The Small Things by Lisa Thompson - Book Review

 

'Anna’s anxious when she’s picked to befriend the new girl in her class. For a start, Ellie is ill and can’t come to school herself. So Anna has to communicate with her through a new kind of robot. But Anna is also worried that her life’s too small and boring to be of interest to her new friend. Compared to the other girls, she doesn’t have anything exciting to talk about and so when Ellie asks her a question, a little white lie pops out. Then another and another. When Ellie finds out the truth, can their friendship survive ...?

'Inspired by a true story, a groundbreaking robot helps friendship blossom in this poignant and uplifting novella from bestseller Lisa Thompson.'

The Small Things is the story of Anna, a kid who feels like she's on the outside at school. Despite having friends in her class Anna is constantly worried about fitting in with them because her family can't afford for her to be involved in out of school activities like her friends are. Instead of being able to attend football, horse riding, or ice skating, she spends her evenings at home alone.

When a new girl, Ellie, joins her class things start to change. The thing that makes Ellie stand out from other kids, she's not actually in the class. It turns out that Ellie is quite sick, and isn't able to come to class in person. As such, there's a new addition in the form of an interactive robot that allows Ellie to see and hear everything from her home; and even interact with her fellow classmates. When Anna is picked to pair up with Ellie she's at first excited, but when Ellie begins to ask her what she does outside of school Anna panics. She doesn't want her new friend to think that she's boring. So she starts to make up some stuff.

What begins as one little lie about what she did the night before becomes an entire series of lies, ones where Anna is able to do all of the activities that she's always wanted to. The problem is, she's now lying to her new friend; and the lies can't be kept up forever.

The Small Things is, at its heart, a book about being true to yourself. Over the course of the book Anna feels like she needs to make up things about herself to seem interesting, stories about learning to ice skate or going on trips to the ice cream parlour with her family. At first it's tiny things, things that don't mean much, but eventually it begins to consume Anna and she's having to try and keep Ellie from asking her about things in front of other people, so that her lies don't get exposed. Not only is this tiring for her, having to remember all of her lies and stopping Ellie from finding out the truth, but it makes her feel like a bad friend too.

Not only does Anna have to learn that lying is bad, a good moral for any kids book, but that the things Ellie liked about her weren't the things that she was lying about. Ellie liked Anna's friendliness, her outgoing personality, and the small things she does to be kind to others. She shows Anna that it's not the big, exciting lies that made the two of them friends, but the little things that make her who she is that did. The book is telling kids that even if they don't feel like they're exciting people, they don't have to be, that just being themselves is good enough.

The book also covers the topic of disabled children pretty well, and I never once felt like Ellie was simply being used as a plot device, or was only included to make Anna feel guilty. Disabled people are so often used as plot devices where people are told that they should feel sorry for them, or used to make characters feel bad, it was so refreshing for Ellie to be just treated like a regular kid, albeit one who we interacted with via a robot. The integration of the robot into the story was well done too, and was my introduction to this technology. With remote learning being so widespread and accessible thanks to Covid I was hoping it was something that was being offered to disabled students before, but learning that it's not, and that robots like this are being used instead was something of an eyeopener. 

I think that there's a lot of good morals in The Small Things and that it's got some incredibly positive messages in its pages about being inclusive and accepting of others, but also of yourself. We would all be happier if like Anna we learned to love the small things that make us who we are, and realise that we don't need exciting hobbies to make us wonderful people.

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Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm by Yan Leisheng - Book Review

 

'The Ming dynasty becomes a battleground for the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Order of the Templars in this blockbuster action novel from a previously unexplored part of the beloved Assassin’s Creed universe.

'China, 16th century. The Assassins are gone. Zhang Yong, the relentless leader of the Eight Tigers, took advantage of the emperor's death to eliminate all his opponents, and now the Templars hold all the power. Shao Jun, the last representative of her clan, barely escapes death and has no choice but to flee her homeland. Vowing to avenge her former brothers in arms, she travels to Europe to train with the legendary Ezio Auditore. When she returns to the Middle Kingdom, her saber and her determination alone will not be enough to eliminate Zhang Yong: she will have to surround herself with allies and walk in the shadows to defeat the Eight Tigers.'

I enjoy the Assassin's Creed series, despite having really fallen behind in the games. I've played several, and those that I have played I've really enjoyed, especially Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (seriously, set anything in Victorian era London I'm going to fall in love with it). But, I've not really experienced all that this ever expanding universe has to offer, so when I saw that Aconyte Books were going to be bringing out a novel set in this universe I was very, very excited.

Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm follows the events of the side scrolling spin-off game Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, and sees the assassin Shao Jun returning to her homeland after spending time learning from master assassin Ezio Auditore following the destruction of her brotherhood. Having been taught by the best assassin in the world Shao Jun feels that she's finally ready to take on the members of the Eight Tigers, a group of eunuchs that control the Chinese imperial court.

I'm actually quite glad that I haven't played this game, as it means that I get to come to the book completely fresh, without any preconceptions of what to expect. Though I do expect that there will be moments in this book that directly reference parts of the game, and those will be completely lost on me. However, the book very much feels like a regular novel, and there were never any times where anything felt odd or out of place, like Yan Leisheng was having to put something in just because it was in the game.

