I think The Light Fantastic is where Pratchett really found his footing. Having read my way around the Discworld haphazardly, this one felt much closer to those later installments than The Colour of Magic, its' sense of humor a little more defined and the world slightly more realized. Rincewind is a wonderful reluctant protagonist, literally trying to get out of being the main character in any way he can only for the narrative to drag him back in. I'm so excited to see where the story will take him.

I will say, Terry's books tend to do a great bit of bouncing around between events/POVs before getting to the main meat of a story and even then there seems to be a bit of whiplash. Eventually it did settle as more of the plot threads started to intertwine, and of course Terry's usual brand of witty humor does a lot in keeping the cohesiveness.

The Discworld seems to have really set its hooks into me for real now.

I think this was a fairly middle of the road book for me. It definitely has its charms and will woo any middle grader invested in a fantasy that's slightly self-aware. I'd place it somewhere along the spectrum between Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett with its subversion of some fantasy tropes and poking fun at others.

The first half feels like mostly build up, while the rest is a mixed bag of satisfying/disappointing ends. For all that she was hyped up, we see very little of the Whittle Witch. We feel her presence as her curse taken over Clementine's father, there is even a chapter or two where we see her perspective as her plans slowly come to fruition. But by the time she actually appeared I felt...underwhelmed? It just felt like the tangible conflicts of the story felt a little less developed than the more emotional ones. 

The way she went out through was glorious. Love a unicorn avalanche. the visuals are very The Last Unicorn

.

Clementine's internal struggles, what with dealing with her "evil" father, the expectation of her becoming a Dark Lord as well, and how she relates to her magic, were all engaging and did so much to round her out as a character. Darka as well is an interesting inclusion, her story and motivations bringing a darker and deeper dimension to the story. 

This is something I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel of, since there were a few things mentioned that didn't really have any payoff.

Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Don't let the Harvey Comics-inspired look fool you, this ain't no Richie Rich. Behind the charmingly vintage style and nostalgic ads for various gadgets and toys lies a cavalcade of carnage and terror. You've got murder, demonic rituals, vengeful spirits, heaps of blood and gore, certainly not what you expect from your typical Sunday funnies. 

Even if horror isn't your jam, one has to admire the creativity that went into making this comic feel so genuinely retro: the faded colors, the thick outlines, the deceptively cutesy illustrations. It all works together to deliver solid scares and suspense.

To be honest, I'm usually not a fan of the trend of "take an innocent thing and twist it into horror for horror's sake," but here some of the stories land well enough that the concept saves it. This comic lands in the unfortunate situation of having its first stories be its strongest, leading it to fizzle out a little disappointingly in the end. There are some instances where characters from earlier tales will pop up in others, which gives a real neat interconnected feel and makes you want to go back to get a better idea of how all these pieces fit together. 

I think my favorite bits were the "Aw, Hell" segments, in which a man constantly outsmarts the Devil to get out of going to Hell. These one page comics appear in between the longer stories and are a great goofy pallet cleanser before being thrust into more infernal insanity. 

If you're a big horror fan and enjoyed things like Creepshow, this will definitely be up your alley. For those more on the sensitive side, well, there's always Casper. 

Have too much to read right now and this book wasn't really gripping me enough to finish. It'll probably be enough for younger readers but for adults it rings as sort of just okay.

While it breaks my heart to know books like this are needed for young kids, I'm glad that it'll help give validation and words to the feelings of those who have been through Tori's experience. The novel in verse format makes it incredibly accessible for young readers and moves at a steady pace that any level reader can follow well. A must have for classrooms or for those looking to start conversations with young people about sexual abuse. 

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever wanted to see a romantic fling between a shapeshifting lump of flesh with no concept of humanity and a woman from a monster hunting family that has some SERIOUS issues? I know I did when I requested this title, which worth reading just for its odd, niche concept alone. 
 
Shesheshen's voice is highly enjoyable as she tries to makes sense of humanity and navigate her developing feelings for Homily, the member of a family she had seemingly placed a curse on. I always love getting into the mind of the monster and, here, we find that maybe she's not the most nefarious and cruel thing on the isthmus as Homily's family moves in to slay her. Big trigger warning to anyone that has gone through serious familial abuse, whether physical or emotional, there's a lot of it here and it gets fairly uncomfortable at times. Homily, for the majority of the story, stands there and accepts it, and I so wish more was done to show her rising and standing against her abusers. There wasn't really a moment of empowerment, just a quick shift of character so that now she's working against them. It doesn't really feel earned and just for character development's sake I had hoped it would land harder.
 
The romance between them is mostly what keeps this story from being a full out horror tale. There are some gnarly description of organs and the eating of them in order for Sheshesen to take on a human shape, but that's mostly it. Their relationship is sweet though and I highly appreciate the sapphic asexual representation. 
 
