REVIEW: Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of (nonfiction book) by Stuart Ashen

Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This covers 19 terrible games originally released between 1980 and 1995, in alphabetical order, with occasional interruptions for interviews in which Ashen asked folks to talk about the game that most disappointed them. Ste Pickford, a game designer, got a longer section that went over some of the games he worked on, as well as what the industry was like at the time.

I really appreciated that each of the games included screenshots and detailed descriptions of what gameplay was like. I have played (and rage-quit) some games that included game-breaking bugs, and I've played games that have deeply disappointed me. Thankfully, I don't think I've ever played games quite as bad as most of the ones in this book. SQIJ! in particular would have had me wondering if it was meant to be some kind of weird modern art piece.

While I enjoyed reading about the games, I found the author's humor to be a bit bland.

I was surprised to see that the book had an index, until I actually looked at it and realized that it was just an extension of Ashen's jokes, and a kind of lazy one at that. I'm pretty sure that "Occasional fart noises" was mentioned on more than just page 109, for example. 

REVIEW: Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms (nonfiction book) by Hannah Fry

Hello World is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This looks at all the different areas of our lives in which algorithms are used and talks about the benefits and drawbacks of that. This was originally published in 2018, several years before ChatGPT was released, and I couldn't help but wonder what the author might say today.

Even being almost a decade behind the times, this book was a nice reminder of the many areas of our lives in which algorithms play a part - there were several real-world examples mentioned that were completely new to me. Fry tried to keep a very balanced look at everything, emphasizing that blindly trusting algorithms wasn't a good idea, but also underscoring the benefits of using algorithms vs. not. 

It's a nice, accessible read overall. That said, after reading Karen Hao's Empire of AI, Fry's book feels a bit too optimistic. 

REVIEW: Incidents Around the House (book) by Josh Malerman

Incidents Around the House is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

At least in the print version, narration/action in this book is left-justified, dialogue is indented, and there are spaces between. The author has a note at the beginning about this being intentional, part of signaling that everything is being related from the POV of a child.

The child is eight-year-old Bela. She doesn't seem to have any friends outside her home, but she does have her Mommy, Daddo, Grandma Ruth...and Other Mommy, who lives in her closet. Or at least who used to live in her closet. Other Mommy has been coming out a lot more recently, to the point that Bela is worried her Mommy and Daddo will see her. There's also the issue of the question Other Mommy has taken to asking Bela: "Can I go into your heart?" Bela isn't quite sure what Other Mommy means by that. She's said no every time, but, considering that Other Mommy has been her friend for so long, maybe she should say yes?

REVIEW: Fan/Girl x Call/Boy (manga, vol. 1) by Kotora Aoshima, translated by minami

Fan/Girl x Call/Boy is, I believe, a romance series, although it looks to be slow burn. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review: 

Sakurako is a painfully shy, introverted shut-in who has hired Fuji, a call boy, in an effort to better understand the feelings of her favorite character in the adult game she plays. Although she covers up all of her merchandise, an accident results in Fuji finding out that she's a fan of the game. Happily for the both of them, it turns out that Fuji loves the same game, although he's a fan of a different character than Sakurako. Fuji instantly transforms from a smooth professional into an enthusiastic fanboy, geeking out over her merchandise, and the two of them spend the evening playing Smash Bros. It's the start of a lovely friendship, although it takes a bit for Sakurako to realize that Fuji genuinely sees her as a new friend and not a client and/or someone he feels sorry for.

REVIEW: There Is No Antimemetics Division (book) by qntm

There Is No Antimemetics Division is a blend of horror and science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The Antimemetics Division is responsible for the research, containment, and, in rare cases, destruction of antimemes, ideas, objects, and beings that somehow have the ability to prevent themselves from being perceived or remembered, and which can often directly attack memories. Employees in the Antimemetics Division have to regularly take special drugs just to be able to remember their own work and what they do.

Initially, this book looked like it might be composed of a series of short stories that all have the Antimemetics Division in common. The first chapter, which I realized I'd previously seen in the form of a short live action film, gives readers a taste of what antimemes are capable of and how the employees in the Antimemetics Division function. Then we leave those characters behind and move on to someone who's apparently a new recruit in the Antimemetics Division, desperately trying to survive an encounter with an antimeme that will eat their memories into nothingness over the course of 15 minutes to two hours.

Eventually, though, a broader story takes shape. The Antimemetics Division is fighting a war, but it's a war they're unaware of. The more they learn, the more they're forced to forget, and the more ground they lose. At the same time, it's somehow a war they think they can win.

REVIEW: Laika: The Magic Behind a Stop-Motion Dream Factory: Two Decades of Groundbreaking Animation from Coraline to Wildwood (nonfiction book) by Ozzy Inguanzo

Laika: The Magic Behind a Stop-Motion Dream Factory is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This looks at Laika, a stop-motion animation studio based in Portland, Oregon, and several of the people who work there. There are chapters on development and design, pre-production and construction, puppet fabrication and rapid protoype, animation and production, post-production and visual effects, and archives and exhibitions.

The photographs, of which there were many, were fabulous. I knew Laika was responsible for the movie Coraline and the upcoming movie Wildwood, but I hadn't realized they were also responsible for several other stop-motion movies (which have now been added to my "to be watched" list, along with Wildwood). I mostly started reading this because my current student worker is studying animation and is particularly into stop-motion animation. I didn't actually know anything about Laika going in, but it did occur to me, while reading this, that stop-motion animation overlaps nicely with my love of the work that goes into making miniatures.

I particularly enjoyed the various employee spotlight sections, as well as all of the little "making of" details about Laika's various movies sprinkled throughout the book. All in all, this was an engaging read in addition to being fabulous just to look through. 

