Aspects of Me

Tag: reviews

  • February 2025

    When I decided to put out a newsletter at the end of each month, I completely forgot I was away on holiday at the end of February. What I wasn’t expecting to compound the delay was an altercation with some Belgian pavement to result in multiple fractures in my wrist and a slow wait for surgery to screw it back together again (still waiting at time of writing). So, as I’m typing one-handed, please bear with me and my apologies for any typos or mistakes!

    Besides breaking my wrist, Gent (in Belgium) was an absolutely lovely city and I would really like to go back to see more of it. We arrived just in time to see the start of the Women’s Elite for Omloop (a single-day cycling race), which was a great bonus and quite the spectacle. We spent a few hours wandering around S.M.A.K. – the city’s modern art gallery – that I thoroughly enjoyed. Food was brill, cycling infrastructure is off the charts, lots of greenery, history and culture. Thoroughly recommend it, and if you’re in the UK the Eurostar is a good option. It took us about the same time to get from Birmingham to Brussels as it takes to get from Brum to Edinburgh… and Belgium was cheaper to get to.

    On to the bookishness!

    Reading

    February’s reading was a little slower than January, but here’s what it included.

    Writing

    I had five reviews go up on GdM this month:

    I also published an article over on Medium about Dis-, Mis- and Malicious Information. 

    Upcoming

    Apologies for skipping Recommendations this month but the one-handedness isn’t leaving me a lot of headspace for it.

    Instead, I hope to still be able to write reviews and I’m currently reading Future’s Edge by Gareth L Powell. There’s a few others up my sleeve for GdM, so keep an eye out.

    I’m also happy to say an essay pitch to Speculative Insight was accepted, which will be publishing 2026, so I will be working on that too.

    That’s it for now! I hope you’ve found some enjoyment from my little update. I’m over on Bluesky (@magpiepages.bsky.social) and have dusted off my Ko-fi page as well.

    Take care, and see you next month!

  • January 2025

    Welcome to my first newsletter-style monthly wrap-up! It’s been a while since I updated this site and it’s time to try something new. Each month, I’ll be pulling together some updates on what I’ve been up to, what I’ve read and written, and bring you a recommendation (or two).

    With the new year, that brings a new reading goal. I’m starting off with a modest, calm, target of twelve (12) books for the year. 2024 was a bit of a slow one for me, most of it spent in a slump, so I’m starting low this year to avoid any pressure. I’ve come to realise, if I feel like I have to read something, my mind balks at the idea of being assigned a task in my leisure time. I also have a tendency, if I’m stuck on a book, I won’t move on because it’s not finished. So, my additional aim for the year is to be more chill. If I’m not vibing with a book, forgive myself, DNF it and move on to something I do enjoy.

    In a similar vein, I’m trying to experiment with a few different reading apps so see if there’s any significant rivals to Goodreads. Since 1st Jan, I’ve been testing out Fable, Storygraph and Hardcover. I’m running them alongside GR as it remains a staple of the bookish community (for now), which has meant four different places to update my progress. My oh-so-simple plan is to see what falls away and the last one standing should, in theory, be the least irritating to use.
    Lastly, fans of The Offline Gamer will be pleased to hear I am back for the 2024 wrap-up episode! It was great fun recording with Matt and Karen again, and talking about board games together. You may even hear my dulcet tones again in the near future, as the 100th episode approaches!

    Reading

    This month I’ve made my way through three novels, a novelette and three short stories (available online), all of which I have enjoyed – bonus! 

    Writing

    Two reviews of mine have gone live on Grimdark Magazine this month.

    Of Fire and Blood by Ryan Cahill: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-of-blood-and-fire-by-ryan-cahill/ 

    Symbiote by Michael Nayak: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-symbiote-by-michael-nayak/ 

    I’ve also started trying to build my writing habit back up by jotting down as many ideas as I can (before I forget them) and joining in with some writing sprints hosted by the British Fantasy Society. I’m working on a short story on the theme of patterns, which is a sci-fi offering, and a fantasy short that could veer into a sort of alt-history with witches. Well, at least one, verifiable, witch.

    Recommendations

    If nothing else, I hope to use this section to suggest a shorter fiction for you to read that’s available online. This month I’d like to recommend you to go and find something by R.S.A. Garcia to read, and to get you started I thoroughly enjoyed Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200. 

