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Review: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wow, Tom King really thinks he's a genius, doesn't he?

The amount he blathers on in this book is ridiculous - especially when the art is telling such an exquisite story by itself.

Bilquis Evely does ALL the heavy lifting here. The art is absolutely stunning, with vivid colours from Mat Lopes. These two carried the story, and it's a real shame their art is defaced with far too many chunky text boxes.

5/5 for the art, 1/5 for Tom King's writing.

Someone please tell DC to stop letting this man write female characters. Or better yet, stop writing altogether. He has some interesting ideas but I've yet to read something from him that was well executed. This just would have been so much more powerful with about a fifth of the word count.

Sigh.

Get it for the art though. 100% recommend solely for the art.

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Review: Harness the Power of the Invincible Mind: Spatial Strategy to Success and Happiness

Harness the Power of the Invincible Mind: Spatial Strategy to Success and Happiness by Alex Neumann
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

DNF @ 21%

This is another old NetGalley read that is really just not working for me.

It feels clunky, repetitive, and written awkwardly. There are a lot of big words here that don't really make a lot of sense in the context they're used, and each section so far just seems to be the same thing said as many ways as possible. Just in the section I read, the word adversity is used far too liberally.

It seems to have some fair ideas but it reads like an essay working too hard to make the word count so I'm not taking much of it in. Just really feels like too much effort for pretty run-of-the-mill suggestions. I've read better books giving the same kind of message in a much more concise form.

Not for me.

With thanks to NetGalley for a copy

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