REVIEW: The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death (nonfiction book) essays and photographs by Corinne May Botz

The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Frances Glessner Lee created the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death to act as teaching tools for police detectives. Each one depicts, in miniature, a crime scene based on a real-life crime scene or combination of crime scenes, along with some pertinent details such as the identity of the victim, when the crime was reported and who reported it, and initial statements from the first person or people questioned.

This starts with an introduction by Richard B. Woodward and then moves on to a couple essays by Corinne May Botz. Eighteen of the Nutshell Studies (there were originally twenty) then each get their own section, with several color photographs (close-ups, as though taken by a six-inch tall person walking through each of the scenes), the basic information provided to detectives using them for training purposes, and a diagram highlighting various areas of the scene. Some of the Nutshell Studies include crime scene investigator analyses. The book wraps up with more detailed information and solutions for five of the Nutshell Studies - the others aren't included because the Nutshell Studies are still used for training purposes to this day.

REVIEW: The Beauty's Blade: Mei Ren Jian (book) by Feng Ren Zuo Shu, translated by Yu, illustrations by Gravity Dusty

The Beauty's Blade is a Chinese baihe (f/f) fantasy book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Fu Wanqing is both a great beauty and a formidable fighter. Although she is considered the heir of the House of Valor, she causes nothing but trouble for her father and behaves as if nothing in the world has anything to do with her. There is only one person she considers her true rival: Yu Shengyan, the cold and indifferent high priestess of the demonic Jadewater Guild, which opposes the House of Valor and other members of the Lightpath Alliance.

Seemingly, all Fu Wanqing wants is to challenge Yu Shengyan to a duel, but for some reason Yu Shengyan refuses to even draw her blade, despite the fact that Fu Wanqing crippled her shijie. Fu Wanqing does at least extract a promise from Yu Shengyan to stay by her side for three months, giving her more opportunities to get her to agree to a duel, in exchange for a rare medicine that will allow Yu Shengyan's shijie to walk again.

It's a risky agreement for the both of them, with the Jadewater Guild and the House of Valor so at odds, but neither of them cares. As they spend more time with each other, their rivalry begins to morph into something more, but Fu Wanqing still has her own secret goals to accomplish.

REVIEW: Cute Animals That Could Kill You Dead (nonfiction picture book) words by Brooke Hartman, pictures by María Garcia

Cute Animals That Could Kill You Dead is a children's nonfiction picture book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This covers a lot more animals than I expected, giving each one two pages, the first of which provides some basic information and the animal's "cuteness factor," and the second of which explains what they can do that makes them so fearsome and/or deadly. The animals covered include: Tarsier, Slow Loris, Grasshopper Mouse, Hedgehog, Northern Pygmy Owl, Bumblebee Bat, Sea Otter, Platypus, Ladybug, Jumping Spider, Bottlenose Dolphin, Sea Bunny, Poison Dart Frog, Flying Gecko, Black-footed Cat, Fennec Fox, and Honey Badger.

REVIEW: Daughter of a Thousand Faces (graphic novel, vol. 1) by Velinxi

Daughter of a Thousand Faces is a fantasy series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Shen Yuhua is the disgrace of her clan. Her mother was executed for treason, she didn't inherit any of her immortal father's powers, and she's been rejected by twenty suitors. Her twenty-first suitor is it - there won't be any more chances after this one...and unfortunately this meeting goes badly as well. In a moment of despair, she falls into the Abyssal Well, the same place her mother was sent to die. Supposedly, anyone who makes it out of there will become stronger than they were before, but no one has ever made it out.

Until Yuhua, that is. But she has a secret she doesn't dare reveal to anyone: she only made it out with the help of Chu Tian, the Demon with a Thousand Faces. The two of them are now bound to each other by a blood pact that makes Yuhua Chu Tian's disciple.

REVIEW: Flip the Script (book) by Lyla Lee

Flip the Script is YA f/f romance. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Hana is a lifelong K-drama fan who's just achieved her dream of being cast as the lead in a new K-drama. It feels like all her hard work and the stress of her family moving to Seoul is finally paying off. Even better, she's dating her costar, Bryan Yoon, a K-pop heartthrob who's shifting his career into acting.

Except that the show isn't doing as well as hoped, and Hana's relationship with Bryan is actually just a marketing stunt designed to increase ratings. Hana isn't the slightest bit interested in Bryan and, at least initially, the disinterest is mutual.

In yet another attempt to help the struggling show, a second lead actress is brought in - none other than Minjee Park, Hana's acting rival and former best friend. Even as their characters face off in a messy love triangle with Bryan, Hana and Minjee reconnect and renew their friendship in real life...and Hana comes to the realization that she has a crush on Minjee. 

REVIEW: Cabin Head and Tree Head (graphic novel) by Scott Campbell

Cabin Head and Tree Head is a children's graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Cabin Head and Tree Head are two friends who live in a world where everyone has a little piece of a world on their head. Together, they get a case of the hellos and go around saying "hello" to everyone they come across. They dig for treasure, find a hiding spot, and more. The volume ends with some miscellaneous stuff, including a Head-style version of "Jack & the Beanstalk."

Reading this book is like meeting the nicest person you'll ever know and watching them refuse to let life's little annoyances ever get them down. It's warm fuzzies all around.

My favorite of the stories, hands down, was "Holes." Cabin Head and Tree Head were delightful, and Automobile Head's reaction at the end had me laughing.

