REVIEW: Escape Room (book) by Maren Stoffels, translated by Laura Watkinson

Escape Room is a YA mystery/thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This alternates between four POVs, five if you count the occasional page from the POV of the person determined to punish one or more of the characters. Alissa is a pretty girl who hates it when people judge her by what they see on the surface. Her father is a firefighter who struggled with PTSD after one particular fire. Mint is the shy, withdrawn girl Alissa befriended. Although she hasn't told anyone, she thinks she has the ability to feel other people's pain. It makes it difficult for her to interact with others. Sky is another member of this friend group. Miles is one of Sky's coworkers, a handsome but secretly tortured young man who finds himself immediately drawn to Alissa.

The four of them hear about a new escape room that requires a minimum of four people, and they decide to give it a try. Unfortunately, what they don't realize is that the escape room is a trap arranged by someone with a massive grudge.

REVIEW: Alien Bonds (book) by Carmen Webster Buxton

Alien Bonds is sci-fi romance. I bought my copy new (although I also have an e-book copy that I think was gifted to me by the author).

Review:

Industrial chemist Dina Bellaire has only just recently moved to the planet Wankanreo for her new job, and is still trying settle in when she attends a party and finds her entire life changed in one moment. Kuaron Du, a famous Wakanrean singer, is initially angry when he meets her, thinking that her presence has initiated glashunrah, a false, one-sided "fated mate"-ish bond that is the reason why Wankanreans are wary of humans and have instituted a "no touching" rule for all humans on the planet. When he realizes that their bond is real, shahgunrah rather than glashunrah, he leaves the party with Dina and the two of them go back to his place, where they proceed to have lots of (off-page) sex.

By the time Dina is able to think again, she confused and bewildered, although still drawn to Kuaron. She refuses to believe that they're actually bonded the way Kuaron says they are, and is determined to go to work. Unfortunately, that's not really possible this early during the formation of their bond. Wakanrean culture and laws have procedures in place that allow newly bonded couples to take as much time off as necessary, but the fact that Dina is human complicates things. Another issue is that Kuaron's father is Wakanreo's planetary administrator.

REVIEW: A Court of Wings and Ruin (book) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Wings and Ruin is the third book in Maas' fantasy romance Court of Thorns and Roses series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Feyre returns to the Spring Court as a spy. Tamlin believes her lies, oblivious to her revulsion at the deals he made in order to get her back. Lucien sees that there's more going on, but he keeps quiet, knowing that Feyre is his only link to his newly found mate, Elain.

Once her work at the Spring Court is done and she's back with Rhysand, it's time to prepare for the upcoming war against Hybern. Nesta and Elain both have abilities that could be useful, if they can be persuaded to care enough about what's going on around them to try to help. Feyre has more skills to develop, and there are many potential allies, if she and Rhysand are willing to take some risks.

Mixed in with all the battle preparation is a lot of relationship/emotional stuff: Feyre's relationship with her sisters, something brewing between Nesta and Cassian, Lucien fretting over Elain (who is refusing to eat or do anything now that the Cauldron has changed her and she can't marry the person she'd originally planned to marry), Mor finally talking about Azriel (although she didn't owe Feyre any sort of explanation, but whatever), more Tamlin, etc.

REVIEW: Last and First Idol (anthology) by Gengen Kusano, translated by Andrew Cunningham

Last and First Idol is an anthology collection of three science fiction stories. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is a collection of three stories. I'll cover each one separately.

"Last and First Idol"

This is the story of Mika Furutsuki, a girl who loved idols ever since she was six months old and only idols could calm her crying. Her dream of becoming an idol herself eventually leads her to attend a high school known for having produced one of the top new idols. At that school, she eventually catches the attention of Maori Niizono, a girl who doesn't care much about becoming an idol herself but who, for some reason, is determined to help Mika achieve her dreams.

Unfortunately, Mika's best efforts aren't enough. Her talent agency goes bankrupt, and both her sister and Maori Niizono confront her in the aftermath. Although Maori continues to be determined to help her, this only makes Mika feel worse. Feeling as though she's lost everything worth living for, Mika kills herself. This, as is turns out, is just the beginning of her story.

REVIEW: How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems (nonfiction book) by Randall Munroe

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems is a blend of science/math and humor. I bought my copy new.

