Review: Bad Influence

Bad Influence by Will Carver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Georgie Sadler and Nezar Alderazi
Presented by Bolinda Audio

Loved it!! An excellent, twisted story.

I loved the drama of this from the get-go, and how Alyssa and Less are always doing things that you want to mildly judge them for but also admire.

The fit-fluencer drama and the social media stuff was a really fun angle, but it also makes valid points about how staged some of these things are. I enjoyed that there was a deeper aspect to make the story important, while maintaining a fun, hectic veneer.

I would like to get a physical copy of the book - I feel like it would probably read better, with the social media posts. But that said, the narrators did a brilliant job and I really enjoyed listening to them tell this story. I'd happily listen to either (and this story!) again.

It was also just FUN. Funny, yes, but also adventurous and risky and a breath of fresh air in the serious world of crime fiction. I really enjoyed the whole VIBE of this book.

Really enjoyed it from start to finish, and I didn't zone out at all! Which is a big thing for me with audiobooks. This one captured and kept my attention throughout.

Highly recommend for fans of dark humour and crime fiction with a twist. This will likely sit better with younger readers who are more social-media savvy and understand some of the ins and outs of 'influencer' behaviour, but it should be a fun read for most.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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Review: WE ARE MERIDIANS: BOOK ONE

WE ARE MERIDIANS: BOOK ONE by S. Ghali
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Could definitely have used a little more work, but it still held my interest. The writing is just kind of terrible.

This is another book that I requested back in 2019 from NetGalley, and never got around to reading. I can't say it was worth the wait, but it wasn't quite as terrible an experience as expected.

The plot is pretty simple - A bunch of Meridians (a technologically advanced offshoot of humans) have to go to earth to recover a weapon but they must do so with the help of an alien prince. Basically.

I'll be real - I don't remember all the random names at all, really. The Prince and our Meridian cadet, Elmyra, have to form an uneasy truce, encouraged by the civilian Effra. There's not a whole lot of characterisation so I was never particularly attached to the characters, though they still have their own individual quirks that will entertain the less picky.

Mercifully, the action rampages on so that the story progresses rapidly and we don't have to flounder in bad writing for too long. Though that's not particularly fair - it's not that the writing is bad, per se, it's more that it feels amateur and under-developed.

Basically, there's a lot of potential here for a great space opera, but it falls short due to the lack of polish.

I didn't totally hate it - I was happy to keep picking it up, and there weren't any dull moments. There are plenty of things that could easily have been expanded on, but as it is the story is not without its moments. Highly predictable, but still fun.

I think with further development this could be a really solid entry into an epic sci-fi series, but as it stands it doesn't quite get there. Still, it's entertaining enough for those who might find themselves with a copy.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

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Review: The Boleyn Secret

The Boleyn Secret by Alison Weir
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor
Presented by RB Media

DNF @ 66%

Bailing on this one. Just kinda bored with it! The historical stuff is interesting but Kate has become an incredibly dull character and there are exactly zero secrets here.

The story begins with Kate, niece to the queen Anne Boleyn, being sent to her side while Anne awaits death. What follows is an express lesson on the history of Henry VIII's wives and their various endings, with very little of note to report. Then it kind of devolves into Kate's personal life which is dull as dishwater, and by the time I gave up it was starting to veer into the topic of religious unrest.

I just stopped caring for anything, and realised it was not something I was excited to keep listening to. The narrator does a decent job but the content just doesn't have a lot going for it.

With a title suggestive of a big secret, this had nothing that wasn't easily predictable and immediately brushed to the side in favour of other issues. Incredibly disappointing on that front, and a dire lack of secrets anywhere else in the book.

It does give a crash course in history at the time, so fans of historical fiction may get a kick out of that aspect. But the story itself doesn't have enough to draw you in and make you really feel anything for anyone. I don't know that I could recommend it for anything other than the historical points of interest.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

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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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