REVIEW: Ninefox Gambit (book) by Yoon Ha Lee

Ninefox Gambit is sci-fi. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This takes place in a far future world where people's belief systems and the calendars they agree upon can somehow affect the physics behind how everything works. All the action is centered around a place called the Fortress of Scattered Needles, which has been taken over by rebels following a heretical calendar.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate has recently fallen into disgrace for her unconventional tactics. The situation at the Fortress of Scattered Needles gives her a chance to redeem herself, although she almost immediately comes to regret her proposed solution, which involves allying herself with the long-dead tactician Shuos Jedao. Jedao was widely regarded as brilliant, but he was also a madman who, in the end, killed both friend and foe alike, and Cheris had no idea that his "resurrection" would involve tying him to her mind and body. It's not a comfortable position to be in, to say the least.

REVIEW: Lucky Day (book) by Chuck Tingle

Lucky Day is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Vera, her mother, and her friends are celebrating the upcoming publication of Vera's book. Vera has finally gotten the courage to come out to her mother as bisexual and tell her that she and Annie are engaged. It's going badly, and then the disaster that's later known as the Low-Probability Event begins. 

All over the world, but particularly in the US for some reason, horrible and statistically unlikely things happen, killing millions. Fish fall from the sky, causing an accident that results in Vera's mother's death. Vera witnesses one of her friends get beaten to death by a chimpanzee with a typewriter. All around her there is bewildering death and destruction, and in the end all Vera can do is run and keep running. 

Four years later, Vera is a shadow of her old self, limping along on the checks she gets as one of the survivors of the Low-Probability Event. She barely has the willpower to exist, and yet she also can't bring herself to commit suicide. Caring about anything seems utterly futile. 

Then Special Agent Layne, from the Low-Probability Event Commission (LPEC), shows up at her door. He's investigating a statistically impossibly lucky casino, the exact casino Vera wrote about in her book. The LPEC thinks it has some sort of connection to the Low-Probability Event and, in spite of herself and her determination not to care about anything, Vera finds herself drawn in. 

REVIEW: We Had to Remove This Post (novella) by Hanna Bervoets, translated by Emma Rault

We Had to Remove This Post is literary fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Kayleigh, in desperate need of money after getting out of a toxic relationship with one of her coworkers at the call center she used to work for, answers a vague job ad for a position as a "quality assurance worker" at Hexa. She has no idea what to expect, but the pay is better than at the call center. She soon learns that Hexa is a subcontractor for a large and powerful tech company that she and her other new coworkers must agree to never mention by name.

Kayleigh's new job involves being a content moderator for this tech company. It turns out to be a job that she's very good at - it soon becomes second nature for her to apply the constantly changing moderator guidelines to whatever hundreds of pieces of media she's supposed to evaluate each day. Yes, some of what she sees is horrible, but she'd had pretty horrible abuse hurled at her when she was at the call center, and at least none of this stuff is aimed at her personally.

While working at Hexa, Kayleigh makes several friends and even finds herself in a long-term relationship with one of her coworkers, Sigrid. The bulk of this story is focused on Kayleigh and Sigrid's relationship and how things change the longer they're at Hexa.

REVIEW: Infrastructure: A Guide to the Industrial Landscape, Revised & Updated (nonfiction book) by Brian Hayes

Infrastructure is nonfiction. I bought my copy used.

Review: 

This is organized into thirteen chapters: "Out of the Earth" (mining), "Waterworks," "Food and Farming," "Oil and Gas," "Power Plants," "The Power Grid," "Communications," "On the Road" (roads, highways), "The Railway," "Bridges and Tunnels," "Aviation," "Shipping," and "Wastes and Recycling."

Of the infrastructure books I've read so far, this one uses probably the broadest definition of "infrastructure" - I didn't disagree with it, but it meant that there were areas that were covered that I hadn't encountered before, at least not in this way. It made me wish that Hayes had occasionally stopped and provided "big picture" diagrams of how things worked, rather than just photographs of particular examples. Particularly for the things that were entirely new to me, diagrams probably would have made more sense than photographs.

REVIEW: Simply AI (nonfiction book) by DK editorial staff, with contributions by Claire Quigley and consulting with Hilary Lamb and Joel Levy

Simply AI is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This starts with the history of artificial intelligence, then explains the difference between classical and statistical artificial intelligence and how they work, then goes into the various ways AI has been and may in the future be used, and finally wraps up with some philosophical quandaries and the benefits and drawbacks of AI's usage in the real world.

This was a frustrating read. While actual real-life ethical concerns about AI were brought up, mostly in the final section, there seemed to be far more random mentions of concerns about and the implications of AI achieving sentience. In fact, when I got to page 140's declaration that "In reality, AI applications have, at best, limited and specific abilities, and cannot think for themselves," I found myself wondering if whichever editor or consultant who wrote that text had paid attention to the many prior pages speculating about AI sentience.

When you've got a book that's, let's say, about half graphics and half text, 155 pages doesn't provide a lot of space for explaining things. I really wish the classical and statistical AI sections had been a bit less simplistic. 

REVIEW: The Essential Anime Guide: 50 Iconic Films, Standout Series, and Cult Masterpieces (nonfiction book) by Patrick Macias and Samuel Sattin, illustrated by DenQ

The Essential Anime Guide is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

While there are works that most people with a broad knowledge of anime would agree should probably be listed or at least mentioned in a book about "essential" anime, there will always be disagreements. And different people have different areas of expertise and blind spots - in their introduction, Macias and Sattin mention bringing in some additional writers who could speak with more authority about various movies and series than they could. Even with other authors handling those chapters, Macias and Sattin were presumably still the people choosing the 50 works the books would be focusing on. As someone who's been a big shoujo and slice-of-life fan, there were works I'd have picked that didn't match up with what the authors chose, although in many cases, works I might have featured were at least mentioned in passing in info boxes or during chapters focused primarily on other works.

So yeah, I figured, going in, that I'd find myself questioning some of the authors' choices. I don't recall wildly disagreeing with any of the inclusions (except maybe the choice of Naruto Shippuden rather than Naruto), and all of it made for interesting reading. And boy did the nostalgia occasionally hit me strongly. It's been ages since I last thought about Tekkonkinkreet.

