Review – In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle

In Calabria
By: Peter S. Beagle
Release Date: February 14, 2017
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Rating:


Books steeped in myth and folktale are ones that I am always drawn to, so it is with no surprise that I found myself with a copy of In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle.

Claudio Bianchi needs no one, opting to remain on his farm with his animals and his poetry to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. But one day a unicorn that, if he isn’t mistaken, is about to give birth wanders onto his farm and calls it home. Suddenly entrusted with this magical appearance, he finds himself beset upon by those who want the unicorn for their own ends, some of whom refuse to take no as an answer.

Review – Extracted by R. R. Haywood

Extracted
By: R. R. Haywood
Release Date: March 1, 2017
Publisher: 47North
Series: Extracted
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Have you ever read a book and, when it was finished, wondered why you sat there through everything? Usually I read books I’m not liking very much because I feel like I must be missing something. Surely there is a twist that will make everything worthwhile. Perhaps I’m simply not looking deeply enough, missing some sort of grand metaphor for all the trials and tribulations of the universe. Sometimes the plot, characters, or writing simply doesn’t live up to expectations.

Extraction by R. R. Haywood sounded like a fast paced time travel novel. I always love a good time travel story. Unfortunately, this book was the opposite of paced, and quickly proved to unravel in other aspects throughout the novel.

#ThrowbackThursday Review – The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
By: Patricia McKillip
Website: http://www.patriciamckillip.com/
Release Date: September 17, 2017
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Award: World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1975); Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee (1975)
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Patricia McKillip’s novel The Forgotten Beasts of Eld was republished by Tachyon Publications. This World Fantasy Award winning novel is a true treasure, a book that is most definitely worth reading.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a standalone fantasy novel by Patricia McKillip. Sybel is a wizard, the latest in a long line of powerful wizards. She lives atop Eld Mountain, constantly calling the powerful and mystical creatures of long lost stories to her doorstep. Sybel is completely disinterested in the world of men, but that world comes knocking on her door in the form of an infant – a cousin whose mother is dead and whose kingly father, if he is truly the father at all, is apt to kill him. Slowly, Sybel is introduced to the world below, to love, to revenge, and more power than even she thought possible.

Review – Lumberjanes Vol. 1

Lumberjanes Vol. 1
By: Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Faith Hicks, Brooke A. Allen
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Publisher: BOOM! Box
Series: Lumberjanes
Award: Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best New Series & Best Publication for Teens (ages 13-17)(2015); Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Graphic Novels & Comics (2015)
Rating:


I’d recently heard some very good things about Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Faith Hicks, and Brooke Allen. When I found copies available in my local library I immediately delved in. This is a fun fantasy/mystery series that follows a group of girls at a Lumberjane sleepaway camp. The forest they’re camping in holds secrets, though, and seems to be filled with magical creatures. The story follows these girls as they go on various adventures and try to solve the mysteries of the woods.

Review – The Ancient Magus’ Bride, Vol. 1 by Kore Yamazaki

The Ancient Magus' Bride, Vol. 1
By: Kore Yamazaki
Translator: Adrienne Beck
Website: http://haiiroattachment.blog.fc2.com/
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Publisher: Seven Seas
Series: The Ancient Magus' Bride
Rating:


I am very late to the party on this one. Usually I keep up with each season’s anime releases, but alas, I’ve fallen behind. But a new anime usually means Amazon discounts on its corresponding manga, so I picked up the first volume of The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki.

Chise Hatori is the main character, a Japanese girl who was orphaned at a young age. She has long since gave up on everything, entering the realms of magical beings and was previously sold into slavery. When she is purchased at auction by an ancient, inhuman magus, Elias Ainsworth, Chise is given a new lease on life. Suddenly she finds herself freed and apprenticed to a mage. Now she has the ability to move forward – to learn about magic, her potential, and to heal.

