These reviews, which were promoted in CBR social media, on our homepage, and in Pajiba Love, appear below by review publication date, not by date featured.
Gyo by Junji Ito
Why not, I’m way behind on my Cannonballs and trying to read to relax more anyways, so why not just work through my favorite Junji Ito stories? Gyo follows thee classic Ito pattern of “take thing, make scary.” In this case, he gives us… fish with legs. That sounds stupid and silly, and it is certainly something you can laugh at in places. If you’ve ever seen the meme of what sounds a shark makes when it breaks down a door (gashunk) this is where that […]
Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Since I’m being cruelly tortured by being forced to wait a whole long week between episodes for the new season I’ve decided to go back and read the first book in the Slough House series. I’m sure waiting patiently is part of MI5 spy training, probably real advanced stuff. It is here we first meet Jackson Lamb and his motley collection of ‘slow horses’. Each one has disgraced themselves in some spectacular way and needs to be relegated somewhere they can’t do any more damage […]
Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan
This is the story of a family of women (the Evans) in Southeast Texas whose family business is running the only funeral parlour in town. Well, that is their main business, but their side hustle is killing the restless dead (vampires) who end up in their funeral home. The Evans are standing between their town and the Strigoi, who occasionally show up. But the latest round of undead really puts the family to the test, and unearths some family secrets rising up from the grave. […]
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Bingo 19: Black Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar has a cover almost entirely in the proper color. Mostly, this is a story about people who want things they think they either cannot or should not have. Luiza is part Jewish (dangerous during the Inquisition) and has some minor household magic; her milagritos are things like she can make the bread unburnt. She wants to be something more than the scullery maid; she wants better, more money, more comfort, just more. There’s also her boss Valentina who […]
Tears of the Wolf by Elisabeth Wheatley
I wouldn’t have said that I was on Norse or Viking kick this year and yet this is somehow the fifth Viking/Nordic inspired fantasy novel I have read this year (three of them were part of the same trilogy, though, The Bloodsworn). I discovered Elisabeth Wheatley because her book goblin reels/videos kept showing up in my feed, and then I realized she wasn’t just a fellow reader and book lover but an author so I decided to try her latest release (there’s a sequel coming […]
Ring by Koji Suzuki
This movie played a significant role in my life 20 years ago. I was a huge cinephile, and watched movies all the time. I don’t remember the exact sequence that led to me watching it for the first time, but this was the movie to watch if you were a fan of horror movies in the early 2000s. there was a florescence in Japanese horror that was kicked off by this movie, which, in turn, influenced movies being made around the world. And I enjoyed […]