There is a point in the story where it really loses some of its gas and ends up spinning its wheels for a good while. The plot cycles in on itself a few times before leading to a very drawn out conclusion. You get the climax, which was tense, engaging, suspenseful, and then you read five or six chapters of denouement to see how the characters and aftermath settle. It really could have been condensed into a single epilogue and at that point I think I was rushing to finish the book. 
 
Aside from that, I think it's a very interesting and unique take on the monster lover romance. Very spice free and willing to go to some weird places. 

Just the typical Sarah Andersen brand type of fun. Great comedic timing and wacky cryptid scenarios. Definitely good for a chuckle in a single sitting.

God I adore how Andrew Joseph White writes rage. Though it's coupled with a kind of weariness, an exhaustion towards a world that will not make room for you, accommodate you, or change its perceptions, there's also an energy that inspires revolution. Silas is an engaging lead, guided by a skittish inner voice to not make trouble, to avoid anything that would do him harm (and for an autistic trans man in the late 19th century that's quite a lot), and to keep his head down as much as possible. He tries to navigate a society of mediums that is built on patriarchy and the subservience of women, who are treated little better than broodmares. When his attempt to escape his family and pursue his dream of becoming a doctor, naturally it all goes wrong and lands him in a women's sanitarium.

It's a tough book to read at times, what with the mistreatment of the women within the sanitarium, body horror, the dismissal of trans identities and autistic behaviors, but there are still moments of softness that help to ground things. I loved Silas' relationship with Daphne and how their shared experiences help them to connect and open up to each other. 

Historical inaccuracies aside, it's still a captivating read. I don't think it was created to be entirely factual. Hell, the ending author's note urges this book to be seen as a fantasy, as the history of the misuse of women's bodies for surgical experimentation includes mainly non-white women, and gives further reading to get more acquainted with the topic. I really appreciated that, since this book is more of a vessel to give life and words to living as a trans/autistic person rather than a history lesson. As someone who falls along both those spectrums, I definitely could relate to multiple experiences. 

The raw emotion behind White's writing style is what really fuels the book and kept me reading at a breakneck pace. It's energizing, uncomfortable at points, but it makes you feel a stirring in your gut. Whether that be emotional resonance or a churning at the gruesome events, it's still enough to provoke a reaction. 

White just keeps knocking it out of the park and I eagerly await his next release.

A 3.5 but rounded up to a 4 if you want a full number out of me.

A book about the tyrannical colonization, occupation, and cultural genocide of a people seems especially poignant now. The themes hit hard in several places as Amani tries to navigate through the royal court of her people's oppressors, working as a body double for a cold princess. Amani's perseverance and love of her culture makes her captivating and I was surprised to get so invested in Maram despite her sometimes nefarious nature.

For the majority of the book, the plot is mostly Amani being shuffled around from palace to palace for functions, grand events, posing as Maram and figuring out more about the royal inner circle as well as the resistance towards the colonizers. It doesn't make for a very action-packed story, but the plot focuses more on the social conflicts Amani faces. It gets tense in several moments as her people face numerous threats of violence, including her family. The story at least moves well in between its most dramatic moments, even when the court appearances start to get a little tedious.

The romance felt a little too quick for me, but it was cute enough.

For a sci-fi book, there's not a lot of science fiction that goes on in the story. Other than some space travel and talks of planets there's really nothing that makes it feel very science fictiony. Scrub a few details here and there and it could have passed as a fantasy book, but I don't think that really drags it down too much.

Will definitely check out the sequel to see how things conclude.

This story started off so strong: a gothic, creepy atmosphere, a genuine sense of foreboding, the allure of a mysterious curse. But, somewhere along the 600+ page journey, it all fell apart. Sections went on for too long, the pacing making the action drag; characters came and went that ultimately didn't matter or had very little impact on events that you wonder why they were included in the first place. I feel like we never really got to know our leads beyond their surface levels, at least with our modern day cast. 

Split into two timelines, the 1902 story was way more intriguing. It had more mystery to it, a greater weight and suspense. The modern day story just completely dragged and felt pointless, especially by the end. The two never meet in a satisfying way so it seems pointless to the tie the two together.

Also, the fact that every moment of horror is basically the appearance of a yellowjacket was a complete let down. There wasn't any variety to the attempted scares, just tongue in cheek asides that gave off the feel of a cheesy camp counselor going "Well oooo isn't this scary?" 

I don't know if it was just because I was listening to the audiobook, but I didn't really get a good sense of how everything connected by the end. The narrator was fantastic though, I really enjoyed their voice throughout it.

In short, really needed more scares, a trimmed down plot, and more cohesion between the two stories.