Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Naruto

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Naruto by Caleb Goellner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was absolutely nothing special but absolutely a lot of fun if you like both of these franchises.

My favourite thing was the ridiculous cross-named strikes, which of course I cannot remember but please trust me, they were fun and dumb.

Some gorgeous splash pages of turtles and ninjas.

A very thin plot, but that's not really what we came for, is it?

Just a fun little crossover event that sees them first battle, then team up. Neither side proves to be stronger than the other, so all fans can leave happy. And seeing Mikey and Naruto fight side by side? Hell yes. THIS is what we came for.

A fun story if you don't take it too seriously.

With thanks to NetGalley for approving digital ARC

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Review: Doctor Fate by J.M. DeMatteis

Doctor Fate by J.M. DeMatteis by J.M. DeMatteis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Mostly long and tedious, but some interesting moments and fun characters.

This was recommended by a friend who LOVED it, but he and I have very different opinions.

I think the main appeal of this one is that there are just not a lot of Dr Fate stories out there. This was a nice hefty run from DeMatteis, but it focuses on his own new version of Fate, rather than Kent Nelson. Kent's there, but he's taking the backseat as the cranky mentor here.

First and foremost, I had a problem with the new incarnation of Fate. This time around, Fate is two people, whose love allows them to bond and be stronger together. The relationship between the two was too weird for me, so I found their love more disturbing than powerful.

Then there's also the fact that they actually don't work well together. They're constantly bickering and mess things up because they can't agree on how to control Fate. Everything about their relationship feels forced and uncomfortable.

But!

There are some great supporting characters, by which I mean Petey, the demon-dog. Without him, my rating would be generous at one star. He is the main reason I was able to stick with it and get through the whole 700+ pages. Kent also was entertaining, as were some of the villains.

For the most part, I found the whole thing tiresome and odd. When non-Jesus showed up, I basically lost all respect.

This is a hefty slog that will really only appeal to those desperate for a solo Dr Fate tale. It takes a lot of work to get through, and while there are some entertaining moments almost none of them revolve around what Dr Fate is doing.

Ultimately, this was a disappointment that I wouldn't recommend unless you're specifically after a Dr Fate solo outing.

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Review: Sunrise on the Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ah, so that's why Haymitch is a raging alcoholic.

It's taken me ages to get around to this review - mostly because I've had conflicted feelings.

This was easily better than Ballad ... but not nearly as good as the original trilogy.

Still, I feel like my main issue with this book is that it's very much a story written AFTER the original trilogy. This prequel goes out of its way to set up the events of The Hunger Games rather than being its own unique story. That bothered me immensely.

I think we've all been curious about Haymitch's Games since reading the original, and this just felt like it didn't do the character justice. Instead, it's hyper-focused on the politics and setting up for the future. I wanted more of the kind of energy we got from Book 1 - just that raw competition; a creative, super messed up battle royale featuring a fresh cast of characters and new dangers.

Ignoring that disappointment, though, and taking this book exactly as it is? A really fun read.

We do still get the competition, the uneasy friendships, the misled villains ... a lot of the stuff we enjoyed about the original trilogy is back. Haymitch's motivation felt off to me, but he does still have a reason for his actions that makes sense in the light of the full story.

There's plenty of action and some interesting Mutts to spice things up. There are some great character moments, and obviously the stakes are nice and high.

It was another fun entry in the Hunger Games world, but the heavy political overtones did spoil it a bit for me. But, while it wasn't quite what I wanted, it was still an entertaining read. Hunger Games fans will still get plenty out of reading this one.

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Review: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow this was hella depressing.

It took way too long for me to get around to reading this classic, and I'm so happy I can now be a tortured soul like everybody else.

This tells the story of wandering ranch hands George, his dim-witted friend, Lennie, and the bond between them.

They end up on a ranch with a bunch of colourful characters and the interactions between the group tell a lot of (mostly ugly) things about society at the time.

I found the writing easy enough to follow, despite a lot of older slang terms. The story was easy enough to get caught up in, despite being a setting that doesn't generally interest me.

Like all good stories, I wanted more. I wanted there to be more to tell. That said, I know this was the perfect length for the story.

The themes might make this a tough read for some, but it's well worth the time and effort - particularly as it's only a couple hundred pages.

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Review: For No Mortal Creature

For No Mortal Creature by Keshe Chow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Obsessed ghosts traveling through ghostly realms looking for a sword is definitely my jam.

Jia Yi discovers she has resurrection magic, which throws her life into turmoil for several reasons: firstly, she is now being asked to carry out a mission for a prince; second, she still needs to save her dying grandma; and third, the boy who once betrayed her has been haunting her since his untimely death a year earlier.

