Month: May 2025

WWW Wednesday – May 21, 2025

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Last week I started reading Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel, the final novel in the Themis Files trilogy. It’s been a bit of a busy week with work, however, so I’m only 86 pages in at the moment, which isn’t terrible, but I feel like I should be a lot further along considering the transcript format of it. So far, starting this book so soon after the last one has definitely been a benefit, as I’ve been able to get right back into the story. However, this book’s approach is a little different; before, each transcript, report, etc., was told in more or less chronological order. This time, chapters are inter-cut between the main characters’ time spent on an alien planet and after they return 9 years later. It’s an interesting place to situate the reader so far, and I’m curious to see where Neuvel is going with it.

Recently Finished

Last week I read through Dark Entries by Ian Rankin, a John Constantine graphic novel. I was very surprised with how much I ended up liking this story, especially since I have very limited experience with Constantine as a character. As far as I can tell, it is a completely standalone story that may not even been canon to the Hellblazer comics, but despite this it characterizes Constantine and the people he’s thrust into a bizarre reality TV show with really well. More than once I have picked up a random one-off graphic novel and found something about the story and/or the characters to be lacking (We Stand on Guard comes to mind) despite the strength of the premise. It was a pleasant surprise that this book, picked up completely on a whim, was full of intriguing characters and some great twists and turns in the story. A subtle stylistic shift happens halfway through that I really enjoyed as well, corresponding with a narrative reveal.

Reading Next

I have decided that the next novel I’m going to read is Begotten: A Gothic Novel by Kate Cherrell, the author’s debut novel that is set to come out this week. My preorder is waiting for me to pick it up right now, in fact, I just need to go get it. I’ve enjoyed Dr. Cherrell’s work concerning the paranormal on the Loopholes podcast, and I’m excited to see her storytelling skills. Considering how much I have left of Only Human, I may not get to it until a couple weeks from now, depending on how my schedule works out. I’m also really determined to finally catch up on the volumes of The Immortal Hulk that I have left to read. I will likely try to push through those in quick succession, so that’ll make for a bit of a heavier week when the time comes.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

New Books & Novel Discoveries (April 2025)

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Somehow, I went absolutely ham with buying books last month. I don’t think it’s an egregiously high number, all things considered, but it was enough to make me procrastinate writing this post. I didn’t mean to indulge myself this much, I just wound up having too many opportunities to pick up new books at decent prices. I’m once again concerned I forgot one or two, but I do believe all of the are presented below.

Let’s see the damage, shall we? I’m seriously running out of places to put these things.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – May 14, 2025

Ryan1 Comment
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Nothing! I am between books at the moment.

Recently Finished

Yesterday I finished reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, the second Monk & Robot book. As it stands, I’ve read all current books in this series, and I assume there will be more as this was left fairly open-ended. I liked this book well enough, though admittedly a little less than the first one, which leaves things open for more but tells a fairly contained story, especially in comparison. This really feels like the conclusion of a middle section to a longer novel, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a potential third entry continues this trend of feeling like these novellas would perhaps work better as one book. I enjoy the more relaxed, introspective type of story this book is telling, but I find it a little strange how much the world doesn’t quite seem to make sense if you consider things a little more deeply. Still, it was an enjoyable character-driven jaunt, and I’d definitely read a third one.

Reading Next

As I said last week, I’m planning to read Dark Entries by Ian Rankin next, which is a John Constantine graphic novel, so that I can get my current library loans finished up. After that, I believe I will continue my current focus on completing series I’m in the middle of and finish up the Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel by starting Only Human, the third and final novel. Given the format of these books, I’m hoping I can get it done fairly quickly, assuming work doesn’t get too busy while I’m trying to get through it.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – May 7, 2025

Ryan1 Comment
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

On Monday, I started reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers, the second Monk & Robot book. Unfortunately, it’s been something of a busy week with work so far, so I haven’t had a lot of time to read much more than about 20 pages of it. Still, I love how much this is picking up pretty much right where the first book left off, flowing together pretty seamlessly. As much as I like this, it does however highlight my suspicion that the entire narrative these books will cover could have been one novel instead of two novellas. At least I have the personal benefit of reading them back to back. It’s not wasting any time either, as Sibling Dex and Mosscap have already made their way into a town as part of the latter’s quest to learn about humanity.

Recently Finished

At the end of last week I finished reading Uncanny: The Origins of Fear by Junji Ito, the manga author’s autobiography. After getting a good amount of background on Ito’s upbringing and experiences getting into the industry, he spent a few chapters reminiscing about specific stories and breaking down his thought and design processes, which provided especially interesting insight. I’ve encountered this before in the afterwords of some of his books, but I was struck by how sincere and humble Ito is as an author and artist, unafraid to admit when he feels he could have developed something better or had to cut corners, as well as highlighting his own perceived shortcomings more generally. It was also amusing that he admits to often having an idea for a certain horrific image first and then constructing a story to get him to it, which is an observation I’ve made in the past when reading his stuff; it was oddly vindicating. This book has renewed my interest in his manga a little, so I may pick up some of the collections I let pass me by.

Reading Next

I’m not quite sure what novel I will read next, but I have a graphic novel from the library that I will read soon so I’m not hanging onto it for too long: Dark Entries by Ian Rankin and Werther Dell’Edera, a graphic novel about John Constantine. I’ve not read many books featuring Constantine, but Rankin has been on my radar since my aunt told me he’s one of her favourite mystery authors. I found this book after having a random browse of the graphic novel section at the library and it caught my interest enough to take it out.

Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

Book Review – Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

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Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel is book two of three of The Themis Files. It has been ten years since Themis, a giant robot found in pieces around the world and painstakingly reassembled, was turned over to the United Nations, founding the Earth Defense Corps, which stands on guard to defend the world against extraterrestrial threats. Though Kara and Vincent, the only people known to be able to pilot Themis, are living well in their renowned positions, physicist and Themis expert Dr. Rose Franklin has struggled to come to terms with her existence, having mysteriously re-emerged five years younger than she was when she died during an explosion at Denver Airport. Her brilliant mind may not have the luxury of such a personal crisis, however, as a second, larger robot suddenly appears in London, intent on destroying Themis on sight. Unless she can figure out what these visitors want, the very future of humanity may be at risk.

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