The Shadow and Bone trilogy is Leigh Bardugo’s debut work and it had taken the YA fantasy world by storm and in a few short days, that stormfront will hit the mainstream when its highly anticipated Netflix adaptation premieres. Even though the TV series will bring in stuff from the Six of Crows duology (MsContinue reading “Into the Grishaverse: a Review of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone Trilogy”
Tag Archives: review
A Memento by Mori: a Review of Natasha Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Bloomsbury Circus must have had a surfeit of confidence in Ms Pulley’s debut novel to make such a handsome volume out of it. I assume it must have cost extra to punch that peephole in all the hardback covers, and I can see why they did it. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street has all theContinue reading “A Memento by Mori: a Review of Natasha Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street”
The Post-Apocalyptic Wild West of Great Britain: a Review of Jonathan Stroud’s The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
Jonathan Stroud is one of my favourite children and young adult writers working today, and the goodwill I feel towards him for writing the Bartimaeus books in the early 2000’s is still very much alive to this day. There is a “brand” I associate with Mr Stroud’s writing, and it is a brand characterised byContinue reading “The Post-Apocalyptic Wild West of Great Britain: a Review of Jonathan Stroud’s The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne”
Over Sideways and Under, On a Magic Carpet Ride: A Review of R. B. Lemberg’s The Four Profound Weaves
The first of the Four Profound Weaves is woven from wind. It signifies change. I am a little speechless, and I don’t really know how to talk about this book, because The Four Profound Weaves is the sort of book that makes me not want to do anything except stare at nothing for awhile. ItContinue reading “Over Sideways and Under, On a Magic Carpet Ride: A Review of R. B. Lemberg’s The Four Profound Weaves”
The Book that Dare Not Speak Its Genre: a Review of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake
I love Margaret Atwood. I really do. I love The Handmaid’s Tale and Alias Grace, and enjoyed The Testaments, even if it fell short of my expectations. And I think she is one of the few authors I consider to be incapable of writing a bad book because even if a story of hers doesContinue reading “The Book that Dare Not Speak Its Genre: a Review of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake”
The Violence of the Lamb: a Review of Joe Abercrombie’s Red Country
Evil turned out not to be a grand thing. Not sneering Emperors with their world-conquering designs. Not cackling demons plotting in the darkness beyond the world. It was small men with their small acts and their small reasons. It was selfishness and carelessness and waste. It was bad luck, incompetence, and stupidity. It was violenceContinue reading “The Violence of the Lamb: a Review of Joe Abercrombie’s Red Country”
Going South by Southeast: a Film Review of Raya and the Last Dragon
Being a Malaysian and Southeast Asian (and literally writing a review blog called A Naga of the Nusantara), I was naturally excited to see that Disney is finally turning their profit machine to exploiting my regional culture. Okay I know that sounds cynical but I am realistic about these things—the House of Mouse is inContinue reading “Going South by Southeast: a Film Review of Raya and the Last Dragon”
Red, Brown, and Yellow in Tooth and Claw: a Review of Indra Das’ The Devourers
I can’t remember it’s provenance, but I once heard someone joked that Tolkien characters don’t exist from the waist down. No one fucks, shits or pisses in Middle-earth. Now, it is generally true in fiction that bodily functions are never mentioned unless they are relevant to the story, something that Mitchell and Webb made funContinue reading “Red, Brown, and Yellow in Tooth and Claw: a Review of Indra Das’ The Devourers”
Murcatto’s Seven and Her Grand Tour of Revenge and Mayhem: a Review of Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold
You were a hero round these parts. That’s what they call you when you kill so many people the word murderer falls short. I remember reading the entire original First Law trilogy more than 10 years ago and loving it but with the passage of time, I retained only the barest skeleton of the books’Continue reading “Murcatto’s Seven and Her Grand Tour of Revenge and Mayhem: a Review of Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold”
Humanity’s Fight or Flight Response: a Review of Liu Cixin’s The Dark Forest
“Yan Yan, do you know what the greatest expression of regard for a race or civilization is?” “No, what?” “Annihilation. That’s the highest respect a civilization can receive. They would only feel threatened by a civilization they truly respect.” As with the first book in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy—The Three-Body Problem—I think theContinue reading “Humanity’s Fight or Flight Response: a Review of Liu Cixin’s The Dark Forest”
A Naga of the Nusantara 