Aussie Sci-fi and Fantasy Hub: book recommendations

Showing posts with label book recommendations. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 May 2018

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

Sunday, 25 March 2018

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert Short Gushing review

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is by far and away the best book I have read this year and possibly last!
I was enthralled from start to finish. This read like a Anderson fairytale with all the horror and resolutions that are not happily but are sort of fair.
I powered through this over the weekend as its so well written.
This will be up there with The Night Circus as a book I will be recommending to everyone because it just so good.

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Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Weirdworld Vol 1 Warzones short review

Weirdworld, Volume 0: Warzones! by Jason Aaron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So once again I have found a book that I love that is a very short run.
I initially thought the artwork was a bit lazy as it looks very smudged and blurry. On closer inspection I found that the blurry effect was an overlay and the work underneath is quite good.
The story itself is a solid quest for home style story, with allies made on the way to come to the rescue during the final battle.
Mainly I liked the dragon but that goes for any story.

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Tuesday, 13 March 2018

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book notes

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

once again, as an Australian, we miss out on representation and recognition. Our ministry of magic really needs to pull its finger out and get some of our more spectacular magical creatures the recognition they deserve.
The rainbow serpent was not mentioned at all among the large serpents and they carve out rivers.
The Bunyip who are known to protect the local wildlife from outside forces.
Not to mention the world famous drop bear and hoop snake.
such a shame

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Saturday, 10 March 2018

The Raven Cycle book 3: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue (The Raven Cycle, #3)

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was exactly what I wanted coming out of the second book "The Dream Thieves" More Blue and more caves! Also we finally get to meet Malory with his service dog; Dog.
They follow all sorts of clues and Adam gets stronger with his powers of Cabeswater making his super power the awesomeness of chill.
They are still on the hunt for Glendower but unlike most young adults out for adventure, adults are in on the "fun and games" too. Unsurprisingly, I cried in this one, but I cry easy and for happy or sad bits.
Can't wait to get to the next one.

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Sunday, 4 March 2018

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Whilst I am yet to read any of Homer's works, I am familiar with the story of Odysseus so this retelling from the perspective of his long suffering wife, Penelope with its fabulous feminist bent was wonderful.
I even liked the poems read by the chorus of the 12 hanged maids. They had a powerful rhythm to them that strengthened the accusations of the maids ill death. The chorus is a tradition of the greek play so it was a fitting use.
Margaret Atwood doing another wonderful job of speaking for those without voice.

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Witchblade Rebirth vol 1 Review

Witchblade Rebirth Volume 1 by Tim Seeley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sara is in a new city and stirring up trouble. I liked this volume but as an intro to the witchblade universe I probably could have chosen a better starting point. They do an alright job re-introducing characters but some are not as clear as if you had read earlier volumes.
That being said, the story line is solid, and the artwork is amazing with some beautiful full page spreads that would be great as stand alone pieces of art.
I will be reading more from this universe.

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Saturday, 3 March 2018

Theatre of the Gods by M Suddain Review

Theatre of the Gods by Matt Suddain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was fantastic! The plot jumped all over the place for the first 300 pages with hilarious results and considering the main objective of the Character Fabrigas is to jump to another universe, this works beautifully.
One of the things I loved the most of the pop culture references. I wish the "traditional sea shanties" had continued into the second half of the book because the image of a dirty, disreputable rabble of grisaled sailors singing mixed up versions of pop songs is one of the funniest things I have read...ever!

The second half of the book is where the plot settles down and goes in a more linear fashion. This is where the action really heats up and once the homunculus shows up we're really cooking with gas.
Awesome book really worth the read.
I want more from these universes.

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Thursday, 1 March 2018

Fables Vol 22 by Bill Willingham & Mark Buckingham

Fables, Vol. 22: Farewell by Bill Willingham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So this was a bit of a mixed bag. I really like the final conclusion of the story line between Snow and Rose Red and some of the Final Story of .... pages but there were just too many of them that I didn't care about. These made it a bit tiresome. Over all quite good but sometimes too much of a good thing is actually too much.

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Tuesday, 27 February 2018

Snow White By Matt Phelan very short review

Snow White: A Graphic Novel by Matt Phelan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a re-telling of Snow White set in the 1920's told mostly by the beautiful sketched illustrations. A very quick "read" (There really isn't much to read).

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Bitch Planet Vol 1 Review

Bitch Planet, Vol. 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was great! The fake ads at the end of each issue about treible products that some sadly existed in the past (tapeworms for weight loss) and could very well exist (pills to make women more compliant, sound like frontal lobotomies anyone?) mixed in with sadly true stats about domestic violence.

Women are held to ridiculous standards by the "Fathers" and anyone who doesn't reach these ideals of feminine beauty, behaviour or stereotype is shipped off to the prison planet Bitch.
Keen to see where this one goes.

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