tshepiso's Reviews (740)

It's been a age since I finished a novel and The Soldier's Scoundrel was the perfect antidote to a painful reading slump. In it we fallow Jack Turner the titular scoundrel who uses his wits and knowledge from a childhood in the underbelly of London to help people with problems that can't call the police to solve. Through that he meets (former Captain) Oliver Rivington a high strung gentleman and exactly the kind of man Jack avoids. The two become entangled and work together to solve a mystery falling in love along the way. 

What I loved most about The Soldier's Scoundrel was Jack and Rivington's push and pull relationship. Oliver is the classical starchy hero who balks at the unsavoury nature of Jack's profession. Jack on the other hand deeply resents Oliver's social position and especially his claims to a higher morality as someone raised in abject poverty. But the two despite themselves are inexorably pulled to each other. Seeing two people slowly learn how to be vulnerable with each other and shed the misconceptions they have for each other is so beautiful. From Oliver learning to accept help after being disabled by war to Jack allowing himself to let someone in after building up walls to protect himself. Cat Sebastian threads that tension throughout the story masterfully. 

Sebastian is also great at weaving in a mystery plot with the romance. While I think the seasoned mystery reader may find this one slower paced I was thoroughly engaged by the subplot and appreciated how well mystery itself laid out set pieces for the romance to develop.

The Soldier's Scoundrel is a perfect iteration of this type of story and if Cat Sebastian other books are as good as the two I've read she'll easily become a favourite romance author. 

The Queen of the Damned is the first book in the Vampire Chronicles series I've had a consistently good time reading. While the book never quite reached the heights of Interview or TVL it thankfully didn't have any of the severe lows.

The structure and POV of this book was really funky especially in contrast to its predecessors. But surprisingly enough I loved the plethora of new POVs in the story and their unique perspectives. Anne Rice is at her best in reflective narrative and flashbacks and The Queen of the Damned really lets that aspect of her writing shine. Weather it's in the dreamy summers Jesse Reeves recounts or the punchy brutal life of the mysterious twins each weaving perspective gripped me.

Akasha is a fascinating villain throughout this book. I'll admit I didn't quite understand the love of her early on in the book. But as we peel back the layers of her homicidal philosophy I was more and more engaged. What gets me most about Akasha is her lack of self-awareness . The flimsy pseudo-morality she uses to justify mass murder and horrendous atrocities both in the ancient past and present day say a lot about her character. She's compelling because of her utter insistence of the moral righteousness of every single horrific thing she does.

I will say this book's only failing for me was the absences. I braced myself for Louis' lack of presence in the narrative but I still found it disappointing how little Anne gave him to do. It seemed like an especially missed opportunity because of how consumed Akasha is with morality. To not have the most meditative and philosophical character in the series share his perspective seems like a waste.

Overall I really loved The Queen of the Damned. I love Rice's winding indulgent storytelling and I can't wait to sink into more of the story.

Shocker! I liked one of the best regarded Batman comics of the last 40 years. No, but seriously Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli crafted a fantastic expansion of the classic Batman origin with Year One and its enduring popularity reflects its quality.

I'll be honest I've avoided delving into Batman comics because of my perception of Batman as this hyper-competent, all-knowing god figure in DC comics. Needless to say that archetype  isn't really my thing. The appeal of Year One for me was is seeing Bruce at the beginning of his journey and finding his feet and this book does that very well. I loved seeing the minute-to-minute struggles of Bruce learning how to be Batman. Bruce eats shit a lot in Year One, which makes his victories all the more satisfying. My favourite moment in the comic is Batman's fight to escape a derelict building surrounded by the GCPD with a shoot on sight order. Mazzucchelli's composition of it was amazing. The panels were tight and claustrophobic which just enhanced the tension. The scenario overall brilliantly highlighted Bruce's scrappy inventiveness. And every moment of Year One was just as clever and thrilling.

Year One is also an excellent superhero noir. Not only in Bruce's lone detective shtick but in the surprisingly prominent Jim Gordon subplot. Seeing Jim make his way through the corrupt GCPD learning to maneuver around dirty cops with a target on his back was pretty fun. It highlighted a cunning, ruthless edge to Gordon that rarely makes its way into adaptations.

David Mazzucchelli's art perfectly matches Miller's storytelling. He has a bold graphic style (slightly reminiscent of David Aja, to my eye) that really captures the grit of the city and makes its violence all the more visceral. He especially works well with shadow, negative space and iconography making for a visually impactful and memorable read.

This book was only let down by it's of-the-time depiction of women. From teen prostitutes to lovelorn mistresses and forgotten wives the women of Year One are more so archetypes than fleshed out characters. The exception to the rule was Selina Kyle who played a minor role in the narrative. But unfortunately she doesn't take up as much narrative space as I would have liked or to counterbalance the otherwise lacklustre female characters.

Overall, despite my minor quibbles, I think Batman: Year One was a well done story. It's a great expansion and retelling of the classic Batman origin and well worth a read.

Unfortunately I didn't connect with Squire like I hoped to. So much about this comic is really well done. I loved its themes of its resisting colonial forces and I'm almost always down for spunky kids fighting bad guys. However I think Squire had a few rough edges that made it fail to connect for me.

Firstly its pacing. This could be an age thing but I found the story slow to start. I, as the audience, immediately understood that the empire our protagonist, Aiza, had joined up with was evil. However in story it took our characters what felt to me a very long time to come to that realization. This could have more impact for younger readers less familiar with these tropes but for me it just made the first half of the book a drag. 

Another thing that could be because of my perspective as an adult but I was much more engaged with the adult characters than our child protagonists. Aiza's mentor and former knight, Bassem was a definite standout. His world weariness the the face of experiencing and participating in the ravages of empire was really well communicated in a small amount of pages and left me wanting more.

