REVIEW: The Wild Robot Escapes (book) by Peter Brown

The Wild Robot Escapes is a Middle Grade science fiction book, the second in Brown's Wild Robot series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

At the end of the previous book, Roz left the island on one of the RECO ships in order to get herself repaired and keep more RECOs from coming after her. At the start of this book, Roz has been purchased by a farmer named Mr. Shareef, who can no longer take care of his dairy farm by himself now that his wife has passed away and his own injuries make it difficult for him to do the farm's more physical tasks. Roz, as it turns out, is perfect for farm work. Always careful to hide her true self from humans, Roz introduces herself to the farm's cows and starts trying to find a way to escape. It won't be easy - Mr. Shareef has a way to track Roz and goes looking for her anytime she leaves the farm. Even so, Roz refuses to give up hope that she'll someday be reunited with Brightbill, her son.

REVIEW: My Brother's Husband (manga, vol. 1) by Gengoroh Tagame, translated by Anne Ishii

My Brother's Husband is a contemporary realistic manga series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

This review includes mild spoilers.

Review:

Yaichi is uncomfortable, to put it mildly, when his twin brother Ryoji's Canadian husband Mike comes to visit a month or so after Ryoji's death. Although he doesn't want to be openly rude, he can't help his knee-jerk homophobic reactions. His young daughter Kana's obvious love of Mike prompts him to try to be more accepting, and he gradually gains more and more food for thought - about his and other Japanese people's reactions to gay people, about the courage it must have taken for his brother to come out to him, and about how he'd react if Kana one day said she was a lesbian.

REVIEW: Wed to the Basilisk (book) by Layla Fae

Wed to the Basilisk is fantasy romance (or possibly more erotica?), one of the books in the multi-author "Arranged Monster Mates" series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

We're back in Alia Terra with another arranged marriage between a monster and human couple. This time around, we have Voss, the last basilisk in Alia Terra, who is doomed to morph into a rage-filled killing machine if he doesn't find his mate. His last hope is to submit his blood to the Temple, which, to his surprise and relief, finds him a match in a young human woman named Alina. Unlike other humans, Alina seems unafraid to look Voss in the eyes (basilisks' eyes can kill, although they have a protective membrane that makes their gazes safe), and he hopes that this is a sign they can have a loving marriage.

Unfortunately, not long after their marriage, Alina is violently grabbed by Liam, the man who'd planned to force her to marry him and who she'd desperately wanted to get away from. Voss kills him in an instant with his gaze, prompting a terrified Alina to wonder if she's ended up with someone just as violent and horrible as Liam.

Voss realizes he's going to have to earn Alina's trust, which may be especially difficult considering how naturally protective basilisks are of their mates. 

REVIEW: Wed to the Lich (book) by Layla Fae

Wed to the Lich is fantasy romance, part of the multi-author "Arranged Monster Mates" series that can be started at any point. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Thousands of years ago, the world of Alia Terra was formed by the Shift, which merged the human world with portions of various nonhuman worlds. In the present, poor or orphaned human women try to achieve better lives for themselves by submitting a sample of their blood to temples that then try to match their DNA up with monsters who've submitted their own blood. Matches are then married off and sent on their way.

This book stars Virgil, one of the last few remaining liches in Alia Terra, and May, a young orphaned woman with anorexia. The head of May's orphanage mentally and emotionally abused the children there, training them to be ballet dancers (and occasionally prostituting them out). Virgil, not being human, doesn't immediately realize that something is wrong with May, but his ability to sense and consume others' life force eventually clues him in. 

REVIEW: UnOrdinary (graphic novel, vol. 2) by uru-chan

UnOrdinary is essentially a high school superhero series with some mystery elements. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Arlo gets John to let down his guard just enough to reveal his true abilities...which are on a level even Arlo didn't suspect. As more and more people learn John's secret, he worries about what might happen when Seraphina finally learns that he isn't the Zero he's always pretended to be.

Meanwhile, whoever it is that's targeting people with superpowers seems to be getting bolder.

REVIEW: It (book) by Stephen King

It is horror originally published in 1986. I bought my copy new.

This review includes spoilers.

Review:

In 1985, six people receive a phone call from a childhood friend named Mike, asking them to come back to their hometown of Derry, Maine so that they can fulfill a promise they made. Until the moment of the phone call, none of them remembered either Mike or the promise they made, but most of them are able to overcome the shock of their gradually returning memories and make their way to Derry.