Instead of feeling like an adaptation, books that sometimes struggle to have their own voice, or where the parts of the story that the author has added feel tonally very different from those in the original material, Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm felt like a cohesive and tonally unique book. If I didn't know it was telling the story of the game I'd have believed it was a completely original new story within that universe.

I was also very impressed that Aconyte employed a Chinese author to work on the book. I know this might seem like a really obvious thing to do, but not every publisher would think to do that. Not only does this decision show a great deal of respect on the publisher's part, but it also makes the book feel very different. You can always tell when an author knows the subjects that they're writing about, and when people are writing about places and people that they know over things they've simply researched.

Yan Leisheng wrote in a way I wasn't expecting too, and it took me a while to learn his writing style. This was partially down to myself, and the fact that I was expecting the book to have a certain pace and tone because of the source material it's based upon. I was expecting the novel to move quickly, to be full of action, and to have faced paced dialogue. Instead, it's a book that takes it's time. It spends a good deal of its text going into depth about the people and places, and making sure the reader has a good understanding of things. There are sometimes moments where Leicheng will spend a page or two giving you detail about the history of a person in the middle of dialogue, where the response to what they've just said takes a page or two to come because of the details we're being given.

I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing or not, whether it's a writing style that's more favoured by Chinese authors like Leisheng, or if it's his own personal style. Either way, it made the book a very different type of experience, though if I had to compare his style to another author I'd have to say it reads like Stephen King. Much like King Leisheng goes into depth, provides heaps of context, and doesn't race towards a conclusion, instead allowing the reader to meander through this world he's creating.

Assassin's Creed: The Ming Storm might be based upon a video game, but it felt like a book that was purely its own creation. It's a book that cares more about crafting a living breathing world, filled with characters that have a lot of depth, who the readers can come to understand. Even if you're not normally interested in video game books, or even action books, I'd say it's worth reading because it's a lot more than either of those, and is a book that explores the history and culture of China with care and attention.

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Dreams of Fire by Nathaniel Wayne - Book Review

 

'Farris has the misfortune of being an elemental: born human but host to barely contained primal energies. He wants what any young person wants—the chance to live his own life. Yet the fiery forces within him make him a danger to those around him and a target for capture and study by the Science Guild. On the Lone Continent, humans thrive in their cities through the Guild's revolutionary technology while the forests are home to powerful wild magic. Farris must confront his fears—fear of capture, fear of the wild Fey in the woods, and above all, fear of his abilities—if he's to remain free.'

Dreams of Fire is the first novel to be produced by YouTube content creator Nathniel Wayne, also known as Vera Wylde, who runs the Council of Geeks channel. As their channel deals with geek culture such as Doctor Who, the MCU, and She-Ra it was to be expected that their book would be one that would appeal to fans of fantasy and science fiction, and it doesn't disappoint in that regards.

The story follows Farris, a young man on the run who possesses elemental powers, specifically those that relate to fire. Over time the energies inside Farris build and need to be expelled, though this can be dangerous to Farris and those around him. When the book begins he's making his way across The Lone Continent towards the lakeside city of Torvec. Whilst staying in a small outpost for the night, away from the dangers of the surrounding forests, the fires within Farris swell and he accidentally injures another traveller, forcing him to flee into the forest before he can be captured and detained by the guards.

The introduction very much drops readers into the middle of things, and it doesn't spend a huge amount of time setting up the world or the rules before we get tied into the story. This is something that becomes a pattern for the book, and instead of getting encyclopedia entries that explain the history of The Lone Continent, or the rules that govern magic, we learn this through the reactions of the people that inhabit it, and the direction the story takes. For example, there was no warning that the magics within Farris made him a target for fear and hate until we saw people either running from him or trying to hurt him, and we didn't know why the forests were dangerous until we're in them and we were seeing characters dealing with the dangerous beings that lived there. We don't get our hand held, and instead we're trusted to be able to figure out a lot of this and learn it as we go; and it works really well. We're not bogged down by long explanations or boring descriptions, and simply get to enjoy the story instead.

The story itself is an interesting one, and it's one where you think you know the kind of story it's going to tell a few times before your expectations are suddenly altered. The reader is given just enough information to think that it's going to go a certain direction before it shifts and takes you by surprise in delightful ways. More than once I ended up thinking that Farris would stick with certain characters, only for them to go away in different subplots, and I thought the main thrust of the story was going to be something completely different than it was. That all being said, the book isn't really a mystery story, and whilst there are twists and turns in the narrative you're not expected to try and figure out what they're going to be, and you shouldn't feel bad that you didn't see certain things coming.

One of the things I really liked about the book was these little subversion. I loved how the reader is led to believe that Farris is going to recruit a band of reluctant friends around him, other elementals that want nothing to do with each other at first but eventually come to see each other as friends and stick together; except that doesn't really happen and these people have their own stories and their own goals and don't just give that up to follow Farris around. I also liked how the main threat in the book is building in the background the whole time, and whilst it does involve Farris, it's only in a tangential way, and that he's nothing more than a pawn in the plans of the antagonists and not the centre of their goals.

