Review: The Immeasurable Heaven

The Immeasurable Heaven by Caspar Geon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

DNF @ 11%

Admittedly, this was a rather poor effort from me but after reading just the first chapter I was dreading reading the rest.

I think this is just far too ambitious for me. It was sold to me on the fact that the cast of characters is entirely alien - ie no humans at all. I liked the idea but in reality it just means there's not really anything familiar to grasp on to.

This, in fact, doubles down on the notion by immediately introducing a wildly different universe inhabited by a bunch of different alien species whose forms of communication are anything but similar to our own, which to me felt a little too heavy-handed. Introducing the way each species communicated felt more like checking off the different senses - this one communicates by touch, this one by sight, this one by smell ... etc. Some clever ideas, but nothing particularly intriguing to hold the interest.

There was also far too much jargon to try and explain the set up and not nearly enough story happening. Again, I'll admit that I gave up pretty early on, but by 11% the book was still mostly setting the scene which boded ill for my love of fast-paced stories.

I wanted to like this but it immediately became a chore to me, and with so much to read and so little time, I decided not to punish myself with it further.

Those looking for completely out-of-the-box sci-fi stories may be interested to pick this one up, but it was a little too strange for my tastes.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC


View all my reviews

Review: Unexplained Mysteries of the Ancient World: Extraordinary Enigmas from History

Unexplained Mysteries of the Ancient World: Extraordinary Enigmas from History by William Potter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Narrated by Matt Bates
Presented by Arcturus Digital Audio

A nice variety of mysteries from the ancient world, with plenty of tidbits to keep you thinking.

This was a fun listen, with a great variety of stories. Ancient history is quite fascinating to me, so it was fun to ponder these mysteries and consider my own conclusions.

A lot of them are unsolvable, given the nature, but it's fun to think about which historians might be onto something. It does grate a little that most of the stories end as inconclusive.

The narrator did a great job; fantastic pronunciation and even quoting sources there was such a difference of voice that I wondered if they'd actually gotten the source themself to record. But I think it was all the one talented narrator, so I'd happily listen to this fellow again.

I'd easily recommend this one for history fans looking to dig a little deeper into some interesting stories from the ancient past.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

View all my reviews

Review: EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1

EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1 by Corinna Sara Bechko
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun collection of sci-fi/fantasy tales!

I enjoyed this, though some of the stories were too brief or bland to be memorable. The opener was the big win for me, with its twist making the biggest impact.

Most of these have a nice twisted ending, but after a while you do begin to see some of them coming.

There's a good mix of stories, and an interesting mix of art.

I didn't love all of it - some of the artwork was too muddled for me to make out the story, and some stories had quite plain art designed to let the story shine. So for the most part, the art didn't stand out.

The stories were fun though, and I enjoyed most of them making this a collection I'd recommend for sci-fi fans.

With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

View all my reviews

Review: The Complete Maus

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was handling all of this so well until the last third of the book.

My heart hurts.

What can I say that hasn't already been said about this brilliant graphic novel?

Let me start with my own preferences: I'm not a fan of graphic novels in black and white, and I hate war stories.

Yet this got to me.

I can't say I loved it - the reality of it is too brutal to call it love. But brilliant I can and will say when people ask what I think of this one.

The author cleverly uses depictions of mice and cats to tell his father's story of his experience as a Jew during WWII, while contrasting with the present day account of his father relating the story to him. We get to see his father as a victim of the war, but also as an elderly survivor with his own prejudices.

The honesty is stark, and impossible to escape from.

This is not an easy read by any means, and as such it took me a long time with other reading in between. This is a heavy story told so matter-of-factly that it's impossible not to be impacted by it.

I'm grateful to have read this, and for the author and his father for sharing this story so boldly.

Highly recommend to all.

View all my reviews

Review: House of the Beast

House of the Beast by Michelle Wong
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

PSA: This is NOT Romantasy

Which was absolutely FABULOUS.

I went into this with very low expectations and ended up enjoying it IMMENSELY!

The plot revolves around friendless Alma, who goes to live with her father when he mother becomes ill. He's obsessed with becoming First Hand of the Beast - the god his house worships. Alma has to rely on her invisible friend - who might not be a figment of her imagination after all - to help her survive his cruelty and take something for herself.

I'll be honest: I expected this to be all about the romance, like so many other new fantasy books are right now. I was expecting mooning and sighs and long looks and soft caresses and all those other things that really turn me off a book. I was expecting brooding Kaim to serve as a point of the love triangle and I was expecting very little plot.

Consider me well and truly shook.

This book defied all my expectations and ended up being ridiculously fun. It made me expect tropes then completely turned the corner to give me something wildly different. I thought it would be soft and weak but it was strong and BRUTAL.

There's an important relationship between Alma and Aster, but there's so much more to it that had me absolutely loving the growth and the dynamic between the two. I also loved the roles the supporting characters played, and how gruesome things got towards the end.

This book is a world of contradictions.

I did want a little more world-building; while this world is fleshed out, it was still a little confusing to me and I didn't fully comprehend the god situation, which is why some things didn't quite impact the way I think they should have. This is a self-contained story, but with room to expand on the world should the author choose to write a sequel. I think I'd be up for that because I'm so curious about the rest of the world that was only really hinted at here.

