REVIEW: Heaven Official's Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu): The Comic (manhua, vol. 1) original story by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, adapted and illustrated by STARember, translated by Mimi

Heaven Official's Blessing is danmei with fantasy and historicalish elements. This is the first volume of the Bilibili manhua adaptation of the story. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I think this is now the third format in which I've experienced this story. It follows Xie Lian, once the beloved crown prince of Xianle, now a god who has ascended three times and been banished from the heavenly realm twice. 

Xie Lian's third ascension caused some damage that he is being allowed to pay for with whatever merits he earns investigating a case for the Heavenly Emperor. There have been reports of brides being snatched from their wedding processions around Mount Yujun. The culprit is being referred to as the "Ghost Groom." Xie Lian has been tasked with finding and stopping this Ghost Groom.

This volume covers the whole Ghost Groom storyline, up to the revelation about what's under Lang Ying's bandages.

REVIEW: The Auctioneer (book) by Joan Samson

The Auctioneer is a blend of suspense and, I guess, horror. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

I can't remember how this book made it onto my radar. Maybe some sort of "small-town horror" list? Anyway, this is focused on the Moore family, made up of John, his wife Mim, their four-year-old daughter Hildie, and John's elderly mother. The Moores get by okay, doing work for others in the town of Harlowe and occasionally selling some butter and crops, but they're not wealthy by any means. Even so, when the police chief stops by to tell them that an auctioneer has moved into town, and would they like to donate something to an auction he's planning in order to pay for more deputies for Harlowe, they find a few things to donate.

The problem is that it doesn't just stop with that one request, and as Harlowe gets more deputies, the requests feel more and more like demands. Perly, the auctioneer, is all smiles and charm, but it seems like an awful lot of "accidents" have been happening to those who don't donate. 

A large chunk of this book is John and Mim worrying about the next week's request to donate and fighting about how far they're willing and able to let this go. Initially, they have enough junk that's broken or that they don't regularly use that it's easy for them to find stuff to give. And there's an element of peer pressure in it as well - it's to help Harlowe, so sure, why not donate a few old wheels or whatever?

As things progress, however, the Moores are faced with donating things they actually still treasure, and then things they still use. Peer pressure was part of the issue, but I got the impression that Mim was also kind of dazzled and flattered by Perly's attention, at the start. (Unless I misinterpreted things, it sure seemed like John was ragingly jealous.) When the flattery stopped working, word about the "accidents" started getting around.

REVIEW: Mesozoic Art II: Dinosaurs and Other Ancient Animals in Art (nonfiction book) edited by Steve White and Darren Naish

Mesozoic Art II is an art book. I bought my copy used, I think.

Review:

This was one of the books that caught my eye when I was on a Bob Nicholls kick. I haven't read/seen the first book, although I plan to.

This book features full-color artwork from 25 paleoartists. The full list: Andrey Atuchin, Rebecca Dart, Simone Zoccante, Brian Engh, Natalia Jagielska, Min Tayza, Bill Unzen, Beth Zaiken, Frederic Wierum, Simone Giovanardi, Curtis Lanaghan, Edyta Felcyn-Kowalska, Anthony J. Hutchings, Haider Jaffri, Lewis Larosa, Gaëlle Seguillon, Henry Sharpe, DJ Washington, Rudolf Hima, Stieven Van der Poorten, Ramón M. González, Maija Karala, Ashley Patch, Mattia Yuri Messina, and Bob Nicholls.

Each artist had a brief bio and then several pages of artwork, some of it full-page and some of it smaller, but all generally large enough to see everything well (there were only one or two pieces that I recall wishing were larger). Each piece included a caption that identified the species of animals and plants depicted, along with a little relevant info from recent research (aspects that the artist depicted particularly well, research that supports the artistic decisions made, etc.).

This was an awkward book to hold, but the large size meant that the artwork got a lot of room to shine. Much of it was intended to be realistic (sometimes to the point where it felt like you could reach out and touch feathers and scaly skin), although there were a few more stylized pieces. All in all, this was really enjoyable to look through.

REVIEW: Barbarian Lover (book) by Ruby Dixon

Barbarian Lover is sci-fi erotic romance. It's the third book in Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians series. I bought my copy new.

This review includes spoilers. 

Review:

Of all the women stranded on this planet, Kira is most likely to hold herself apart from everyone. While many of the other women hope they'll find a mate among the sa-khui (and therefore a firm place in their new community), Kira knows she won't, for reasons she's afraid to reveal to her alien hosts. When she was a child, she contracted an illness that left her infertile.

Initially, the translation device that the other aliens surgically implanted on her ear gave her some useful skills. Now, however, she's aware that she needs to find some other way to be useful in case her infertility is discovered. Unfortunately, the translation device is proving to be more and more of a burden. It not only gives her painfully sensitive hearing (she is embarrassingly aware of who is having sex with whom), it also seems to be a way for the original aliens that were going to sell her and the other women as sex slaves to track her.

To protect everyone, Kira gets permission to travel to the remnants of the sa-khui spaceship to see if there's anything there that can remove her translation device. Easy-going and cheerful Aehako is one of the aliens who agrees to go with her and protect her - largely because Aehako is interested in sad-eyed Kira, even if their khui haven't resonated.

REVIEW: The Best Competitive Multiplayer Games (nonfiction book) by Ryan Janes

The Best Competitive Multiplayer Games is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, Janes discusses the gameplay and appeal of 60+ competitive multiplayer games. As in his other book, The Most Relaxing Video Games, everything is covered in alphabetical order, and each game includes information about when it was released, its publisher, developer, genre, number of players, and the formats/systems on which it can be played at the time of the book's publication. Each game also includes numerous full-color screenshots. 

I really liked Janes' book on relaxing games. I'm not sure he was the best person to write this book, unfortunately. I don't play a lot of competitive multiplayer games, but my dad does, and from watching and talking to him, even I know there are certain titles that would likely be included in a lot of lists of "best competitive multiplayer games" that weren't included here, although they were sometimes mentioned in Janes' write-ups of other games. For example, Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Fortnite aren't on Janes' list. It's tough to tell without a tally of all the genres mentioned, but it felt like the book was fairly heavy on party games in particular. A few shooters were mentioned, but I suspect Janes isn't as interested in that genre.

