REVIEW: Guardian: Zhen Hun, Vol. 3 (book) by Priest, illustrated by Ying, translated by Yuka, Shry, amixy

Guardian is Chinese m/m romance (danmei) that blends urban fantasy, mystery, and historicalish fantasy. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

I actually did well this time - immediately after finishing this, I sat down with pen and paper and tried to write down what happened. And even then it was hard, because this stuff was complicated and I don't know nearly enough about Chinese culture.

Anyway, this is the final volume of Guardian, and everything comes to a head. Technically, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei are a happy couple, but under the surface all is not well. The dead and the living aren't meant to be together, and just being around Shen Wei is gradually killing Zhao Yunlan. The Great Seal is about to break, and when it does, all life will be exterminated. Zhao Yunlan refuses to stop searching for some way to make everything work out and keep Shen Wei by his side.

There was a lot going on in this volume. Lin Jing got sent to investigate a life-stealing case (or something) that resulted in mass disappearances, and Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi and other SID employees ended up having to try to help. Guo Changcheng foolishly agreed to help a ghost with a kidnapping case. Ghost Face, Shen Wei's twin, raged at the difference in the way things turned out for him vs. Shen Wei. More mythological knots were untangled. Some Netherworld big shots tried to convince Zhao Yunlan that he needed to die in order to save everyone.

REVIEW: Minesweeper (nonfiction book) by Kyle Orland

Minesweeper is a nonfiction book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is my second Boss Fight Books read. I wasn't sure if the author could manage to wring an entire book out of Minesweeper and make it interesting besides, but he did it. The book started off by looking at the precursors to Microsoft's Minesweeper and then moved on to Microsoft's journey with the game, including the worry on the part of executives and others that it wasn't "serious" enough for Microsoft's business-focused reputation. Employees playing games when the could be working? The horror! Imagine what it could do to productivity! The author then looked at the relatively small but devoted competitive Minesweeper community that sprouted up, and the issues around determining the "best" Minesweeper players. 

REVIEW: Mothman's Merry Cryptid Christmas (picture book) by Andrew Shaffer

Mothman's Merry Cryptid Christmas is a fantasy picture book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Mothman is considered an ill omen, so when Santa asks him to take over Rudolph's duties and lead the sleigh while Rudolph is on vacation, he's somewhat hesitant to agree. What if he really is an ill omen and ruins Christmas? A pep talk from a friend helps him decide what to do.

This rhyming picture book is a sort of parody of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." As the very beginning states, it can't really be sung to the tune of that song. It's still fine as a rhyming picture book - I read it aloud to my cat and we both enjoyed it.

I liked Shaffer's interpretation of Mothman, with his little stick arms and legs and enormous red eyes. The image of him munching on a used sweater made me laugh. All in all, this was cute, sweet, and a little weird, a perfect read while I frantically finished crocheting a Mothman toy to gift to someone.

The book ends with a Q&A section for adults that answers a few Mothman-related questions such as "Is Mothman real?" and "Why does Mothman have bird wings?"

REVIEW: Pikachu's Nighttime Adventure (picture book) by Rikako Matsuo

Pikachu's Nighttime Adventure is a fantasy picture book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Pikachu invites Eevee and Dedenne over for a sleepover. Eevee scares Dedenne into thinking ghosts are around, but thankfully the creepy thing outside the window turns out to just be Mimikyu. Mimikyu wants to go to the top of Dark Sky Mountain but is too scared to go alone, so the whole group goes together, experiencing a few frights along the way that turn out to just be other Pokemon.

I was charmed by Matsuo's first Pokemon picture book, so when I saw Gengar on the cover of this one, I knew I needed to read it too. This time around, readers are presented with multiple nighttime scenes, first too dark to see anything but ordinary rocks and plants and then lit up to reveal the Pokemon hiding everywhere.

REVIEW: Dogs of War (book) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Dogs of War is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Rex is a massive humanoid dog Bioform, a cybernetically and genetically enhanced being created to be a military weapon. He's deadly enough on his own but is also packed with weaponry, and his voice is designed to instill fear. He's the leader of a group of Bioforms that include an enhanced bear named Honey, an enhanced reptile named Dragon, and a hivemind composed of enhanced bees called Bees. All he wants is to be a Good Dog, but what does that mean? 

His whole life, being a Good Dog has meant doing what Master tells him to do. Master tells him who the enemy is, and then Rex and his team kills the enemy. Things become more complicated, however, when Rex and his team's connection to Master gets broken off and Rex is left to decide on his own who is and isn't the enemy and what actions he needs to take to be a Good Dog.

