My Picks of 2015

Feel like reading my picks of the books I've read and reviewed (so far) this year? Well, my cheeky little monkeys, I've got you covered.

(This post may have been at least partially coffee-fuelled. I regret nothing.)

Death Vigil Volume 1 by Stjepan Šejić

I hark on about this one quite a bit (guilty as charged!) But this book really does deserve it. It's like the perfect storm of originality, beautiful artwork, and complex characters.

The Death Vigil are a group of demon-hunting people, snatched in the moments before death by their leader, Bernadette - who is a bad-ass.

I read a lot of graphic novels, and amongst all of them, this really did stand out to me this year. It also held me captive 'til the last page, and made me forget about the coffee I was drinking at the time - my coffee went cold. If you know me, you know that that's significant.

Full Review - Buy Now – Goodreads – Author's Image Comics Profile

NOS4R2 (NOS4A2) by Joe Hill

I'm a big, ginormous, Joe Hill fan. And I absolutely positively loved all of this behemoth of a book.

The concept of worlds within the imagination was simply inspired, and Hill weaves his words like delicate silk (check me out being all poetical and sh**!)

Vic McQueen is one of the people who can use her imagination for real-world purposes. But when she comes across The Wraith, aka Charlie Manx, things are going to get very bad in Manx's world - Christmasland.

I wouldn't read this around Christmastime if I were you... unless you want to be traumatised of course, in which case, go right ahead.

Full Review - Buy Now – Goodreads – Author's Site

Straight James/Gay James by James Franco

This may be a slight cheat - the book isn't out until early 2016, but I read it in 2015. So once again, I regret nothing.

This is one of my picks because I have to promote good poetry - it's like a compulsion, so sue me.

And this is good poetry - honest and heartfelt, like good poetry should be. (And yes, it's written by that James Franco.)

Full Review - Buy Now - Goodreads – Author's Facebook 


World Gone By by Dennis Lehane

You want a stunning historically-set gangster novel? Read this book.

Joe Coughlin is a gangster - he's been in the business a long time. But he makes everyone money. So no-one would want him dead... right?

Basically, I cannot explain to you how much I love Joe in a way that doesn't make me sound a few stages on from completely delusional. Read my review. Then read the book. Then you'll know, because hopefully I'm not the only one who feels like this...

Full Review - Buy Now – Goodreads – Author's Site

Under the Never Sky and Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi

These are the first two books in the 'Under the Never Sky' series by Veronica Rossi (not to be confused with Veronica Roth, author of the Divergent series.)

This is a YA dystopian series that hooks its claws in with compelling plot, and complex characters. If you like dystopia and/or YA where the heroine does more than sit and whine all day, then I highly recommend this series.

Under the Never Sky review – Through the Ever Night review – Author's Site

Liked this post? Try these:

Christmas Movie Binge
Books Everyone Else Seems to Have Read (But I Haven't)
 

Review! (Woo!) - World Gone By by Dennis Lehane

Title: World Gone By. (US link.)

Author: Dennis Lehane .

Genre: Crime, Historical Fiction, Gangster.

Series: Coughlin (#3.)

A few starting notes:

I'm a Dennis Lehane junkie. Pure. Simple. True. So when I saw World Gone By (US link) at the library, I really couldn't help myself.

This is #3 in the Coughlin series - following Danny Coughlin (in The Given Day, (US link,)) and later baby brother Joe Coughlin (in Live By Night (US link) and World Gone By (US link).)

It can definitely be read as stand-alone, though there are spoilers for Live By Night (US link) in particular. To be honest, you'll get much more out of this book if you read Live By Night (US link) first - just for the character history if nothing else.

My sequel-reviewing rules apply here. No spoilerage for the series beyond what's in the book blurb here.

Premise:

Tampa and Ybor City, Florida, the 1940s. Joe Coughlin is a gangster from back in the days of prohibition.

Joe knows how to get money made; and its mutually beneficial for all of his... associates. So no-one would want him dead... right?

Is his lifestyle - his years of sin - about to catch up with him?

Best bits:

Lehane, what are you doing to me? A gangster on the young side of 40, a bad boy with a dangerous past, who treats women right and is a loving and sensitive single father? I should not be in love with Joe right now, damn you! He's a gangster! He kills people!

But I totally am, and it's all your fault Lehane.