Another problem with this book was that the editing was horrible. Comma usage was a mess, and there were multiple instances of homophone confusion.

All in all, while I still generally liked the way Janes talked about the appeal and gameplay of individual games and appreciated the screenshots, this wasn't nearly as good as his other book. 

REVIEW: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story (nonfiction manga) by Marie Kondo, illustrated by Yuko Uramoto, translated by Cathy Hirano

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I haven't read Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I assume that this manga includes the same tips and principles as the book, just in a different format, with some edutainment aspects. Here, Marie Kondo has been hired by a new client, Chiaki, a 29-year-old sales rep in Tokyo, to learn how to clean up her fantastically messy apartment. 

Kondo's method requires you to divide the contents of your home up into categories: she recommends Clothes, then Books, then Paper, then Miscellaneous Items, and finally Sentimental Things. First, though she wants you to think about the kind of life you'd like to live in your home - it's a way to focus your priorities and then start to gear your living space towards those priorities.

REVIEW: Psycho (book) by Robert Bloch

Psycho is a horror/thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

All Mary was thinking when she drove off with the money that she was supposed to deposit at the bank for her workplace was that she and her boyfriend Sam could finally afford to get married. Sam would probably have questions, but Mary figured she'd think of something. It wasn't like she was getting any younger.

Unfortunately, she took a wrong turn on her way to Sam's and ended up at the Bates Motel, a small, run-down place. Norman Bates, the manager, is odd and kind of pitiful, but he's nice enough to provide her with a sandwich before she settles down in her room. What she doesn't realize is that Norman is a mess of repressed desires, a middle-aged man who has spent his whole life under his mother's thumb and doesn't expect that he'll ever get out.

I've seen Hitchcock's movie and decided it might be nice to read the book it was based on. Aside from some character appearance differences (the original Norman had much less in the way of movie star charisma and was instead an overweight 40-something) and an additional death that I don't recall happening in the movie, the two are very similar.  

Overall, I enjoyed this, although, as with the film version, I had some issues with the psychological aspects.  

REVIEW: Dead of Winter (book) by Darcy Coates

Dead of Winter is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Christa is trying to recover, emotionally, after an incident in her past that left her struggling with depression. She's in therapy, and she now has a wonderful and supportive boyfriend, Kiernan. Kiernan convinces her to join him on a two-week trip to the Blackstone Alpine Lodge to have the kind of winter experiences he grew up with. Christa suspects he's going to propose to her.

Unfortunately, the bus to the lodge encounters a tree on the road. While the group's guide, Brian, stops to try to deal with the tree, Christa and Kiernan wander off a bit. They don't intend to go far, but the weather soon becomes worse than either one of them expects. They're suddenly lost in the snow. Then they're separated, and the only one the tour group finds is Christa. The tree couldn't be moved, so everyone is now holing up in an abandoned hunting cabin.

Christa, who almost certainly has frostbite, desperately wants to go looking for Kiernan. Brian tries to humor her, but it's already too dark and visibility is just too bad. He tells her they can try again in the morning. Unfortunately, when morning comes, it's discovered that Brian has been beheaded - his head is in a tree near the cabin, and his body is nowhere to be found. 

Is there a murderer among the survivors, or is someone outside hunting them? As more people turn up dead, no one knows who can be trusted.

REVIEW: Silent Hill 2 (nonfiction book) by Mike Drucker

Silent Hill 2 is nonfiction, book 27 in the Boss Fight Books series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I've never played any of the Silent Hill games before. I've seen the 2006 Silent Hill movie, and I've read a bit about Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, and Silent Hill f in social media posts, but that's the extent of my knowledge. When Drucker told readers, at the beginning of this book, to go play the game if they hadn't already done so, I knew I wasn't going to be doing that. I don't have the nerves for horror games, no matter how much some of them intrigue me.

Thankfully, Drucker then went ahead and explained the game's story and characters in detail. From the sounds of things, he went pretty much scene by scene as players would experience the game. It was interesting and enjoyable reading, and probably the closest I'll ever get to actually playing the game besides maybe a "Let's Play" video or something.

Drucker analyzed the game's characters and various aspects of the story and gameplay, mentioning the first Silent Hill game and the Resident Evil games for comparison (I once played 20 seconds or so of a Resident Evil game, so my knowledge there is about the same). He also went through and analyzed the various endings and what players had to do to achieve them, looked at how the game was marketed, and talked about how efforts to remaster the game changed the overall experience of it.

This is my first exposure to Boss Fight Books, and I hope all of them are this good, because this is exactly the kind of focus and detail I'd like to read about individual games. The analysis was interesting without, usually, being too dense to follow, and it gave me a solid appreciation for the game. There are no pictures of any sort (if you want to know more about the marketing Drucker mentions, you have to look it up yourself), but it makes up for it with really solid and thorough text. 

REVIEW: Carl's Doomsday Scenario (book) by Matt Dinniman

Carl's Doomsday Scenario is a LitRPG SFF book. It's the second in Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

 As is usual with these serial stories, this picks up right where the first book left off, with no real effort made to remind readers of what happened earlier. Even though it wasn't that long ago that I read the first book, it still took me a bit to orient myself, and there were references to characters and events in Book 1 that I couldn't always recall well. For the most part, this wasn't too much of an issue for me.

This entire book takes place on the third floor of Dungeon Crawler World. At the start of it, Carl and Princess Donut are faced with decisions about their race and class, with an overwhelming (to me) number of options available to both of them. After that, it's time to deal with the floor itself, which is more dangerous and has a few new game mechanics added to it. Carl and Donut have only eight days to find an exit to the fourth floor before they're flattened. 

This time around, in addition to regular enemies and bosses, Carl and Donut have to deal with the additional complication of quests and NPCs called "elites."