With so many fantasy stories centring the entire plot on their lead, usually a young person who's barely more than an inexperienced child, to see a story where this doesn't happen, where our central character isn't a chose one, isn't going to have to save the day because some powerful villain is targeting them, is a really nice change of pace. There are certain parts of the plot where you could remove Farris altogether and things would still happen, and this makes it feel like a more realised and broader world, one where not everything revolves around one special teen.

Dreams of Fire also features a number of full colour illustrations. It has the fairly standard and expected world map and even a map of the city of Tovec, but it also has a number of illustrations scattered throughout the book, depicting some of the key moments from the story. The copy of the book I received didn't list any artist names for people working on the book other than Nathaniel Wayne, so I don't know who to credit for the work on the book, but they definitely make the project stand out as something a little different. There also seems to be more than one artist working on the book, or at least an artist working with a couple of different styles, as there's a variety to the artwork and how it looks; with some of the images looking like rougher illustrations that you'd expect to find within a fantasy world itself, whilst some of the others are a lot cleaner and bolder.

Overall I really enjoyed reading Dreams of Fire. I liked how it was a relatively small story in what felt like a big world. It focused on a couple of characters and their journeys and managed to avoid some of the expected tropes of the genre. It's the kind of book where you could easily see it being a one-off stand-alone adventure, or the beginning of a series, or even one of many completely different stories set within the same world and setting. I don't know if this is a world that Nathaniel Wayne intends to come back to in the future, but if they do I'd certainly be interested in seeing what they do next.

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Arctic Star by Tom Palmer - Book Review

 

'Winter 1943. Teenagers Frank, Joseph and Stephen are Royal Navy recruits on their first mission at sea during the Second World War. Their ship is part of an Arctic Convoy sailing to Russia to deliver supplies to the Soviets. The convoys have to navigate treacherous waters, sailing through a narrow channel between the Arctic ice pack and German bases on the Norwegian coast. Faced with terrifying enemy attacks from both air and sea, as well as life-threatening cold and storms, will all three boys make it home again?'

Arctic Star is the latest World War Two set release from publishers Barrington Stoke, and much like their previous books set during this period the novel presents a pretty stark and honest look at the realities of the war for younger readers; refusing to sugar coat the horrors that people had to endure.

Set during the winter of 1943, the story follows three young men from Plymouth, Frank, Joseph, and Stephen, who after growing up watching the Royal Navy ships come in and out of Plymouth decide that they want a life in the Navy too, serving king and country against the threat of the Nazi forces. Luckily for the three of them, they get assigned to the same ship, unfortunately though, they end up as part of a convoy taking much needed supplies to Russian allied forces through treacherous and freezing oceans.

The book begins dramatically, showing the harsh conditions that the three friends, and other real life sailors, would have to deal with as part of the Arctic convoys. Sub-zero winds, massive waves, and water that freezes on the decks of the ship into huge blocks of ice are a daily reality for the crew, and it's whilst trying to chisel these frozen hazards off the ship that Frank is thrown overboard, into the freezing waters below. Though Frank is quickly saved, this moment manages to show not only how dangerous these conditions are, but that our three leads aren't guaranteed to stay safe across the course of the story.

Without giving away too many details of the book, one of the three friends doesn't survive the story, and a good portion of the book is given over to showing the effects that the war had on young people like Frank, Joseph, and Stephen, how losing close friends could lead them to doubt their conviction for the cause, and how their own near death experiences would leave them deeply emotionally scarred. The book is written for readers of all ages, so you're not going to be seeing sailors blow to pieces or burnt in fires on board ships, but it does have people die in it. It doesn't pretend that war was some grand adventure where no one got hurt and young men became heroes.

In fact, there's not much heroic in this book. Even when the end of the book deals with the real life Battle of North Cape, which saw Royal Navy ships engaging with the Scharnhorst, a huge battleship responsible for destroying numerous ships, those sailors on the British ships don't celebrate the destruction of their enemy; even though their enemy was just trying to kill them. Tom Palmer looked at the reports from sailors present at the battle, saw how the huge loss of life, even of their enemies, affected them, and put that in the book. He shows younger readers that you can feel sorry for the loss of life on the other side of the battle lines, and that there's no joy in celebrating death.

Tom Palmer is brutally honest in his book, and as such it makes for an effective and engaging read; one that some younger readers might find surprising, and could result in some shocks and tears. But I think it's important that children be shown that violence and war isn't as heroic as it's been made out to be, that loss of any life is a terrible, sad thing, and this book does that in spades. 

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Marvel Action: Spider-Man #2 – Comic Review

 

After something of a lacklustre start to this third version of Marvel Action: Spider-Man, things finally seem to be moving in an interesting direction as our wall crawling hero comes up against the villain Scorpion.

The issue begins with Peter starting his first day as part of the Oscot Tombstone, the school newspaper, whilst also dealing with the news that the TV are blaming Spider-Man for a series of robberies because the person responsible was able to climb walls. Even though the footage shows someone dressed in green and wearing a mechanical tail it seems like Spidey is getting the blame for it. So now Peter’s having to juggle reporting the news whilst being the news himself.