Review:

How To is very similar to Munroe's What If? volumes, in that it examines hypothetical scenarios and attempts to determine, scientifically, if they are possible and what some of the unintended outcomes might be. In this case, however, the hypothetical scenarios are all addressing common real-world problems, like making friends, digging a hole, playing football, etc., although they're all taken to extremes in some way. And okay, so there are a few less common problems thrown in, like how to build a lava moat and how to mail a package from space.

I found this to be just as entertaining and fascinating as Munroe's What If? volumes. I enjoy seeing how he thinks his way through the various problems. His stick figure illustrations add to the humor. This time around there were some fun guest contributions too. I got a kick out of the thought of Serena Williams agreeing to see how many tries it would take her to knock a drone out of the sky with a tennis ball. Dr. Katie Mack's "vacuum decay no, tiny black hole yes" answer was also fun. Astronaut Chris Hadfield essentially got a whole chapter to himself, tackling every emergency landing situation Munroe could throw at him (granted, some of the answers generally boiled down to "you'll almost certainly die, but doing [blank] would help improve your chances of survival very slightly").

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 6) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou is a high school comedy manga. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

In this volume, Fecchan tries to look on the bright side of things. Ms. Nakamura (the science teacher) finds the Shinonome Laboratory and completely freaks out about being in what she's sure is enemy territory. Mio finds out about the manga contest she entered...or does she? Yuuko has another Fey Kingdom dream in which Mio is a super-powered villain looking for the magical wooden cubes (her barrettes or whatever they are). Ms. Sakurai finds porn (??) called DVD Vinyl in her brother's bedroom. The author pokes fun at rigged target practice games. We finally get to see a Go/Soccer match, and it is bizarre. Also, Sasahara and Misato walk together, and it completely wrecks Mio emotionally, with utterly ridiculous results.

I am wildly curious about the contents of DVD Vinyl, and it was nice to finally see a Go/Soccer match. Also, I found the target practice game bit hilarious, even though I've never played one of those in my life.

As usual, this series is weird and weirdly fascinating. There are occasional genuinely funny moments, but mostly I'm here to see what bizarre things happen next.

Extras:

A few full-color pages, some random notes about Mai's pets and other tiny details from the series.

REVIEW: Character Design Quarterly, 25 (magazine issue)

Character Design Quarterly is a magazine, although each issue has its own ISBN and it's possible to purchase individual issues, which is how I ended up with this one.

Review:

If you have any interest in how artists progress from a prompt or an idea to a completed character design and illustration, I highly recommend this. The artists in this issue include Lynn Chen (the creator of the issue's cover art), Simone Grünewald, Cam Kendell, Aurélie Lise-Anne, João Moura, David Navarro, Roger Pérez, Anastasiia Platoshyna, Alex Relloso, and Jennifer Voigt. There's also a creature teeth tutorial created by Lorenzo Etherington under the cover flaps.

The issue includes:
- a detailed step-by-step look at the creation of the cover art,
- a step-by-step look at the creation of "a family of circus performers on vacation,"
- some info on the creation of an owl character, an interview with Simone Grünewald (who was involved in the games A New Beginning, the Deponia series, and The Pillars of the Earth),
- a detailed look at the creation of a wizard character,
- some tips from Jennifer Voigt,
- a gallery of art by Eunbi Kang, Ben Eblen, and Shannon Hallstein,
- a step-by-step look at the creation of an illustration using the prompt "wind, adventure, youth, light,"
- an interview with Cam Kendell,
- some tips on using lighting to create different moods,
- and a detailed look at the creation of an "embittered, eccentric old man and his animal sidekick"

Not only is the artwork a treat for the eyes, the detailed process information is fascinating and makes me itch to play with my art supplies.

REVIEW: Science of Creature Design: Understanding Animal Anatomy (nonfiction book) by Terryl Whitlatch

Science of Creature Design: Understanding Animal Anatomy is nonfiction. I bought my copy used.