There are no screenshots of anything, so you do miss out on the visual aspect of these series/movies, but overall I thought this was a pretty good read. 

REVIEW: Nefertiti the Spidernaut: The Jumping Spider Who Learned to Hunt in Space (nonfiction picture book) written by Darcy Pattison, illustrated by Valeria Tisnés

Nefertiti the Spidernaut is a nonfiction children's book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I think I might have found out about this book during a period of time when Facebook's algorithms decided that posts about jumping spiders might interest me. Or maybe someone mentioned Nefertiti and I found this book while looking for more information about her? Children's nonfiction is great for interesting little niche nonfiction topics.

This starts with Stefanie Countryman receiving a Johnson jumping spider egg sac in February 2012. Four spiders from that egg sac survive, and Nefertiti is the one selected to go to the International Space Station in order to test a hypothesis that jumping spiders wouldn't be able to hunt in microgravity. There are details about how Nefertiti's suitability for space was tested, what her habitat on the space station was like, how the experiment went, etc. The book continues until Nefertiti's eventual death a few months after returning to Earth.

This was an interesting read that got across all the necessary basic information. The end of the book included slightly more detailed sections about Johnson jumping spiders and the work that went into creating Nefertiti's space station habitat. I particularly liked reading more about the creation of Nefertiti's habitat, since I'd wondered how her fruit fly supply worked. 

REVIEW: How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game (manhwa, vol. 1) art by SINcere, adapted by SUCH, original story by Kim Yom Yum, translated by KRM

How to Survive as a Maid in a Horror Game is marked as "romance fantasy" on Tapas and other places I've checked, although in this first volume it's more of a fantasy comedy. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The main character of this story is an ordinary woman who's started playing a new horror game, "The Murderer of Pfaltzgraff Manor," one evening while drunk. She'd heard that it was horrible and ridiculously difficult, and now that she's trying it herself, she's kind of considering returning it. She decides to give it one last go but ends up drifting off to sleep...and waking up as Hilda, one of the maids in the game.

In the original game, you play as Adrian, the sickly young master of the manor. Adrian is actually the reincarnation of the devil, cursed to inhabit a sickly mortal body unless he can secretly kill off enough people. Especially at the start of the game, his most accessible and easiest victims are his maids. Like Hilda.

And she can't even avoid Adrian, because she's the maid assigned to bring him his daily medication. Somehow, though, she's determined to survive and escape the manor.

REVIEW: Orbital (book) by Samantha Harvey

Orbital is literary fiction with a very light tint of science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Orbital follows six astronauts and cosmonauts as they go about one day, 16 orbits of the Earth, in their space station. We get little glimpses of their thoughts and lives, as well as a few glimpses of how things are going on Earth, where a typhoon is developing. The science fiction aspect is very light - as these people on the space station are going about their day, other astronauts are about to land on the Moon a second time (I think? it was either that or a Mars mission - I didn't note down the details).

REVIEW: Science Comics: Crows: Genius Birds (graphic novel) by Kyla Vanderklugt

Crows: Genius Birds is an entry in the Science Comics series, which presents educational content in an entertaining way. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

A mischievous and very intelligent crow convinces Buddy the dog to leave his yard (thereby allowing all the crow's crow friends an opportunity to get in the house and eat Buddy's food) and join him on a snack-finding adventure. Together, the find food in various places as the crow teaches Buddy about crows and the research that's been done on their cognitive abilities.

There wasn't a lot here that I hadn't already read or heard about elsewhere, but I was expecting that, considering this is aimed at a younger audience. This was a delightful read regardless - the street-smart crow was a good teacher, and Buddy was an adorable, sweet cinnamon roll of a student. The information about crows was presented in a clear, easy-to-digest way, and the art was great.

Sensitive readers might be bothered by a few moments - the crow snacks on a dead pigeon in one bit, and there are some panels depicting dead crows during the part about crow "funerals" - but it's all handled in a matter-of-fact way. 

REVIEW: Goosebumps: Welcome to Dead House (book) by R.L. Stine

Welcome to Dead House is the first of the Goosebumps books. I don't think I ever read it.

Review: 

Twelve-year-old Amanda and her younger brother Josh are upset to be moving to a house in Dark Falls, four hours away from their old home. It's a bigger place, but it's dark and somehow menacing. Amanda keeps thinking she sees a boy in the house, and her bedroom's curtains billow in a breeze that doesn't exist. Things come to a head when their dog Petey escapes and Josh becomes convinced he went to the cemetery.

REVIEW: Murder in the Age of Enlightenment: Essential Stories (short story anthology) by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, translated by Bryan Karetnyk

Murder in the Age of Enlightenment is a collection of Akutagawa's short stories. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book contains 7 short stories. Overall, I found this collection to be very readable and strangely intriguing, even though I wasn't always sure what the author was trying to get at.

My favorites were probably "In a Grove" (in which we see a crime from multiple POVs and are never told which version is the truth) and "Madonna in Black" (a creepy story about a possibly cursed statue).

I can't say I necessarily enjoyed it, but "Hell Screen" (about a painter who insisted that he needed to see horrors in order to properly paint them) was certainly compelling. 

REVIEW: Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask (book) by R.L. Stine

The Haunted Mask is one of the earlier entries in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps horror series for kids. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Eleven-year-old Carly Beth is easily scared, which Steve and Chuck, two boys at her school, take full advantage of, doing things like giving her a sandwich with a worm in it and tricking her into thinking she's being bitten by a tarantula. She's so upset that she decides she needs a super scary costume for Halloween in order to properly get back at them.