This story makes for some interesting moments, though it does seem a little bit ridiculous that Spider-Man is being blamed when it’s clearly not him committing the crimes; though this is something the book itself does acknowledge. The main focus, however, is the investigation that Peter and one of his friends make into the secret areas of the school, something that comes back later in the issue to tie into the ‘surprise’ revelation that his teacher Mr Gargan is the Scorpion.

Whilst this is treated as a big moment in the book it’s something long time fans will see coming a mile away, and it was foreshadowed in the very first issue. Thankfully the book doesn’t really linger on this too much and makes the fight between Spider-Man and Scorpion the main focus of the back half of the issue. The fight is fun, and makes some interesting use of the location to give Spidey the edge that he needs to best the bad guy.

I didn’t enjoy the first issue of this series that much, but it definitely seems like things have improved with this one. The script felt snappier, and writers Sarah Graley and Stef Purenins seem to be having a better time telling the story now that the new groundwork of the first issue is done with. They kept things fairly interesting, and began setting up teases for upcoming villains pretty well in the final moments of the issue. That being said, the book is still pretty light on characterisation, and it still feels like most of the characters have yet to be given much beyond a basic personality, though I’m hoping this is something that will change as the series goes on and we get to spend more time with the characters.

The issue also has some really nice artwork from Arianna Florean and Valentina Pinto. It often feels less like a comic, and more like you’re looking at screenshots from an animated show, due in large part to the minimalist line work and colour choices; two things that come together to make the action sequences in particular look pretty good.

Whilst the changes the title has gone through since the last volume feel less exciting than what came before, the book is certainly becoming more interesting, and the cover reveal for issue three at the back of the book, and the villain that’s going to be coming with that one certainly makes me interested in seeing what new things this relaunch is going to bring to the table.

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Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With Fresh Bite - Book Review

 

'Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices!

'In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.

'Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

'Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.'

Vampire fiction has always been popular, even before Bram Stoker released Dracula there were countless stories and folk tales involving the bloodsuckers across the globe, and following the publication of that book the public's love and fascination with the creatures has only grown. Like the title of this book says, vampires never get old. There are always new and interesting things to do with them, new lenses through which to view the vampire mythology; and this book aims to do that.

Featuring a host of great name, Vampires Never Get Old is packed with positive own-voices representation. There are Black characters, Indian stories, Native tales, Queer love, fat rep, disabilities, trans characters, Latinx representation. There is more diversity and inclusion in this one anthology than most long running vampire series will ever try, and for that alone it's worth your attention.

The first story in the book, 'Seven Nights for Dying' by Tessa Gratton, sets out a lot of the themes and ideas of this collection, with a story that encompasses a lot of different themes that are often overlooked in vampire fiction. The story follows a teenage girl who's been selected to be turned into a vampire. Rather than it being a quick bite, or a simple exchange of blood, to facilitate the change the process takes a week, allowing our narrator time to really consider if this is something that she really wants. Whilst this alone is different enough to make it stand out, the fact that she's overweight, sex positive, and is open to relationships with both men and women, really shows that this is more than your average 'turned into a vampire' story. It also features a trans vampire and poly relationships, so it really shows the variety this book will showcase.

'The Boys From Blood River' by Rebecca Roanhorse is quite a spooky story, and seems to inject a new sense of the supernatural into its vampire proceedings. Set in a small town and following a young, queer, Native teen named Lukas, it tells the story of the Blood River Boys, a local legend about a group of spectres that can be summoned if their song is sang. The last time this happened an entire family were found drained of their blood. If that wasn't spooky enough, Lukas is working late one night in the local diner when the jukebox starts playing the song all on its own. What will happen if Lukas decides to finish the song and summon the Boys from Blood River? I really liked how this story had a bit of ghostliness mixed in too, with the idea that the vampires needed to be summoned by their song before they turned up, it made it a more unique addition to this book, and one that had a ton of atmosphere.

'Senior Year Sucks' by Julie Murphy is a tale that sees a young vampire slaying cheerleader, Jolene, as she travels back to her home town with a bus full of students after a high school football game. Along the journey we discover that not only is there a family of vampire hunters in her town, but that there's also a rehab centre for vampires; something that leads to a lot of work for Jolene and her family. When her bus comes across another from their town that's broken down they take on extra passengers, and Jolene finds herself sharing her ride home with a vampire. I really liked the set-up for this story, of the town with slayers and vampires living in an uneasy peace, and how Jolene was having to deal with certain preconceptions when she finds a vampire sitting next to her on the bus. Sadly, this is one of the stories in the book that left me wanting to read more, and as such ended on something of a down note for me as it felt like there was a lot more to come.

'The Boy and the Bell' by Heidi Heilig is the first historically set story in the collection, and follows a young man who's trying his best to become a doctor. Because of the era its set, however, it can be hard for doctors and medical students to find bodies to learn from; so he decides to go on a bit of a grave robbing trip. However, when one of the bells at a grave starts to ring, indicating that someone has been buried alive he discovers more than he expected when he exhumes the coffin. I loved this story for both its historical setting, and for being centred around a trans man, who not only had to fight to become a doctor because of his station in life, but because of how others perceive his gender.

