Tag: Sensor

WWW Wednesday – August 25, 2021

Ryan2 Comments
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

Axiom's EndOver the weekend I started reading Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis. I’ve been slacking on reading quotas once again, so unfortunately I’m only 76 pages in right now. It’s not a pitiful amount of progress, but I could’ve gotten further. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying this book a lot. The protagonist is a young woman named Cora, whose father runs a website that notoriously leaks government documents, particularly related to aliens. He’s an absentee father, but the spotlight shines on Cora and her family nonetheless. Ellis has done a great job of making the anxiety of Cora’s life palpable, almost making me feel it second-hand. The escalating extraterrestrial events on top of that have been exciting too, so I’m eager to see what happens next.

No progress made on Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson. Whoops 👻

Recently Finished

SensorOver the weekend I read through Sensor by Junji Ito, which I also managed to post a review of on Monday. Unfortunately, I didn’t like this book very much. It wasn’t without its interesting ideas, and the art was great as always, but the story just lacked a solid direction. It was also constantly repeating itself, since each chapter was originally published serially. For what it’s worth, though, the first chapter functions as a pretty good little cosmic horror story. It could almost work as a short in a collection. While he may not have lost his touch as an illustrator, it seems to me that his more recent stuff just isn’t as good as what he used to produce, which is too bad, because I know how brilliant of a horror author he can be.

Reading Next

I’m not really sure what I’ll read next. No comics come to mind and I’ve only just gotten started with Axiom’s End. In the next week or so I’ll hopefully have a better idea of what future reading will look like.

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

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Comic Book Review – Sensor by Junji Ito

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Sensor

Sensor by Junji Ito is the latest horror manga by the author to be published in English by VIZ media. A young woman named Kyoko Byakuya hikes at the foot of Mount Sengoku, unsure as to why she is there. Despite the mountain’s volcano being inactive, she stumbles across an area covered in strange volcanic glass fibres that look uncannily like golden hairs. Soon after she is met by a man who says he’s been waiting for her, leading her to a village covered in these golden fibres. Referred to as “the amagami”, these gold strands allow the people of the village to psychically communicate with each other and commune with the far reaches of outer space. Despite this oddity, the people seem harmless enough, inviting her to star-gaze with them before she departs. If only the appearance of mysterious lights in the sky weren’t a portents of things to come.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – August 18, 2021

Ryan5 Comments
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’ve not made any progress on Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson since last week. I’m also between books at the moment. Things have been a bit busy. Essentially, I’ve started training for a freelance remote job, on top of my full time one, which has and (hopefully) will be taking up more of my time, so my reading progress will likely slow as I rearrange my priorities.

Recently Finished

Hellboy The God MachineOver the weekend I finished reading Hellboy: The God Machine by Thomas Sniegoski, and even managed a pretty quick turn-around on the review and got it up on Monday afternoon. Go me! This book has wound up being my favourite among the Hellboy spin-off, mostly non-canon novels, though ultimately I only rated it a little higher than average. The book’s focus on the villainous characters really helped it to stand out among the pack, making them both monstrous and sympathetic. A few of them were a little too one-dimensional for me by the end, but their leader and a couple others stood out well. The climactic showdown was conceptually fairly rote, but in the execution managed to be something quite memorable and exciting too.

Reading Next

Axiom's EndI meant to have started reading Sensor by Junji Ito already, but like I said I’ve been busy, so I haven’t had a chance to just yet. It isn’t very long, so hopefully I can have it read and reviewed by next week. I also plan to start reading Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis. I’ve followed the author’s video work on and off for years now and even preordered this book for its release last year, but sadly I let it languish instead of reading it. Now, the sequel is coming out soon, so I’d better actually read this. Getting this done will keep me on top of the reading challenge books I put together for a Summer TBR too.

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

WWW Wednesday – August 11, 2021

Ryan4 Comments
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

Hellboy The God MachineI really wanted to have finished Hellboy: The God Machine by Thomas Sniegoski by now, but you know how inconsistent I can be with those goals. I’ve wavered a little on the reading quotas this past week, so I’m blaming it on that. I should reassert those to get back on track. Regardless, I’m happy to report that there really is something to this Hellboy novel, compared to the others. The villains are really intriguing, and it’s made the wise choice of giving our titular, big red hero a more diminished role. It’s also taking a lot of inspiration from the real-world story of John Murray Spear and the Association of Electricizers, which involved the construction of “The New Motor,” a supposed mechanical messiah. It’s a wild story and it’s been fun to see how that idea has been morphed into something more unnerving and apocalyptic.

I also made a little progress on Hope is the Thing with Feathers: The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson last night, reading through the first section of her second series of poems. Sometimes I absorb very little while reading, it varies from poem to poem. Some of it is lovely, but it also makes me feel dumb. I’m thinking poetry like this may not be for me.

Recently Finished

Immortal Hulk The Keeper of the DoorOver the weekend I read through The Immortal Hulk: The Keeper of the Door by Al Ewing et al, the eighth volume in the series. Once again I am reminded of how much I love this series, and I can’t believe I haven’t cracked open a volume since 2020. One of these days I’m going to have to read through them all over a shorter period of time. There was a great blend of physical and psychological horror in this book, as The Leader actively puts his plans in motion. A lot is taking place within mindscapes, not reality, but I really have to wonder about the fate of some of the characters. I’m surprised by how graphic some of the visuals were in this volume too. I hope the next volume comes out soon, if it hasn’t already.

Reading Next

SensorIn a surprise twist, as I forgot that it was coming out soon, I received my copy of Sensor by Junji Ito last week, the newest translated book by the horror manga author. So I’m definitely going to start reading this really soon. My expectations have been tempered the more of his stories I’ve read, but I’m nevertheless excited by the fact that I know very little about this book. It seems to be a singular story too, which I typically prefer. He does better work when he gives an idea room to grow.

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