Review: Storm Front

Storm Front by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I put this off for ages because my copy is a battered second-hand that looks like crap and so I underestimated it, and WOW, what a funny coincidence because the same could be said for our hero who seems to look like crap 99% of the time but turned out to be kind of a badass.

So in summary: this book was fkn GREAT!

So much fun! Gahhhh I forgot how much I enjoyed urban fantasy with mystery! Dresden is a great hero in that he gets his ass kicked constantly but he's a low-key super-wizard with crazy power and an attitude that sees him determined to only use his power for good.

He has the weird connections that make the story interesting, and some equally interesting opponents. There is the typical abundance of beautiful women that all want to flirt with our hopeless, washed up hero, but I found they weren't so overdone that I was bothered by it. I actually really liked Murphy, and the way their relationship was written, and the other girls had enough individual personality that I didn't mind them so much.

I loved the way magic was used but not taken for granted, nor ridiculously powerful. Dresden is such a gritty character that half the time you forget he can actually do magic. It makes for quite a riveting story, because can never predict what he'll do.

Added to the fantastic characters and magic system is the brilliance of the mystery - not too gory, but disturbing enough to leave a mark and make you want to solve the crime as badly as our hero.

I was absolutely hooked from the start and loved it all the way through. A highly addictive read and one that has me keen to carry on with this series.

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Review: Twenty-Six Letters

Twenty-Six Letters by Charlotte Nash
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A delightful, feel-good read that kept me invested the entire time.

The plot sees aimless Wil searching for more info about the past of her deceased mother, after belatedly receiving a stack of letters written before she passed.

Wil's a bit of an unintentional train wreck - she doesn't quite know what she wants from life, and her choices always seem to end badly for her, no matter how innocent her intentions. I loved that she wasn't intentionally a black sheep - things just kind of ended up like that for her.

The mystery of her mother's words takes her to an English village which I really loved. It was such a cosy setting, and the writing really drew me there. I loved how fanciful her mother seemed - despite the fact that we only hear from her through letters, she holds a strong presence in this book - and how that is echoed in Wil without her really noticing it.

The characters drew me in easily, and I love how naturally the relationships developed. I could so easily picture these characters, and I felt everything they did. It was easy to sympathise and yet really understand all the layers to each character. Even Wil's father, Cameron, had a good side, despite very much seeming a 'bad guy' to begin with. I really appreciated that these characters weren't just 2D cliches; there was a depth to each that showed multiple facets of their personality.

The mystery of the letters is fun, and we get enough of them to keep us hooked. You can tell the story Wil's mother is telling has quite a lot of twists and turns, and it makes you eager to see where it's all heading. At the same time, we get satisfaction from Wil's investigations - the tidbits she gets from locals, and the info she digs up herself. There's plenty here to keep us entertained for the entire duration of the novel.

A little predictable, but most books are for me these days! There's not a lot I read now that hasn't been done before, so for me it's more about the delivery of the twists than the actual twists themselves. I loved how this whole story unravelled, so there was no loss for me in guessing at what would happen.

This book kept me entertained the entire time, and had me really immersing myself in Wil's emotions. I became quite invested in her story, and I generally enjoyed how this story warmed my heart.

A wonderful, light read with a mystery to keep you hanging for more. Highly recommend.

With thanks to A&U for an ARC

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Review: InuYasha, Vol. 4: Lost and Alone

InuYasha, Vol. 4: Lost and Alone by Rumiko Takahashi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really liked the ghost story. The manten henten benten whatever saga was YAWN but the ghost story totally redeemed it. It was a lot of fun and had a lot of heart.

I've been reading this series so slowly but I'm still keen to continue because I know better characters are in the near future! Keen!

Please consider this the best review I can give at this time. Reviewing manga and comics is exhausting, yo.

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Review: Small Habits for a Big Life

Small Habits for a Big Life by Rebecca Ray
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent, simple guide to making lasting changes.

This is the kind of book I'll keep close and refer back to often. It's full of wisdom, motivation and practical ideas.

Some self-help books can come off preachy but this is absolutely not the case here. The author backs every statement with evidence and provides case studies, including some of her own experiences. This includes some of the negative habits we all experience, and it helps us to connect to the author and really value the lessons she's giving here.

The book is set out in a manner that makes it easy to read, and there's plenty of space to use it as a workbook. If you're serious about changing your habits, I recommend keeping pen and paper handy. I stopped a few times when the book requested something be pondered, and it was quite fascinating just to see real examples from my own life. I enjoyed setting some SMART goals based on my own values, and exploring who I'd consider to be my 'accountability person' and my 'encouragement person'. Some parts I wasn't quite ready to think on, so I'll go back to those later. This is absolutely the kind of book you can work through at your own pace - pick up sporadically, read through first and then go back and do the work, read certain parts when you're ready to face certain tasks, etc.

This is an encouraging book that I'd highly recommend to anyone looking to make lasting changes towards a more fulfilling life. It details the hurdles and how to overcome them, and provides evidence of these things in action. It gives you permission to do things at your own pace, and it allows for the simple fact that we are all human, and imperfect.

Loved it.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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Review: Missing

Missing by Tom Patterson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This wasn't what I expected at all, so it was pretty disappointing.

What I expected, based on the blurb: Dude decides he's done with the trappings of society so escapes into the bush to live off the land and so learn to appreciate the simplicities of life.

What I got: After years of being a screw-up, drug-addled criminal retreats into woods to grow (and sell?!) weed with less chance of being caught.

