Marth Muffins

Pretty good. I had no idea what this book was about when I picked it up and was pretty surprised that it was a zombie book but it was great fun. Intense and the pace moved pretty fast.

The main characters were all interesting although I didn't really like any of them except the main character of Melanie they were all a little to single minded for my liking.

Overall I'd recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers, creepy kids and zombies.

This review is for ‘Salem's Lot, One For The Road and Jerusalem's Lot.

‘Salem's Lot

‘Salem's Lot starts of slow, really really slow. It takes it's time to build the town and its inhabitants yet, for me at least, it takes both to much time and to little time it takes until about the 350 to 400 page mark for anything vampire related to really kick off, yes there is hints of it with disappearances and the death of a dog but most of the start is dedicated to building the town and characters. The problem is though that their are to many characters that no one really gets enough page time to fully develop I never really cared for any of them except Callahan for unrelated Dark Tower reasons but when the vamps show up then it gets interesting.
After the vampires come in force and all hell breaks loose the book gets really good. It's creepy and exciting and I could hardly put the book down but nothing more in case of spoilers.
Overall a great book, a slow start but a epic finale. Recommended for Stephen King, Dark Tower and vampire fans.

One For The Road

And fun creepy short story set after ‘Salem's Lot. Not much more to say really other than if you get a chance to read it it's a fun 22 pages and you probably won't regret it.

Jerusalem's Lot

It's HP Lovecraft's The Rats in the Walls with a little bit of The Shadow over Innsmouth man inherits house from estranged family member, hears sounds in walls, investigates small (in this case abadoned) town with weird religion, touches creepy book, finds disturbing stuff in cellar, burns creepy book, awakens Old One, say Yog-Sothoth, temporarily defeat it, friend dead, kills himself, called a fake by unknown relative who's moved in and suffering from the same problems, end.
If you find it you might as well read it but personally I think HP did it better.

4.5/5
A great conclusion to the Wraith Squadron Trilogy, although it suffers from the fact that it finishes unresolved as it needs to leave room for The Courtship of Princess Leia to finish the Zsinj arc (hence why I removed half a star).
Overall though the characters are strong and likeable (Wes and Wedge are the best of course) although Lara Notsil and Myn Donos could get a little melodramatic at times.
The action in the book is also excellent with exciting X-Wing and Tie fighter action and on the ground missions infiltrating bases.
The jokes also return from the other Wraith Squadron books (Lieutenant Kettch in particular) so if you didn't enjoy that aspect of the previous books then you won't like it in this one either.
Overall I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the other Wraith Squadron books and to those who haven't read the previous X-Wing books, get reading, you might just like them!

The Hero of Ages concludes the first Mistborn Trilogy and Era and it is spectacular. So much goes down as so many things about the characters, world and different races are revealed that it keeps you invested in wanting to know more (even if it can get a little exhausting at times). Overall I'd definitely recommend this book to any Brandon Sanderson, Fantasy or Anyone who just enjoys a great story.








Sazed better be good at being God that is all.

Loved it. This is the sixth X-wing book and the second in the Wraith Squadron trilogy and Allston (Rest in Peace) keeps it fun and exciting with lots of humour and emotional moments between characters that I got really invested in (something the later Legends EU novels really lacked in my opinion). This is the shortest book in the series but it definitely doesn't feel rushed for time. Characters focused on in the first book such as Kell, Runt and Piggy take more of a backseat in order to develop the other pilots (both old and new) not to say that Kell did nothing he just wasn't the main focus like in Wraith Squadron.
Overall a great, fun book and a great addition to the Star Wars Legends catalogue (a Star Wars book that's fun! Man I miss those (I'm looking at you NJO and after)).

This book was incredible. While it was slow in places (the romance and forced love triangle are a shining example ;)) it definitely made up for it in the other areas. The action was fun, the main plot was intriguing, the side plots were interesting, characters were well developed and kept me engaged (except for the romance, good god how I hated those sections).
The only reason this book loses a star for me personally is because of that romance. All these important events are happening around them and all Vin and Elend can think about is “Oh he just doesn't understand me because can do magic.” Or “I'm not good enough for a woman with such powerful abilities!” It gets tiresome and annoying okay.
Overall though I'd recommend it to fans of the first Mistborn book and Brandon Sanderson fans in general.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - 5/5

Still possibly my favourite piece of ASOIAF's literary world, a collection of 3 lighter yet still very engaging novellas set in Westeros. Dunk and Egg are a lot of fun to follow as instead of remaining primarily focused on the nobility the way the main series often does they provide a more grounded view of Westeros which does a lot to flesh out the day to do reality for most living in the Seven Kingdoms, similarly to what Brienne and Arya's chapters do in the main series.

Well worth a read for fans of the main series, and even for those how may not be interested in checking out the main novels but are interested in some shorter work centred around knights and squires.

I'd definitely say this is the weakest of the entire series but its still and interesting and enjoyable read It's also probably the strangest and most “meta” of the bunch (either this or The Gunslinger). Some strange choices were made and one, lets say interesting, edition to the roster of characters. Overall I'd recommend it (honestly if your this far into the series your probably not going to stop now).