I vaguely recall reading some of the first Goosebumps books, including this one, and deciding that I was probably too old for them. As with Christopher Pike's books, the original covers were, in a lot of ways, more memorable than the books themselves. Although this was technically a reread, I'd forgotten pretty much everything except the very end.

REVIEW: I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls (novella) by Ben Farthing

I Found Puppets Living In My Apartment Walls is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Johnny and his cousin Brittany are at their grandpa's New York apartment, preparing to clear out his things after he was legally dead due to being missing for a year. The apartment is a renovated TV studio, the place where their grandpa once worked as a puppeteer for a Sesame Street-like children's show.

Johnny wakes up one night to find Swoomie, his grandpa's old puppet, standing over him and watching him. Only Swoomie's right side moves, the side that Johnny's grandpa controlled. Swoomie somehow disappears into the apartment's walls, and Johnny becomes obsessed with figuring out what's going on. Whatever it is, he's sure it's linked to his grandpa's disappearance. Brittany isn't convinced he saw what he thought he saw, but, as a superfan of her grandpa's show, she's excited about the thought that their grandpa might have stored the old puppets inside the apartment's walls.

REVIEW: Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six (book) by Lisa Unger

Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six is a thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This jumps between a few characters and time periods. On the one hand, we have Hannah. Growing up, she was the "sensible one" who cleaned up after her brother Mako's messes and comforted her friend Cricket whenever he broke her heart. In the book's present, Hannah's thoughts revolve around her young daughter, Gigi, and her husband Bruce, who she's worried might be cheating on her. When Hannah's brother, the CEO of a game development company, invites Hannah, her husband, Cricket, and Cricket's boyfriend Joshua to come stay at a luxurious and secluded cabin he's rented, Hannah reluctantly agrees. She's worried about being away from Gigi for the first time, but this trip will hopefully give her and Bruce some much needed time to themselves.

Hannah's chapters alternate with chapters from the POV of Henry, who, years ago, was left an orphan when his troubled and skittish mother was killed. 

REVIEW: My Secret Admirer (book) by Carol Ellis

My Secret Admirer is a YA thriller/horror novel originally published in 1989. I got my copy via interlibrary loan.

This review includes mild spoilers. 

Review:

Jenny's parents are adventurous and enjoy living lives that involve moving from one place to the next in a relatively short amount of time. Jenny, on the other hand, would like it if they just stayed put for a while. She'd really like a chance to get to know people, make friends, and put down roots.

Jenny's not really sure that the latest town they've moved to will be a good fit for her - the rimrocks near their new home make her a little anxious, and it seems like everyone at her new school has known each other their whole lives. Still, she does her best to settle in, and it's not long before Sally, a teen who's both an extrovert and a chatterbox, is introducing her to everyone. Jenny instantly finds herself a little drawn to David, the guy she's teamed up with during a scavenger hunt. She's also intrigued by a secret admirer she seems to have acquired, a guy who confesses his feelings for her via a message on her answering machine but who isn't quite brave enough to talk to her in person. 

Everyone and everything around Jenny starts to take on a more sinister feeling when Diana, the school's queen bee, is injured in an apparent accident at the cliffs. She doesn't actually know any of these people, their relationships with each other, or what they're really like. Can she really trust her new friends? 

REVIEW: Bad Men (book) by Julie Mae Cohen

Bad Men is a darkly humorous thriller. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Saffy Huntley-Oliver is 12 years old when she drowns her stepfather in the pool where he'd been sexually abusing her since she was 5. He'd been preparing to start abusing Saffy's beloved younger sister, Susie, as well, and she absolutely could not let that happen.

Seventeen years later, Saffy is a gorgeous, wealthy, and outgoing socialite. She's still fiercely protective of her younger sister...who has no idea that Saffy is now an experienced serial killer who targets bad men. Lately, Saffy has found herself drawn to Jonathan Desrosiers, a successful true crime podcaster who genuinely believes in bringing justice to victims and closure to their families. He seems like a great guy. It's too bad he's married.

Jonathan has just wrapped up a signing for his book when he finds out that his wife is leaving him. As if that wasn't bad enough, he wakes up the next morning to find a garbage bag on his doorstep containing a chopped up body missing its head and hands. Jonathan is immediately reminded of the Bin Bag Killer. Unfortunately, his subsequent investigation and discoveries lead to him being scarred both physically and emotionally.

Will Saffy manage to overcome Jonathan's doubts about his work investigating and podcasting about true crime, Jonathan's lingering feelings for his soon-to-be ex-wife, the police suspecting Jonathan of murder, and creepy threats in order to achieve her very own storybook romance with a good guy?

REVIEW: Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea! (graphic novel) by Ben Clanton

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Sea is a children's graphic novel. I checked my copy out from my library.

Review:

This includes three Narwhal and Jelly stories, with some miscellaneous stuff in between each. In the first story, Narwhal and Jelly meet for the first time, and both think the other may be imaginary. In the second story, Narwhal learns on the internet that they're supposed to be part of a pod, but, since Jelly has never seen any other narwhals, Narwhal goes around inviting a bunch of other sea creatures to put on a horn (or tusk-tooth) and become part of their pod. In the third story, Narwhal is reading a book...that happens to be blank. Using their imaginations, Narwhal and Jelly turn that blank book into an awesome story about a waffle and its strawberry sidekick.

The miscellaneous bits in between each story include: some narwhal and jellyfish facts and the Narwhal Song.

Narwhal and Jelly could sort of be considered a mismatched pair - not quite grumpy sunshine, but close. Narwhal is goofy, happy, and has a positive attitude about everything, while Jelly is a little more serious and prone to more negative emotions, like annoyance or jealousy. Through it all, though, they get along and stay friends.

This was cute, with a sketchy, simple art style. 

