Book review: Saga: Book One

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Saga: Book One.Saga: Book One by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, here’s something I picked up in an ebook bundle. And conveniently, it turns out to be one of the more enjoyable comic series I’ve dipped my toe into.

(It probably helps that I was a bit of a fan of Vaughan’s Y: The Last Man series, though.)

The setup is pretty easy: it’s a space opera. So it features rocket-ships (albeit ones made out of wood, on occasion), and plenty of pew pew action. There’s TV-headed robot royalty. One-eyed interspecies erotica authors. Sex planets. Freelance assassins. And an interspecies baby that’s not supposed to be – folk with wings don’t get it on with dudes with horns, at least they’re not supposed to. Oh, and there’s magic and spirits and talking cats that know when you’re lying, too.

I guess Lying Cat is like every other cat in the universe, then.

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Book review: The Castle of Otranto

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The Castle of OtrantoThe Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So it’s coming up to the holidays so I thought to myself what better time to check out the first English supernatural novel, progenitor of the Gothic genre and on-point guide to decorating your home with revenge-themed supernatural armour? And so I reached for Horace Walpole’s 1764 banger.

Basically, everything you know about the Gothic mode – weird religious symbolism, perverse family intertwinings, twisted tunnels, ghosts kicking arse from beyond death, the horror of landscape and the terror of the built environment – is in here. Continue reading “Book review: The Castle of Otranto” →

Book review: The Aerodrome

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The AerodromeThe Aerodrome by Rex Warner.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rex Warner is these days more known for his translation of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War than for his fiction. But it’s still worth reading his 1941 work The Aerodrome – one of ten he wrote – because though it’s flawed, it contains an odd power.
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Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017) and Kôna (2017)

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So, I followed up on my previous stint of Nazi-killin’ joy (briefly covered here) with a run through Machinegames’ newest instalment, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

Let’s just say that if you like machine-gunning fascists to death, it’s a good game. The lengthy trailer above should give you a good idea of what to expect if you’re unaware of the series thus far.

(Spoilers likely follow.)

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Book review: Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier

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Twin Peaks: The Final DossierTwin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You know, I really wanted to like this book. I was looking forward to it ever since I heard it was coming after the show, and especially given the high quality of The Secret History of Twin Peaks. I knew that the show’s return had surpassed any expectations I’d had by a mile, and surely the book must deliver more of that magical mojo, right?

It didn’t work out that way. Continue reading “Book review: Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier” →

Book review: Another Kyoto

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Another KyotoAnother Kyoto by Alex Kerr.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the third of Kerr’s books I’ve read. The first, I found vital, the second not so much. So this sits neatly in the middle, for me. Where it departs from the first two books, though, is in its level of personality: in Another Kyoto I think the reader receives much more of a sense of the author as a person. Continue reading “Book review: Another Kyoto” →

Yakuza 0 (2015-2017)

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Hey! Do you like Japan? Do you like hitting dudes in the streets with bicycles? And is your idea of fun the unravelling of a story involving loyalty, real estate, crime, blindness, identity and the sharpness of suits, offset by the ability to play darts with local drunks, try phone dating and collect phone cards?

If you answered yes to any of those – or are even vaguely curious – then Yakuza 0 is the game for you.  Continue reading “Yakuza 0 (2015-2017)” →

Book review: Nick Cave: Mercy On Me

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Nick Cave: Mercy On MeNick Cave: Mercy On Me by Reinhard Kleist.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So let’s get this out of the way first: I am a Nick Cave fan. Not a rabid one, no – I don’t believe he excretes perfect songs into the world, and almost every album he’s associated with could do with having about a third chopped off it – but I like him well enough. I’ve seen him play a couple of times, and have most of the records. Hell, I’ve even read his books a couple of times. (Well, not the Bunny Munro one. )

But there’s something important to know: I like him while disliking him.
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Book review: Mirror Sydney

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Mirror SydneyMirror Sydney by Vanessa Berry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I recently read Vanessa Berry’s Strawberry Hills Forever (reviewed here) while I waited for this work, Mirror Sydney, to be published. This most recent work surpasses the former, and scratches a psychogeographic itch – think Ackroyd or Sinclair – that I hadn’t realised I had.
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Book review: David Bowie: A Life

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David Bowie: A LifeDavid Bowie: A Life by Dylan Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the wake of Bowie’s death, I bought a bunch of biographies of the man, wanting to know more. Hell, I guess we all did, ’round then – after all, how do you account for a single version of the life of one guy who lived so many variants, and was held close by so many for such a multiplicity of reasons? I figured I’d get around to ’em all in time, and then the idea of there being no more David Bowie caused me to chuck the brakes on the whole read-the-biog thing.

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Until now. David Bowie: A Life, the most recent Bowie biog to surface, takes a conversational approach over the standard facts-times-sawdust take on the format, and works winningly well, though not without caveats. Continue reading “Book review: David Bowie: A Life” →