'A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire' by Samira Ahmed is one of the more unusual pieces in this collection because it doesn't actually tell a story. It doesn't feature any plot or characters, but still manages to make a unique and clear depiction of a vampire world outside of what we normally see. Written as a guide for Desi people who have woken up having been turned into vampires, it gives them handy tip and tricks for adapting to their new life. I really liked this story, especially how the guide encouraged the new vampires to try and target British tourists to feed upon, though warned them to be careful not to make any British vampires so that they don't end up getting colonies by the British again. 

Kayla Whaley's 'In Kind' is probably my favourite of the entire book, and is a story that I'd have loved to have seen across an entire novel so that we could have spent more time with these characters. The story begins with a news report telling us about a seventeen-year-old girl Grace Williams, a disabled girl, has been killed by her father. Because of the level of her disability it's being seen as a 'mercy' killing, and her father has not only not been charged, but has been given the sympathy of the rest of the town. Fortunately for Grace, her body was found by Seanan, a vampire, and is turned before it's too late. Now Grace is out to confront her father and get the justice that the rest of the world seems to want to deny her. This story was fantastic for one big reason, even though becoming a vampire helped Grace, made her stronger and fitter, it didn't 'cure' her of her disabilities. Vampire stories are often used as magical cures for illness and disability, and can be quite nasty towards disabled readers because of this; but this story kept Grace disabled, kept her needing to use her wheelchair, and it never made it a weakness for her. She is powerful, strong, and she's disabled. It was absolutely wonderful to see a writer understand that being disabled doesn't have to be seen as something awful, and that characters can still be amazing and well rounded even with a disability.

'Vampires Never Say Die' by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker and tells the story of a young Instagram influencer, Theo, and the online relationship she strikes up with a woman who turns out to be a vampire. One day Theo decides that it's time that she finally meets Brittany, the woman she's been pouring her heart out to online for years, and arranges a special vampire themed party for her at a New York night club. Using her internet skills, Theo is able to invite a load of Brittany's friends, little realising that she's just filled her underground club with hungry vampires. Whilst there were parts of this story that I really enjoyed, such as Theo's slow realisation that not only were vampires real, but she was about to be killed by them, but because of the sapphic romance that took centre stage. That being said, I never felt completely comfortable with the story because it felt a lot like grooming at times. Theo originally started talking to Brittany when she was just fifteen, and the dynamic of an adult having deep and personal conversation online with a child felt a little icky to me, possibly because it was a little too close to real world grooming and online paedophilia for me to be completely okay with what I was reading. That being said, I never got the impression that Brittany was trying to lure Theo in at any point, and I'm sure that there will be people who enjoy this story.

'Bestiary' by Laura Ruby tells the story of a young vampire who works at a zoo during a difficult time, where water is scarce and the animals are at risk. Thanks to being a predator herself, she has a special connection with many of the animals in the zoo and is able to feed them by hand, and even nap amongst the lions. Sadly, I found this to be one of the weaker stories in the collection, and didn't really get super invested in events.

'Mirrors, Windows, and Selfies' by Mark Oshiro centres on a young teen called Cisco. Cisco, unlike most vampires, wasn't turned, but was born a vampire; something that puts him and his parents at great risk from the rest of their kind. As such they've been travelling around the US, looking for remote locations to settle down in for a short while before moving on again. Having been raised under his parents strict rules, which they claim are for his protection, Cisco feels like he's been suffocated and just wants to break free. But one thing he wants more than anything else is to just finally see his own face, to know what he looks like; and this will set him down a path that could change his family forever. This story is written in a series of blog posts, complete with comments from readers, and is basically a series of diary entries as the teen tries to break away from his parents as get a glimpse of his face. It also has some gay romance thrown in for good measure, because why not eh?

'The House of the Black Sapphires' by Dhonielle Clayton is one of the stories that I really enjoyed, but was left a little angry with once it was done, because it felt like the introduction to an amazing world and characters, and I wanted a lot more than what we got here. The story is about a family of Black vampires who move to New Orleans, though a version of the city that's very different to the one we're familiar with. These young women, each with their own unique powers, get to go to a ball with their powerful mother, where they begin to discover an even bigger world than they thought possible, and love might be in the air. I really liked the mythology Dhonielle Clayton was establishing here, and hope that it's something that we will get to see more of in the future.

The final story in the book, 'First Kill' by Victoria 'V.E.' Schwab, tells two intertwining stories that make one wonderful tale. We meet two teenage girls in high school, both of whom are harbouring a huge crush on the other, but have even bigger secrets that they're hiding. Secrets that will put them both at risk, and could end up with them either in love, or dead. I'm not going to really spoil what happens in this story, and am leaving the description pretty vague because I think a lot of the fun of this one is discovering it as it unfolds. But as you'd expect from Schwab, it's a lot of fun.

The stories in Vampires Never Get Old are a great mixture, featuring a huge range of styles, characters, and little used groups that all work so well alongside vampires. I loved getting so see these authors trying something new in the genre, and hope that we continue to get more books like this in the future.

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Fat and Queer: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Bodies and Lives - Book Review

 

'We're here. We're queer. We're fat.

'This one-of-a-kind collection of prose and poetry radically explores the intersection of fat and queer identities, showcasing new, emerging and established queer and trans writers from around the world.

'Celebrating fat and queer bodies and lives, this book challenges negative and damaging representations of queer and fat bodies and offers readers ways to reclaim their bodies, providing stories of support, inspiration and empowerment.