REVIEW: A Soul to Heal (book) by Opal Reyne

A Soul to Heal is a fantasy erotic romance. It's the second book in Reyne's Duskwalker Brides series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Delora used to be a happy young woman who enjoyed painting. Being sent to a new town to marry Hadith left her with few social connections or friends, but it wasn't a bad marriage, at first. Then Delora struggled to get pregnant, gained weight, and started shrinking in on herself as Hadith emotionally abused her and blamed her for their childlessness. Her last straw was when she caught Hadith in their bed with another woman. In a fit of rage, she killed them both. Now, as punishment, she's being taken to the Veil to be eaten alive by demons.

Instead, she literally lands on top of Nameless, the young Duskwalker Orpheus met in the first book. Nameless had been thinking about how he'd love to have a Bride of his own, but he'd figured it was unlikely considering his current existence and level of development. He's pleased and pleasantly surprised when Delora agrees to give him her soul before he can succumb to his instinctual hunger and rage caused by her fear. Delora, for her part, is deeply depressed, thinks she's just agreed to die at Nameless' hands, and considers it a just punishment for the lives she took.

Nameless (who Delora eventually names Magnar) is thrilled to have a Bride of his own. He has no idea what's wrong with her or how to make it right, but he's determined to create a home for them both where she'll be happy.

REVIEW: Several People Are Typing (book) by Calvin Kasulke

Several People Are Typing is a blend of workplace comedy, science fiction, and horror. I bought my copy new.

This review includes major spoilers. 

Review:

Gerald is working on a spreadsheet of winter coats he might want to purchase when his consciousness is suddenly somehow sucked into the internal Slack channels of the marketing company he works for. He doesn't hide this from anyone and, in fact, asks for help multiple times, but most of his coworkers are convinced that this is some kind of weird bit and that Gerald is just working from home. Gerald's boss is impressed with his improved levels of productivity.

The one person who knows Gerald isn't just really committed to a weird joke is his coworker Pradeep, who reluctantly takes care of Gerald's physical body while he's not in it. As Gerald and Pradeep try to figure out how to get Gerald back into his body, several of their coworkers try to create social media posts that will somehow improve the reputation of a dog food company whose product has suddenly killed dozens of Pomeranians. They also talk about their dogs, kids, and secret office romances. 

REVIEW: Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation of Kids to Catch Them All (nonfiction book) by Daniel Dockery

Monster Kids is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, Dockery covers the history of Pokemon and its North American (particularly US) marketing and popularity. Connected to that marketing aspect, Dockery also covers franchises such as Digimon, Monster Rancher, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Cardcaptors (not Cardcaptor Sakura).

I got this for the in-depth focus on Pokemon, which wasn't a franchise I was ever much interested in when I was younger, although I've come to appreciate the videogames as an adult. I hadn't expected this book to spend so much time on Digimon (in the "Pokemon vs. Digimon?" debate, Younger Me was very firmly in the Digimon camp, probably because I was at the older end of the age range these franchises targeted). Dockery hit me right in the nostalgia.

REVIEW: Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?: And Other Questions About Dead Bodies (nonfiction book) by Caitlin Doughty, illustrations by Dianné Ruz

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, Doughty answers 34 death-related questions in some depth, and an additional five questions more briefly in a "Rapid-fire Death Questions" section. She also wraps up the book with a chapter aimed at parents who are concerned about their child's questions about death - this one features answers by Dr. Alicia Jorgenson, a child and adolescent psychologist.

Doughty's answers were direct and didn't shy away from some of the grosser aspects of death, but, at the same time, her tone was always light and oddly reassuring. The question that gave the book its title is also the first one Doughty addresses. I hadn't specifically wondered about whether my cat would eat my eyeballs after my death, but I figured that, if it took long enough for someone to find me, she'd probably eat some part of me, which is essentially what Doughty's answer ended up being (she also mentions dogs and a few other pets). I knew I'd appreciate the way she framed her answers, however, when she began this one by saying "For hours, even days, after your death, Snickers will expect you to rise from the dead and fill his normal food bowl with his normal food. He won't be diving straight for the human flesh. But a cat has got to eat, and you are the person who feeds him. That is the cat-human compact. Death doesn't free you from performing your contractual obligations." (1)

Doughty says that most (all?) of the questions in this book came from children, who tend to be more open about their curiosity about death. I could easily imagine some kid asking Doughty "Can we give Grandma a Viking funeral?" or "Can I be buried in the same grave as my hamster?" Even when the questions weren't things I've ever personally wondered, Doughty's answers were fascinating. I would've loved to have had her around after my maternal grandmother died when I was a kid and I was freaked out about things none of the adults around seemed to want to talk about. 

I definitely plan to read more of Doughty's works.

Unrelated to the actual content of the books, I loved Dianné Ruz's creepy/funny/sweet illustrations at the start of each chapter. 

REVIEW: 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Invented Modern Forensics (nonfiction book) by Bruce Goldfarb

18 Tiny Deaths is both a biography of Frances Glessner Lee and a look at the early history of forensic science in the United States. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I first learned about Frances Glessner Lee and her Nutshell Studies through a miniatures group I was following. Unfortunately, the post didn't include a lot of information, but it did leave me fascinated with the idea of the Nutshell Studies, tiny meticulously constructed crime scenes. When I stumbled across this book, I knew I wanted to read it.

Less of this was focused directly on Lee and her Nutshell Studies than I expected, although it was mostly still an interesting read. 

The slowest part, for me, was the portion focused on Lee's parents and childhood - there were really only a handful of details here and there that were important for understanding later moments. I became much more interested when Goldfarb shifted to the state of death investigation in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. A large chunk of the book was necessarily devoted to the career of George Burgess Magrath, Suffolk County Medical Examiner and a deeply influential person in Lee's life. It was Magrath who impressed upon Lee the value of the medical examiner system over the coroner system, leading her to spend years and a great deal of money trying to establish a strong forensic science department at Harvard. 

If all that was needed was money, effort, and sheer force of will, Lee probably could have accomplished anything. As it was, even she struggled to get buy-in for a lot of her plans (Harvard pretty much only humored her for her money and the possibility of getting more of it after she died), although she ended up doing a lot for homicide training for United States police officers. 

