sonotadream

The Pilgrim of Hate - #10 in the Chronicles of Brother Cadfael series - by Ellis Peters

Brother Cadfael remains the best. Otherwise, it’s a very slow-burn mystery. The murder happens off-page at the beginning, but we don’t even worry about starting to solve it until halfway through the book.

Water Logic - Book 3 of the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks

Didn’t grab me as much as the last one. One, I didn’t find Seth’s story as compelling as Clement’s and two, if your characters declare they’re a family in book one, you kinda want to see the family in the following books. Book two did the separation better.

Still looking forward to the last book, especially with the revelations in the final chapters.

A Restless Truth - Book 2 of The Last Binding Series - by Freya Marske

Murder mystery on a boat! A fun romp, nice twists and great characters. The evolution of the romance felt a bit by the numbers.

Captain America: Man Out of Time by Mark Waid and Jorge Molina

This was my favourite take on the Captain America adjusts to the future genre - of the three I read this month.

A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

Good mystery, needed more Miss Marple.

Mythos by Paul Jenkins and Paolo Rivera

A collection of one-shots retelling the origin stories of. some Marvel heroes. The art is hand-painted and very good. The stories, except for the X-Men one, don't really bring anything new.

Spider-Man Season One by Cullen Bunn and Neil Edwards

I really liked this one. It hits all the beats of the standard Spidey origin story, but it a focus on his short lived entertainment career and it was fun.

The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan - book 3 of The Wheel of Time series

I'm not sure I actually enjoy this series or just enjoy epic fantasy in general. I find all the gender stuff and the way it's presented annoying, but like the worldbuilding otherwise.

JLA: New World Order by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter

The story is fine, but the art is not.

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

This one is another five stars. After They do it with Mirrors we're back to a fun dysfunctional family. This is also the start of the “Poirot only shows up halfway through the book" era, which takes away a bit from the book.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Toxic female friendship ftw, I guess. Very enjoyable while reading - and the dual timelines are fun - but the more I think about it, the less I like the ending. Mostly the past timeline, due to unreliable narrators - that didn't quite work for me.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Very lovely read. It's nice to see how the different story strands come together. Didn’t like how the future still felt a lot like present day.

Absolute Martian Manhunter vol 1 by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodriguez

I think this is my favourite of the new Absolute line. I really enjoy the psychedelic art.

• An African History of Africa byZeinab Badawi

A nice overview of aspects of African History that may be less familiar to non-Africans. It doesn't go very deep into each one, but might leave you with a dozen rabbit holes to fall into.

• Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters by Mike Grell

Comics Green Arrow is quickly becoming a favourite. This story is dark and compelling (although with unnecessary sexy torture) and new character Shado is very cool.

• Dead Man's Ransom - #9 Chronicles of Brother Cadfael - by Ellis Peters

Found this slightly less enjoyable than other books in the series. The mystery takes a backseat to the civil war/historical events and I found Elis, the main suspect, too annoying to enjoy his troubles. Brother Cadfael was awesome, as always ☺️

• Batman-Superman: World's Finest vol 5 by Mark Waid

Fun take on Superman and Batman's first meeting - they make a good team from the start. Very fun take on Luthor and Joker's team-up - Joker drives Luthor crazy, and Luthor underestimates the Joker to his own detriment 🤣🤣

• Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell

Seventy-five years ago, an Angel saved humanity from self-destruction by nuclear war. Now, everyone lives in a fleet of sentient space Arks, all their needs taken care of.

Eryn is a ship navigator trying to find out what happened to his sister - and, in the process, introduces the fleet to the biggest crisis it ever had to face.

I really enjoyed this book, it hooked me quickly and the world building is exquisite. The relationship between Eryn and her sentient ship, the Ocelot, is at the heart of the story. Because of the way space travel works, they are basically ride or die for each other.

The downside is Eryn’s other relationships. Things are awkward with her niece - which makes sense, considering their family history and their recent loss - but her love interest, Li, oh boy. Eryn keeps not being interested, only to decide she’s in love, only to dump Li first chance she gets. Maybe it’s me, but I found it hard to tell if it went like that on purpose, or the author is just bad at romance…

Still looking forward for the next book in the series, though.

• They do it with Mirrors by Agatha Christie

More interesting than I remembered. It’s the kind of book where the crime itself is rather simple, it’s the obfuscation around it that makes things interesting - I just didn’t find the family drama compelling in this one.

• Ultimate Spider-Man vol 2 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

Story is very compelling, the art only so-so. Peter keeps getting the short end of the stick, but, at least, he still has MJ by his side.

• The Craft of Love by EE Ottoman

She's a quiltmaker, he's a silversmith; she's a socialist, he's trans - and neither of those things create problems for the romance. It's a nice story, if you you're into low-stakes, low-conflict stories, but I'm not and I need to stop trying to be.