Tag: Only Human

Book Review – Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel

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Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel is the third and final novel of The Themis Files. For the past ten years, Rose, Vincent, and his daughter Eva have been stuck on an alien planet. Through Rose’s ingenuity, the alien invaders who made Themis and massacred 100 million people were persuaded to leave Earth, taking their creation with them. Unbeknownst to them, however, Rose and company were celebrating inside Themis when she was beamed away. Though initially prevented from leaving, Rose, Vincent, and Eva have managed to make their way back to Earth using Themis, where they hope they can finally return to living a normal life. Things are never quite that simple, however, and 10 years is a long time following so much destruction and so many lives lost. Humanity and their understanding of who they are in the universe has forever changed and must be reckoned with before peace can ever be attained again.

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WWW Wednesday – June 4, 2025

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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

I’m currently in the early chapters of Begotten: A Gothic Novel by Kate Cherrell, and so far I wish I liked it better. However, I’m still pretty early into it, and in no way do I think it’s bad, so I’m going to soldier on. I think the main hurdle I’m having trouble with, other than my poor sleep habits this week, is the fact that this is written as a Neo-Victorian novel, embracing both the setting and the style of novels of the period, and this book is certainly reminding me of Victorian novels I’ve read in the past in terms of style. It having been a while since I read any, I think the problem is more a deficiency on my part, one that I hope will change as I get further into this book. Style notwithstanding, I have found the pace to be a little slow too, but I’m hopeful that will pick up.

Recently Finished

Having skipped last week, I have a number of books to report here now. First and foremost, since my last post I finished reading Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel. Though I had the benefit of reading it shortly after the previous book, I’m a little dismayed to find that I liked this book the least of the whole trilogy. As usual, when it explores more concrete sci-fi ideas this book continues to be really intriguing, but I think my main problem is I don’t particularly care for most of the main cast, and more than ever this book felt focused on them rather than a bigger picture with a cast of recurring characters. The ending, though thematically on point, felt a little too convenient for me too. Still, I’m happy I finished this trilogy, and hopefully I can flesh out my full thoughts in a review soon.

I’m happy to announce that I finally let The Immortal Hulk languish no longer and properly finished the three volumes I had left over. The big one was Of Hell and Death, the tenth volume that concludes the series’s story line. I really loved it, despite having waited literal years to pick this volume up, though I wish all the same that I’d read these closer together. Volume 11, Apocrypha, was more a collection of tie-in comics with other series and a lot of content from old Hulk comics that helps flesh out background details a little better. It was fine, but definitely below par for this series for me. Lastly, Great Power is a collection of one-shot stories that could be slotted in between issues in the main series, and I’m happy I finished off with this volume, because I really enjoyed it; this volume was a great demonstration of how to write great supplemental chapters.

Reading Next

At the moment, I’m not sure what novel I would like to read next, though I have some ideas lined up; I’m just not ready to commit to any yet. In the meantime, I do have more visually oriented books from the library, the graphic novel The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman, which I can’t believe I still haven’t read, and An Illustrated History of Urban Legends by Adam Allsuch Boardman, a book which I suspect would have captivated me as a child. I’ll likely be giving these books a look fairly soon, especially the latter, as Maus will be more of a commitment.

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

WWW Wednesday – May 21, 2025

RyanLeave a 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

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.