It took about half the book before the Nutshell Studies were finally mentioned in any real detail. Although I was a bit disappointed that there were no pictures (I need to see about getting a copy of Corinne May Botz's The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death), I enjoyed learning more about the work and planning that went into the miniature scenes. I hadn't realized quite how much detail they included.

REVIEW: Family Business (book) by Jonathan Sims

Family Business is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Angie was Diya's best and closest childhood friend. As adults, they started sharing an apartment together after Angie went through some difficult times. When Angie suddenly dies, Diya can barely keep functioning. It feels like the whole world expects her to go right back to normal, but Diya can't bring herself to go to work like usual and can hardly stand to keep up with the other people in her life.

If she wants to keep her and Angie's apartment, however, she's either going to have to take on a new roommate (not happening) or start working again. When one of the people working for the small cleaning business, Slough & Sons, that came to clean Angie's blood from the floor suddenly calls to offer her a job, she accepts, even though she's never done work like this before. Considering Angie, she initially worries that cleaning up after the recently deceased might hit her too hard. There are, understandably, aspects she could do without, but in general the physicality of the work appeals to her. It also helps that she gets along well with Xen, one of her new coworkers.

Diya begins to worry as she starts having odd "episodes" at some of Slough & Sons' jobs. Everything is normal, and then suddenly she finds herself overwhelmed with what seems to be the final thoughts and feelings of the deceased people she's cleaning up after. It's deeply disturbing, and it seems to be getting worse. Is there something wrong with her, or is there something more sinister going on?

REVIEW: The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil (graphic novel) by Stephen Collins

The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil is a fantasy black comedy graphic novel. I bought my copy used.

Review:

Dave is one of the many orderly and neat residents of Here. When he isn't at work, looking at data and arranging it into neat charts and graphs that he then turns into presentations, Dave likes to spend time looking out at the street in front of his house and drawing what he sees. When he wants to relax, Dave listens to his favorite song, the only one he ever listens to, "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles.

There are odd moments, however, when Dave finds himself thinking about There, a place of chaos and disorder. It lies just outside of Here, and stories have been told of the horrible things that befell anyone who tried to journey to There. Unfortunately for Dave, one day his only bit of untidiness, the small hair growing under his nose that keeps coming back no matter how many times he plucks it, starts growing into a massive, bushy beard. It can't be trimmed, tamed, or removed. Its unruliness calls to mind the chaos of There, and the residents of Here can't help but be horrified and fascinated.

REVIEW: Time and Again (book) by Jack Finney

Time and Again is time travel fiction. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

Si Morley is a young graphic designer at an advertising firm. He has a deep love for the past, as evidenced by his fascination with the old stereoscopic slides at his girlfriend's antiques shop. As he pores over those slides, he can practically feel himself being pulled into the past.

Which makes him the perfect person for a secret government project involving time travel. The idea is this: the people chosen to travel back to particular times and places will, as part of their preparation, completely immerse themselves in the time and place they intend to travel to. That immersion will be so complete that they'll feel as if they're actually there - and, somehow, they then will be. 

Although Si is initially supposed to be part of an effort to travel to the San Francisco of 1901, he instead convinces the folks involved with the project to allow him to focus on New York City, January 1882. Si's girlfriend's foster father had always wanted to solve the mystery surrounding his father's suicide. The one remaining clue is a cryptic, partially burned letter. Si wants to see the moment that letter was mailed at the Main Post Office. He's told that he won't be allowed to interact or interfere with that moment, and he's fine with that. He figures that just seeing the person who mailed the letter might reveal something his girlfriend's foster father was never able to discover.

REVIEW: Catching Fire (book) by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire is the second book in Collins' Hunger Games YA dystopian series. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

I read The Hunger Games way back in 2011. I had to read my review of it to remind myself what I thought of it - I liked it well enough but had issues with Katniss and disliked the developing love triangle. I never got around to reading more - for some reason, each new movie and book release, particularly after the original trilogy, reduced my desire to go back to it. However, one of my library's student workers was absolutely shocked that I'd only read the first book, so I decided to finally continue on in order to appease her.

In this book, the latest Hunger Games are over, but that doesn't mean that Katniss and Peeta are free from it all. Katniss and Peeta are both still in the spotlight and, as a result, they're forced to continue acting like they're a happy couple. Katniss still has feelings for Gale, but he'll barely speak to her. 

Whether Katniss wants it to or not, a rebellion is brewing with her at its center. Katniss' family's living conditions are better than they once were, but Katniss is painfully aware that this could change at any time on President Snow's orders. She tries her best to be a well-behaved victor in order to keep her friends and family safe, but even her best efforts might not be enough. 

When news about changes to the Hunger Games is released, Katniss realizes that even the smallest sliver of safety she'd found was nothing more than a cruel illusion.

REVIEW: My Dog: The Paradox: A Lovable Discourse About Man's Best Friend (graphic novel) by The Oatmeal

My Dog: The Paradox is humor. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is the full-color version of the comic originally published online at The Oatmeal. Much like some other print versions of comics originally published online, for some reason this worked better for me online than it did in print. I'm not sure why. 

Inman's brief update online about his dog Rambo made me go hug my cat. I imagine it'll resonate with anyone who's ever loved and lost a pet, whatever the species. 

REVIEW: DPS Only! (graphic novel) by Velinxi

DPS Only! is a contemporary-set one-shot graphic novel focused on e-sports. I bought my copy new.

Review:

High school student Vicky Tan is a shy girl who lives in her esports superstar brother's shadow. She handles her brother Virgil's social media presence, and he mistakenly thinks she doesn't even like gaming. However, Vicky has a secret. When she's on her own, she logs on to Xenith Orion (the same game her brother plays). She's good enough that another player even asks her to join his team for the upcoming XO Tournament.

As she works with her new teammates and learns to communicate with them better, Vicky gradually comes into her own and gains confidence. However, when her masked secret gamer persona goes viral, will she be able to hold up against all the extra attention...and the possibility that her brother could learn her secret?