The fact that this covered more of Mark's life of drugs than his time in the bush was already a massive drawback, but then to discover that there was no redemption arc, no new outlook on life, no rediscovery of the true joys of life ... it was just so disappointing.

Honestly, there's just not enough to this story to make it a worthy book.

The writing is a giveaway of that, because it is choppy, short sentences that skips over details. Titled paragraphs rather than chapters, and an unclear timeline that jumps all over the place and confuses chronology. The book is separated into different parts which are each labelled with a year, but then that part seems to cover multiple years; Mark goes off into the woods to live off the grid, but then he's showing up at his brother's place so regularly they have to tell him off for it. Then he has a job, and then he's back living off the land? There's just not enough words to tie all these things together neatly with any kind of logic. To be perfectly candid, the writing is terrible. Plenty of descriptions of the bush, though.

There are so many siblings that the lack of description and logical order means they all kind of blend together, meaning I didn't care about who was who. All I got was that Mark was the loser of the family. That sure didn't make me sympathetic to his plight, especially when he didn't seem to grow as a person at all.

This is a true story, and I really expected to be inspired by this person who decided that, instead of being beat down by life, they would retreat into simplicity and learn to appreciate life through nature. Instead, I just found myself feeling sad that this man who was so willing to go to extremes did it all in the name of drugs.

I am sure there are some who will enjoy Mark's story - perhaps even sympathise - but it just doesn't strike me as being note-worthy. There are so many others more worthy of having their story shared.

With thanks to A&U for an uncorrected ARC

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Review: The Boys, Volume 1: The Name of the Game

The Boys, Volume 1: The Name of the Game by Garth Ennis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GODDAMN this is DARK.

I fkn LOVED IT.

The art is detailed and dark and pulls no punches. It's graphic and 100% Not Safe For Work.

(Seriously, if your boss walks past when the nasty is going down, you're gonna get a serious talking-to.)

The story itself takes the superhero trope and flips it on its head - these mofos have been doing whatever they like in the name of 'saving the world' but now it's time for Butcher to put together a squad that can keep these a-holes accountable.

There is sex, murder, violence, drugs and all manner of filth imaginable and it is detailed in colour so you can really sink into the sordid story. But the grittiness is what lends it sympathy - as depraved as these characters may be, there is heart in Wee Hughie's innocence and the fragility of those caught up in the lewd lives of the Supes. This is not a story that is filthy just for filth's sake.

Don't get me wrong, though. It's definitely 1000% filthy.

So obviously this is some gloriously f**ked up SH*T that has me eager to see what the rest of the series has in store.

Have fun, kids!

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Review: Weaponized

Weaponized by Neal Asher
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

What the frickin heck is this stinking pile of science?!

AWFUL. IT IS GOD AWFUL.

I will try and make this a coherent review but please prepare yourselves now for some ranting.

PROS
- Fascinating creatures
- Intriguing episodes
- Nursum and The Fig

CONS
- Timeline jumps
- Overcomplicated language
- Overcomplicated science
- Long, tedious descriptions of basically everything
- Very little characterisation to cling to
- Obvious 'twist' from the beginning
- Way too longwinded
- JUST LET IT GO, DUDE

Basically, this is an interesting idea COMPLETELY BURIED in tedium and confusion.

The timeline is divided between Present, Near Past and Past, and there is zero continuity when these portions jump around. For example, you might read a Past chapter that seems to be set like 10 years ago, but then the next Past chapter is set more like 50 years previous. It is EXCRUIATINGLY MADDENING to jump around like this, and it makes it nigh impossible to understand what's actually happening. This was hands down my biggest issue with this book.

Added to that, sometimes things that are occurring in the Past and the Near Past are actually very similar. Characters, locations and events all kind of blur together in a frustrating mess. There were some really interesting moments - such as the episodes relating to Nursum and the Fig - but they lost any real context because you halfway through the episode before realising something interesting was actually happening.

There's also a lot of speculation about adaptation to the point that it just becomes ridiculously repetitive. Ursula and her colonists are 'adapting', but she's determined to remain human. There are some interesting considerations on the definition of humanity, but they get lost in the monotony of repetition - we can get the point quite easily without the author hammering it in like this. This is what I'm referring to with my con of 'LET IT GO', because the same point is just overworked to the point that it's hard to care after a while.

I also want to talk about the complete disconnect between the blurb and the actual story I read. Half the stuff in the blurb doesn't actually happen til the end of the book, and it seems to promote a story much more exciting than what I read. I also need to say this very important gripe: (view spoiler)[THE TITLE IS A FRIGGIN SPOILER. As soon as Ursula starts questioning the upgrades and Oren having 'secrets', it was obvious to me that they were somehow being 'adapted' into weapons. DON'T PUT THE TWIST IN THE TITLE FFS. (hide spoiler)] Ursula is supposed to be super intelligent, yet she can't see what is obvious to the reader almost immediately. It's beyond ridiculous.

There are ideas and creations here that could easily have made for a brilliant story, but it was padded out with an excessive word count, and the intentional lack of continuity was overwhelmingly more confusing than clever. I came pretty close to throwing it on the DNF shelf, and the only reason I didn't is because the publisher sent me a copy and I felt obliged to review it in its entirety, since it had some redeeming moments. Alas, those moments only bump it up a single star.

Perhaps hardcore science nuts will appreciate this one more than me, but it was far too frustrating a read for me.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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