Wolf Island: Discovering the Secrets of a Mythic Animal by L. David MechMy rating: 3.5 of 5 stars In Wolf Island, wolf expert L. David Mech reminisces back to his first time studying the wolves residing in Isle Royale in Lake Superior as a young researcher in the late 50’s. The author was lucky enough…
Category: book reviews
To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu: Book Review
To Hold Up the Sky by Liu Cixin My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars When The Three Body Problem was published in an english translation, SFF fans were immediately enamoured by Cixin Liu and his fascinating imagination that flirted with both the possible and the far-fetched in equal measures. In this anthology the reader will…
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones: Book Review
Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham JonesMy rating: 2.5 of 5 stars Stephen Graham Jones’ Night of the Mannequins is an homage, a “love letter” as he calls it, to slasher horror movies of the past – and present. It starts with a group of teenagers one of who works at a cinema. Sawyer…
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: Book Review
It is always a wonderful feeling when you pick up a book and slowly realise that it is good, that is is really good. So good in fact that you feel like you haven’t read something like this in a while. A book which gives you great faith in the abilities of the writer whom…
Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter: Book Review
In an article of the most recent Interzone magazine, British writer Aliya Whiteley discusses science fiction as a genre that does not follow key scenes and expectations like one would expect in genres like romantic comedies or heist movies. She writes for example, a heist movie inevitably includes a planning sequence, and a meeting of…
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb: Book Review
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, widely known in the fantasy world by her pen name Robin Hobb, published her first novel in the Realm of the Elderlings back in 1995. She recently (2017) completed her series of 13 main novels with the release of Assassin’s Fate….
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander: Novella Review
The tor.com novellas, which first made an appearance a few years ago, have proven to be a major force in the literary world, taking over major SFF awards, the Hugo and the Nebula among others. At first, I wasn’t completely sold in the concept of short fiction. The works of fantasy that I have completely…
The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey: Book Review
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey My rating: 2 of 5 stars The zombie genre has steadily become more and more popular, considering its dawn with George Romero’s films in the 70s to its current life as TV series in The Walking Dead, experimental mixes with classic fiction – Pride and Prejudice and…
The Inkblots by Damion Searls: Book Review
Note: This review was originally published on Mindwise, the blog showcasing the work from the Psychology department of the University of Groningen. The Inkblots by Damion Searls My rating: 3 of 5 stars “Take the official Rorschach Ink Blot test to see if you are crazy”, is the title of the first video that comes up…
The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Book Review
The Road by Cormac McCarthy My rating: 3 of 5 stars There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one’s heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes. So, he whispered to the sleeping boy. I have you. In…
My Bookshelf Dialogues 