REVIEW: Horror for Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You're Too Scared to Watch (nonfiction book) by Emily C. Hughes

Horror for Weenies is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This covers 25 movies released between 1960 and 2018. Each movie includes a brief description, reasons you might want to watch or continue to avoid the movie (these parts tended to be more humorous than helpful), a detailed description of exactly what happens, info about why this particular movie matters in the history of horror films, some trivia, some iconic moments, and 3-4 similar books you might be interested in reading if you find that horror novels are easier for you to handle than movies.

I was hesitant to get this because, well, Wikipedia exists, and that's generally how I find out what happens in movies I'm too chicken to watch. However, the descriptions in this book are much more thorough and entertaining than Wikipedia - it made me wish that Hughes had covered many more movies than she did. I just checked whether she'd ever written books similar to this one and didn't find anything. Too bad.

The information about the impact of each of the various movies was helpful. Also, as someone who does generally do better with horror novels than movies, I appreciated the book recommendations (although it would have been nice if they'd been annotated with brief descriptions or some mention of why they were being recommended). Not that I need more book recommendations. 

REVIEW: Touch My Brother and You Die, Vol. 3 (book) by Morpho

Touch My Brother and You Die is a Korean fantasy comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Rosalite is sent to the Largole Empire to negotiate some stuff and ends up taking full advantage of the fourth imperial prince's instant adoration of Aster (Rosalite's bodyguard/lady's maid?). After a successful experience, Rosalite heads back home (with a new member of her household in tow, who she plans to use as a living printer/copier), only to find herself neck deep in what are essentially personnel problems: Jack Brown runs away due to issues with his sister, Glen is stressed and frustrated to the point where he actually plans to make some demands, and Rosalite's father is mad because she's willingly calling Sage Oswald "papa."

The publisher's description for this implies that there will be more tension and racing against the clock than there actually is. Glen's mother is barely in this, and Rosalite has hardly a thought to spare for the supposed apocalypse on the horizon.

Hey, I finally reviewed one of these volumes soon after finishing it! Not that it made much of a difference. I can remember particular events better, but the overarching story, whatever it is at this point, is still super foggy in my mind. 

The brief period from Jack Brown's POV was nice and all, except that his POV didn't feel all that different from Rosalite's, beyond him having a few thoughts about Rosalite's actions and those around her that didn't match up with Rosalite's own feelings.

I really need to stop reading this series. I have so many better things to read. 

REVIEW: Touch My Brother and You Die, Vol. 2 (book) by Morpho

Touch My Brother and You Die is a fantasy comedy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

As usual, I should have reviewed this closer to the time when I finished it. All I can recall, at this point, is that Rosalite leaned on Glen's capable self even more (stressing him out and causing him to, rightfully, doubt that she has any interest in him as a man or even a person), and then she spent a great deal of time obsessing over Prince Marius (the third imperial prince of Largole, a neighboring kingdom) and his sexy muscles.

It probably didn't help that I'd read the first volume over a year prior, but for some reason I couldn't follow anything that was going on in this. I kept wishing that the author would let up on the "hilariously enraged/frustrated" tone enough to give a recap of a few events, and maybe more info on who some of the characters were and why they were at all important to Rosalite's overall goals. Speaking of which, what even are Rosalite's goals? I know she wants to do whatever necessary to keep from dying and being reborn yet again, and that that involves keeping her brother from attracting the romantic attentions of a bunch of the book's male characters, but that doesn't explain many of her actions.

I finished this thinking "I should probably stop here." And then, for some reason, I got volume 3. I guess I was hoping it would improve and/or start making more sense?

REVIEW: Assistant to the Villain (book) by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Assistant to the Villain is fantasy romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Evie Sage's family depends upon the money she brings in, so now that she's no longer employed at the blacksmith's, she's desperate to get some sort of paying job. When she literally runs into the infamous Villain while he's attempting to evade pursuers, he, for some reason, offers her a job, and she accepts. 

She's nervous about working for him, at first. After all, the Villain is supposed to be evil. While he does indeed torture people (who maybe deserve it?) and do nefarious things (which seem kind of justified?), she soon finds that she enjoys working as his assistant, making sure that the various parts of his organization all function smoothly together. And it doesn't hurt that she's got a bit of a crush on her brooding, somewhat terrifying, and ridiculously hot boss.

Unfortunately, various people's secrets, the Villain's past, and a potential traitor in the Villain's organization threaten Evie's employment, the new life she's building for herself, and whatever might be brewing between her and the Villain. 

REVIEW: Playthrough Poetics: Gameplay as Research Method (nonfiction) edited by Milena Droumeva

Playthrough Poetics is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The idea behind this book is that game scholarship tends to flatten video games into text for close reading, and that gameplay is a valid and necessary way to research and explore the immersiveness of video games. Each contributor used different methods to incorporate actual gameplay experience into their analyses of different games. URLs to associated YouTube videos are included - I never got around to watching any of them, but I assume some of them include gameplay footage.

This is the most academic/scholarly work I've sat and read through from start to finish in a very long while. I'm not sure I'd have managed it if it hadn't been such a short work. The focus on actual gameplay experiences did make for more interesting reading, although the way the various authors approached it worked more for me in some chapters than others. My favorite was Chapter 2, Robyn Hope's "Pathologic 2 and the Phenomenology of Illness."

REVIEW: The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks (nonfiction book) by Daniel Konstanski

The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

After finishing Brian Barrett's LEGO: The Art of the Minifigure, I came across this book and thought it would be a nice way to expand upon what I learned. However, I hesitated on Konstanski's book for a long while, primarily due to reviews that indicated that font size was too small.

Unfortunately, I agree with those reviewers. It's the worst thing about this book. For the most part, I could still manage to read the text, but there were a few captions that I had to just accept I wasn't going to be able to read, even with my glasses properly on my face.

Despite my issues with the font size, overall I thought this was a worthwhile read. When I was a kid, my family could only afford a basic LEGO brick set, and even as an adult I've only bought a few small, cheap sets. For some reason, however, I seem to really enjoy learning about the LEGO design process and how and why different sets were developed. 

REVIEW: Dungeon Crawler Carl (book) by Matt Dinniman

Dungeon Crawler Carl is science fantasy LitRPG. I bought my copy new.