    Originally published in Uncanny Magazine #53, you can find it online here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/tantie-merle-and-the-farmhand-4200/ 

    It’s written in Trinbagonian creole, which I absolutely loved, and takes a look at how AI reflects what we show it to a brilliant, hopeful, ending. Even better, if you enjoy it, R.S.A. Garcia has confirmed a sequel story has been commissioned! Plus, Garcia is a true joy to interact with so go follow her on Bluesky.

    For a bonus recommendation, Tantie Merle reminded me of Sarah Gailey’s short story Drones to Ploughshares, which turns five years old on 4th Feb.

    Originally written for Vice, it is available online here:

    https://www.vice.com/en/article/drones-to-ploughshares/ 

    (though I hope you have a robust ad-blocker)

    You can also find an audio version of the story on the podcast LeVar Burton Reads, in the December 2021 episode.

    Upcoming

    I’ll be reviewing The Sword of Kaigen for GdM, as well as working through reviews for more of The Bound and the Broken series. There are some new releases coming in February I’m quite excited for; Future’s Edge by Gareth L Powell and But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo to name a couple.

    Lastly, I’m finishing up an article about dis-, mis- and malicious information that I hope to publish soon (maybe over on Medium).

    That’s it for now! I hope you’ve found some enjoyment from my little update. I’m over on Bluesky (@magpiepages.bsky.social) and have dusted off my Ko-fi page as well.

    Take care, and see you next month!

  • Review: The Last Gifts of the Universe

    Review: The Last Gifts of the Universe

    A little foreword: I read this last July (2022) and only put my review up on Goodreads at the time. Now, The Last Gifts of the Universe is through to the SPSFC2 finals I thought it best to have a copy here too!

     

    It is hard to write a review that is more than just “CAT IN SPAAAAAAAAAACE” for this book. Pumpkin (the cat) is clearly MVP of the story but, as a cat-lover, I might be biased. It’s also brilliant to see a non-binary main character who isn’t an alien. So there’s two reasons to hype this book up.

    The Last Gifts of the Universe is a bit of a slice-of-life sci-fi that follows Scout, their brother Kieran and Pumpkin the space cat, as they scour the universe for caches containing information from civilisations that came before – hoping that one day there will be something on what wiped out everyone and everything else. On one seemingly average mission, they discover a cache that hints at knowing what the big-bad enemy was but they are interrupted in their recovery of it by corporate mercenaries intent on copywriting it all and shoving it behind a paywall. Not being particularly well-equipped to fight off super soldiers Scout and Kieran lose the first cache but get enough from it to pinpoint the next one in the series.

    What follows is a series of mad-dash races to see who gets to each next cache first, as Scout desperately tries to reason with the corpo-goons that this is information that needs to be free. The reason behind the end of all civilisation isn’t something to be hidden away for only the wealthy to access.

    In between these confrontations Scout, Kieran and Pumpkin get on with their jobs aboard their ship, The Waning Crescent, and spend their downtime with video games, TV serials and pizza. In their exploring of what little cache data they saved, Scout finds a recording from Blyreena, who made a last stand against the encroaching darkness hundreds of year before. Will Scout find answers in Blyreena’s last words?

    Besides the cat in adorable space-booties and the exquisite normalising of a non-binary character, The Last Gifts of the Universe presents some excellently thought-out themes that will engage you, while the characters keep you coming back for more. It’s about ends and beginnings, loss and hope, and fighting for what you believe in and those you love. Adeptly balanced with action and cosy vibes, this is a must-read for sci-fi aficionados.

  • Review: A Cup of Tea at the Mouth of Hell – Luke Tarzian

    Review: A Cup of Tea at the Mouth of Hell – Luke Tarzian

    A Cup of Tea at the Mouth of Hell: (Or, an Account of Catastrophe by Stoudemire McCloud, Demon)A Cup of Tea at the Mouth of Hell: by Luke Tarzian
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    ‘A Cup of Tea…’ is a clever, at times surreal, hard-hitting exploration of grief. If you have ever experienced loss, you may see yourself reflected in Lucifer as he deteriorates over a missing kettle. A kettle given to him by his mother. It is often small, surprising things, that drag us back into our grief: a Christmas card, a certain drink, the passing thought “I bet they’d love this” that jars us into remembering that person is gone. Tarzian has expressed this perfectly within A Cup of Tea at the Mouth of Hell.