But despite the few snags there was still a lot to love about Squire. Sara Alfageeh's art is stunning I especially loved the warm colors that swept through the pages. The friendship dynamic of Aiza and the rest of the would-be knights was also very fun. Seeing how each character responded to the realization of the wrongness of the project and the different pressures weighing on them to join the army was fascinating. 

I would probably read more of Squire. Its ending leaves the door open for more stories following these characters. But I would say this story is best for the younger crowd.

As a devoted listener of the Maintenance Phase Podcast I knew I was always going to like whatever nonfiction Aubrey Gordon came out with. But even still was was bowled over by just how insightful and well constructed What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat was.

As expected this book was filled with incisive and compelling research and argumentation about the systemic discrimination and abuse fat people face in the workplace, travel, and most dangerously the medical field. Gordon is especially great at using personal narrative as a scaffold for weighty and detailed research. 

This book is a great introduction to the principles of Fat Justice and going beyond simple body positivity. I especially appreciated how Gordon called for mid sized women like myself to de-center our own negative body feelings from conversations about the systemic discrimination fat people face. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the subject matter.

While I respect the project of LaGuardia and agree with its overall message the story itself didn't really connect with me. The book is set in an alternate future where humans and aliens share the planet and Lagos has become an intergalactic Ellis Island of sorts as the first port aliens arrive to Earth from. Okorafor here discusses anti-immigrant sentiment through a literal alien lens. 

While the world Okorafor builds is interesting there wasn't enough space to tackle all the ideas she conceptualized. From a microscopic plant alien war, current tension between ethnic communities in Nigeria, our main character, Future's, pregnancy all while alien human relations are on a loudspeaker as the US bans all alien immigration. I wanted Okorafor to pair down and focus on a single thread to give it the depth and page-count it deserved.

Overall I think the comic had some fun moments, I especially liked Future's fierce immigration lawyer grandmother and the unique alien characters introduced. I could see Okorafor developing some of the ideas here well if she had more volumes to do so. However I don't think LaGuardia really lives up to the promise of its premise.

My Own Way is a charming picture book introducing the concept of gender and the ways its constructed to children. Unfortunately I don't know enough about children to get a sense of how it could be received or processed by them. But as an adult this felt like breezy and approachable introduction to the concepts of gender roles, fluidity and expression. And most importantly its affirming to people's choice to express themselves however they would like.

Stage Dreams follows Grace a trans woman on the run from conscription in the Confederate Army. Unfortunately, on her way out west Grace is kidnapped by Flor a notorious bandit known as Ghost Hawk. Luckily the two quickly see eye to eye and join up to rob a Confederate ball.

First of all Stage Dreams is stunning. I've never seen anything like Melanie Gilman's pastel pencil colour style in a comic. Gillman has a great eye and is especially skilled at capturing nature and landscapes, which I think is essential for a western. 

Stage Dreams has easily entered my personal cannon of lesbian westerns and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for and adventurous romp and sweet romance. It's only downside is is slight length because I could easily see myself pouring through dozens more of Grace and Flor's adventures. 

Volume 2 of New Mutants Classic was a bit of a mixed bag. Our first major arc follows the New Mutants in Nova Roma, an untouched Roman civilization in the Amazon rainforest, after their expedition into the jungle goes awry.The team gets wrapped up in political schemes, meet a fellow young mutant, Amara, and fight off the evil mutant sorceress Selene.   I didn't particularly love this story; while the plot had its moments I ultimately found the story plodding and the new characters introduced uninteresting.

I will say I got more into the book in its back half. Here Illyana Rasputin takes centre stage as she and the New Mutants attempt to rescue Kitty from Emma Frost, the Hellfire Club, and her new team of teen mutants the Hellions. Illyana has quickly become a new favourite. Her angst about her time in limbo, her magic and how it's perceived is really compelling. To be fair a lot of our mutants characters, like Rahne, Dani and Amara, also struggle with feelings of monstrousness. But, in contrast to the others, there's a real darkness, secrecy and shame imbued in Illyana that make those moments hit. It makes her friendship with Kitty all the more consequential because Kitty is the only person in her life who doesn't see her any different. And moments like Dani promising to have Illyana back are so meaningful because of the alienation and fear she's experienced. 

I am still finding my feet with the team as whole. While they have their moments I still don't feel like I know and connect with them well enough. I respect Claremont's attempts at pathos for the characters but unfortunately some if it just doesn't work. Rahne especially failed to click with me. While I understand her shame is tied it with her religiosity and the fact that her wolf form's bloodlust causes distress could be interesting. But unfortunately the way she projects her religious shame on to others makes her pretty unlikable. With the rest of the cast I think I just need more time to connect with them. We haven't delved as deep as I would like with them but I'm sure Claremont's trademark characterful storytelling will grab me in time

My final pet peeve with The New Mutants is its hints of romantic subplots. Throughout the book characters express feelings of jealousy and attraction to each other and while it's understandable in a teen book I still found it trite. I think Claremont fails to develop compelling reasons why any of these characters are attracted to each other for me to really root for any pairing. 

Overall I'm not loving the New Mutants like I hoped I would. But the Hellions plot gripped me in the end so I'm hoping the team will grow on me.

No one can say I didn't give the Richest Man in babylon a chance. I swear I really did. But my god it was the most basic, boring, and repetitive books I've ever read. The pseudo-ancient Babaloyan setting did provide some intrigue (when Clason wasn't being racist) and the advice while extremely basic wasn't the worst thing I've ever heard this wasn't a complete waste of time. 

I only read this because my psychiatrist recommended it and honestly I'm still trying to parse how this was supposed to help my major depressive disorder.