How I Do Reviews - and a Quick Roundup
Quick look at short fiction and comics for the week
So, first of all I didn’t read any full-length books this week. I’m reading a bunch of older National Geographics and other non-fiction. I do have a roundup at the bottom of this post.
In lieu of a full review and given I’m hoping to get new people here, I’m going to talk a bit about how I do reviews. (Also, the picture above is of my mascot, Prism. You might see some more of her).
My Review Process and Philosophy
First of all, no, I don’t post reviews on Amazon. Why? Because it’s actually a violation of the terms of service. One people make all the time, but Amazon does not allow people to review “competing” items. I don’t consider other authors to be my competition. They do. And if they don’t like a review…
I only post reviews here, on my own site, although I might post a “what I’m reading” to social media.
I don’t give star ratings. Or numbers. Or letter grades. Star ratings have their uses, but as I’m not posting on a review aggregate site, their use to my readers is minimal.
Instead, works get one of three levels:
Recommended. This means I think the work is so good everyone should read it. I do not give this out lightly! I think very few books reach this level.
Recommended for. This means a good to solid book that will appeal to a certain audience. And I give my opinion on what that audience is. Examples might be “Recommended for hard science fiction fans” or “Recommended for soppy romance junkies.” No judgment!
Not recommended. Ouch. Okay, usually if I can’t recommend a book, I don’t review it. Not recommended is reserved for situations when I genuinely feel “Man, I read this so you don’t have to.” It typically means a book that is extremely and deeply problematic (example, the villain is a usurious moneylender named Benedict who turns out to be a disguised alien lizard and I wish I was making that up) rather than just not very good.
So, the vast majority of books will get “recommended for.” Bear in mind this, and everything in these reviews, is my personal opinion. It’s not objective. I may think something is fantastic and everyone should read it…and you might not be able to get through the first chapter. I’m not some arbiter of what’s good. In fact, I used to find a particular Washington Post movie reviewer extremely helpful. I would go watch all the movies he hated…our tastes were that different. I’m also not into yucking somebody’s yum. If I didn’t like something you loved, sorry, and please put it down to different tastes.
I do not charge authors for reviews. I do not pay for reviews. If you want to support me, please subscribe. I am currently not accepting review copies as I already have more than enough to read!
Reading Roundup 10/23/2023
Short Fiction
“A Dance of Swords” by J.C. Kang – a freebie associated with the author’s fantasy series Legends of Tivara. Solid swords and sorcery/wuxia about a princess with magic and swords. I liked it, but it didn’t stand quite enough alone and I was slightly confused. Recommended for sword and sorcery addicts. I suspect the full book is better. The author suggests starting the series with Songs of Insurrection.
“A Hundred Hundred Daisies” by Nancy Kress – included in the Discon III con book. Kress is a fine author and this story, from the 2019 climate fiction anthology (side note, people. Anthology: Book of short stories by multiple authors. Collection: Book of short stories by one author. I almost put it as a collection because of the people who can’t keep this straight) Loosed Upon the World. I enjoyed this story, which is about people sabotaging a pipeline. No, it’s not oil… An interesting read, if quite dystopian. Recommended for climate fiction lovers.
Comics
Avengers: Rage of Ultron – a fairly standard “Big Marvel Event” but one which actually manages to deal in an interesting way with themes of parenthood and humanity. Are AIs human? Vision is not a toaster. It’s a little incoherent in places, but the creators seem to understand the theme they’re working in. It’s the 2023 Avengers annual, so thicker than a pamphlet, not quite a graphic novel, and I think they may have given it too many pages, alas. But not a bad effort. Recommended for Avengers completists.
Spider-Man: The Lost Hunt J.D. deMetteis and var. artists. This is actually an interesting demonstration of how comics can show PTSD and its various manifestations. It’s about what’s going on with Peter during the part of the Clone Saga where Peter dies, comes back without his powers, and hands the title to Ben Reilly. It also retcons the spider spirit permanently, which I’m not a fan of. But it’s a decent storyline (five pamphlet issues) with some very interesting art, especially from Marguerite Sauvage in issue four. Recommended for everyone who’s always wondered what happened but also for the exploration of trauma.