The writing sweeps you along - as is typical of Lehane books. There's something about his prose which is almost lyrical; and which I totally love.

It also puts your feels (or, in non-fangirlian: emotions,) through the wringer. (Damn you Lehane!) but it's like: I love you book. You just ripped out my heart and handed it to me, and that is why I love you. (*Maniacal laughter.*)

Not so great bits:

As seems to be true for most of the books I read, this sure as hell ain't for the faint of heart. There's loads of swearing, violence, blood and guts.

There's also some racial slurs - including repeated use of the 'n' word. While that's in-keeping with a) the historical setting, and b) the fact that gangsters, as a rule, aren't particularly politically correct, it's still not OK.

This isn't a happy book. This is pretty grim. If you've read any books by Lehane before, you'll know what I mean - if not, well, just trust me.

Verdict:

I loved this book. A slick gangster novel that's firmly rooted in character and nuance rather than mindless shootings in every paragraph. This is subtle, absorbing, and quite simply excellent.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA - Goodreads – Author's Site


Liked this post? Try these:
Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - Sons of the Devil Vol 1
Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) - The Private Eye Deluxe Edition by Vaughan, Martin, and Vicente

Last updated: 19th Dec 2019

Nerd Church! - Leave the Christmas Stress Behind

I hope wherever you are, and whatever you're doing, you have a wonderful time over the next week or so.

Regardless of your beliefs I hope you enjoy any holiday you may be celebrating - and just enjoy the week in general if you're not celebrating anything.

Christmas can be stressful though - family is stressful enough on its own: add the duty to buy everyone presents, the pressure to create precious memories, and the worry that you've over-spent, over-eaten, and have been drinking too much wine, and you have a potential recipe for disaster.

Try to remember a few golden rules to stop the stress:



Christmas doesn't have to be perfect.

The most perfect Christmases, paradoxically, are the ones which aren't perfect. The Christmases you'll remember in years to come are the ones where something got burnt, someone forgot to buy a present, or there was a problem with the lights - and you'll have still had fun, still enjoyed, and still made it special.

Enjoy your Christmas - the little things matter more than anything else.

Enjoy what you have - whatever you have.

Didn't get that must-have gadget, handbag, or piece of jewellery? The world goes on. Enjoy what you did get - even if it was just a box of chocolates, a totally random and inappropriate kitchen item, or a slightly beaten-up card.

I'm sure whoever gave you whatever unwanted gift was doing their very best. Smile and make do, and enjoy the fact that someone thought of you. (Buying yourself a little something is also worth a smile - you care about you, goddammit!)

Try not to take out holiday stress on other people.

You know all the reasons you get stressy and p**sy at Christmas? Everyone else has them too.

Try to be understanding and not take your stress out on others - even if they're acting unreasonably; they're probably stressed out too.

Nerd Church will be back on Sunday, 10th January.

Review! (Graphic Novel Edition!) Rat Queens Deluxe Edition Volume 1

Title: Rat Queens Deluxe Edition Volume 1.

US Title Link.

Author: Kurtis J Wiebe.

 

Contributors: Stjepan Šejić, Tess Fowler, Roc Upchurch.

Genre: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, High Fantasy.

Series: Rat Queens (#1-10.)

A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

 

I'd heard Rat Queens talked about on various sites as being worth the read, so when the chance to review the Deluxe Edition (US link) of Volume 1 came up, I decided to give it a shot.

Premise:

Palisade is a city filled with adventurer gangs - the toughest being the Rat Queens. The Queens are made up of Violet the dwarf, Hannah the elven mage, Dee the apostate (ex) cult priestess, and Betty, the smidgen (kind of like a small elf.)

 

Unfortunately, the girls are soon going to have something more on their minds than just the normal bar-brawls and quest-type cash jobs.

Best bits:

This has a fab style, bright but with a real gothic-fantasy-art kind of vibe. It's not unlike the style of artwork in Death Vigil Volume 1 (you can see my review of that here,) and when I saw that Stjepan Šejić was a contributor, that kind of made sense.

 

What I really loved was that here were female characters who, yes, are beautiful, and yes, enjoy their sex lives, but also have wobbly bits and (relatively) realistic curves. They're shaped like actual people - which is a little odd considering most of them aren't human, but meh, c'est la vie.

 

The whole book has a vivacious blend of humour and seriousness, which keeps the plot positively zipping along.

