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Monstress, Volume 6: The Vow by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda – Graphic Novel Review

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Monstress, Volume 6: The Vow by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda - Graphic Novel Cover

Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s graphic novel series is a mind-blowing creation that takes place in a fantasy world like no other. A world that’s unbelievably complex, brutally unforgiving, and heartbreakingly beautiful all at once. Monstress: The Vow, the sixth volume in the series, continues the saga full of power struggles, hidden supernatural beings, betrayals, and horrors—where Maika Halfwolf, the protagonist, not only faces countless enemies, but can’t even trust her friends—or her own family. The only one she might be able to count on is the ancient, bloodthirsty entity lurking inside her.

Monstress Takes the Graphic Novel to a Whole New Level

The creators of Monstress, the Lennon and McCartney of the graphic novel world—Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda—have basically swept every major sci-fi and fantasy award with their joint masterpiece. And if they haven’t yet, they definitely will. Deservedly so.

The war between humans and Arcanics is being manipulated by otherworldly forces. Supernatural beings walk the earth, sometimes in their true forms, other times hiding behind masks—or in someone else’s skin—fighting each other for power. In this chaotic, utterly opaque, and constantly shifting web of alliances, Maika Halfwolf and her few remaining friends are just trying to stay alive.

All of this is delivered in panels that look like paintings.

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Blood Ties by Jo Nesbø – Book Review

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Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo – Book Cover

Roy Opgard may look like your average gas station attendant in the small Norwegian town of Os, but he’s a whole lot more than that. Much more. He’s a protector of the family, a business whiz, and, above all, a true fixer—the kind of guy who solves problems. And Os? It’s got no shortage of those. The Opgard brothers’ past (and present) is soaked in violence (see: The Kingdom). But for anyone who wants to become the king of a town like this, that’s hardly news. Except maybe the part where blood ties start to matter less and less… What follows is, naturally, a classic Jo Nesbø thriller — clever, twisty, and in this case, laced with an unusually heavy dose of melancholy.

It Was the Man at the Pump

Yep, the guy at the gas station. He did it all. Every single murder in Os… For the record, Roy Opgard is not a brutal, bloodthirsty monster. The fact that an alarming number of Os’s dearly departed met their end at his hands isn’t entirely his fault.

It took an abusive, tormenting father who targeted his own son. And a mother who looked the other way. Everything else followed from that. Oh, and of course, there was the charming, likable, but weak-willed brother, Carl, too.

The prequel to Blood Ties — The Kingdom — may be a thriller, and a solid one at that, but at its core, it’s also the life story of a lonely man longing for love. Its heavy, melancholic tone stands in sharp contrast to the looming sense of fate and the constant return of violence.

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The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith – Book Review

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The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith – Book Cover

Cormoran Strike and his partner, Robin Ellacott, are up against a ruthless religious cult. In The Running Grave, the seventh installment of the Cormoran Strike series, the private detective duo is on a mission to rescue a young man from the clutches of fanatics. But the stakes are higher than ever, especially for Robin, who’s thrust into more danger than she’s ever faced before.

The Running Grave is Bursting with Skeletons

Charismatic conman Jonathan Wace—aka “J Papa”—and his exceptionally diabolical wife, Mazu, hit the jackpot when they founded the Universal Humanitarian Church. Their brainwashed followers are completely devoted, eager to fulfill even the most twisted desires of their beloved leaders.

Once this pair sinks their claws into someone, they don’t let go until they’ve wrung them dry. Saving the well-meaning but easily influenced Will Edensor is no small task for Cormoran Strike and his small but dedicated team.

Robin’s Up for This Too!

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Firestarter by Stephen King – Book Review

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Firestarter by Stephen King – Book Cover

Oh, we know all about the CIA and the likes of them, don’t we? Of course we do! If some genius over there comes up with the idea to inject shady concoctions into unsuspecting college students as part of an experiment, well, they don’t hesitate. They just go for it. And if a few people drop dead in the process, they probably figure it’s not too steep a price to pay for developing psychic abilities… Of course, messing around with the secrets of the universe always comes with a side of danger. You can bet the real trouble only begins if the experiment actually works. When the genie’s out of the bottle. Or when someone shows up who can set things on fire. With their mind. Easily. And on any scale. A Firestarter, if you will.

Firestarter Walk With Me

Stephen King has never shied away from the supernatural. (There. We said it.) The pyrokinesis that serves as the basis for Firestarter may have been heard of before—if nowhere else, then at least in connection with so-called spontaneous combustion. And it’s no secret that during the Cold War, both the Americans and the Soviets were digging into the mysteries of the human mind. (With, let’s say, varying degrees of success.)

Still, having a real, living, breathing fire mage? That’s a whole different level!

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The Winners by Fredrik Backman – Book Review

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The Winners by Fredrik Backman – Book Cover

Fredrik Backman’s Beartown series is a love letter to the sport of ice hockey. In the fictional small town of Beartown, nestled deep in the northern Swedish forests, everyone is hockey-obsessed—just like in Hed, the eternal rival town next door. Using the sport as a backdrop, Backman paints an intensely emotional portrait of small-town identity and the unifying power of family and community. The Winners is the final installment of this trilogy.