Review:

As other reviewers have mentioned, the title is a bit misleading. While Whitlatch does include detailed illustrations of skeletal and muscular anatomy of several types of real-life beings, including labeling that allows readers to note features that different animals have in common, there isn't as much here about science and Whitlatch's creature creation process as I would have liked. Some of her creature illustrations include info on which real-life creatures inspired them (for example, the "Welankus" that combines aspects of hellbender and Pinacosaurus anatomy), and Whitlatch occasionally highlights particular things about individual creature anatomy that she thinks readers should pay attention to, but it's generally up to readers to figure out exactly how Whitlatch use real-life influences to create believable fantasy creatures.

REVIEW: Food Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of Our Edible World (nonfiction book) by Julia Rothman, with help from Rachel Wharton

Food Anatomy: The Curious Parts & Pieces of Our Edible World is heavily illustrated nonfiction, but not, in my opinion, a graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is basically a heavily illustrated food miscellany. I came across it while trying to find food-focused artbooks. It covers lots of random information, touching on foods from all over the world (although you'll probably find yourself thinking of a particular food that could have been mentioned that isn't - one of the drawbacks of a work that tries to cover as much ground as this one).

There are illustrations for everything from place settings (formal American, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indian/Nepalese) to different kinds of spoons and forks (but not, for some reason, knives, except as butchery tools later in the meat chapter), and more. I enjoyed some parts more than others. For example, the "parents of produce" section, in which the author looked at the fruits and vegetables that were selectively bred in order to make the edible varieties we see today, was interesting. The sandwiches section made my mouth water, even when I had no idea what the sandwich fillings might taste like. 

REVIEW: Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World (nonfiction graphic novel) by Pénélope Bagieu, translated by Montana Kane

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World is a nonfiction graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this graphic novel, Bagieu writes about the lives of a little over 29 women. One of the things I really appreciated about this book was that the women chosen weren't the usual ones - I knew of a few of them, like Margaret Hamilton, Temple Grandin, and Josephine Baker, but quite a few of them were new to me.

If there was any sort of organization to this volume, I didn't see it, but thankfully that didn't turn out to be an issue. For the most part, I loved this graphic novel, which provided enough info about each of the women to give me an idea of whether I might want to look up more about them. You could tell that Bagieu was glossing over certain bits and/or playing certain aspects up (I'm pretty sure that was The IT Crowd's Moss making a guest appearance in Jesselyn Radack's section) - there's only so much detail you can include in a 291-page graphic novel about this many women - but I generally enjoyed her story-telling style. The chapter on Sonita Alizadeh prompted me to look up one of her music videos. Also, the miniature lover in me needs to see if I can find more stuff about Frances Glessner Lee and her crime scene "nutshell studies."

The one chapter that felt out of place was the one devoted to The Shaggs. Their father forced them to perform and record an album, despite the fact that they knew they weren't very good and none of them wanted to. Their father had so much control over their lives that they didn't have friends, and none of them were truly free until he finally died. When their music suddenly got attention again, it wasn't because they wanted it to - only one of the sisters had any interest in trying to continue her musical career.

Except for that one odd chapter, this was an extremely enjoyable and informative work, enough that I plan to seek out more of Bagieu's stuff.

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 5) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou is a high school comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Mio has apparently given up on keeping her BL manga creation a secret, because in this volume she enlists Yuuko and Mai's help in getting her pages done. Mr. Takasaki accidentally runs into Ms. Sakurai outside of work. We get our first glimpse of what's going on in the vice principal's head. Also, there is an incident involving several dogs.

I don't know how Mio got to the point of being okay with her friends spending hours looking at her art, but now that she's there, the series has other layers of comedy it can explore. Mai doesn't really care about what she's doing, and Yuuko, unsurprisingly, is terrible at helping out.

Mr. Takasaki is a disaster. I still have no idea what Go/Soccer is supposed to be, but it's mildly amusing to see Ms. Sakurai's younger brother blackmailing Mr. Takasaki into being the club's advisor.

As usual, this is more weird than funny, but reasonably entertaining.

Extras:

A few full-color pages, profiles for the various high school staff members, and profiles for the Record of Fey Kingdom soldiers. I still don't understand those episodes - I assume they're dreams of some sort?

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 4) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou is a high school comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Miss Sakurai's younger brother becomes (or always was?) a student at the high school, joining the Go/Soccer club and giving Mr. Takasaki anxiety. Ms. Nakamura, the science teacher, makes several attempts to capture Nano in order to study her. The principal continues to have more animal and toupee issues. Mio is exceptionally bad at sports or anything physical. Also, it looks like Nakanojou, the kid with the mohawk, is becoming more of a series regular, poor guy.