    It feels almost odd to offer praise for such a raw and vulnerable piece of work. It becomes very personal as Tarzian explores specifically his own grief and mental state following the sudden loss of his mother. It feels perhaps crass to say “well done!” when reading through such intimate thoughts and experiences. I can only hope a review goes some way to counteracting the heavy imposter syndrome Tarzian speaks of that is so synonymous with creative pursuits.

    There is no real resolution because grief doesn’t have a real resolution. Tarzian talks about his ongoing recovery from loss and the use of Lucifer and his kettle shows that loss can surprise us and take back over. It is inspiring to see the truth laid out bare in this novella both as an exercise in recovery and as a confirmation that we are not alone in how grief can derail us. As someone who lost a grandparent this year, I found ‘A Cup of Tea…’ to resonate strongly with my experiences and I found this somewhat of a comfort to see some reflection of my losses in Tarzian’s words.

    Whether it’s through the dreamlike, chaotic sequences in Hell or the raw, unbridled, journal-like entries from the author that follow; A Cup of Tea at the Mouth of Hell will take you on a journey through grief. At 90 pages, it is a short and impactful story that I certainly recommend as a window into grief and the toll it can take on us mentally, physically & spiritually.

  • Review: Gunmetal Gods

    Review: Gunmetal Gods

    Gunmetal Gods (Gunmetal Gods #1)Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

     

    NB: This review is also available on Black Dragon Books. Please consider using them for your SFF and Horror book purchases. 

     

    What use is winning if we lose everything in the process, even ourselves?  This is the question that runs central to Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar. We see a war brought to the doors of Sirm; one that has been hundreds of years in the making led by a man, Micah, who is driven as much by vengeance as faith. On the other side, we have Kevah, a retired Janissary famed for his daring victory over a deadly mage ten years prior to the events in Gunmetal Gods. Both Kevah and Micah have lost loved ones, both have suffered and among all the parallels between them it is hard at the start of the book to know who to root for.

    While the similarities between the two men continue throughout the book, the way they define themselves shows in their actions and after certain events, you’ll know which you’re meant to be backing. Nevertheless, Akhtar has done an amazing job at demonstrating how the two sides of any disagreement will make sense to those who are fighting over it.

    There is loss and death in this story as well as love, friendship and hope. Where it differs from other dark fantasy I have read is in the systems of magic and gods, which is where Akhtar has let his imagination run wild. From Eldritch-looking, giant, physical gods, to goofy looking Kinn, the chicken-eagle-boy (you’ll see), there’s a lot that’s visually exciting to get your mind into with Gunmetal Gods.

    This book took me by surprise quite a few times. I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it as I’m not too fussed about Lovecraft, nor have I read much matchlock/flintlock fantasy. On both counts, my doubts were assuaged. The plot and pacing also surprised me a few times, bringing events that I was expecting to be end-of-book forward left me wondering where we’d go next: never was I disappointed. This is a well-written dark fantasy that will take you on a hell of a ride.

    4 Stars

  • Review: Brave New World

    Review: Brave New World

    Brave New WorldBrave New World by Aldous Huxley
    My rating: 3 of 5 stars

     

    Brave New World was first published in 1932 by a man who was nominated for a Nobel Prize on nine separate occasions, so you can imagine that much of what can be said about Brave New World has already been said. It is used as set texts in school curricula and has had innumerable books, articles and research papers written about it. In context, this review is but a drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, I’ll do my best to express my thoughts on this, one of the top three dystopian classics.

    I am always wary around titles that have been deemed ‘classics’ as history has taught me that I usually find them quite disappointing. There is an element of that here as my immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were to wonder if it were really a dystopian novel or just a philosophical thought-experiment from the 1930s. I found the treatment and portrayal of women in the book to be quite frustrating and very misogynistic. Huxley seems scared stiff of women and their potential for sexual liberation and so paints them in an damning light and punishes them terribly. 