 

And you have to laugh at Betty - she's a weird mix of adorable and terrifying: what's not to love?

 

The extras (cover gallery, shorts, and special 'Braga' story,) are a nice addition.

 

Not so great bits:

This isn't a book for the easily offended (man, I end up saying that a lot - is it just the type of thing I read?) There's a bunch of violence and drugs and swearing, some sexual content, and some full-frontal nudity. So, yeah, just a day at the office really.

 

It did take me a while to get into this book - I don't know why, it just didn't grab me straight off. Once I got into it though, I was hooked.

 

The only other thing I would really mention in terms of down-sides is that some of the details of the Rat Queens' lives pre-Queens feels a little stuffed in. I don't think that that level of detail was actually needed for all four of them at this point. An off-hand comment here and there would've cut whole pages with very little disadvantage to the story as a whole. But, as complaints go, it's a very minor one.

Verdict:

A fun and bold graphic novel where the ladies take centre stage without losing the complexity of their characters. These chicks kick butt, with plenty of sh**s and giggles along the way.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA - Goodreads – Author's Site

Reflecting on 2015

2015. What a year.

I started this blog at the end of 2014. At the beginning of 2015, there wasn't a single review post on here - just a bunch of randomness. (I beg you not to look at my first posts - the embarrassment!)

The look of my blog was completely different. I didn't have a profile picture (and now I have a hand-drawn mythological bird avatar to bring me luck and/or help me communicate with the dead - yay!)

Basically, at the beginning of 2015 I was one hell of a newbie as a blogger.

I hope that my posts, my reviews, my randomness, have helped to make this blog something you want to actually read (please! O.O) - I certainly think that I've grown as a blogger and a writer and what-have-you (but then, if I didn't I wouldn't be writing this post.)

I certainly post more frequently now - and I think I'm starting to get the hang of reviewing, as well as being open and hopefully entertaining.

Some things don't change though - I still love books, and I still drink far too much coffee. And I still try to be honest and genuine in everything that I post here!

Friday Fics Fix - Christmas-y Fics!!!

Christmas is coming! We all know what that means... silly Christmas fan-fiction!!! Wooo!!!!

How Loki Stole Christmas by kel25 is amazing.

It's an Avengers-themed Loki-centric parody of How the Grinch Stole Christmas... what could be better, I mean really?

A Hogwarts Christmas by Car Car is a fic from wa-a-ay back in 2001.

It's another parody (yay, parodies! (I think I need less coffee, or maybe I'm just excited about Christmas)) of a well-known Christmas poem: 'A Visit From St Nicholas' perhaps better-known as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.'

This is Harry Potter themed with Dumbledore and the Weasleys - just great.

In a similar vein is Twas The Night Before Christmas by awakened-earth a Sherlock fanfic (as in, BBC's Sherlock.)

It's barmy, and made me smile like a fool when I read it. Which is what I want from my ridiculous Christmas fan-fiction goddammit!!!

Friday Fics Fix is going to take a little break over Christmas - it'll be back on Friday, 8th January, assuming I'm able to face reading more fanfiction again by that point :)

Comics Wrap Up - The End of the World

Film Trailers

X-Men: Apocalypse trailer time! This looks ultimately awesome.

For those who don't know, Apocalypse is one of the main storylines in the X-men world - and as the movies have, by now, covered most of the other big storylines, it's time to bring out the big guns.

And yes, that is the chick (Sophie Turner) who plays Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones - here she's Jean Grey. Make of that what you will; I'm personally neither a Jean or a Sansa fan, but they're fairly similar characters at the end of the day, so the casting is accurate if nothing else.

AND DOES NO-ONE ELSE SEE NIGHTCRAWLER IN THERE?!?!?! Sorry, I really love Nightcrawler. Like... so much!

Of course, it'll take a lot to make me forget Floop (civilian name - Alan Cumming,) as Nightcrawler in X-men 2.

Apparently we'll also see how Prof X (James McAvoy - returning to the part he played in X-Men: First Class, and X-Men: Days of Future Past) becomes bald. Good times.

Graphic Novels

In terms of graphic novels, this week I read The Private Eye: Deluxe Edition, a dystopian-type tale told in pop-art bright artwork, with a lot of blood slashed through for good measure. It was enjoyable and intriguing, but certainly isn't for everyone. You can see my full review here.