This series continues to be reasonably fun, if a bit too weird to truly be funny, with enough new things happening in each volume to keep the jokes from getting stale. 

Extras:

A couple full-color pages, a page detailing a few things from the professor's laboratory/home, and a page of random Nichijou facts.

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 3) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou is a high school comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Mai is in yet another embarrassing situation where people are likely to see her BL art. Mr. Takasaki has a crush on the guidance counselor, Miss Sakurai, but is too socially awkward to ask her to go out mushroom hunting with him. Mai and Yuuko get into a big fight inspired by Yuuko buying Mai fried mackerel for lunch rather than the fried macaroni she asked for.

In every volume there are jokes I just don't get, plus a few I sorta kinda enjoy. This volume went back to the more so-so feeling of volume 1, although I did get some amusement out of Mr. Takasaki's sheer nerdiness. I suspect that the man's closest friends might be his eggplants.

Extras:

A couple full-color pages.

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 2) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou is a high school comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Yuuko attempts puns and fails to make anyone laugh. There's a brief, out-of-the-blue flashback to when Nano first started going to school. (Also, the professor is apparently only 8 years old??) After some difficulties with a test, Yuuko offers to draw pictures for their teacher's next English text. She and Mio have an art battle that deeply frustrates Mio. A new animal cast member is added, in the form of Sakamoto, a little black cat that the professor adopts and gives a little bandana to that allows it to speak.

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 1) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou: My Ordinary Life is a high school comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

This manga follows the "ordinary" lives of a bunch of high school weirdos, including:

Mio - a girl who secretly enjoys creating BL manga

Yuuko (or Yukko) - Mio's best friend, who often forgets to do her homework and copies Mio's

Nano - a robot who thinks she is successfully masquerading as a regular high school girl (literally everybody knows what she really is)

Professor - Nano's creator

Misato - a girl who inexplicably has lots of explosive weaponry

Sasahara - a guy who acts like the son of a wealthy family

And various other characters, including a nervous guidance counselor, a principal who makes bad jokes and fights deer, and more.

I'd seen out-of-context scenes of the anime adaptation before but didn't otherwise know much about this series. It reminds me of Azumanga Daioh, except weirder. Also, context doesn't really make those anime scenes make much more sense. I still have no idea why the principal was fighting a deer.

Extras:

A couple full-color pages.

REVIEW: Wed to the Lynx (book) by Cara Wylde

Wed to the Lynx is fantasy romance (fantasy erotic romance??). I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is part of the multi-author "Arranged Monster Mates" series, which can be read in any order. They all take place in the world of Alia Terra, which was formed when the Shift merged the human world with portions of a variety of monster worlds. In the present, poor or orphaned women submit their DNA to the Temple in order to be matched with monster mates and thereby ensure that they and/or their families live better lives. 

Marigold is a human from a wealthy, emotionally distant family. After she rejects her friend's brother, her "friend" tricks her into giving her a small sample of her blood and then submits it to the Temple without Marigold's knowledge. Marigold is shocked and horrified when she's notified that she's been matched. She and her parents try to get her out of the arranged marriage, but it isn't possible, and so she reluctantly leaves with Shadow, the Lynx she was matched with, determined to act so spoiled that he'll eventually send her home again. Shadow, meanwhile, is an introverted author who has sought out a mate in order to keep himself from growing out of control during the upcoming mating season. He's determined to do his best to make Marigold feel welcome in his home and community, even if it means going outside his comfort zone and being more social.

REVIEW: Little Book of Video Games: 70 Classics That Everyone Should Know and Play (nonfiction book) by Melissa Brinks

Little Book of Video Games is nonfiction. I think I bought my copy new.

Review:

This covers the history of video games in 70 games - that's a lot for only 153 pages, so I went into this knowing it'd feel skimpy at times. The title is also a bit misleading, since some of the games mentioned, although influential or likely the first examples of particular aspects of video game history, weren't necessarily enjoyed by audiences when they were released and didn't sound like they'd be much more enjoyable now.