REVIEW: Operation: True Love (manhwa, vol. 1) by kkokkalee, illustrated by Dledumb

Operation: True Love is a contemporary-set manhwa with fantasy elements. I assume there will be romance in the future, based on the title.

Review:

Su-ae has been dating her boyfriend Minu for a while. Even though he's regularly dismissive or even outright mean to her, she's always ready and willing to forgive him. Literally everyone, even Su-ae to a certain extent, can see how toxic this is. For some reason, Su-ae is only really bothered by one person's judgment of her decision to keep putting up with Minu. Minu's best friend, Eunhyeok, always seems to be looking at her like he thinks she's pathetic.

Then one day Su-ae finds a mysterious Jellypop flip phone that keeps sending her snide texts about her relationship with Minu. She assumes the phone is Eunhyeok's and that he's the one who's texting her, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 

REVIEW: Vigilance (novella) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Vigilance is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this near-future America, mass shootings have been monetized and turned into entertainment. John McDean executive produces Vigilance, a game show supposedly designed to keep Americans vigilant against all threats. At unspecified intervals, a public space is selected and several contestants (the active shooters) are set up at various entrances with weapons of their choice and all the ammo they could want. There are monetary prizes for contestants who manage to kill all the civilians and survive, for civilians who manage to kill a contestant, and more. 

McDean is a marketing wizard who has all of this down to a science. He knows who his Ideal Person, his target audience is, and he knows exactly what they want. He's so good at what he does, in fact, that his bosses have used his work to train a new AI, Perseph, to do what he does, only better, and Perseph is set to debut at the height of the most recent Vigilance.

REVIEW: Steven Universe: Too Cool for School (graphic novel) created by Rebecca Sugar, story by Ian Jones-Quartey, written by Jeremy Sorese, illustrated by Asia Kendrick-Horton with Rachel Dukes

This is a graphic novel based on the Steven Universe cartoon series. I bought my copy used.

Review:

I'm a latecomer to the joys of Steven Universe, so, sadly, all the graphic novels based on the series have since gone out of print. I was glad to come across this one.

In this graphic novel, Steven gets up early for a mission only to learn that all the Gems are too busy to spend time with him and that the mission isn't happening until that evening. With nothing better to do, Steven decides to go to school with Connie. Things are a little rocky at first, but Steven decides he really likes school and wants to bring in a snail shell from his latest mission for show and tell. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned.

The volume wraps up with a few pages devoted to Steven and the Gems going to a yard sale.

REVIEW: Victoria of Many Faces, Vol. 1 (book) by Syuu, illustrated by Nanna Fujimi, translated by Andria McKnight

Victoria of Many Faces is basically a slice-of-life story set in a fantasy world without magic. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

When she was only eight, Chloe was sent to be raised as a spy for the kingdom of Hagl. She would no longer be allowed contact with her family, but, in exchange, she could send them money and other things in order to see to it that they lived comfortably. Chloe's handler, Lancome, took care of the deliveries, and Chloe trusted him fully for 18 years, when she visited her hometown in an effort to catch a glimpse of her family and learned that they'd all died in a fire a couple years ago. She then spent the next year planning her escape.

Using the skills she gained as a spy, Chloe steals the identity of a missing person from the neighboring kingdom of Randall. Now living as Victoria, she then travels to the kingdom of Ashbury with the intention of stopping for only a while and then continuing on. However, not long after arriving in Ashbury, Victoria meets a six-year-old girl named Nonna who has been abandoned by her mother. 

Circumstances lead to her essentially adopting Nonna. She finds a place for both of them to live and gets a job as a maid and assistant to an elderly historian named Bernard. It's a quiet life in which Victoria finds herself making more and more connections with those around her. Leaving behind her life as a spy isn't quite so easy, however. Even though she knows she needs to keep a low profile so that Lancome doesn't find her, she can't bring herself to just stand by while harm befalls others around her.

REVIEW: I Deliver Parcels in Beijing (nonfiction book) by Hu Anyan, translated by Jack Hargreaves

I Deliver Parcels in Beijing is basically a work-related memoir. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This starts off with an in-depth look at a couple of the author's work experiences, first working the night shift at a vast logistics warehouse, and then working as a courier delivering parcels in Beijing. After that, the author went backwards in time in order to cover basically every one of his work experiences from his school days onward, including working at restaurants, working at a bike shop, and owning his own clothing store, before finally catching up with the experiences that started the volume off.

I didn't know anything about this book before going into it. This is one of those cases where I was hooked by the title and cover. The first part of the book was more what I expected I might get, based on the title. I definitely did not expect the author to cover his entire life's work experiences, so I floundered a bit there, not sure where the author was ultimately planning to go with the book.

REVIEW: Gamer Girls: 25 Women Who Built the Video Game Industry (nonfiction book) written by Mary Kenney, illustrated by Salini Perera

Gamer Girls is nonfiction. I bought my copy used.

Review:

In addition to the 25 women that this book covered in more depth, there were also short "side quest" sections that mentioned additional women. This covered several women I already knew something about (Robert Williams, Jane Jensen, and, in a "side quest" section, Christine Love), but also many, many that I'd never heard of before.

This was an engaging read, but also a little depressing, since it seemed like most of the women mentioned ended up leaving the video game industry for one reason or another, some more quickly than others. 

I was delighted at the mention of otome game history and the Nancy Drew games. I think I've seen mentions of the Nancy Drew games in other video game history books I've read, but this is the first time I've encountered anything that talked about otome game history.

I didn't count how many women were actually mentioned in this, but, if you counted the "side quests" it was definitely more than 25. That said, some of the women mentioned in those "side quests" weren't actually involved in video game development but rather more broadly game development - the precursor to Monopoly, and Jenga, for example.