Review – Humanity’s Hope by Pembroke Sinclair

Humanity's Hope
By: Pembroke Sinclair
Website: http://pembrokesinclair.blogspot.com/
Release Date: July 21, 2017
Publisher: Stitched Smile Publication
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


I’m not sure if things one genuinely enjoys should be called guilty pleasures, but zombie novels would definitely that category for me. I’m always up for a good zombie story. Well, I was offered the chance to read Humanity’s Hope by Pembroke Sinclair, which is, you guessed it, a zombie novel. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Caleb is a teenager just trying to survive in post zombie infested world. It’s safe in the city, or safer than most other places. He has a job, a place to live, and with the help of his psychiatrist is trying to slowly move forward. But there are rumors of experiments done in secret to find a cure for zombie virus, and when a neighbor is killed in an unheard of zombie attack in the city Caleb begins to wonder if there’s any truth to this. Soon he finds himself on the run, apparently immune to the virus. He’s fought zombies before. But humans are stronger and infinitely more clever.

#MangaMonday Review- The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus Vol. 1

The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus Volume 1
By: Eiji Otsuka; Housui Yamazaki
Translator: Toshifumi Yoshida; (editor/english adaptation) Carl Gustav Horn
Release Date: September 8, 2015
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Series: The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
Rating:


One of my favorite manga genres is quickly becoming the horror genre. I had my eye on The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service Omnibus Volume 1 by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki for some time now. This omnibus edition collects volumes 1 to 4 of the manga together in one place, is a monstrous 640 pages long, and is perfect for binge reading. Which is exactly what I did.

This manga features five students and ex students studying to become monks. However, the job market isn’t what it should be and none of them exactly fit in well with the regular 9 to 5. But that’s just with the living. The dead have lingering desires, wishes they want fulfilled, and even in death they’re willing to pay. This follows Kuro Karatsu and four others as they fulfill the last wishes of the deceased clients.

Review – A Silent Voice Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima

A Silent Voice Volume 1
By: Yoshitoki Oima
Translator: Steven LeCroy
Release Date: (Original Japanese) November 15, 2013;(English Translation) May 26, 2015
Publisher: Kodansha Comics
Series: A Silent Voice
Rating:


I’ve recently been getting more manga from my local library than I used to. (They won’t acquire more if no one’s reading them, after all). But while they have a rather comprehensive who’s who of 1990s manga, more modern titles are often missing. Luckily, one of the series they’ve made sure to put on the shelves is A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima.

Despite having a rather famous movie adaptation, I went into this series pretty much blind. I haven’t watched the movie and knew nothing of the plot beyond the very basics. A Silent Voice is the story of two middle schoolers – a boy named Shoya and a girl named Shoko. Shoko is a new transfer student and deaf. Shoya suffers from nothing greater than perpetual boredom, and begins to bully Shoko. The entire class joins in on Shoya’s bullying, with Shoko ultimately switching schools. Yet Shoya shoulders the blame of her dropping out of their school alone. Years later, at the end of high school, Shoya meets Shoko again.

Review – The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

The Language of Thorns:
By: Leigh Bardugo
Website: http://www.leighbardugo.com/m/
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Publisher: Imprint
Series: Grisha Verse
Rating:


The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic is, at heart, a book of fairy tales. These stories are set in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha universe, the same world in which The Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology are set. Instead of high stakes adventures, we are given several fairy tales that take place in unspecified times within this world.

Review – Puella Magi Madoka Magica Vol 1 by Magica Quartet

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Volume 1
By: Magica Quartet
Illustrator: Hanokage
Translator: William Flannigan
Release Date: (Original Japanese) February 12, 2011; (English Translation) May 29, 2012
Publisher: Yen Press
Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Rating:


I think its safe to say that Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an international phenomenon. The story is written by Magica Quartet with the art done by Hanokage, and I cannot recommend this series enough.

A new student transfers into first year high school student Madoka’s class. The girl is familiar, a person from something Madoka knows must have been a dream. It being anything else was impossible. Cats don’t offer magical powers in exchange for your deepest wish. Yet here this girl, Homura, is and she’s fighting a rather familiar looking cat. The offer is again given. If she speaks her deepest wish, she will be granted both magical powers and her wish. But it isn’t all fun and games. The world of magic is a world of high danger and seemingly little personal reward. The lost are not mourned here, and evil stalks the innocent.