Category: Books

  • Review: The Burning God

    The Burning God by R.F. Kuang My rating: 4 of 5 stars R.F. Kuang brought this story to a conclusion in exactly the right way, given the story they were telling. This final entry didn’t begin as depressingly as part 2 (thank goodness!), but Kuang writes realistic fantastical fiction. Both this trilogy and Babel: An […]

  • Review: Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 105, February 2019Review:

    Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 105, February 2019 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars Here are my reviews per story: SCIENCE FICTIONLife Sentence (Matthew Baker) – This story’s a real doozy. It’s about a potentially different way to handle criminal punishment. Because this is a well-written story, it’s not simple to decide which […]

  • Review: Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 104, January 2019

    Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 104, January 2019 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 4 of 5 stars I think the only story here that didn’t really click with me was “With Teeth Unmake the Sun”. It was beautiful and I appreciated that, but it wasn’t my fave. “Midway” hit me very hard at this age. Endor […]

  • Review: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

    The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was part of the kickstarter that funded this book I did not immediately jump into this book (Sanderson’s Secret Project #2) because it was not a Cosmere book. (The Cosmere being the equivalent of the MCU for […]

  • Review: Fantasy Magazine, Issue #89, March 2023

    Fantasy Magazine, Issue #89, March 2023 by Arley Sorg My rating: 4 of 5 stars Relatively quick read this month. Here are the reviews per story: Enchanted Mirrors Are Making a Comeback. That’s Not Necessarily a Good Thing. (Mari Ness): I recognized the author’s name, but I couldn’t remember where I recognized it from. Then […]

  • Review: The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War, #2)

    The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book started off in a very hard to read place because the author had to deal with the aftermath of the first book. It made everything Rin goes through feel earned. Nothing comes too easily. But it did mean that it was […]

  • Review: Uncanny Magazine Issue 26: January/February 2019

    Uncanny Magazine Issue 26: January/February 2019 by Lynne M. Thomas My rating: 3 of 5 stars This issue started off unevenly for me, but I ended up liking most of the stories and non-fiction essays. A Catalog of Storms (Fran Wilde): A fantasy world in which weather becomes sentient. I failed to gel with the […]

  • Review: Carpe Jugulum

    Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is my second time reading the book. Dropped the rating from 5/5 stars to 3/5 stars. On this second time reading through the Discworld books, I’ve come to realize that I really prefer the Witch books to the Rincewind/Wizard books. Usually (or at […]

  • Review: Nightmare Magazine, Issue 126, March 2023

    Nightmare Magazine, Issue 126, March 2023 by Wendy N. Wagner My rating: 4 of 5 stars A great selection of stories this month! Here are my reviews per story: The Dizzy Room (Kristina Ten): While I didn’t have the ESL issues the main character has, I definitely got my first computer around the same time. […]

  • Review: Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 103, December 2018

    Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 103, December 2018 by John Joseph Adams My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an awesome issue of Lightspeed magazine where I really enjoyed every story. I was especially happy to find out that I started out my Lightspeed magazine subscription with this issue because for the next 5 issues they […]

  • Review: Legends & Lattes

    Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read this book along with the Sword and Laser group on Goodreads as the April 2023 book pick. I’m glad this ended up being the pick. That said, this is probably going to be a very divisive book. It’s a book in […]

  • Review: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain

    When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo My rating: 5 of 5 stars I got this book for free from the Tor.com ebook club Once again Vo creates a novella from The Singing Hills Cycle that I had so much trouble putting down. Vo expands the world a little more as Chih […]

  • Review: The Story Behind: The Extraordinary History Behind Ordinary Objects

    The Story Behind: The Extraordinary History Behind Ordinary Objects by Emily Prokop My rating: 4 of 5 stars I’ve always liked books, articles, and podcasts about little trivia like this. There are so many objects in our world and they each have a history! We often gloss over those things that have existed since we […]

  • Review: Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System

    Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Dominic Arsenault My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is written at the level of a college paper with lots of footnotes, citations, etc. There are even some sections of chapters that get into some heavy terminology that didn’t really mean anything […]

  • Review: Nightmare Magazine, Issue 125

    Nightmare Magazine, Issue 125 by Wendy N. Wagner My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another issue of Nightmare Magazine I bought to read and discuss with the wife. I bought it thinking she’d prefer Who The Final Girl Becomes (having only read the synopsis), but our favorite ended up being Home. Who the final girl […]