Predator vs. Judge Dredd vs. Aliens - 3.5/5

I mean, it's what you'd expect from the title. Good art, fun and silly fighting between Judges and alien menaces, and some great satire. The Dredd vs Aliens storyline was a bit stronger, leaning more into the satirical and into the general world of Dredd, but the Predator half of this collection isn't half bad either.

Torchwood: Consequences - 3/5

Fun set of 5 interconnected Torchwood short stories spanning from Jack's time in Victorian England (give me more of the Victorian team, need me some more of Emily and Alice's relationship please) all the way to post Torchwood Series 2.

I enjoyed the first and last stories the most, and those were the two which were the most interlinked, but the second story was decent too. They're fun play on the idea which the show explores about how past events in Captain Jack's long life often cause issues for him and Torchwood in the present.

I think that the final story here is the last one of book original character Nina Rogers and I liked her here, although in a very Who way I've met her first at the end of her story instead of in a neat line.

Anyway, fun time, I enjoyed it.

Shade The Changing Man Vol. 4: The Road - 3/5 (Issues #20-25)

Using the order Keith McCleary lays out for hypothetical trade paperback collections to review specific arcs of the comic that are still sadly stuck solely in single issue form.

I liked this arc a lot. It's Miligan trying to figure out what to do with the series after the major driving force for Shade, Kathy, and Lenny was dealt with after issue #19 and that's reflected directly in the listlessness of the gang here as they go down a seemingly endless road with no real end in sight, dealing with weird shit and vague angsting about Shade's backstory and the burgeoning, and for early 90s comics, unorthodox love triangle between the 3 main characters. It does ramble a bit due to the nature of the series at this point, with it feeling a bit like it's spinning it's wheels a little too much, but it's Miligan working up to his first big shift in the series, the first of a few, and that's definitely worth the build up.

The single issue story that caps this arc off, Lenny's Story, is definitely the strongest for me, providing both more on my favourite character Lenny's backstory and her perspective alongside setting up the final pieces for the big shift to come in the next arc.

It's depressing that when the series finally hits it's stride the collections stopped coming out but what can you do? I'll definitely be continuing the series, that's for sure.

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party - 3/5

Ah fine wee novella thit should've been aither a shart storie or ah fue novel. A shart storie coulda gitten tha themes acrass much quickar, boilin doon the tale ah muckle bit tae tha bare essentials. Ah novel coulda expanded the characters tae fue feuk.

O'eraw though, the beuk was in interestin exploration've greed've tha rich is they almaist die fir tha privilege if ownin mair, despite their wealth. Alangside it oore main manny falls intae grief thas well portrayed in tha limited page coont.

Wid recommend fir shure, is a quick read n still pretty interestin.

Shade The Changing Man Vol. 5: Shade The Changing Woman - 4/5 (Issues #26-32)

Using the order Keith McCleary lays out for hypothetical trade paperback collections to review specific arcs of the comic that are still sadly stuck solely in single issue form.

And the shift comes, and Shade finds themselves a changing woman.

A fair bit of the attitude to gender is very 90s and holds to very rigid bounds of male and female dualism which is present both in wider Western society and in a lot of alt-New Age 20th century magic that many of the titles which both became a part of the Vertigo imprint and were released wholesale under that banner draw from, especially in the 90s (usually as a tool for primarily cis-male authors to explore their feminine side in abstract ways, with a major exception being Rachel Pollack's run on Doom Patrol).

However, Milligan does spend a lot of time with Shade's internal struggle over both his newfound feminine body and his general angst over seeing himself as a feminine man even before the substantial body change, mudding the waters on that male/female dualism present in so many Vertigo titles to, at the end, form a sort of synthesis. By the final parts of the initial arc Shade has morphed into, whilst still leaning masculine, more androgynous form. I'm not sure it entirely succeeds in its gender examining quest but it's certainly one of the more engaging attempts by a writer of this era at tackling these topics in a way that strays beyond the usual tropes.

The final 3 issues form 2 distinct stories centred around finally laying to bed some lingering plot threads around Shade, Meta, and Grenzer that Milligan has obviously grown tired of and wants resolved. They're a little wandering and don't really resolve anything if I'm being honest but they're still fairly enjoyable, especially the last two issues featuring Ernest Hemmingway and James Joyce, which somewhat ties into the whole idea of masculine/feminine dualism that's going on. They also deal with the fallout of Shade's change but, as the series name implies, there's always change on the horizon for our characters.

And a shift is coming, and Shade finds themselves a changing man yet again.

Pine - 2.5/5

A thorougly “fine” read. It manages to capture a good sense of being in a small Scottish Highland town but it felt fairly meandering for most of the page count, before rushing to a conclusion in the last few chapters. Not much more to say.

A good follow up to the first book in the trilogy Foundation.

The book is split into 2 parts, the first dealing with another Seldon Crisis (dealing with the remains of the Galactic Empire) and the longer and more interesting second part were a curveball called the Mule is introduced, disrupting Seldon's careful planning and leading the protagonists to go on the search for the Second Foundation.

If you enjoyed the first in the series definitely pick up the sequel.