What’s Left to Say About Beartown?

Truth be told, everything has already been said.

The first book delves into the fallout of a sexual assault. The star player thinks everything is his by right. A large part of the town agrees, since he’s their ticket to putting Beartown back on the map after decades of obscurity. But the Anderson family stands their ground—and in doing so, they split the town in two.

The second book, Us Against You, continues the story of the now-familiar characters but focuses primarily on the mass psychology of small-town sports. Specifically, the residents of the two neighboring towns go totally nuts over their rivalry and beef with each other. The tension rises. Then rises some more. And more. And more…until it boils over.

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Warleggan (Poldark #4) by Winston Graham – Book Review

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Warleggan (Poldark #4) by Winston Graham - Book Cover

If you think Cornwall was one of the UK’s most vibrant, culturally advanced, and innovative regions at the end of the 18th century, well, you’re wrong. Very wrong. It took exceptional courage for an author to set his epic family saga in this era. Winston Graham had that courage. And persistence. Warleggan is now the fourth part of the Poldark family saga.

Back to the Copper Mines

What can one do in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century? Besides fishing and smuggling, of course. Well, mining. The area is full of copper. The fact that copper prices have been in the gutter for about a decade doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

It’s almost comical, this stubbornness that defies all logic, with which Poldark teeters on the edge of bankruptcy and collapse, only to be granted yet another short-lived reprieve thanks to unexpected twists, allowing him to keep struggling against fate.

But there’s no need to worry. You know full well that he only needs to hold out a little longer, and once war breaks out between England and revolutionary France, prosperity will return.

And the Poldarks will become filthy rich.

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Gone For Good by Harlan Coben – Book Review

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Gone For Good by Harlan Coben – Book Cover

I think I’ve found the most accurate three sentences that I will use from now on to start every review of a Harlan Coben book. They go like this: “There are two types of Harlan Coben. The brilliant author of the Myron Bolitar series. And the other one, who writes all his other books.” The Klein family’s past, marked by a brutal murder and a brother who disappeared a decade ago, belongs to the other Coben’s works. However, with Gone For Good, it’s not something you can clearly decide until almost the very end.

Harlan Coben, Master of Suburban Thrillers

Indeed. That’s why I usually stop reading all his books after a few pages. Except, of course, for the aforementioned series. The cynicism, coolness, and darkness of the Bolitar books are so sorely lacking in his other works that they all come across as uninteresting. Fortunately, Gone For Good is a different case.

The trials of the Klein family, plagued by grief and ostracism, set a sufficiently grim tone right from the start. This is compounded by a mystery that has remained unsolved for 11 years. But it’s obvious that things didn’t go down the way the police portray them; after all, there’s no way Ken would kill his beloved younger brother’s ex-girlfriend and then disappear without a trace.

What more does a book need to captivate you even more? Love, of course! And the love between Will and Sheila certainly seems like something made in heaven.

At least, until everything falls apart even more…

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Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery – Book Review

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Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery – Book Cover

When the elderly siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, living in the Prince Edward Island village of Avonlea, request an orphan boy from the orphanage to help with the chores around their home, they are quite surprised to find they’ve received a girl instead. But who on earth needs a girl? Certainly not Marilla, the practical, down-to-earth spinster. So what will happen to Anne Shirley, the freckled, skinny, red-haired, plain-looking eleven-year-old girl? How will she ever become Anne of Green Gables?

Anne Shirley is unwanted by anyone

The girl’s only hope is Matthew, the slow-witted, odd, and shy old man who has a pathological fear of women. He doesn’t even look at them, let alone speak to them. (This is somewhat understandable, of course.) So, Anne Shirley’s chances, to put it mildly, are not very promising…

However, the reclusive Matthew, who sticks out like a sore thumb among his peers, is the first to realize—even before the reader—that the lonely and unwanted Anne needs them far more than they need her. (Understanding that the reverse is also true comes later.)

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Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King – Book Review

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Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King – Book Cover

I’ll admit, among all kinds of books, I’m particularly drawn to the hefty ones. Luckily for me, one of my favorite authors, Stephen King, has a bit of a reputation for being verbose, so he often treats us to some heavy-weight works. In Sleeping Beauties, the master storyteller, with the help of his eager son Owen, explores what might happen if all women suddenly fell asleep. Permanently.

Even just imagining it is terrifying!

Who would cook? Who would do the laundry? Who would clean up after that? I sure wouldn’t, that’s for damn sure. Not to mention, lesbian porn as a standalone art form would simply cease to exist!!!

Sleeping Beauties Is a Bit Bland

King (and diligent Owen) don’t explore this traumatic aspect of the premise in their joint work, Sleeping Beauties. Instead, they paint a broad, sweeping picture, centering the events around a small town and its women’s prison. It kicks off with a massive cast of characters, much like Under the Dome, and as in that novel, the story’s strength seems to dissipate and slowly leak away among all these characters. (Except, let’s face it, Under the Dome becomes a total snoozefest around page 70. This book, thankfully, doesn’t reach that level.)

