Hellblazer, Vol. 1: Original Sins Hellblazer #1

2021-10-14

I really do have a thing for urban fantasy specifically dealing with demons and angels, good and evil, especially if it twists it all around. Constantine does that in spades.

I watched the 2005 film well before I knew it was based on a comic (so sue me), so Keanu Reeves is forever going to be stuck in my head as the true Constantine, but I’ve also watched just about all of the new wave of DC shows, including the 2014 version of Constantine plus his appearances on Legends of Tomorrow. Not quite the same, but I still loved the character.

Red Sister Book of the Ancestor #1

2021-10-01

It is important, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.

Worldbuildingwise:

Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1: Back on the Street Transmetropolitan #1

2021-08-24

Oooh boy.

Warning: Language.

The House in the Cerulean Sea

2021-07-18

A gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, a green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist get sent to live in an orphanage on an island…

Sounds like the setup for a rather strange joke, but instead the punchline is a delightful, amusing, and surprisingly touching story about actually taking the time to notice and perhaps care for someone a little bit different.

Gideon the Ninth The Locked Tomb #1

2021-07-13

One day eighteen years ago, Gideon’s mother had tumbled down the middle of the shaft in a dragchute and a battered hazard suite, like some moth drifting slowly down into the dark. The suit had been out of power for a couple of minutes. The woman landed brain-dead. All the battery power had been sucked away by a bio-container plugged into the suit, the kind you’d care a transplant limb in, and inside that container was Gideon, only a day old.
This was obviously mysterious as hell.

Annihilation Southern Reach #1

2021-07-01

You must understand how I felt then, how the surveyor must have felt: We were scientists, trained to observe natural phenomena and the results of human activity. We had not been trained to encounter what appeared to be the uncanny. In unusual situations there can be a comfort in the presence of even someone you think might be your enemy. Now we had come close to the edges of something unprecedented, and less than a week into our mission we had lost not just the linguist at the border but our anthropologist and our psychologist.

Now that is a fascinating sort of book. It’s essentially a slice of life mixed with cosmic horror. The entire story follows an expedition into the mysterious, alien Area X. There’s not really any overarching plot, other than exploring and perhaps surviving… and maybe if you’re really really lucky, coming back without going mad.

Six Wakes

2021-06-19

In a nutshell, Six Wakes is a closed room murder mystery in SPACE! With clones! What that gives us is an absolutely wonderful variation on the tropes. Because of cloning technology, you can very well have a murder mystery where the cast wake up to the gruesome (zero gee) murder of … the entire cast. And because it’s a generation ship in deep space, you very well know that one of the cast absolutely has to have been the muderer… Unless it was more than one.

My favorite parts of the worldbuilding all really revolve around technology of cloning and how that can change the world in fascinating ways. For example, it’s not uncommon for attendees at certain parties to end murdered. They’ll wake up in the morning, restored from a backup the day before with little more than a feeling of ’that must have been one hell of a party’ plus some potential embarrassment and go about their lives.

Project Hail Mary

2021-06-15

Oh that’s a wonderful book. If your read and enjoyed The Martian, you’ll almost certainly love Project Hail Mary . The sense of humor mixed with scientific/engineering problem solving is the main strength in both. Great fun.

It’s got a wonderful sense of humor:

Mexican Gothic

2021-06-09

The reviews of Mexican Gothic are … divided to say the least. There’s more than a handfull of glowing five star reviews and a smaller but still significant number that just didn’t get what the fuss was about. Halfway through… I totally get it.

I think the main problem is the absolute tonal shift that happens about halfway through the book.

Tales of Nezura: Book 1: The Zevolra

2021-04-26

The skeleton that was polishing with a brush stopped and waved.
“Hello! You must be Maximilian! Your uncle here is delighted to be hosting you.” The teeth on the skull curved up. “The name’s Conner, in case you were wondering.”
“They can talk?” I whispered to my uncle.