Oct 31, 2017
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Why I Can’t Read Seasonally

I’ve always read whatever I want, whenever I want. So does everyone, right? Well, I thought so, too. Then I heard about this whole ‘seasonal reading’ thing. It started over the summer while watching a YouTube video by one of the more popular booktubers, someone who’s reviews I like, but whose reading tastes usually stray far from my own. This particular video was about ‘good summer reads’. Curious, I watched on. What were ‘summer reads’? Were those like ‘beach reads’, another term I’d heard bandied about for years but never quite grasped the concept of? My only idea of a ‘beach read’ was ‘book clung to like a lifeline when family and/or friends drag you kicking and screaming to the beach. Usually comes with side of sand and gross, sticky watermelon seeds.’


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Oct 30, 2017
Graphic Novels New & Upcoming Releases

Review – The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill

The Tea Dragon Society
By: Katie O'Neill
Website: http://strangelykatie.com/
Release Date: October 18, 2017
Publisher: Oni Press
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


I picked up quite a number of early copies of books while at Book Con in June. None of them are have stuck with me in the way that The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Niell has. This is an amazing graphic novel about a little girl who saves a tiny tea dragon from a pack of wild dogs that will enrapture any reader.

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Oct 26, 2017
From Our TBR Pile

Review – Dreams of Distant Shores by Patricia McKillip

Dreams of Distant Shores
By: Patricia McKillip
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Rating:


Anthologies can be difficult to review. Each story is different and, in a perfect world, each story would stand on its own, considered for its own merits and demerits. When bound with many other short stories or slightly longer works, it becomes difficult to impossible to allow one story to stand purely on their own. Compared to those stories that come before and after it, perspective can be skewed. This is something I try not to let happen when reading an anthology, but this book in particular had many ups and downs for me. There were stories that I loved, stories that proved fun in the moment but ultimately unmemorable, and stories that didn’t live up to the expectations I had for them.

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Oct 23, 2017
Graphic Novels New & Upcoming Releases

Review – The Castoffs Vol 2 by M.K. Reed and Brian Smith

The Castoffs Vol 2: Into the Wastelands
By: M.K. Reed; Brian Smith
Release Date: October 24, 2017
Publisher: Lion Forge
Series: The Castoffs #2
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


During the Get Graphic Readathon I read an early copy of The Castoffs Vol. 2: Into The Wastelands by M.K. Reed and Brian Smith. The Castoffs is a graphic novel series filled with magic, mechanical enemies, and a trio of girls who go from adversaries to friends.

I had the opportunity to read volume one of The Castoffs a few months ago. When the opportunity arose to read an early copy of volume two I simply couldn’t turn it down. As always, major spoilers will be avoided, but minor plot points will be discussed (nothing that wouldn’t be on a dust jacket).

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Oct 19, 2017
Graphic Novels Throwback Thursday

#ThrowbackThursday – Sandman, Vol 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman

Dream Country (Vol. 3)
By: Neil Gaiman (writer)
Release Date: (Original release) 1991; (this volume) October 19, 2010
Publisher: Vertigo
Series: The Sandman #3
Award: World Fantasy Award for Short Story (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Harvey Awards Nominee for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Material (1992); Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best Continuing Series, Best Writer (for Neil Gaiman) (1991)
Rating:


Happy Throwback Thursday, everyone. This week I continued reading The Sandman series, written by Neil Gaiman. This is an excellent horror graphic novel series, perfect to read around Halloween that everyone should read.

For anyone unfamiliar with the series, or if you’d like to catch up on our reviews, check out the reviews of Preludes and Nocturns (Volume 1) and The Doll’s House (Volume 2).

Dream Country (Volume 3) of the The Sandman series reads more like a compilation of short stories as opposed to the previous volumes in the series. The volume is separated into three different stories. One is about a Here again Dream takes somewhat of a back seat. Dream’s presence is obvious, and very much felt in each tale. Yet, he is not necessarily the main character of each tale. He is the catalyst, the important factor, the other, at times.

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Oct 17, 2017
From Our TBR Pile New & Upcoming Releases

New Release – It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

It Devours!
By: Joseph Fink; Jeffrey Cranor
Website: http://www.welcometonightvale.com/
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Publisher: Harper Collins
Series: Night Vale #2
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Welcome to Night Vale, the popular, long running podcast, has just released a second novel, It Devours! written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. This follows last year’s novel titled simply as Welcome to Night Vale. It Devours! is a thriller-esque tale set in the town of Night Vale, a small place somewhere in the mid-west where every conspiracy theory is true, monsters are real, the rules of time-space are more like guidelines, and the citizens take everything in stride, because, to them, it’s all quite normal.

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Oct 14, 2017
From Our TBR Pile

Review – Invisible Planets Edited by Ken Liu

Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Fiction in Translation
By: (Editor/Translator) Ken Liu
Website: http://kenliu.name/
Release Date: November 1, 2016
Publisher: Tor Books
Rating:


I had been meaning to read this book since its release last years, and I actually picked it up at one point. Unfortunately, life happened, and I was forced to focus my efforts on other things. But now, almost six month’s later I’ve finally read the book in its entirety, and couldn’t be happier. Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu, is a fantastic collection of science fiction by Chinese authors translated into English, and is a must read for fans of the genre.

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Oct 12, 2017
New & Upcoming Releases

Review – Blackwing by Ed McDonald

Blackwing
By: Ed McDonald
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Ace Books
Series: Raven's Mark #1
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Ed McDonald explodes onto the scene with the strongest debut novel I have read all year. Blackwing is the first novel in a new series featuring a world torn apart by a war that cannot be won against creatures who cannot die.

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