Amanda

A bomber pilot shot down behind enemy lines must evade capture to complete his mission.

I'm not sure why Remender thought it would be a good idea to write a World War Two story with anthropomorphic animals. He writes that it's "a stark look at the cost everyone pays in war, from the righteous pilots and innocent civilians to the generations that follow"; however, everything he says in this book has been said countless times before and with far more skill.

I doubt I'll bother reading the next volume.

Received via NetGalley.

This review is of the audiobook read by Rory Barnett and Imogen Church.

An immortal monster hunter is called to fight the Beast of Gévaudan.

Wow! Debut author Cameron Sullivan manages to balance multiple timelines and POVs, while also writing memorable characters and telling one hell of a horror story. I was swept up by this book and did not want it to end.

The Narrators

Rory Barnett did a good job as the primary narrator. He spoke clearly and conveyed emotion well. I didn't particularly care for his accents, but that's a minor quibble.

I did not care for Imogen Church's reading. She alternated between sounding like a cackling fishwife and bellowing like a third-rate Shakespearean actor. Fortunately her sections were few and brief.

My rating of the audiobook is three and a half stars, but I'm going to bump that up to the four stars I'm sure it would have been had I read this in print.

Received via NetGalley.

An Indian teacher/spy and a female explorer undertake a dangerous journey into Tibet during the 19th century.

This is a novel? It reads like the world's most somniferous travel documentary. Anappara can write a lovely sentence and she clearly dedicated a considerable amount of time to research; I just wish she had shown the same dedication to the story.

Received via NetGalley.

An Indian teacher/spy and a female English explorer undertake a dangerous journey into Tibet during the 19th century.

This is a novel? It reads like the world's most somniferous travel documentary. Anappara can write a lovely sentence and she clearly dedicated a considerable amount of time to research; I just wish she had shown the same dedication to the story.

Received via NetGalley.

Angel Rideriel has survived the abuses he suffered when he first entered Hell and is now ruling the place with Heaven's mandate. Thanks to the...ardent efforts of his lover and the royal concubines, Rideriel is discovering it's good to be the king.

This is unashamed and exuberant angel/demon porn. It's not my kink, but I can appreciate the enthusiasm and enjoy the way the characters are written.

I did miss seeing Badinel in this installment, but I understand he'll be back for book four.

Received via the author.

It can be a hard thing to judge a play by reading the script: without an actor to give voice to the writing, the words often just sit as dead things on the page. Unfortunately, that was my experience of reading these two short plays.

In The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant I found the characters selfish and malicious and Blood on the Neck of the Cat left me feeling like I was standing in the middle of a crowd being overwhelmed by other people's conversations.

These two plays might be brilliant when they're performed, but I can't recommend them as reading material.

Received via NetGalley.

Angel Rideriel has survived the abuses he suffered when he first entered Hell and is now ruling the place with Heaven's mandate. Thanks to the...ardent efforts of his lover and the royal concubines, Rideriel is discovering it's good to be the king.

This is unashamed and exuberant porn. It's not my kink, but I can appreciate the enthusiasm and enjoy the way the characters are written.

I did miss seeing Badinel in this installment, but I understand he'll be back for book four.

Received via the author.

A former yakuza member who is fresh out of prison trips over a florist and finds himself falling in love.

If anyone in real life acted the way these characters do I'd probably run the other direction. However, this has such a super sweet hearts and flowers vibe to it that I can put up with the characters' nonsense with just a bit of an eye roll.

I wouldn't say I loved this book, but I'm rooting for the main characters and want to see their story continue.

Received via NetGalley.

The backstory of Shadout Mapes, a minor character from Dune.

I really should know by now to only read Dune books written by Frank Herbert. This title wasn't as bad as others, but the dialog is bad, the story makes the Fremen seem like fools, and the art looks like it came from a 1990s' animated TV series that was cancelled after three episodes.

Received via NetGalley.

The manager of an unnamed—but instantly recognizable—band starts having the disconcerting feeling reality is not behaving the way it's supposed to.

This science fiction novella has a lot of descriptions of the technical aspects of live rock concerts, and a dash of philosophical musings about the nature of reality and consciousness. You can read this and be left thinking, "Oh, okay. And?" or you can pull up a video of a live Queen performance on the biggest screen with the best sound system you can wrangle and be ensorcelled.

Received via NetGalley.

A princess desperate to hear the voice of her goddess is sent on a quest to gather relics needed to save her kingdom from an encroaching threat.

For nearly half of the book I would have called the pace sedate, but at about the forty percent mark I realized it was slowly building to increasing stakes. A little unusual to drag it out that long, but not unpleasant.

The world building is not overly complex, but it's well thought out. The characters could have used a touch more personality, but they're solid and, most importantly, not annoying.

I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes.

Received via NetGalley.

Exiled goblin king Badinel continues to write over-the-top angel porn.