Review:

At 2:23 AM Pacific Standard Time, every structure on Earth with a roof is flattened. The only survivors are those who were outside at the time. The alien beings responsible for all this destruction give them a choice: they can either try to survive in what's left of their world, or they can enter the 18-Level World Dungeon, where they will be expected to fight their way through each timed level. Only those who make it through all 18 levels or meet certain other requirements will be given their freedom. Their efforts in the dungeon will be broadcast for the viewing pleasure of an alien audience. 

At the moment of the apocalypse, Carl happens to have just stepped out in his boxers, a leather jacket, and a pair of ill-fitting crocs in an effort to bring his ex-girlfriend's cat, Princess Donut, back inside. If he hadn't entered the Dungeon, he'd have frozen to death, but that doesn't make him feel much better as the NPCs he encounters immediately try to kill him. If Carl and Donut are to survive, they're going to have to figure out what's going on, level up, be creative, and keep moving.

REVIEW: Bullet Train (book) by Kotaro Isaka, translated by Sam Malissa

Bullet Train is a Japanese thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book focuses on multiple sets of characters, all of whom are traveling on the same bullet train. There's Kimura, a recovering alcoholic whose young son is comatose in the hospital. Kimura is planning to kill Satoshi, the Prince, the angelic-looking but sociopathic teenager who hurt Kimura's son. There's Nanao, the self-proclaimed "unluckiest assassin in the world," who's been sent to steal a suitcase - a seemingly easy job, but Nanao knows that nothing is ever easy when he's involved. And then there's Tangerine and Lemon, two assassins who've been tasked with retrieving their boss's kidnapped son and a suitcase, the very same suitcase that Nanao has been sent to steal. Their job seems easy too, and just about done...until the boss's son suddenly winds up dead.

This is set in the same world as Isaka's Three Assassins and takes place sometime after it (a few years, I think?). Although this can be read as a standalone, there are a few references to characters and events here and there that will make more sense if you've read Three Assassins first.

REVIEW: Tress of the Emerald Sea (book) by Brandon Sanderson

Tress of the Emerald Sea is fantasy, or maybe science fantasy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Tress has spent her entire life on the small island where she was born, baking, collecting cups brought by sailors from all over the world, and spending time with Charlie, her best friend. She and Charlie both generally try to pretend that Charlie isn't the duke's heir, and that they aren't in love with each other, but that becomes impossible when the duke decides to send Charlie off to be married. 

Charlie's plan to avoid becoming married involves being the most boring person ever anytime he's introduced to an eligible young woman and, for a while, his plan succeeds. Unfortunately, eventually the duke and the king deal with Charlie by sending him to be captured by the Sorceress in the Midnight Sea. Realizing that no one plans to help Charlie, Tress decides to rescue him herself, however impossible that may seem.

REVIEW: A Magical Girl Retires (book) by Park Seolyeon, translated by Anton Hur, illustrated by Kim Sanho

A Magical Girl Retires is fantasy ("magical realism" might also be appropriate here). I bought my copy new.

This review includes major spoilers. 

Review:

The main character (who I believe is unnamed throughout) is a 29-year-old jobless Korean woman slowly drowning in debt. She's depressed and considering suicide. In fact, this story begins at 3am, when the MC is considering jumping off a bridge. Before she's able to finally psych herself into it, a stranger approaches her, introduces herself as Ah Roa, the Clairvoyant Magical Girl, and tells the MC that she's destined to be the most powerful magical girl ever, the Magical Girl of Time.

The MC spends most of this story feeling bewildered and awkward - she certainly doesn't feel like a magical girl, much less the most powerful one ever, but Ah Roa's belief in her is so strong and earnest that she can't help but try to figure out how she might live up to it.

REVIEW: The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood (nonfiction graphic novel) by Brian "Box" Brown

The He-Man Effect is a nonfiction graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This looks at the history of marketing towards American children, in particular instances where toys were created first and then shows (thinly veiled ads, really) were created around them, like He-Man and Transformers. The book also mentions She-Ra, Disney, Star Wars, GI Joe, etc.

I wasn't always sure I really understood the distinction between companies realizing that a cartoon character is popular and putting out merchandise to capitalize on that vs. companies creating an animated show based around merchandise. Either way, an effort was being made to get children to convince their parents to buy things for them. The author definitely seemed to judge the latter more harshly than the former, however.

Overall, this was a bit choppy, and it wasn't always clear what the author wanted to say. For example, was he blaming racist reactions to new Star Wars stuff on the commercialization of childhood? 

Lots of points were touched upon, but not always explored very thoroughly. Still, this was interesting, if a bit depressing, reading.

REVIEW: I Hate Fairyland: The Whole Fluffing Tale, Compendium One (graphic novel) written and drawn by Skottie Young

I Hate Fairyland is a dark humor fantasy graphic novel series. I checked this volume out from the library.

Review:

Gertrude (Gertie) is a young girl who is unwillingly transported to Fairyland, where she is to remain until she and Larrington (Larry), her guide, find the key to the door back to her world. According to Queen Cloudia, this shouldn't take long. Twenty-seven years later, Gertie is still in Fairyland, a bitter and violent woman stuck in the body of a child. Queen Cloudia wants her gone but is forbidden from harming visitors to Fairyland, so she brings another little girl into Fairyland in an effort to circumvent the rules.

This was violent, irreverent, and gross. Vomit, snot, blood, tears, etc. were plentiful. The cartoonish gore was a little too gross for my tastes, unfortunately. I was reminded of Ren & Stimpy, which I found more repulsive than entertaining, as well as Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan. 

I had some trouble feeling sympathy for Gertie when I realized that she was primarily stuck in Fairyland not because she was unfairly trapped but rather because she refused, from the beginning, to listen to her guide. From the sounds of things, she really should have been able to get out of Fairyland decades sooner.

The story got so twisted in on itself by the end that I wasn't always sure what was going on. Despite the "Compendium One" bit in the title, though, this felt like a complete story on its own, so thankfully I didn't feel compelled to go hunting for more story, although Wikipedia tells me the story does indeed continue.