All in all, a good read that touched on aspects of video game history I haven't seen mentioned in some of the other video game history books I've read. 

REVIEW: Platform Decay (book) by Martha Wells

Platform Decay is the 8th entry in the Murderbot Diaries series. I bought my copy new.

Review: 

In this latest entry in the series, Murderbot is leading a rescue mission into corporate territory, with Three acting as a distraction. The mission isn't taking place on a planet, but considering the size of the station (a massive ring that encircles the decaying remains of a planet), it might as well be on a planet, and Murderbot isn't happy about the difficulties this causes. Honestly, Murderbot isn't happy about a lot in this particular book.

One of the things that struck me about the beginning of this book was how "off" Murderbot seemed, which I should have learned, by now, means that it's dealing with a lot of stress and emotions. Similar to previous entries in this series that have taken a little while to clue readers in on the full scope of whatever is going on, it takes a while before readers learn exactly who Murderbot is trying to rescue and how this situation came about in the first place.

REVIEW: Home Office Romance (manga) by Kintetsu Yamada, translated by Matt Treyvaud

Home Office Romance is a contemporary romance one-shot manga. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is technically set during pandemic lockdown times, but there's no sense of strict restrictions and very little talk of the pandemic itself - the time period is mostly just an excuse for Nokoru to suddenly be asked to work from home and for Natsu to find herself stuck in Japan, unable to go on digs due to travel restrictions.

Anyway, this manga is told from the POV of Nokoru, an exhausted and overworked systems engineer. When his company tells him he needs to start working from home, he's faced with the realization that he's spent so little time at his place that, even after living there a year, most of his stuff is still in boxes. He does his best to make his home, now his new work space, more livable, even going so far as to create an Angkor Wat-like paradise on his balcony. 

It's during this time of working from home that Nokoru meets his neighbor, Natsu, a grad student in archaeology. Nokoru soon finds himself thinking about Natsu a lot, looking forward to opportunities to talk to her and spend time with her, and trying, in his awkward way, to figure out if she's as interested in him as he is in her.

REVIEW: This Inevitable Ruin (book) by Matt Dinniman

This Inevitable Ruin is the 7th book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this book, it's time for the 9th floor, the Faction Wars, in which the Syndicate corporations and governments can take direct part in the game, fighting against each other and conscripting crawlers to their teams. This time around, however, both the crawlers and the NPCs have their own armies and have a chance at winning as well.

This is guaranteed to be a book of gut-wrenching and emotional developments, as Carl finally gets the opportunity to meet former Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook authors (although he still can't talk about the book, which leads to some confusing moments for his fellow crawlers), and Katia and Donut must finally deal with the consequences of those warnings on the Enchanted Crown of the Sepsis Whore.

REVIEW: Down a Dark Hall (book) by Lois Duncan

Down a Dark Hall is YA horror. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

Kit is about to go to an exclusive boarding school, Blackwood School for Girls. Ordinarily, she would have been excited, but she'd found out that her friend Tracy hadn't been accepted and had been dreading going ever since.

The school, which used to be a private residence, is impressive-looking, but Kit can't help but think of the word "evil" when she sees it. There's just something about it. She's one of the first arrivals, so she hopes that it'll feel more welcoming once the other girls are there. It's a shock when she learns that there are only three other students besides her: Sandy, who Kit instantly bonds with, and Ruth and Lynda, who'd previously gone to school together. 

What makes the four of them so special that only they were accepted to this school? It's only the first of many questions Kit has about the school as more and more strange things happen.

REVIEW: Hit and Run (book) by R.L. Stine

Hit and Run is YA horror originally published in 1992. I checked my copy out from the library.

Review:

This stars a group of teens: Cassie (a girl who has a sorta kinda crush on Scott, although she hates the way his laugh sounds), Scott (an all-around kind of guy, more of a follower than a leader), Eddie (timid, poor, and often picked on), and Winks (a prankster).

The group decides to go practice driving - illegally, since none of them have their licenses, but they figure it should be fine since they've picked a fairly empty stretch of road. It goes mostly okay until Eddie is behind the wheel and Winks pulls a mean prank on him, making him think something is in the road. The experience is clearly upsetting for Eddie, and yet it's Eddie who, not too much later, suggests that they all go out and practice again. It seems he wants to prove that he wasn't too scared that one time, although he does make Winks promise to behave himself.

When Eddie takes his turn driving, however, he really does hit someone this time. They drag the man to the side of the road and try to pretend it never happened, but then everybody but Scott starts to getting calls and messages, apparently from the dead man. Has he come back to get revenge, or is there something else going on?

REVIEW: Sōseki Nasume's I Am a Cat: The Manga Edition (manga) retold and illustrated by Chiroru Kobato, translated by Zack Davisson

This is a manga adaptation of Sōseki Nasume's I Am a Cat, originally serialized between 1905 and 1906. I bought my copy new.

This review includes spoilers. 

Review:

The whole thing is told from the point-of-view of an unnamed cat, who was found as a kitten and taken in by a teacher named Kushami. The cat observes the various goings on of Kushami's household. There's Meitei, a friend of Kushami's who likes to make things up just to see if Kushami will believe him. There's Mizushima Kangetsu, a former pupil of Kushami's, who has supposedly caught the eye of Kaneda Tomiko, the stuck up daughter of a businessman. Tomiko's mother has a nose so large that Kushami has nicknamed her Lady Nose.

The situation between Kangetsu, Tomiko, and Tomiko's parents is a bit of a mess, with Tomiko's mother only willing to accept Kangetsu as Tomiko's husband if he gets his doctorate. Meanwhile, Kangetsu is cheerfully dragging his feet. There is much joking about Tomiko's mother's large nose (and efforts to convince Kangetsu not to marry Tomiko, since her nose may eventually grow to match), not that Kangetsu seems all that interested in Tomiko in the first place.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 9) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

This is the final volume. Although it does continue things on from the previous volume and wrap up a few loose ends, it feels a lot like a "bonus stories" volume.