The seven members of the Losers Club first meet back in 1958, bound by their status as misfits and frequent targets of a bully named Henry Bowers. Bill, the leader of the group, has a bad stutter. His friend, Eddie, suffers from asthma and an overprotective mother. Ben is lonely and overweight, with a huge secret crush on Beverly. Beverly has an abusive father. Richie has a bad habit of letting his mouth run away with him. Stan is Jewish. The group is rounded out by Mike, who is Black.

One other thing binds the group together: they've all had terrifying unexplained experiences tied to some sort of malevolent being in Derry they call "It." It killed Bill's younger brother, George, as well as many other children in Derry, and there is evidence that It has been affecting Derry for a long time.

Somehow, in a way that none of the adult Losers Club members can quite remember until the time is right, they fought It. Unfortunately, they didn't quite manage to kill It. Now they need to make yet another attempt to defeat It, for good this time.

REVIEW: The Turn of the Screw (novella) by Henry James

The Turn of the Screw is gothic horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

A young governess is hired by a man to care for his niece and nephew. He leaves them entirely in her care and makes it clear that he doesn't want to be bothered about them. 

The governess is quickly charmed by Flora but is somewhat nervous about Miles, the eldest of the two, when she receives a letter saying that he has been expelled from his boarding school. When Miles arrives, however, he turns out to be just as charming as Flora, and the governess can't bring herself to ask what happened at school. 

After the governess sees a couple unexpected people on the grounds, she learns that they may be the ghosts of Miss Jessel, the previous governess, and another former employee, Peter Quint. She becomes obsessed with the idea that the children have seen these two as well and are somehow being negatively influenced by them.

REVIEW: Tokyo Babylon: Book Two (manga) by CLAMP, translated by Ray Yoshimoto, Alexis Kirsch, and Carol Fox

Tokyo Babylon is a supernatural fantasy series. I checked this copy out from the library.

Review:

Subaru continues to investigate the toxic positivity cult that is the MS Research Institute. After that comes a story about cherishing your elders. Then Hokuto saves and befriends a young foreign woman. After that comes some karaoke with the twins and Seishiro, the story of a young boy in need of a kidney transplant, Subaru discussing seeing eye dogs with a blind man, and the resolution to the mystery of Seishiro's motivations and the bet he and Subaru made when they first met.

REVIEW: Tokyo Babylon: Book One (manga) by CLAMP, translated by Ray Yoshimoto, Alexis Kirsch, and Carol Fox

Tokyo Babylon is a supernatural fantasy series. This is an omnibus edition that, I think, contains all or most of the first four volumes. I bought my copy used.

Review:

Subaru Sumeragi is a 16-year-old onmyoji who lives with his twin sister, Hokuto. Subaru is heir to the Sumeragi clan and regularly exorcizes spirits as part of his clan duties. He and his sister are friends with Seishiro Sakurazaku, a veterinarian and member of a clan of assassins. Seishiro isn't involved in his clan's activities and is nothing but nice to the twins (in fact, he's downright flirty with Subaru).

In this volume, Subaru deals with the ghost of an actress at the Tokyo Tower, a comatose girl who turns out to be Subaru's first love, and three girls on a party line with Sailor Moon fantasies. There's also the start of a storyline involving something that seems to be a cult - this one doesn't finish up until the next volume.

Throughout all of this is a thread of mystery concerning Seishiro and his true motivations. Although he's always kind to the twins, there appears to be a darker and more sinister side to him.

REVIEW: The Great British Bump-Off (graphic novel, vol. 1) written by John Allison, art by Max Sarin

The Great British Bump-Off is a blend of comedy and mystery. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

It's the start of a new season of UK Bakery Tent, and Shauna, a student and one of the new contestants, is delighted to spend time with all these fellow bakers. She's sure it will be an experience filled with good vibes and baking togetherness...until she finds one of the other contestants face down in a bowl of batter, apparently poisoned (but not dead, FYI).

In order to save the show, Shauna promises to find the poisoner before the end of the first episode, while simultaneously completing the baking challenges along with the rest of the contestants. The only two contestants she's sure she can trust are Jill (a retired midwife) and Sunil (a yoga instructor).