It was a really interesting setup to me, as I'm a big fan of thinking about ghosts and the afterlife. This explores an afterlife made up of levels - ghosts can still die, and lower through the levels as they do.

I've never read Wuthering Heights, but I presume Lin's unhelathy obsession with Jia Yi is very much why the author compares the two. I didn't like him at all, and that obsession was all red flags to me.

Essien, on the other hand, was warm and safe and absolutely stole my heart to the point that I was very mad any time Lin got in Jia's face.

Definitely some interesting relationship dynamics here.

There's also the thread of family - Jia's grandma is a huge part of the motivation for this story, and her sisters play roles as well.

There's plenty of action, and some rather interesting beasties on the other side to up the stakes. There's drama and a bit of a mystery, though at times it did feel like the story was being put to the side in favour of the spice between Lin and Jia.

It was quite a simple plot, so I would have liked a little more padding in this area, but the ghostly world was enough to keep me interested. I didn't totally buy the obsessive relationship between Lin and Jia - I saw it from his side but hers left me unconvinced. It felt like maybe it was pushing the Wuthering Heights angle a little too hard; I think perhaps maybe less might have been more in this case. However I 100% believed the thaw between Jia and Essien, and enjoyed reading their interactions immensely.

To be fair, I do feel like the Brooding, Over-Protective Bad-Boy type is done to death, so that's just another reason I prefer Essien to Lin. When will people stop romanticising the RED FLAGS? Please, ladies - get yourself an Essien.

This was a quick read that I quite enjoyed, with an entertaining take on death and the world beyond. Characters to love and loathe, an easy plot to follow, and plenty of action.

Highly recommend for fantasy fans.

With thanks to the author, Penguin Teen Australia and NetGalley for an ARC

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Review: The Everlasting

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wasn't quite the 'epic love story across time' that I wanted, to be honest.

The down side to a time travel story that revolves around the same chunk of time being done slightly different each time is that you get a lot of repetition.

I got bored. *shrugs*

We've got a nerdy lil guy from the present day, and a giant, Amazon-esque knight lady from Ye Olde Days. It's their 'love story across time' that we're witnessing, and it really just did nothing for me.

It's a unique pairing - not really the aesthetic duo you'd normally get, which I kinda appreciated to be honest. But the love never felt natural to me - it felt forced for the sake of the story. Like the moment they meet, there's a 'spark' or whatever, but there's actually no signs of them ever falling in love? It's essentially talked about more than shown (view spoiler)[aside from some awkward finger-banging scenes and the like (hide spoiler)].

Added to that, she's a knight that supposedly had all these grand adventures but we never witness any of them?? This book essentially TALKS about fun things and then delivers NOTHING.

The writing style bothered me - it's written as though the lovers are telling the story to each other, so it's all, 'you did this, you did that'. Did not work for me. Clever? Sure. Entertaining? No.

Also, time travel. It does my fkn head in and this was no exception. This felt flimsy at best.

I just found the whole thing to be quite bland, unfortunately. I was hoping to be drawn into an epic, 'our love transcends all boundaries' kind of story (I guess something along the lines of The Time Traveller's Wife) but this didn't even come close.

Maybe romance fans will get more out of this - I feel it's probably a little too weak for fantasy fans to get any real kick out of it.

With thanks to NetGalley for an e-ARC

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Review: Hint of Copper

Hint of Copper by Steven R. Burt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Kyle Shive
Presented by AudioBee Productions LLC

This was an easy listen, though by the end I was kinda done with all the twists and turns.

It moves around a LOT, and I think if I was reading a physical book I'd enjoy the pace of the action, but as an audio book I found it just made the story seem to go for a lot longer than necessary.

The story follows a private detective who is looking for a lost uncle. The whole case becomes more and more tangled as it goes on, and it began to feel a bit ridiculous so I was sort of only half-listening by the end.

It's set in the 40s so the bad guys are Russian, and my god the accents were so hard to take seriously. I like this narrator when he's narrating, but when he does voices they often seem horribly out of place. One of his male characters sounded female so I was constantly confused.

The audio took a level of seriousness OUT, so it ended up being much lighter than it should have been. There are high stakes and body counts and plenty of guns and blood, but ultimately I never really cared about anyone.

I think this would be better for a physical read. There is plenty going on, and a physical read will get rid of the ridiculous voices and make the bad guys far more threatening.

I didn't totally hate it, but it's not my usual breed of thriller. I think others paying more attention to the details will really enjoy the twists and turns, but for me it was just an average listen.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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