    Huxley’s misogyny has been criticised and acknowledged on a much wider scale, for example, Higdon wrote that it plagued much of Huxley’s work pre-1931 and continues on to summarise exactly what I was feeling: 

    A careful consideration of Lenina’s attitudes, decisions, and actions shows that the overlay of misogyny careened Huxley into contradicting his ideas, into failing to see that Lenina is more heroic in her resistance to the Fordian world than are the men his narrative praises, and into taking an unearned and mean-spirited revenge on Lenina. In brief, Lenina’s resistance goes unnoticed in the novel because of the novel’s misogyny. (Higdon, 2002)

    Higdon also brings in criticism from other scholars, including Deanna Madden:

    …in an enlightening general discussion of misogyny in dystopias, Deanna Madden concludes that the men in Brave New World “have a spiritual dimension that the women lack … mired in the physical, the women interfere with or prevent the men from achieving spiritually” and that “Huxley’s misogyny has its obvious roots in a more general inability to accept the body.” (ibid.)

    All this leads to bitter aftertaste from reading Brave New World but isn’t the only reason I didn’t get on with it.

    Huxley attempts to paint a dystopian society as one that is anti-technology, anti-war, pro-happiness, pro-eugenics, pro-sexual freedom and pro-heteronormativity. It’s a complicated set of contradictory values, particularly when he introduces John the “Savage” from a reservation with no technology, plenty of violence, racism, zealotry and good-old misogyny. Both worlds in Huxley’s novel are unpleasant. Both are dystopias, but in Huxley’s rationalising we should want to live in the world with shame and violence because that’s were God lives. John’s moralising and evangelising are both ham-fisted and tedious. He has grown up in a world where his mother was an outcast who was beaten and slandered for her ‘promiscuity’; where John was an outcast because he was fair-haired and the son of the “she-dog”. Yet he believes his world is better because it contains God and Shakespeare. It’s not a convincing argument.

    That is the main problem I have with Brave New World: none of it presents a convincing argument. In any direction. His “civilised society” is at odds with itself as he’s thrown all his own fears into the mix and with them his biases and illogical reasoning. The same thing is true of the “savage” society, which leaves the reader with no real side to settle on. The most sympathetic characters are the ones most maligned by the author (the women), so you find yourself constantly reading against the flow of the narrative. 

    Overall, yes, it was well-written for the time. It has tried to bring voice to the concerns of a rich, intellectual man in a time where a eugenics movement was taking hold in Britain, technology was advancing owing to the events of a World War, while the whole region was brewing towards another one. I can understand those fears in that context but Brave New World is not nearly as relevant today owing to it’s major flaws in both narrative and the values it espouses. For these reasons, I can’t give it a higher rating than I already have.

    3 stars

     

    References:

    Higdon, David Leon. “The Provocations of Lenina in Huxley’s Brave New World.” International Fiction Review 29.1/2 (2002): 78-83.

  • Review: Dreams of the Dying

    Review: Dreams of the Dying

    Dreams of the Dying (Enderal, #1)Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

     

    Some of you may have spotted on Goodreads that I read Dreams of the Dying and never reviewed it. Don’t worry, I have reviewed it and a full and comprehensive review can be found at Grimdark Magazine, here: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-dreams-of-the-dying-by-nicolas-lietzau/

    I’m very pleased and excited to say I’m joining the Grimdark reviewer team with this, my debut review! 

  • Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society

    Review: The Kaiju Preservation Society

    The Kaiju Preservation SocietyThe Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
    My rating: 5 of 5 stars

    A spectacular modern-day sci-fi romp through an alternate Earth with mountainous creatures and a bunch of nerds trying to study them. Jamie, our narrator, stumbles into a job as a lifter of things for KPS but, for some reason, doesn’t ask what KPS stands for. Upon arriving at his new workplace it becomes apparent: the K means Kaiju. Jamie and three other newbies to the company become quick friends as they try to wrap their heads around their new surroundings and the ‘animals’ they’re going to be protecting.

    Life on Kaiju Earth is a lot more exciting than lockdown COVID Earth back home: with everything on the planet trying to eat you while you try to study it, there are some close calls, although Jamie seems to take it all in stride. As a massive sci-fi nerd himself, he has the mental capacity to perceive of such a reality and so it’s all not quite as much of a mind-melting shock as it could be.

    Scalzi’s writing is quick, chatty and funny, and this is the perfect book to decompress with. It’s cool – there are giant monsters – it’s fun – there’s some great action – and, it has some heart too as the crew genuinely care about each other and the Kaiju around them. Capitalism rears is ugly head and threatens everything on both Earths and our team of plucky newbies take it upon themselves to fight back and save the day. They might not have a plan, per se, but they’ve got the right attitude.