Seasoned King readers, however, will likely feel that Sleeping Beauties falls below the usual standard. It’s as if Stephen King had his diligent son Owen subtracted from him by some mathematical equation. What’s left feels slightly sterile, stripped of the intense energy and deep characterizations typical of King. It’s almost as bare as a screenplay – if you were to turn it into a series, it wouldn’t take too much effort.

Uh, And Where’s the EVIL?!

In The Stand, the transition from normalcy to the post-apocalypse happens right at the beginning of the book. Here, the whole book is about that transition, the gradual slipping away into sleep. I won’t say that the highlighted characters (the upstanding Norcross family members) don’t carry it somewhat, but I also can’t say that all this drama (with some spousal squabbling and a complete lack of capital-letter EVIL) is particularly exciting or gripping.

One thing that does stand out, though, is how much calmer life on Earth would be if women took charge of everything from here on out. No arms race, no war, no worries—maybe just a bit more gossip, and that’s all. (Okay, by that logic, it would be great if the entire government packed up and left immediately, leaving only Kamala Harris and the other chicks behind! Hmm, wait a second. Never mind. Never mind!)

And locked away, yet still carefree,
Beams Eve, offspring of a big tree.

Wait, what?

No Need to Get Excited

Indeed, the catalyst of Sleeping Beauties, the Wooden Lady, aka Evie Black, enters the scene as an Omniscient Bee, an infallible oracle & Terminator, instantly removing any stakes from the start. So there’s no true dramatic clash, or if there is, it’s minuscule and entirely predictable from a mile away. (In case you still don’t get the hint, Evie helpfully spells it out halfway through the book for Dr. Norcross – and thus, for you, too – what the whole game is about. Thanks a lot, Owen, that was a brilliant idea of yours, saving us from any unnecessary suspense or thrills.)

Sleeping Beauties Is a Decent Piece of Craftsmanship

However, before completely ruining everyone’s appetite for this decent piece of work, let’s acknowledge that scene by scene, the book actually works. Despite the overwritten bits, the dragging pace, and the excess of unnecessary characters, Sleeping Beauties manages to keep you hooked because it’s packed with tiny conflicts, mini-stories within the story that, out of sheer curiosity, you just have to know the answers to, or that are simply engaging. What’s more, they’re mixed and paced so skillfully that they carry you through to the big finale – which, interestingly enough, turns out much blander and more boring than the drawn-out buildup.

The same paradox is present in the most unnecessary subplot – the Griner brothers’ antics, which add absolutely nothing meaningful to the whole, yet they’re the most entertaining and most “King-like” part of the book. It really seems like Dad pitched in the most here – if he didn’t write these few, darkly humorous scenes by himself. Plus, of course, he slapped his name on the cover, boosting sales for his kid’s benefit. The rest of the book was likely churned out by young Owen.

Let’s Paint the Whole Thing Green!

And Owen King is clearly a harbinger of new times. You’re not sure right away if his work is a feminist manifesto or more of a Greenpeace-style warning finger. But whichever it may be, you can’t deny there’s a need for it.

Therefore, the blog editorial team hereby awards Sleeping Beauties the Green Piece Prize, newly established this very minute (complete with a Gaia Theory Medal). Winning these is an impressive feat on its own, but if reading this book prevents even one single tough guy from giving his missus a well-deserved smack, or… oh, never mind, let’s leave it at that.

Rating: 7.7/10

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King
702 pages, Hardcover
Published in 2017 by Scribner
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You also may be interested:
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
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UPDATE:
The Green Piece Award is being retroactively granted to
Gun Island and
Earthly Remains as well.

Earthly Remains by Donna Leon – Book Review

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Earthly Remains by Donna Leon – Book Cover

Average Crime in an Enjoyable Style

The American author lived in Venice for thirty years and began writing her crime series set in the city and its surroundings, featuring Inspector Brunetti, in 2003. The series is now at its 30th installment. Maria Vergine!* The cruel Hungarian** publisher, for some reason, skipped over more than half of the books in the translation process—sometimes leaving out as many as five in a row! So, for example, you might be surprised to learn that by the time Earthly Remains was published, Guido Brunetti had already been promoted to Chief Inspector! And you missed it! And how on earth did Vice-Questore Patta***, Brunetti’s utterly unbearable boss, not manage to block this promotion? Perhaps Signorina Elettra, the charming but mysterious secretary with her own connections, had a hand in it? We’ll never know!

What we do know is that Donna Leon’s novels can be placed in the same category as Simenon’s Maigret stories. (Though they are much more enjoyable.) Mostly, they involve average crimes with everyday culprits, nothing particularly flashy. However, they provide a thorough depiction of the environment and society, offering deep insights into Italian daily life, national character, and cuisine! (Yum—here’s yet another book series that will leave you constantly hungry while reading.) And, of course, Venice.

Let Me Move in With the Brunettis!

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