I find myself charmed by the story of Badinel's life in the mortal realm, from his put-upon retainers to his losses at the hands of sock stealing demons.

The OTT angel porn is...OTT angel porn; however, if we read between the lines of Badinel's descriptions of angel/angel lovin', we can infer that he is both horny and desperate for true romantic companionship.

This isn't the type of book I normally read, but I do find myself wanting to see what else Badinel gets up to.

Exiled goblin king Badinel continues to write over-the-top angel porn.

I find myself charmed by the story of Badinel's life in the mortal realm, from his put-upon retainers to his losses at the hands of sock stealing demons.

The OTT angel porn is...OTT angel porn; however, if we read between the lines of Badinel's descriptions of angel/demon lovin', we can infer that he is both horny and desperate for true romantic companionship.

This isn't the type of book I normally read, but I do find myself wanting to see what else Badinel gets up to.

A farmer conscripted into the army is invited to join a prestigious cultivation sect after distinguishing himself.

The First Step draws heavily from Chinese xianxia novels, a genre that draws from Chinese mythology and involves martial artists whose training involves intense spiritual discipline. Tao Wong does a very good job of explaining the concepts of the genre without leaving the reader feeling overwhelmed.

This is another story of an underdog who triumphs over snobby rich kids via hard work and dedication. I never doubted that the hero, Long Wu Ying, would succeed, but I enjoyed reading about his journey and I look forward to reading his further adventures.

Received via NetGalley.

The Palleseen's conquest has been delayed by an ongoing siege of a city built on the back of a dead god. The cracks in the Pal army are showing, but so too are those in the uneasy alliance between the factions holding the city.

I continue to be not just impressed, but positively astounded by the Tyrant Philosophers series. Tchaikovsky's ability to balance the specific—the stories of individual characters, each book in the series—with the broad—the full story of the book, the overarching story being told in the series—is masterful.

I'm excited to see where the next book will go.

Received via NetGalley.

A teenager visiting her grandmother steps through a gate into a magical world and meets a talking snake.

That one sentence summary up there? That pretty much sums up the entire book. I know the book's only ~120 pages long, but the story's pretty thin even for the short page count.

The characters are no more well developed than the story. The protagonist is supposed to be eighteen, but she comes across like a polite eight-year-old.

I won't be on the lookout for volume two.

Received via NetGalley.

The subtitle, How Comedy Shaped American History, is a bit of a misnomer since the book really shows how comedy and American history shaped each other; I suppose that's not as catchy a title.

The book is composed of many short essays on a plethora of comedic content and its intersection with history, and is liberally illustrated with photos.

Be aware that this is not a book to make you laugh: it is a history book about the serious business of comedy. I would recommend it for people interested specifically in the history of comedy and who are interested in niche topics of American history.

Received via NetGalley.

A young woman desperate to save her brother cuts a dangerous deal with a man who trades in secrets.

Weavingshaw's greatest flaw is that it is so freaking slow. It did pick up eventually, but the first half often had me asking myself why I was still reading.

It is also incredibly wordy. It would have been fine if the word count was contributing to character development, atmosphere, etc., but it just felt like it was in service of page count.

Despite my criticisms, I did find the story intriguing and am curious enough to want to read book two.

Received via NetGalley.

It's particularly on-brand for a six hundred-odd page collection of Adrian Tchaikovsky's short stories to be *The Best* instead of *The Complete.*

The book is divided into six sections—two each of science fiction, fantasy, and weird stories—with a brief introduction from the author for each section. As I've come to expect from Tchaikovsky, the stories are brimming with ideas and imagination. Personal taste means my favorites were the fantasy stories, but there is not a single story I didn't enjoy reading.

Recommended both for Tchaikovsky fans and for those who are new to his work.

Received via NetGalley.

Christopher Cantwell takes the nameless people in red who are always the first to die on away missions and gives them names, backstories, hopes, fears, and dreams—and then kills them.

There's a cynicism running through this title that completely turned me off. I do tend to like the darker, morally complex Trek stories, but this one is so devoid of hope it should be called Star Trek: Grimdark.

Received via NetGalley.

The worldbuilding in this one is kind of cool, with humans and all sorts of monsters living side by side, but strip away the trappings and the story is garden-variety teenage drama.

I do love the art, which has a surprisingly warm color palate for a horror title.

Received via NetGalley.

If this is what The Gashlycrumb Tinies would have grown up to be, then it's a good thing they were all taken out early.

This book left me feeling annoyed because it is neither as inventive nor clever as the author apparently thinks it is.

Just so this review isn't all negative: I did get a chuckle from reading the author bio.

Received via NetGalley.

This book is a treasure! It shows the danger of making assumptions, the importance of standing up for yourself, and the bonds of friendship.

The wonderful story and the superb illustrations make this a great book for anyone who wants a picture book about a princess who doesn't need saving.

Received via NetGalley.