The other thing that gave me mixed feelings was the illustrations. They are gorgeous and I found them fascinating, but their style brought the tone down for me and made it feel less serious somehow. They are done in the style of manga, so I found myself expecting a level of immaturity based on the pictures. (Don't AT me, I know manga can be mature, it's not what I mean.) Like they are soft and cutesy and this story is neither of those things. I also found they spoiled things here and there, even if it was only a page or a paragraph in advance. I detest any kind of spoiler.

That said, this was a much darker story than I expected and it made it hit so much harder. I genuinely was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did - it became an addictive read and I had no idea what was coming. There were moments where I couldn't stop because I HAD TO KNOW what came next. It was refreshingly good.

If you're here for the romance, you'll likely be disappointed, but if you're here for a dark tale of revenge then this delivers in spades. This will probably be one that sticks with me for a while just because of how little I expected it to hit this hard.

Absolutely, HIGHLY recommend for fantasy fans, especially those like me who are over the flood of Romantasy taking up valuable fantasy real estate on the shelves right now.

With thanks to Harper Collins for an ARC

View all my reviews

Review: Mistress of Amber and Flame

Mistress of Amber and Flame by Maria Linwood
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Narrated by Meg McKibbin
Presented by Bolinda Audio

Really wanted this to be so much more than it was.

I got a physical copy of this signed by the author, and it's gorgeous. But in order to get to it faster, I listened to an audio ARC from NetGalley. As the book went on, I was grateful for that decision.

It's not that it's bad but more ... bland. I had a hard time connecting to the characters as I didn't really like any of them, and there wasn't a lot of characterisation beyond the depth of feeling between Tabala and Lar. Which got old REAL FAST.

It felt very much like a dot-point journey; like they went here, then they went here, then they went here ... etc. I found it hard to follow the purpose of anything, but to be fair I did zone out a fair bit from halfway onwards. There wasn't really a lot about the story that interested me, so I think I might have ended up skimming quite heavily.

The narration had a huge impact on this story for me, as I found it kind of awful. There was no characterisation coming through - everyone sounded the same and there was no emotion in anything. I didn't mind the Australian accent but then for all the voices - man, woman, child, elderly person, etc - to sound the same it really just grated. It got confusing at times, too, and hard to follow who was speaking. There was no tension or turmoil; everything was delivered in almost a monotone. It was very much read, as opposed to performed.

Since I have a physical copy, I'll probably revisit it to see if it was just the bland the narration that made this one so dull. I did really want to like it more than I did so I'd like to give it a second chance, though seeing some of the other reviews on here I'm not hopeful.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

View all my reviews

Review: Face Meat

Face Meat by BONTEN TARO
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun collection of Japanese horror stories.

I loved the overall feel of this; the atmosphere is a classic kind of creepy that brings to mind dark, cloudy days and ominous music.

There's a nice mix of Japanese mythology depicted, and I enjoyed the turns some took.

The contrast of the black/red artwork was brilliant, and I loved seeing the styles brought to life with the simple addition of one single colour. The red made such a dramatic impact!

This is a short collection that I'd happily read again; brilliant artwork accompanying creepy, unique tales.


View all my reviews

Review: The Autumn Kingdom Vol. 1: Through the Blight

The Autumn Kingdom Vol. 1: Through the Blight by Cullen Bunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought this was just okay.

I'm a fan of dark fairytales but this skipped too much so I never found myself immersed in the story. Four issues was too few for an arc like this - there was so much here to unpack and we never got the time to.

There was so much here that I wanted to explore, and I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity. That's probably the nature of comics getting in its way, but I found it disappointing.

The art was okay but I read a digital copy and I think I'd like to see it in person. It seemed a bit too scratchy and vague for my tastes, but that might just have been because I was looking at a more compact digital version. I did want more colour or cleaner lines to help convey the story a little more.

The story itself was intriguing but, as mentioned, too brief. As such, there's not much character development or world building.

I'd definitely like to check this out in person- it's the kind of thing I'd usually be into so I'll give it a second chance. Fans of dark fantasy graphic novels should be sussing this for sure.

With thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC

View all my reviews

Review: Slags

Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Narrated by Chloe Massey
Presented by HarperCollins UK Audio

An easy enough listen, but not quite the laugh-out-loud riot I was expecting.

The setup is simple: two sisters go on a road trip around Ireland.

There's a lot about how life separates family sometimes - as everyone becomes busy with their own lives, it's hard to keep in touch with every detail of a sibling's life. There's a little hostility in their relationship - quite natural, really - but for the most part this is about their catching up and deciding what's important enough to share.

It was an okay listen, but I did find it dull in some places and as a consequence tuned out a bit. I didn't really like either sibling, but I get the feeling we weren't supposed to.

A massive subject is the difference between a life with kids, and a life without. I'm getting a little tired of the black and white comparison, to be honest - there are plenty of happy couples that choose a life without kids, yet for some reason there's a stereotype that a woman without kids is one who refuses to outgrow her 'party' years. This explored that a little, but not really satisfactorily to me.

There are some funny anecdotes here and there but for the most part it fell a little flat for me. I feel like this is a particular breed of humour that I personally find very hit or miss; it reminded me a bit of Derry Girls (which I loved) but didn't quite match it for me - perhaps because the themes are more adult.

The narrator did a great job - she differentiated between the sisters well, and there was plenty of humour in her tone that helped the jokes hit. The pacing was great, and there weren't any strange pauses.

Ultimately, I feel this one just wasn't my style. I can see others really enjoying this, and particularly readers who understand the nuances of this cultural sort of humour. I found it easy enough and I did enjoy it for the most part, but it was mostly immemorable.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

View all my reviews