'In writing that is intimate, luminous and emotionally raw, this anthology is a testament to the diversity and power of fat queer voices and experiences, and they deserve to be heard.'

One of the things that first drew me to this book was the title, Fat and Queer, as I myself am both fat and queer. There are a lot of books out there that talk about weight, and a lot that talk about queer identities, but you don't often get many that talk about the two together, and how they can each play into each other.

This book collects together a number of short stories, essays, and poems that examine what it's like to be fat in a queer world, and does so from a wide variety of identities and experiences, meaning that everyone will be able to find something in this book to identify with.

As someone who is overweight, pansexual, in a polyamarous relationship, and trans, I've found that my weight has definitely played a part in my sexuality, gender, and relationships, and that it's something that you're normally told is a bad thing. I've lost count of the amount of times I've been told that being fat is bad, that it's shameful, that it'll stop me from getting a partner, that it'll make me an ugly woman when I transition, that it'll make sex bad. My fatness has always been used as a weapon against me, and is something that society has tried to train me to hate about myself.

Fat and Queer shows me that I'm far from the only person who's been through this, that people from all over the world and all walks of life have had the same messages pushed on them time and time again; and that learning to come to terms with that and love yourself can be a long and hard struggle sometimes.

It's made clear across the various contributions to this book, however, that many of the things we're told about our fatness get proven wrong time and time again. Readers get to see the contributors tell about how they came to love themselves, their bodies, and how they discovered that their fatness and their queerness are linked together. Sometimes people will take issue with your sexuality or gender identity, sometimes it will be with your weight, but a lot of the time they'll try to use both against you. This book celebrates how the two of them are linked, rather than wallowing in the hurt an pain that others try to make us feel.

That's not to say the book doesn't get a little heavy at times, there are some very personal and downbeat moments in this book as the contributors are brutally honest in their experiences and how they have sometimes effected them in a negative way; but this is never the complete focus of these stories and essays. Instead, it is about the joy and peace that these people have found once they find comfort in who they are.

Whether you yourself are fat and queer, or if the you simply picked up the book because it sounded interesting to you, there's going to be something in here for everyone. Thanks to the multiple contributors, their vastly different experiences and the way they present their thoughts, this book is able to appeal to a wide variety of people, and as such is one that's definitely worth checking out.

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Red Zone: An Earthquake Story by Silvia Vecchini - Book Review

 

'An Italian town deals with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake

'Matteo, Guilia, and Federico have ordinary lives: they spend time with friends, help out their families, go to school, and deal with the many mood swings that come with growing up. Then, in a single night, everything changes. The ground shakes. An earthquake devastates their town and their security. But after everything is gone, life must go on. Anger and fear affect everyone in the community, but each of them must find a way to begin again. In the aftermath, the roots for stronger friendships can be laid amid the rubble. This graphic novel provides a look at how natural disaster can strike and forever change a community.'

Inspired by the events of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit central Italy in August of 2016, Red Zone tells the story of a small Italian town and it's residents following a similar natural disaster. However, rather than focusing on the disaster itself, the book is set within the aftermath, and is seen through the eyes of the children of the town rather than the adults.

The book begins with the town being hit with an earthquake, dropping the readers straight into events. Soon after we're introduced to our core cast of characters, Matteo, Giulia, and Frederico. All of them have either lost their homes in the disaster, or find their homes inside the dangerous red one; meaning that they're unable to return. 

A makeshift school is set up inside a tent, whilst those who can't leave the area have to move into a small tend village or caravans whilst the community tries to rebuild the town. Unfortunately, there's a lot of damage, not much money, and winter is fast approaching. As the weeks pass and things get colder the children find things harder as they see little to hope for, especially Frederico, who hasn't been the same since he lost his dog during the quake. However, the children learn to come together and form strong bonds of friendship to help them through.

Whilst there's a lot to like in the book, especially the relationships that form between the characters, I often felt like the book was lacking somewhat in depth, and we only get a cursory understanding of each of them. I hoped to have been able to get to know them better, to understand more of what the earthquake did to them and how it changed their outlook, but the book is sadly too short for this. It's a shame as I'd have happily have read a book that was twice as long if it meant that  got a better understanding of the characters.

That being said, there are moments that work surprisingly well despite not knowing the children all that well; with one particular scene being quite moving. There a times where we get insights into the way that the aftermath of the earthquake has affected their personalities and left them deeply troubled. There are moments when we get hints of the post traumatic stress they're having to live with, and these are by far the best moments of the book.

The artwork works really well for the story too, and it's a very crisp and clean looking book, with a lot of care and attention given over to the details; especially in the ruins of the town following the earthquake. The scenes where the winter snow comes are particularly good, and these panels in particular are some of the best in the book.

Overall I really enjoyed Red Zone, but was hoping for a lot more from it. However, if you're looking for a nice quick read, or a book that's going to be found enjoyable for younger readers it's definitely one worth giving a look.