REVIEW: Spring Comes Riding in a Carriage (short story) by Riichi Yokomitsu, art by Atsuki Ito, translated by Yui Kajita

Spring Comes Riding in a Carriage is a Japanese realistic fiction short story. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I'm slowly working my way through all the Maiden's Bookshelf stuff that has been translated into English. This particular story was originally published in 1926 and is focused on a married couple. Their marriage started rough, with the husband having to fight against his wife's parents' objections in order for them to get married in the first place. Then the husband had to deal with issues with his mother-in-law. Now the couple is finally left to themselves, but they still can't fully be happy - the wife is dying (tuberculosis?). Her husband acts as her caretaker, simultaneously resenting the way he feels tethered to her and dreading the day she finally leaves him. She rages at him, accusing him of wanting to be elsewhere, with someone else, only letting up as she becomes more prepared to die.

REVIEW: Butcher & Blackbird (book) by Brynne Weaver

Butcher & Blackbird is a dark romantic comedy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When Sloane and Rowan first meet, it's three days after Sloane has killed Albert Briscoe and accidentally gotten herself locked in the cage Briscoe used to keep his victims in. Rowan reveals himself to be the serial killer known as the Boston Butcher. Sloane, in the hope that he'll help her get out of the cage, reluctantly reveals that she's the serial killer known as the Orb Weaver. Both of them exclusively target other serial killers. 

It's pretty much love at first sight for Rowan, who finds himself desperate for an excuse to keep Sloane from slipping out of his life and disappearing forever. He's the one who proposes that they play a game. Every year at around the same time, they'll both travel to a location picked by Sloane's brother Lachlan, who'll use his connections as a contract killer to find likely serial killers for them to target. The first person to find and kill the killer wins.

They both enjoy the companionship as well as the game, finally getting to meet someone else on the same wavelength. Rowan has lots of friends, but the only people who know him as he really is are his brothers. Sloane only has one close friend. As Sloane and Rowan get to know each other, they both find themselves wanting more but are reluctant to admit it. Rowan is afraid of scaring Sloane off, knowing that she's shy, skittish, and doesn't trust easily. Sloane is attracted to Rowan but has no idea how to do relationships.

REVIEW: The Guest List (book) by Lucy Foley

The Guest List is a mystery/thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book follows five POVs: Jules, the bride; Hannah, the plus-one, wife of Jules' closest male friend; Olivia, Jules' younger sister and sole bridesmaid; Aoife, the wedding planner; and Johnno, the best man. Jules is an ambitious woman who managed to turn her blog into a well-known digital magazine. Her groom, Will, is the charismatic host of a survival TV show. 

Every one of the POV characters has something they're hiding. Johnno, for example, comes across as a disaster, hardly the kind of person Will would normally hang out, but something from his and Will's boarding school days has kept them connected. Hannah is secretly jealous of her husband's relationship with Jules. Olivia is recovering from a bad breakup, and possibly more. Aoife is determined to make sure the wedding goes smoothly, even as she tries to keep the guests from invading her personal boundaries too much.

REVIEW: Dead Silence (book) by S.A. Barnes

Dead Silence is sci-fi horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this sci-fi horror novel, Claire Kovalik and her beacon-repair crew are doing one last job before their work is made obsolete. With no family or life to go back to, Claire isn't looking forward to finishing things up, so when her crew picks up a strange distress signal, she welcomes the chance to spend a little more time in space.

Shockingly, the distress signal seems to have come from the Aurora, a luxury spaceship that went missing more than 20 years ago. There's almost no chance that anyone on the ship is still alive, but the salvage claim could be extremely profitable for Claire and her crew, so they decide to check things out. Unfortunately, by the time they realize that whatever it is that killed the passengers and crew of the Aurora is affecting them as well, it's too late.

In the book's present, Claire has somehow escaped the Aurora and is considered the sole survivor. She has very little memory of what happened aboard the ship past a certain point, although she now suffers from near nonstop visions of her former crew members dying and/or killing themselves. The corporation that employed and rescued her has located the Aurora again and plans to go there, with Claire as a guide, the idea of which horrifies her, even if she can't remember all the reasons why.