REVIEW: Cryptid Club (graphic novel) by Sarah Andersen

Cryptid Club is a collection of short comics. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this full-color collection, a variety of cute cryptids interact and live their lives. Mothman and his love of lights was a particular favorite of mine, although they were pretty much all cute and fun in some way.

This has probably the cutest depiction of Chupacabra that I know of, and I also really liked Slender Man's design. Unsurprisingly for Sarah Andersen creations, pretty much all of the cryptids in this struggled, relatably, with social anxiety.

REVIEW: Video Game of the Year: A Year-By-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977 (nonfiction book) by Jordan Minor

Video Game of the Year is nonfiction. I bought my copy new, I think.

Review:

As the title says, Minor picks one game from each year (1977-2022) to discuss in more depth, although there are also "Extra Life" sections between the years that discuss, as far as I could tell, a random selection of games (sometimes there were thematic aspects tying them together, but sometimes they were just a weird mishmash, not even held together by chronology). 

As Minor says in the introduction, "video game of the year" rankings are subjective, and different readers will likely have their own opinions about different years. As messy as the "Extra Life" portions tended to feel, it's possible that they were a way for Minor to fit in games that were still worth mentioning but that weren't going to get "game of the year" status. 

REVIEW: What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator (memoir) by Barbara Butcher

What the Dead Know is a memoir. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is Barbara Butcher's memoir of her experiences as a New York medicolegal death investigator (MLI). She started off working with the living, in a hospital, but alcohol ended that. She went to AA meetings and got sober, which somehow led to her getting an interview and offer for a death investigator position. From there, she spent 20ish years investigating "naturals" (death by natural causes), homicides, and suicides. She mentions a few memorable cases, the things she learned from them, and the effect they had on her. She also talked about her experience with 9/11.

This was a very engaging read, even if the cases Butcher discussed sometimes seemed like a weird assortment. Don't expect there to be resolutions to everything, either - many of the cases went unsolved. I was reminded of why I generally prefer mystery and crime fiction over true crime. I want those loose ends tied up, darn it. Still, it was interesting reading about things Butcher saw and discovered at various scenes.

Butcher managed to hit rock bottom not just once but twice in this, and she somehow got back up each time. It was definitely not the career progression I expected. I feel like it'd be great reading for some of my library's student workers - one had a bit of a breakdown a while back, worried that she hadn't figured her career path out yet (girl, you're only 20! it might not be a straight line, and that's ok). 

REVIEW: The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish: Canji Baojun De Zhanxin Yu Chong, Vol. 4 (book) by Xue Shan Fei Hu, translated by Mimi and Yuka, illustrated by Ryoplica

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish is Chinese m/m (danmei) fantasy romance. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

This final volume in the series picks up where things left off during the hunting party. The sixth prince makes a last ditch effort to snatch power away from Prince Jing. Things, of course, don't go the way he planned, but that's definitely not even close to the end of all the palace drama - there are hidden enemies still to be uncovered, more relationship developments, and all those secrets that the System could have revealed to Li Yu ages ago if he'd just used those System rewards earlier.

Li Yu had a more active role in the story this time around. It was nice that, for once, the solution to his problems wasn't always "wait for Prince Jing to fix things." It turns out that even Prince Jing can't fix everything.

REVIEW: What It's Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing : What Birds Are Doing and Why (nonfiction book) by David Allen Sibley

What It's Like to Be a Bird is nonfiction. I bought my copy used, I think.

Review:

Although I did indeed read this straight through from start to finish (a few pages a night before bedtime), this isn't really a book meant for that. The introduction drives that home by acting as a sort of annotated index, grouping information into categories like "feathers," "bird senses," "food and foraging," etc. If any of the bulleted tidbits of info intrigue you, you can follow the page number they provide to one of the bird portfolios that make up the bulk of this book and read a little more detail. 

As for the bird portfolios, water birds are covered first, then land birds. Each bird portfolio includes a roughly life-size painting of an example species or two (so, for instance, the painting of a Brown Pelican is only able to feature most of its head, whereas the Killdeer painting features the whole bird), in addition to illustrations of everything from a Bald Eagle's line of sight to the structure of hummingbird tongues and more.

The paintings and illustrations are fabulous and make this book a joy to flip through. The "essays" are short bulleted paragraphs that expand upon information mentioned briefly in the introduction and use specific kinds of birds as examples. There's only enough time and space to just barely scratch the surface, but it all still made for fascinating reading.

I didn't exactly come away from this understanding what it's like to be a bird, and in some ways they ended up feeling even more alien to me. That wasn't unexpected, however, and I still had fun trying to wrap my brain around different bird senses, behaviors, and ways of living.

REVIEW: Rental Person Who Does Nothing: A Memoir (memoir) by Shoji Morimoto, translated by Don Knotting

Rental Person Who Does Nothing is a memoir. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I first found out about Rental Person Who Does Nothing via an article that described him and his work. In Japan, there are apparently rental services where you can rent a person for various purposes - acting as a stand-in father at a school function, a friend for a short period of time, a guide, etc. Morimoto was prompted to start his "Rental Person Who Does Nothing" activities due to various factors: an abusive boss and a desire to avoid stress and feelings of obligation. Basically, it sounded like burnout?

At any rate, Morimoto set up a Twitter account and began fulfilling client requests, as long as he wasn't required to do anything other than show up, exist, and, at best, provide simple responses. This book mentions a lot of his requests and what fulfilling them was like. For example, one person requested that he watch them as they worked on their novel. Another person asked him to see them off at a train station. He even fulfilled another person's request to send them a reminder at precisely 6AM. I would have figured that was too much like doing something for him to accept as a job, since it required him to be awake and ready to send the reminder, but Morimoto's definition of "doing nothing" was very much about his gut feeling (and, I think, whether agreeing to fulfill the request gave him any feelings of stress or sense of obligation).