    The Kaiju Preservation Society is wonderfully written, includes diverse characters (without making a scene about it) and has a nicely cynical view of US politics back in 2020/21. Plus, Kaiju. I mean, what’s not to get excited about there? As Scalzi himself says in his note at the end of the book, this is a story to feel better after the shit few years we’ve had back in reality. It’s not meant to be a genre-breaking masterpiece for the ages; it’s meant to be fun. In that, Scalzi has certainly excelled himself.

    5 Stars

    NB: You can also see this review on Black Dragon Books here: https://www.blackdragonbooks.co.uk/?p=11926

  • Review: The Coward

    Review: The Coward

    The Coward (Quest for Heroes, #1)The Coward by Stephen Aryan
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    The Coward takes a look behind the heroes in their tales and sagas to reveal who the real people behind the songs and daring deeds are. Written primarily from the point of view of main character, Kell Kressia, The Coward sees a damaged man thrust back into the world of heroism he had been hiding from for the last ten years. Once, he desperately wanted to be a hero and tagged along on a quest with eleven (11) men to defeat an Ice Lich in the Frozen North that threatened the Five Kingdoms with failing crops, famine and death. Only Kell returned and he is not keen to repeat the ordeal. Now, the weather has turned sour again, crops are failing and the King has summoned Kell to save the world once more. 

    Kell takes us on his second epic quest as he relives some of the horrors he faced as a teenager. Along the way, he is joined by a rag-tag group of misfits each with their own reasons for following him into the grim Frozen North. What they experience and what they find out in the icy wasteland surprises even the cynical Kell. Meanwhile, the head of the church of the Shepherd, Reverend Mother Britak, is manipulating events in the Five Kingdoms to bring about a holy war to bring all in line under her one true god.

    Through Kell’s story, Stephen Aryan examines feelings of fear, courage and obligation, as well as the physical and mental toll heroism takes on the individual. Kell describes symptoms much akin to PTSS and it is a refreshing – albeit dark – take on epic fantasy giving it a touch of realism. We explore the tragedies of death, loss and the grief that goes with it but also friendship, belonging and love. The Coward packs a lot into its pages.

    If this sounds heavy, fret not, as the prose is accessible and short chapters will have you sailing through it in no time. This could easily be read as a standalone if you’re worried about waiting for book two (The Warrior) but there’s still enough there to set the stage for a sequel. My only real criticism is that, for a traditionally published book, there were quite a few editing/proofreading misses and mistakes. The overall experience made up for it but nevertheless it did lose some points in my mind over this (I was reading the paperback version, these issues may have been rectified in digital copies or later printings).

    4 Stars

  • Review: Prince of Thorns

    Review: Prince of Thorns

    Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1)Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
    My rating: 4 of 5 stars

    Note: I’ve kept this one short given the popularity of the series and the length of time it’s been out. It’s hard to provide a no-spoiler review that doesn’t cover what everyone before me has already mentioned.

    This was Mark Lawrence’s debut and first in The Broken Empire trilogy where we follow Jorg, a prince to one of a hundred kingdoms all vying to become Emperor and reunite the lands. He’s also a character who has suffered some unimaginable hardship and loss. He has seen terrible things and it broke him as a child so that now, as a young man, he is whip sharp and hardened.

    Prince of Thorns is a fast-paced dark science-fantasy (grimdark, specifically) following Jorg and his road brothers as he tries making his first advances to be King. I knew this was going to be a Sci-Fantasy before starting out but if I hadn’t there are plenty of clever little nods to it that Lawrence has worked into the prose before the point where it becomes readily obvious. At times, you can tell this was a debut and the writing could use a touch more polish though this doesn’t impact on the story.

    Lawrence has made some interesting choices as to what has survived through the years to reach Jorg’s time. You will recognise names like Plato and Nietzche but nothing more modern; you will likely recognise ‘Jesu’ as a version of Jesus where the ‘s’ has been dropped over time and of all religions it seems Catholicism in particular is what has endured into the era of the Broken Empire. Sadly, it seems nothing like feminism or other concepts of equality have made it through the millenia as succession is still a man’s game and the trappings of patriarchal capitalism remain everywhere. While those do represent some disappointing missed opportunities what does comprise Prince of Thorns remains a satisfying dark fantasy tale that serves as a keen character study.

    4 stars