REVIEW: Chivalry (graphic novel) story and words by Neil Gaiman, adaptation, art, and illuminated manuscript lettering by Colleen Doran

Chivalry is a fantasy graphic novel adaptation of one of Neil Gaiman's short stories. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This work, an adaptation of one of Neil Gaiman's short stories, follows what happens when Mrs. Whitaker, an elderly English widow, finds the Holy Grail in a charity shop. She's fully aware of what she's found, but she views it as much the same as any other knickknack or other decorative item in her house - it looks nice on the mantelpiece in her parlor. Then she gets a visit from a handsome man in a suit of armor who claims to be Galaad, a knight of the Round Table on a quest to retrieve the Holy Grail.

REVIEW: Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment (nonfiction book) by Grady Hillhouse

Engineering in Plain Sight is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is organized into 8 chapters: Electrical Grid; Communications; Roadways; Bridges & Tunnels; Railways; Dams, Levees, and Coastal Structures; Municipal Water and Wastewater; and Construction. The back of the book says you don't need an engineering background to enjoy this - overall, I'd agree, although there were parts where the author made an attempt to explain things that left me a bit lost. For example, although I appreciated the Electrical Grid chapter, at times the best I could do was accept that I wasn't going to be able to understand everything.

REVIEW: Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D (nonfiction graphic novel) written by David Kushner, illustrated by Koren Shadmi

Rise of the Dungeon Master is a nonfiction graphic novel about the creation of Dungeons & Dragons. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This graphic novel, based on the author's 2008 Wired profile of Gary Gygax and interviews with Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, outlines the creation, history, and influence of Dungeons & Dragons. Although the title also makes it sound like an autobiography of Gary Gygax, it felt far more focused on D&D than on Gygax himself. Plus, it had enough about Dave Arneson and his contributions and connection to the game that it seemed a little unfair that the title only mentioned Gygax.

REVIEW: Scarfolk Annual (book) by Richard Littler

Scarfolk Annual is satire. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Content warning for self-harm, cannibalism, and more. The humor here is pretty dark.

Scarfolk, a fictional English town, is trapped in the 1970s, a bleak and totalitarian place. Scarfolk Annual is presented as a facsimile copy of a children's publication with various games, activities, stories, and diagrams. There are board games such as "Race to Say Your Last Goodbye," in which players must try to get to their father before he is executed by the state (there is no way to win), stories like "The Visit from the Christmas Council Boy" (a boy who determines whether your family is demonstrating the Minimum Happiness Level), instructions for making your own branding iron out of a coat hanger so that you can "Find out what it's like to be a cow, sheep, or slave," and more. The former owner of this issue of Scarfolk Annual has written occasional comment in the margins.

REVIEW: Pursuit: A Victorian Entertainment (book) by Felice Picano

Pursuit: A Victorian Entertainment is LGBTQ+ historical fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Addison Grimmins, a handsome, street-smart, omnisexual man ("omnisexual" is used on the back of the book but not in the text itself), is employed by the Earl of R. to do whatever needs to be done that he can't. Most recently, this includes tracking down Lord R.'s wife, who went missing after their son's wedding. Was she kidnapped, or did she leave of her own volition? Either way, Addison will find her and bring her back. However, as he learns more about her...kidnappers? associates?...he realizes he might have a more personal connection to what's going on than he thought.

The first half of this book is devoted to Addison's pursuit of Lord R.'s wife. The second half is a description of Addison's life up to the point when he was employed by Lord R. I found the second half much more interesting than the first. Unfortunately, the two parts didn't really come together well.

REVIEW: What Moves the Dead (novella) by T. Kingfisher

What Moves the Dead is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives a letter from their childhood friend Madeline Usher indicating that she is dying, they immediately travel to the Usher ancestral home. Although Alex has been warned, it's still a shock to see how ill the last two remaining Ushers look. Madeline's brother, Roderick, with whom Alex once served, looks like a strong breeze could blow him away. Madeline looks like she could die at any moment.

Despite being nobility, the Ushers are ruinously poor, and it's painfully evident in the condition of the house and surrounding land. Surely the mold, mushrooms, and algae-infested lake can't be good for Roderick and Madeline's fragile health, but Roderick refuses to leave without Madeline, and Madeline is too sick to go anywhere. 

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.