REVIEW: A Duel with the Vampire Lord (book) by Elise Kova

A Duel with the Vampire Lord is fantasy romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Floriane is her village's forge maiden, the one to whom her mother will pass all of the family's secrets pertaining to forging the silver weapons necessary to fight vampires. Although Floriane's place is supposed to be solely in her family's forge, her twin brother, one of the village's vampire hunters, has secretly helped her learn to fight in case she needs to protect herself. On the night of the blood moon, when the village is most in danger, Floriane makes use of the skills her brother taught her. Unfortunately, she isn't able to prevent herself from being captured by the Vampire Lord Ruvan, a monster who badly, possibly fatally, injured her twin.

If Floriane can somehow manage to kill Ruvan, she'll have defeated the vampires once and for all. It's not an easy thing to do, however, and a blood bond between the two of them suddenly makes it even more difficult. As Floriane waits and hopes for the right opportunity to kill Ruvan, she learns that there's more to the war between humans and vampires than she ever realized.

REVIEW: Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist (nonfiction book) by Jennifer Wright

Madame Restell is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book tells the story of Madame Restell, a highly successful 19th century abortionist in New York. Restell's real name was Ann Trow. An English immigrant who became a single mother after her husband's death, her options for earning a living for herself and her young daughter were limited. Wright explains how she went from being an English seamstress to a well-known and highly sought after French abortionist who'd supposedly received medical training in France.

While it was clear that Wright admired a lot about Restell, she was also frequently frustrated by her. This wasn't a 100% glowing portrait of the woman and her work - Restell was a complex person, and while Wright didn't accept that she was the devil that the media of her time often depicted her as, she didn't shy away from writing about Restell's less stellar actions and decisions (for example, apparent baby theft).

REVIEW: The Game Console 2.0: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox (nonfiction book) by Evan Amos

The Game Console 2.0 is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is a beautiful book filled with photographs of game consoles (many of which I'd never even heard of), their controllers, and occasional accessories. In many instances, consoles and/or controllers include an exploded view that shows off their inner components. Each console includes information (when available) about its launch price, year it was released, how many systems sold, RAM, processor/CPU, colors (for earlier generations)/GPU (later generations), and number of games released.

Each console is accompanied by a little bit of information about it - what made it special (or not), how successful it was, and what factors played into its success or lack thereof.

At the beginning of the book, the author includes a bit of info about how certain info was determined for the consoles. The book ends with a section on playing retro games today - issues with certain console components failing over time and the difficulty with getting them fixed, mini and classic consoles, emulators, and more.

It's a lovely book, and I could appreciate the time and effort that went into getting these consoles, photographing them, and compiling information about them. That said, I realized while reading this that I'm more interested in video games than I am in the systems that play them. I wish that there had been screenshots/photographs, where possible, of what gameplay on the various consoles looked like. I understand that this likely would have been impossible for a lot of the earlier systems, but it would have made it easier for me to connect with the information and understand the various consoles' capabilities more. 

REVIEW: The History of the Gothic Video Game (nonfiction book) by Christopher Carton

The History of the Gothic Video Game is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This calls itself a history of gothic video games, and there is indeed some gaming history info here. However, it mostly reads like a collection of game/game franchise descriptions, with a little about gameplay, atmosphere, etc. of specific games mentioned. Games are almost always accompanied by a single screenshot.

This is the weakest of the White Owl video game-related books I've read so far, and I don't think it's just because fewer games were mentioned that I'd ever be interested in playing. It felt a bit like the author really wanted to write about Castlevania, the Ghosts 'n Goblins series, and a few other games/franchises but didn't have enough info for a whole book. As a result, we have this book, covering games in a huge variety of genres, with often very different tones/atmosphere. There were occasionally games included that I wouldn't have considered to be gothic video games, such as the Baldur's Gate series. 

The game descriptions themselves were decent enough, and I appreciated the screenshots, but, as a history of gothic video games, this wasn't very good. It might have been better if it had worked in information about the features/history of the gothic genre in general, and how that influenced gothic video games. Instead, it acted as though gothic video games existed in a vacuum, completely separate from literature, fashion, etc.

REVIEW: Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity (nonfiction book) by Devon Price

Unmasking Autism is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Someone in my book club mentioned reading this, and from their brief description I assumed it was going to be about what autism can look like/how it can present, particularly in autistic individuals who mask. Instead, this was more of a self-help book for masked autistic people who'd like reassurance that their unmasked selves are worthy of love and acceptance and who'd like to take steps towards unmasking.

Once I adjusted to what this book actually was rather than what I'd thought it was, I found this to be a decent read, although I felt like it brushed off the reasons why one would spend so much time and energy masking a bit too easily. 

REVIEW: The Most Relaxing Video Games (nonfiction book) by Ryan Janes

The Most Relaxing Video Games is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book is a collection of descriptions and reviews of 58 video games that the author considers to be relaxing. Each entry includes the year the game was released, the publisher, developer, genre, and systems on which they can be played. There are also multiple full-color screenshots for each game.

Most of the games (but not all) would be on my own list of relaxing games, if I made one. And, yes, I probably could have gotten similar content from a game review site. However, I mostly read this before bedtime and found it to be an excellent way to wind down for the day without giving myself more screen time.

Reading about the games I'd previously played and enjoyed was nice, but one thing I was also hoping this would do for me is point out new-to-me games that might also work well for me. The book was a success in that respect - I added several games to my wishlist as a direct result of reading this (and then went on to play 80+ more hours of Stardew Valley instead of trying something new, but whatever). 

For my purposes, this was a good read, although some sort of organization other than straight alphabetical (genre, perhaps?) would have been nice.

REVIEW: Tetris: The Games People Play (nonfiction graphic novel) by Box Brown

Tetris: The Games People Play is a nonfiction graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

As the title says, this graphic novel is about Tetris, but it's also about Nintendo and (to a lesser extent) Atari/Tengen.

This graphic novel's art style wasn't to my taste at all, but I picked this up more for its subject matter than how it looked. I've read a few video game history books and therefore knew a little Tetris history before going in. It was also one of the games I played a lot on my family's NES growing up. This book included a good deal more information than I'd previously known.

While this was an interesting read, I really wish the flow hadn't been so choppy. It started off with a brief mention of some sort of ancient Egyptian game, and then there was so much about Nintendo that this, at times, felt at least as much like a history of Nintendo as a history of Tetris.