REVIEW: Game Art: Art from 40 Video Games and Interviews with Their Creators (nonfiction book) by Matt Sainsbury

Game Art: Art from 40 Video Games and Interviews with Their Creators is nonfiction. I bought my copy used.

Review:

This was published back in 2015, so it's a bit old in game years. Of the 40 games featured, I've played or had some familiarity with only 10 or so, tops. A few of the ones I recognized: Dragon Age: Inquisition, American McGee's Alice, several of the Atelier games, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Contrast, and Never Alone.

This was 261 pages, which doesn't provide a lot of room to cover 40 games and interviews with 26 or so creators. Some games featured a better selection of artwork than others - both in-game and promotional art. Others had a more meager selection, focused more on promotional stuff than in-game artwork.

I had thought that the interviews might focus on the artwork as well, but that wasn't always the case. For example, Alex Norton's interview about Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox focused almost entirely on the game's origins and how its players/fanbase enhanced it. There were a few really good interviews that touched on game art in significant ways, though - I particularly liked the interviews with Jennifer Schneidereit (Tengami), Guillaume Provost (Contrast), Yoshita Okamura (Arland and Dusk trilogies from the Atelier series), Amy Fredeen and Alan Gershenfeld (Never Alone), and Akihiro Suzuki and Hisashi Koinuma (Bladestorm:Nightmare, Dynasty Warriors, and Samurai Warriors).

It wasn't exactly what I expected it to be, but it wasn't bad.

REVIEW: This House Is Haunted (book) by John Boyne

This House Is Haunted is gothic horror. I bought my copy used.

Review:

In 1867, 21-year-old Eliza Caine's father dies. When she learns that they were only renting their home, and that her teacher's salary isn't enough for her to continue living there, she impulsively accepts a position as a governess in the country. When she arrives at Gaudlin Hall, she discovers that several important details were omitted from the job ad - there are indeed two children (Isabella, 12, and Eustace, 8), but other than the two of them there are no adults around. Eliza will not only be a governess, but also a cook and whatever else the children need. 

Something strange is going on at Gaudlin Hall, and everyone who could give Eliza answers seems determined to avoid her. As she grows to care for the children, however, she begins to worry that both her life and theirs might be at risk if she doesn't learn Gaudlin Hall's secrets.

REVIEW: This Is How You Lose the Time War (novella) by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This Is How You Lose the Time War is a blend of science fiction and f/f romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Red and Blue are agents from opposing forces in a war that spans multiple timelines and locations. They become intrigued by each other, seeing each other as worthy adversaries. Although they never directly interact, they communicate through letters cleverly woven into the fabric of worlds where they know or suspect their paths will cross. Initially, the letters have a taunting tone. Eventually, however, their relationship warms, becoming something more like love.

But that doesn't change the fact that they're on opposite sides of a war. One side or the other will win, right?

REVIEW: If Found Return to Hell (novella) by Em X. Liu

If Found Return to Hell is fantasy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Journeyman Wen is an intern at One Wizard, a wizarding firm that helps callers with any number of magical problems, as long as their problems are covered by insurance and the customers can afford to pay. Once upon a time, Wen dreamed of actually helping people. Now, however, daily life involves nothing more than passing customers off to more qualified but overworked wizards.

One of Wen's latest calls seems like something that might warrant a house call. Surprisingly, Wen's supervisor doesn't assign someone else to the job, but rather sends Wen, who brings along Nathaniel, a friend and coworker at the call center. Unfortunately, Wen ends up promising a little more than they should and soon ends up with a problem in the form of a new roommate who's possessed by a demon prince from Hell. 

REVIEW: The Girl Who Became a Fish (short story) by Osamu Dazai, art by Nekosuke, translated by David Boyd

The Girl Who Became a Fish is, maybe, magical realism. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is the story of Suwa, the young daughter of a charcoal maker. During the summer months, when visitors come to the area to see the local waterfall, Suwa's father has her run a small tea stand. Although she obediently does as she's told, her voice is drowned out by the sound of the falls and she rarely sells anything. One day, while staffing the tea stand, she witnesses a student accidentally fall and drown.

This gets tied in with a story Suwa's father once told her, about two brothers, one of whom was transformed into a serpent, as well as Suwa's eventual fate.