REVIEW: Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl: The Complete Manga Collection (manga) story by Mocchi-au-lait, art by majoccoid, translated by Cerridwyn Graffham

Handsome Girl and Sheltered Girl is f/f romantic comedy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When Okuma Satomi's friend needs her help getting volunteers for a cross-dressing cafe, Satomi uses this as an opportunity to finally talk to her handsome crush, Kanda Mizuki. Satomi has no idea that Mizuki is actually a girl, and when Mizuki jokingly asks Satomi out, the misunderstanding spirals completely out of control. Mizuki knows she has to tell Satomi the truth soon, but Satomi is clearly over the moon about dating her. Mizuki doesn't want to upset or hurt her...and, she realizes, she also doesn't really want Satomi to break up with her, which she's convinced is what will happen once the truth comes out.

REVIEW: The Return (book) by Rachel Harrison

The Return is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

When Elise is first told that her old college friend Julie has gone missing, she doesn't believe it. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and she's convinced that she has just temporarily gone off somewhere on her own and will turn up again soon, laughing at everyone's reaction to her supposed disappearance. Except a year goes by, and Julie's friends have a sort of funeral for her. Even to Elise, this seems a bit too long for some kind of game. Then, exactly two years after Julie went missing, she turns up again. She swears she's fine, but she has no memory of where she was.

In order to reconnect, Julie and her three closest friends, Elise, Mae, and Molly, decide to spend a weekend at a remote hotel in which each of the rooms is elaborately decorated according to some bizarre theme. Elise and the others are shocked at how emaciated and sick Julie looks, but their friendship has been built around knowing about but avoiding talking about terrible things, and so they privately worry about Julie but pretend like nothing's wrong when they're with her. 

However, as hard as they try to pretend that everything's normal, it definitely isn't, and tensions are on the rise. It doesn't help that there seems to be something wrong with the hotel - Elise wonders whether her room is haunted, as she keeps imagining a presence there, just out of her line of sight, and she struggles to get the thermostat to stay above sixty. There's also something going on with the hotel staff, and the supposedly fully booked hotel is weirdly empty.

REVIEW: A Court of Mist and Fury (book) by Sarah J. Maas

A Court of Mist and Fury is the second book in Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This takes place shortly after the events of the previous book. Feyre is a mess, her sleep interrupted by nightmares of Amarantha and her time Under the Mountain. She desperately wants to do something useful. Unfortunately, Tamlin's time Under the Mountain has left him with a bone-deep terror of anything happening to Feyre. It doesn't matter that she now has the lifespan and powers of the High Fae - he's convinced that if he gives her the freedom she craves, she'll come to harm.

However, even Tamlin can't do anything about the agreement between Feyre and Rhysand. When he comes to claim his first week with her, there's no choice, she has to go. Her time with him doesn't go at all the way she expects, and it isn't long before she wonders if she wouldn't be better off with Rhysand than Tamlin, the man she loves and who she died to save.

REVIEW: On the Rocks (book) by Georgia Beers

On the Rocks is a contemporary f/f romance, the second in Beers' Swizzle Stick Romance series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Second grade teacher Vanessa Martini isn't wild about having to call the parents of one of her students. She's a teacher because she likes kids - if she never had to deal with their parents, she'd be fine with that. But something is going on with little Oliver Chapman, and he's been acting out in class a lot lately.

Grace Chapman is exhausted and feels like she isn't measuring up in any area of her life lately. The owner of the flower shop she works for is difficult, to put it mildly, and her personal life isn't going any better - she and her husband are divorcing, and she's tired of her mother constantly acting like the failure of her marriage is all her own fault. Then there's her son, Oliver, who's taking the divorce badly. She knows he loves her, but that doesn't stop it from hurting when he says something angry and hurtful or acts like he'd prefer to be with his father.

Vanessa, Oliver's teacher, feels like yet another source of judgement in Grace's life. As the two of them keep crossing paths, however, they gradually thaw towards each other...and realize that there's a mutual attraction brewing between them.