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The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis - Book Review

 

'In the quiet streets of Prague all manner of otherworldly creatures lurk in the shadows. Unbeknownst to its citizens, their only hope against the tide of predators are the dauntless lamplighters - a secret elite of monster hunters whose light staves off the darkness each night. Domek Myska leads a life teeming with fraught encounters with the worst kind of evil: pijavice, bloodthirsty and soulless vampiric creatures. Despite this, Domek find solace in his moments spent in the company of his friend, the clever and beautiful Lady Ora Fischerová-- a widow with secrets of her own.

'When Domek finds himself stalked by the spirit of the White Lady - a ghost who haunts the baroque halls of Prague castle - he stumbles across the sentient essence of a will-o'-the-wisp, a mischievous spirit known to lead lost travellers to their death, but who, once captured, are bound to serve the desires of their owners.

'After discovering a conspiracy amongst the pijavice that could see them unleash terror on the daylight world, Domek finds himself in a race against those who aim to twist alchemical science for their own dangerous gain.'

The Lights of Prague takes readers to the beautiful city of Prague during the 1800's, where we discover that not only are vampires and other creatures of the night are real, but that there is a secret group who patrol the streets of the city keeping its people safe; the lamplighters.

Domek is a lamplighter, a man who has made it his duty to protect the citizens of Prague from the monsters they don't even know live amongst them. He, and the other lamplighters, walk the streets of the city at night, tending the gas lights, but also hunting any of the pijavice (vampires) that try to feed. It's during one of these nightly shifts that Domek kills a pijavice and discovers something strange in the belongings it leaves behind; a small ceramic jar with an inscription on on the surface.

The jar burns the markings into Domeks hand, and he finds himself in control of the entity within the jar, a powerful Will-o-the-wisp. This entity is now bound to Domek, putting its powers at his control. But Domek is not only afraid of the duplicitous nature of this demonic entity, but what would happen if he tried to set it free. With no choice but to keep the creature bound to him he tries to discover why the pijavice would have had it.

At the same time we're introduced to Lady Ora Fischerova, a young widow living in Prague. Ora, despite her outward appearance, is actually centuries old pijavice, and lives a life of peace amongst the people of Prague. However, when she's approached by some of the city officials to help look into the worrying rumours that a cure for the pijavice might exist she finds herself drawn back into a world she left behind years ago.

Both Domek and Ora are forced into a scheme that could not only put an end to Prague, but aso find themselves on a course to discover the secrets each are hiding as their relationship draws the closer together.

One of the things that immediately jumps out about The Lights of Prague is how different is feels from other vampire books, whilst still being very true to the themes and stories that have surrounded the creatures for decades. Perhaps it's the slight variation of having pijavice vampires, ones whose mythology is subtly different from what people normally think of when they hear vampires, but Nicole Jarvis manages to make the vampires in this book feel so unique.

The main plot of the book, the investigation into the vampires and their supposed cure, is something that has been done before, yes, but the method they use, the politics behind it, and how our two protagonists go about discovering it make it feel like a brand new idea. The book has a level or originality that is often missing from vampire fiction, and it makes the book an absolute delight to read.

But it's not just the way Jarvis writes her vampires that makes the book such a joy; its two central characters are a big part of what makes this such a good book too. Domek could have easily been a macho alpha-male type character, he has the physical build for it and the job fighting monsters, but he has surprising depth and gentleness to him that make him so much more than just a vampire hunter. He turns out to be a kind man, one who checks in on his mother, who works with his uncle for free just to help him out, one who's moved to wonder and tears at watching opera for the first time. There's a level of earnestness and almost childlike innocence to him that makes him so easy to love and care for.

In a contrast to him there's Ora, a woman who to look at her you'd expect a demure and physically weak widow, yet has not just an incredible physical strength but an outgoing character too. She's a woman who rejects some of the trappings of the time, who goes to talks and debates with men because she's passionate on subjects and learning. She's not afraid to make friends with people outside of her social strata, and she's been around and done so much that she's incredibly open minded. I loved that on the outside you'd expect one thing from these characters, but you get something completely different from them; and two characters that compliment each other so well too.

The love story between Ora and Domek isn't the focus of the book, so people who don't just want a romance don't have to worry that it will overtake things, and the relationship between the two of them works its way through the story in a believable way. It becomes a part of the story, one that shapes some of their choices and the plot yes, but never becomes the focus of it. Instead, it's the fight against the pijavice that is front and centre the most important part of the book.

With that in mind, I have to talk about who might be the best character in the novel, Kaja, the Will-o-the-wisp. When first introduced to this sentient ball of fire we're presented with a very clear picture of it, that it's a creature that cannot be trusted, that only exists to show mischief and pain. But over the course of the boo Domek, and the reader, get to know Kaja and discover that he's so much more than this. His story becomes one of the most affecting parts of the book, and some of the most moving moments come from him. If you'd had told me going into this that I'd come to care for a fiery ball of energy I wouldn't have believed you, but by the end I not only adored him, but wanted him to be safe and happy. Nicole Jarvis got me emotionally invested in a ball of fire, that's definitely some damn good writing.

The Lights of Prague is a book that attracted me for the setting, I was interested in seeing Prague during the 1800's, but it very quickly became a book that got me hooked on the mythology and the mystery, before ending up a book where I cared for the characters and wanted to see them all get a happy ending. I wasn't expecting the journey this book would take me on, and I'm kind of sad that it's over. But for the short time it existed I loved every moment of it.