REVIEW: Leech (book) by Hiron Ennes

Leech is a blend of gothic horror and science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review: 

A young doctor has been sent to a remote chateau to both replace the baron's previous doctor and figure out what killed the original doctor. What neither the baron nor any of his people know, however, is that the new doctor and old doctor are essentially the same person. For generations, the Institute from which all doctors come has been run by a parasitic hivemind.

The new doctor has no memory of how the old doctor died or what killed them. This shouldn't be possible, and it makes this situation unnerving in a way the Institute and its many bodies has never experienced. 

REVIEW: Dinosaur Behavior: An Illustrated Guide (nonfiction book) by Michael J. Benton, illustrated by Bob Nicholls

Dinosaur Behavior is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book covers, in fairly brief chapters, dinosaur physiology, locomotion, senses and intelligence, diets, and social behavior, with mentions of specific research or studies that contributed to what we know about dinosaurs and how they lived their lives. Overall, this is an accessible read intended for teens and general audiences.

There were times I wished Benton had gone into more detail or spent more time on certain topics. In general, though, I really enjoyed this. I already knew some of what it covered from having read other related books, but there were quite a few details that were new to me, and Benton did a good job covering it all in a way that was interesting and easy to follow. 

REVIEW: Tombs: Junji Ito Story Collection (manga) by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen

Tombs is a collection of short horror manga stories. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This starts with the title story, "Tombs," which is a blend of Junji Ito's body horror with a side of I Know What You Did Last Summer. It takes place in a town where bodies naturally turn into tombstones if not disturbed. I liked this story well enough.

Next is "Clubhouse," which stars three friends. Two get possessed by warring spirits in an old clubhouse. This was, for me, the weakest story in the collection.

"Slug Girl" - This is just pure body horror, a story about a girl whose tongue turns into a slug. The grossness of it worked for me.

 "The Window Next Door" - A young man is haunted by a horrific older lady who lives next door. The story is pretty basic. It's the artwork that really sells this one.

"Washed Ashore" - A giant dead sea creature washes ashore. This one felt weirdly unfinished.

"The Strange Tale of the Tunnel" - A tunnel that absorbs people. Meh. This was another weaker entry.

"Bronze Statue" - A woman spies on others via a bronze vanity statute she had made of younger, more beautiful self. We've got murder, art, and a descent into madness.

"Floaters" - People start producing floating hairballs that tell everyone their deepest secrets. This one was okay.

"Bloody Story of Shirosuna" - A town of sick people, and a weird underground horror that's trapping them all there.  

This wasn't one of the stronger Junji Ito collections I've read, but, as usual, Ito's artwork is horrific enough to make up for a few weaker storylines. Here we have people bleeding from their pores, crazy-eyed main characters, horrific rotting corpses, and more. 

REVIEW: Ew, It's Beautiful: A False Knees Collection (graphic novel) by Joshua Barkman

Technically, Ew, It's Beautiful is more of a comics collection than a graphic novel, but whatever. 

Review:

The humor in this only worked for me occasionally, and I don't recall any of it actually making me laugh. That said, I loved the artwork, and I enjoyed the derpy birds, Barkman poking fun at humans, and the few cats here and there.

Barkman's visual representation of a Common Loon's call was perfect.  

REVIEW: Guardian: Zhen Hun, Vol. 2 (book) by Priest, illustrated by Ying, translated by Yuka, Shry, amixy

Guardian is a Chinese m/m (danmei) fantasy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

I really need to be better about taking notes, especially if it's going to end up being weeks or months before I finally write my review.

The first half of this volume has a feel similar to the previous one - we've got an urban fantasy series with a weird supernatural mystery, and Zhao Yunlan and his people have been called in to help. This time around, it's hospital patients writhing in pain that seems to have no physical source.

By the second half of the volume, however, we're neck-deep in the mythology of this series, as Zhao Yunlan learns more about what Shen Wei has been hiding from him, and what his and Shen Wei's connection to "Kunlun" is.

I have to admit, I would have loved it if the series had stayed like volume 1 and the first half of this volume, exploring supernatural mysteries while Zhao Yunlan flirted wildly with a blushing Shen Wei. The mythology in the latter part of this volume was difficult for me to follow, and I'm somewhat concerned that the next (final!) volume will be more of the same. 

Extras:

Two full-color illustrations at the start, black-and-white illustrations throughout, and an appendix with a character and name guide and a glossary. 