REVIEW: You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post, Vol. 1 (book) written by Blackegg, illustrated by Ninemoon, translated by alexsh

You've Got Mail: The Perils of Pigeon Post is Chinese historicalish m/m erotica. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Wu Xingzi, advisor to the magistrate of the remote Qingcheng County, is 39 years old, poor, and all alone in the world. His parents died when he was young, and he's never really had any close friends. He's gay, and although the people around him don't take issue with this, he's never had a lover. With nothing to look forward to except the grave site he's picked out for himself, he decides to commit suicide after confessing his feelings to a handsome local tofu seller.

To Wu Xingzi's shock, the tofu seller tells him that he's also gay - however, he's in a relationship. He tells Wu Xingzi about the Peng Society for Gentleman, through which he met his own lover. It's a society for gay men to meet other gay men via messenger pigeons. Hope blossoms in Wu Xingzi's heart, and he decides to pay his first month's subscription fee for The Pengornisseur, a catalog of portraits and basic information about other Peng Society members.

Wu Xingzi sends out a few letters with the expectation that he might eventually make a few like-minded friends. To his shock, the response to every letter he sends out is an illustration of the recipient's penis. Suddenly, Wu Xingzi's goal shifts from making friends to collecting as many dick pics as he can...until a particular favorite of his prompts him to send a response of his own, and he captures the attention of the notorious and powerful Guan Shanjin. 

REVIEW: It Ends With Us (book) by Colleen Hoover

It Ends With Us is, I suppose, marketed as romance, but I'd call it more women's fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Domestic abuse is a huge part of this story. Don't be fooled by the romance novel trappings and marketing.

This is the story of Lily, a young woman who grew up wondering why her mother stayed with her abusive father. Now her father is dead, and Lily has moved to Boston and started up her own business, a flower shop. Her father's death and other events prompt her to think about her past, so she gradually reads her way through her teenage diary entries (which were always structured like letters to her favorite celebrity, Ellen DeGeneres). Her diary reminds her of her first love, Atlas, a young man who ran away from his own abusive family and lived for a time in the abandoned house next door to Lily's home. 

As Lily reminisces about Atlas, she meets Ryle, an ambitious surgeon who tells her right from the start that he isn't interested in relationships or romance. Still, they're attracted to each other, and Lily gradually falls in love. As things with Ryle take a turn and he becomes abusive, Lily has to grapple with complicated emotions and memories of her past. She becomes even more torn when she runs into Atlas for the first time in years.

REVIEW: One of Us Is Back (book) by Karen M. McManus

One of Us Is Back is the third (and final?) book in McManus' One of Us Is Lying series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This review contains spoilers for the events of the first two books.

It's been almost 2 years since Simon's death in the first book. Jake, Addy's ex-boyfriend, is about to be retried and potentially let out. Addy is understandably terrified - Jake has been working hard to turn public sentiment in his favor. Meanwhile, Phoebe is killing herself with worry that Owen, her little brother, will turn out like Jake because she and her sister didn't turn him in for his part in the events of Book 2. 

Then someone hacks a billboard, announcing the start of a new game, and one of the Bayview Crew goes missing. Is Jake responsible, or someone close to him? 

REVIEW: The Reign of Wolf 21: The Saga of Yellowstone's Legendary Druid Pack (nonfiction book) by Rick McIntyre

The Reign of Wolf 21 is nonfiction, the second book in McIntyre's Alpha Wolves of Yellowstone series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In the first book of this series, McIntyre wrote about the life of Wolf 8, Wolf 21's adoptive father and alpha of the Crystal Creek pack. This book focuses on Wolf 21 and his time as alpha of Yellowstone's Druid pack. 

Although McIntyre's writing isn't anything special and often feels like field notes written out in paragraph form, with occasional asides telling readers what he'd done on a particular day, his enthusiasm and appreciation for wolves shines through. I appreciated his interpretations of wolf behavior, and following Wolf 21 through his eyes was fascinating and occasionally thrilling. I gasped at Wolf 40's fate (it should be noted that, for the most part, McIntyre just related things as they happened, without too much sensationalizing) and got attached to 21, 42, and 253. 

302 was quite a character, and I'm looking forward to reading McIntyre's book about him. Although audiobook is usually my format of choice for nonfiction and was how I read the first book, I opted for a print copy this time around, and it worked much better for me. I not only got to see McIntyre's various pack charts and maps, as well as the color photos of the wolves, I was also able to skim some of the more boring bits I'd have been forced to slog through in audiobook format.