Down Among the Sticks and Bones is the second novella in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series. The first, Every Heart a Doorway, took me utterly by surprise when I first read it, and I loved it. It was a touching, gentle story about children and teens who had once been whisked through magical doorways to fairytale lands, only to be returned. Jack and Jill while only side characters in the original, had potentially one of the more intriguing backstories, and I was quite excited to […]
Mitten Kittens, Sonic Hedgehog, and a Better Understanding of Genes
Space genes! Bloody space genes! If you’ve been keeping an eye on popular science news recently, you’ve probably come across the story of a comparative study between current astronaut Scott Kelly and his retired astronaut brother, Mark. Along with this came the breathless headlines, tweets and shares on how 7% of Scott’s DNA had changed after his time in space! They weren’t identical twins anymore! Which is insane! NO! Argh!!! The media ran riot with the idea that massive changes had occurred […]
Bloody, beautiful Monstress
I adored the first volume of Marjorie Liu’s Monstress. Sana Takeda’s art is one of the most stunning that I’ve come across in a comic. At the same time, it’s also unbelievably violent and brutal. I find this pairing somewhat evocative of the Hannibal TV series, which I also loved. (I don’t know what this says about me – that I am ok with gore, provided it’s beautifully presented?) Monstress is set an alternative, matriarchal, steampunk Asia, which is inhabited by humans, anthropomorphic animal gods […]
Another great entry in the delightfully weird and difficult to categorise Craft Sequence.
Like the Terra Ignota Series, I was first Introduced to Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence novels via The Hugo Awards. And like Terra Ignota, I’m going to start my book reviews with a book that sits right in the middle of the series, with book six. While The Ruin of Angels is told from an increasing number of viewpoints as it progresses, the narrative can be split into roughly two branches. The first branch follows Kai Pohala, who was the protagonist of a previous Craft book, […]
Only the good die young. Evil seems to live forever.
I’ve gone an read another book that’s made me angry. If there’s one take away message from Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones’ ‘The Family’, it’s that sometimes life is incredibly unjust. Anne Hamilton Byrne, now approaching 100 years old, is currently in palliative care in a nursing home in Melbourne, Australia. She’s only ever been convicted of minor fraud charges, but she’s guilty of so much more. Anne has the honour of being one of Australia’s most notorious cult leaders, serving as the guru and self-professed […]
A surprisingly light bath time read
I know that this book has been around for a while, but I haven’t found time to pick it up until now. I have to say, it’s not exactly what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. I’m not terribly familiar with the ins and outs of Norse Mythology, but I’m aware enough at least to not use the Marvel films as a guide! I know J. R. R. Tolkien was greatly influenced by Norse mythology, and I think this may be the reason I […]