REVIEW: Spider-Man: Cosmic Chaos! (graphic novel) written and illustrated by Mike Maihack

Spider-Man: Cosmic Chaos! is the third work in the Spider-Man focused "A Might Marvel Team-Up" series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Spider-Man takes the dolphin talisman to Silver Surfer, who tells him that Rocket (Guardians of the Galaxy) may have some useful info about it. It turns out that the talisman was one of seven given away as prizes in cereal, and together they are all-powerful. Unfortunately, Spider-Man starts accidentally collecting them.

It's weird seeing Rocket in a series like this, aimed so much at little kids. He's practically tame here. 

Again, we have a very nice and fluffy story. In this instance, being nice saves the day, multiple times. Spider-Man is all about avoiding battle and just helping people out. Instead of shooting enemies, try giving them a casserole.

I think this is the end of the Spider-Man "A Might Marvel Team-Up" stuff, although a poster included with my book set makes it look like the series might be continued with Iron Man as the focus. 

All in all, this was chaotic and crammed with Marvel characters who rarely got a chance to do much more than show up, but still an okay read. 

REVIEW: Spider-Man: Quantum Quest! (graphic novel) written and illustrated by Mike Maihack

Spider-Man: Quantum Quest! is the second work in the Spider-Man-focused A Might Marvel Team-Up series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The Fantastic Four show up and ask for Spider-Man's help with locating Namor's lost/stolen city. This will involve finding a dolphin talisman (seen in the previous volume). Although Spider-Man (and Mike the pigeon) manages to find the talisman with Ant-Man's help, the situation rapidly becomes weird. It seems that everything is getting drawn into the quantum realm for some reason.

I don't know much about She-Hulk, but this volume leads me to believe that fourth wall breaking is one of her things. At any rate, there is a good bit of fourth wall breaking, as Spider-Man's flips literally flip the book (readers are encouraged to turn the book as needed in order to properly follow the story).

I didn't like this quite as much as the first volume, but the interactivity helped to somewhat make up for that. In addition to all the book flipping, there's a Seek-N-Find activity that's surprisingly difficult - I never did find three of the items.

Each volume seems like an effort to cram in as many characters (particularly ones from the Marvel Cinematic Universe) as possible. Here we've got She-Hulk, Moon Girl, Shang Chi, Moon Knight, Ant-Man, etc. 

REVIEW: Spider-Man: Animals Assemble! (graphic novel) written and illustrated by Mike Maihack

Spider-Man: Animals Assemble is the first work in the "A might Marvel team-up" series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

J. Jonah Jamison is losing it over pigeons, and there's a villain in Central Park causing problems. Spider-Man keeps expecting to be asked to help fight the villain but is instead asked to watch out for an increasingly ridiculous number of superhero pets.

This was cute and light, very much written for kids but still appealing to me, an adult. There are occasional animals in danger, but none are harmed (even though things didn't look great for the goldfish for a while). There's definitely a goofy tinge to the story, as Nick Fury, for example, literally pokes his head out of a mailbox.

There's a dolphin talisman mentioned near the end with no info about whether it's a reference to something readers should already know and recognize or part of the set-up for a future volume. It turns out to be the latter, but there's no "to be continued" at the end of the volume to let you know this.

All in all, I liked this and wish some of the pets could have gotten more page-time. 

REVIEW: Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea (nonfiction graphic novel) by Guy Delisle, translated by Helge Dascher

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea is a travelogue in graphic novel form. I bought my copy used, I think.

Review:

In 2001, Guy Delisle was allowed into North Korea to work on an animated cartoon. He spent about two months there. This work is a travelogue of his experiences.

His hotel room was located in one of the three hotels meant for foreigners. Although he was only in North Korea for a couple months, he met several people who had been and would continue to be there for years. He was accompanied by a guide and/or translator almost everywhere he went, which included a few sightseeing and museum trips, although there were a few places (the restaurants, I think?) where only foreigners were allowed.

REVIEW: The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt (graphic novel) script by John Allison, art by Max Sarin

The Great British Bump-Off: Kill or Be Quilt is a blend of comedy and mystery. It's technically a sequel, but there are no references to the first work, so it can be read entirely as a standalone.

Review:

Shauna's Uncle Jim has allowed her to borrow his boat, which she is now using to take a leisurely vacation. She lasts about three hours before her poor knowledge of knots and the distraction of a handsome young man result in great big scratches down the side of the boat. 

In order to earn the money necessary to fix the boat, Shauna decides to stop for a while and work for the handsome young man's mother's quilting shop. When her new employer's electric car catches fire, the woman is convinced that the culprit is her business rival, Pat Price. 

While Shauna loves investigating mysteries, this one gets her tangled up in multiple sets of loyalties. Can she figure out who the saboteur is, and also get her boat fixed?

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.