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Super Sentai Himitsu Sentai Gorenger: The Classic Manga Collection - Book Review

 

'Shotaro Ishinomori's classic manga that helped inspire decades of Super Sentai adventures, and later gave rise to the Power Rangers, in English for the first time ever!

'An evil secret society called the Black Cross Army threatens world peace, and only an elite task force known as the Earth Guard League (EAGLE) can stop them. After the Black Cross Army destroys EAGLE’s headquarters across Japan, five young recruits survive. Hiding in a secret underground base, they are given enhanced battlesuits that empower them with superhuman abilities, transforming the youths into an unstoppable squad to combat evil.

'Tied to the first Japanese Super Sentai tokusatsu TV series ever made, this genre-defining work laid the groundwork for decades of such adventures, including the wildly popular Power Rangers franchise in North America. Read Shotaro Ishinomori’s original manga adaptation of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger in this beautiful hardcover collection.'

Like many people in the west my introduction to the world of Super Sentai was through the Power Rangers series, the American franchise that took footage from the various Super Sentai shows and edited into new footage to create their own show. As the quality of the American footage was pretty poor for the most part in those early seasons it was the brightly coloured heroes, the bold monsters, and the action that won me over and made me a lifelong fan.

Over the years I discovered more about the franchise and learnt about Super Sentai, and have since gone on to become a fan of that too, watching through several of the series that became Power Rangers shows thanks to their recent DVD releases. However, trying to watch older Sentai can prove to be difficult at times, so when I saw that there was going to be a release of the manga collection of Gorenger I was very excited to see what this first ever series of Super Sentai would have in store.

The book, rather than being a regular adaptation, or even stories that fit between the episodes, contains two completely different versions. Shotaro Ishinomori, the writer and artist on the book, created both series to run concurrently with the show as it aired, but aimed at two different audiences. The book has stories that were originally in the Weekly Shonen Sunday, and these follow the same story-line of the show, albeit with some slight differences. There is also monthly serial comics that were published in Shogaku Gonensei magazine. Whilst these two different types of stories do have slightly different tones, with the first ones having a more mature feel and a focus on the spy action whilst the latter ones feel more high adventure, they come together to make a pretty cohesive whole. As someone who has never seen Gorenger I feel like the book, with its different styles of story, give a pretty good insight into the different types of episodes, from the throwaway monster of the week to the more character driven ones that affect the plot more.

The first story in the collection tells the origins of the Gorengers, and introduces readers to Tsuyoshi, a young martial artist whose father is secretly part of the global military organisation EAGLE (Earth Guard League). EAGLE fights against the sinister Black Cross Army, a terrorist spy group who use stolen information to dominate the world. Tsuyoshi is asked to test out a specialised suit by his father, a suit that's able to enhance his natural abilities and make him into an even better fighter. It's revealed that this suit is one of five, and that those who wear it will become the Gorengers, a special team to fight the Black Cross Army.

At first Tsuyoshi is against becoming a part of this team, but when the Black Cross Army attacks his family home and kills his father he decides to join EAGLE and fight against the villains as Akarenger, the leader of the Gorengers.

The second story jumps forward in time somewhat, and we rejoin Tsuyoshi after he's become a part of the team. It's here that we meet the other members of the Gorengers, and get a bit of a sense of the different types of people they are. This story sees the team going into combat with the Black Cross Army when they go in investigate a sighting of them in the remote ghost town of Sangai Village. This turns out to be a trap, and the team have to fight against the Black Cross Army forces, as well as Warrior Mask; the second of the five original Black Cross Masked Monsters. This story not only sees the Gorengers having to fight against overwhelming odds, but has a deeply personal cost when Akira, the blue Gorenger, has to confront his best friend who betrayed them to the Black Cross Army, something that has a tragic conclusion.

After this story the book takes on a bit of a lighter tone and we get to see the Gorengers deal with a number of enemy threats, including a giant sea monster robot attacking the city, remote controlled flying pirate ships that kidnap a kid, a villain that uses mirrors to trap and trick the Gorengers, and a slightly different retelling of the first episode of Gorenger, that expands upon the one at the start of the book.

Overall the book has a lot of silly fun in it, as you'd expect from a Super Sentai manga. It leans into the ridiculous parts of the show and does all out in doing over the top and funny things with both the heroes and villains. That being said, the stories in the first half of the book aren't afraid to include some dark moments too, and these come along and really shock you out of the silliness the rest of the book has, making them all the more affecting.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was that it game you a brief introduction to things too, where readers not only get to know about how the book came into being, but who Shotaro Ishinomori was. I had no idea that he was so prolific a comics creator; to the point where he holds the Guinness World Record for most comics published by one author. It made me curious to learn more about him and his work, and that's something I'm grateful for.

I hope that this isn't the last of these collections that we see, and that Seven Seas publishing will find some other Super Sentai Manga to bring to the west. I adored being able to learn about these old shows, to see these stories presented fresh and new, and the fact that it comes in a gorgeous hardcover volume just makes it even better. Even if you're not a huge Power Rangers or Super Sentai fan, this is a book worth checking out just for something different; and if you are a fan it'll look gorgeous on your shelf.

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