First, Briddy and Amon are on their child-free vacation when they meet Ronan Kingsford, a cheerful noble who absolutely cannot take a hint. Amon is instantly jealous. Then there's a chapter on Anish and Tillai, as they start to want to play away from their parents' watchful eyes a bit more (with Amon once again feeling somewhat jealous, this time of his own children).

Then it's time for a flashback to when the Emperor first met Briddy's mother, and the time they spent together before Trije (still worried that his brother might become the next Emperor instead of him) agreed to leave Briddy's mother behind and marry someone more suitable. Then we get a Lucy POV section, as she gradually warms up to Lart over the years and falls in love with him. Then we check in to see how Adellai is doing in exile.

The volume wraps up with a light party scene in which Amon once again tries his best to keep Briddy's attention on him.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 8) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Now it's time for the final conflict against Barahan, complete with sacrifices and sadness.

Even though I knew that things would probably be resolved in a positive way, this was definitely a more emotional volume, with both Briddy and Amon making sacrifices that they weren't necessarily guaranteed to recover from.

I was a little confused about the boy, Louis. Were we supposed to know him? Was he in some way related to Joseph?

And why would anyone in their right mind ask a human to babysit some divine beasts when there are literally adult divine beasts who could have been asked to take on the task instead? I get that it gave the author a chance to inject some humor into the volume, but it really didn't make sense to me.

One more volume left. Although things feel pretty wrapped up already, it'll be nice to get a little more closure with all the characters. 

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 7) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

Briddy realizes that Adellai has found the descendant of Barahan and must be stopped, but Lart convinces her to let him try to appeal to her first. Unfortunately for him, Adellai is pretty deeply messed up by this point, and Joseph is beginning to be more directly influenced by Barahan (yes, the literal god).

We've now started the big confrontation that this series has been building up to for a while, and a metric crap-ton of things happen at once. Amon basically has to be everywhere, while simultaneously bleeding all over the place.

How did Briddy get that sword?? It basically appeared out of thin air, so, magic, I guess?

This volume was a lot messier than I expected it to be. Between Adellai, Barahan, and Philip, the villains were just piling up.

REVIEW: My Gently Raised Beast (manhwa, vol. 6) original story by Early Flower, adapted by Kim JunJun, art by Yeoseulki, translated by WEBTOON

My Gently Raised Beast is a fantasy romance manhwa series. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

There's a party to celebrate peace with the divine beasts, so Amon learns etiquette and dancing. It'll be a masquerade party, supposedly so that humans and divine beasts can mingle with less awkwardness - I assume the divine beasts, at least will know exactly who's human and who isn't, so I guess this is probably more for the human attendees than anything.

In addition to the party, we get more of Briddy's visions about Rafiyan (the goddess who was supposedly killed by a black divine beast, but who actually wasn't) and Barahan (the god who was jealous of Rafiyan's powers).

REVIEW: We Are Definitely Human (book) by X. Fang

We Are Definitely Human is a children's picture book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Mr. Li is woken up one night by the sound of a crash near his house. When he goes outside to investigate, he finds three blue beings who claim they are Europeans whose car broke down. Mr. Li, being a kind human, gives the strangers a place to stay for the night until the stores open in the morning and they can get supplies to fix their car.

Ok, this was delightful. The cover and title indicated that this would probably be a funny book, and it definitely was. There were some great moments as the "Europeans" did their best to fit in.

This was also a really sweet book on the whole, with an example of a small, rural town that is kind and welcoming towards some strangers in need. Even if these strangers are a little stranger than usual.

The last page was perfect and had me laughing. I don't have a child to read this to, but I suspect kids would enjoy this. This adult certainly did. 

REVIEW: Cozy Days: The Art of Iraville (nonfiction book) by Ira Sluyterman van Langeweyde

Cozy Days: The Art of Iraville is an art book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I'm not sure I'd ever seen this artist's work prior to getting this art book. What led to me picking it up was the lovely landscape on the cover. Those are the kinds of colors I tend to gravitate towards when I'm picking out yarn, too.

This book includes several galleries of Iraville's artwork (organized into five sections: people, landscapes, animals, buildings, and plants) with chapters on her workspace, tips, painting process, and the steps for how she makes her own watercolors and watercolor sketchbooks in between. There's also some peeks into her sketchbooks, and information about how she creates homemade paper stretchers.

REVIEW: Super Mario Manga Mania (manga) story and art by Yukio Sawada, translated by Caleb Cook

Super Mario Manga Mania is a tie-in manga based on various Mario games. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This features a selection of stories from the long-running Super Mario-kun manga. They each tie in with various Mario games, including Paper Mario, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. So...basically a whole manga's worth of stories based on games I've never played.

That said, there were footnotes that explained the basic stories of the games, so I wasn't totally lost, although I might possibly have appreciated the volume more if I'd actually played any of the games referenced.

REVIEW: Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia: The Official Guide to the First 30 Years, 1985-2015 (nonfiction book) translated by William Flanagan and Zack Davisson

Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book covers 17 Super Mario games in depth, each section including the game's basic story, features, playable characters, allies, enemies, an overview of all worlds and courses, info on items and obstacles, and a list of some memorable moments and some helpful gameplay tips and techniques. The end of the book includes a lengthy timeline of all games from 1984-2015 with some sort of connection to Mario (even if it's just via Donkey Kong, or a brief cameo in the artwork somewhere). There are also full-page columns throughout on topics like spin-off games, remakes, anniversary events, and more.