Reviews
Review: Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Batman, Vol. 1: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I’m not the biggest fan of DC Comics, or even Batman (a few of the movies withstanding), but this story gripped me and held me so that I couldn’t put it down. The art is not entirely my cup of tea, but I really enjoyed some of the ways in which it was carried out — the book requires you to turn it sideways and upside down to follow the story at one point, which I thought reflected that part of the story perfectly. Snyder’s story is an exciting reimagining of the Batman mythos, and I can’t wait for the next volume to come out!
Review: Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu
Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Tezuka’s series about the life and times of Siddhartha Gautama, the prince that became Gautama Buddha, was originally published between 1972 and 1983. He had already created the iconic ‘big-eyes’ style of manga that is so familiar today, and achieved great success with the series Astro Boy. With this venture, he brought manga to a wider audience, encouraging more adults to enjoy the art form.
I really enjoyed the first volume in this series. There were plenty of familiar manga tropes, and it was hard to keep in mind that he was a pioneer in the field because of how influential his style has become. His writing and art style are iconic for a reason, and I enjoyed things like the small cameos he made (and pointed out!) in the story. His is a very interesting take on the story of Buddha, and it’s made me interested both in reading the rest of the series, as well as learning more about Gautama Buddha and Buddhism.
Review: Awkward Moments with Men
Awkward Moments with Men by Shannon Lee Miller
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I had no idea life was so hard for skinny, attractive girls with boyfriends that come from outrageously wealthy families! This book, despite being “ripe” (they mean rife) with “hoards” (they mean hordes) of proofreading errors, has really opened my eyes to the plight of educated, affluent white girls everywhere: navigating the “awkward” encounters they have with the educated, even more affluent white men that they desperately want to marry.
These vignettes may work in small doses, like a blog, but strung together, they very quickly begin to irritate.
Review: All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How Fifty Years of Video Games Conquered Pop Culture
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How Fifty Years of Video Games Conquered Pop Culture by Harold Goldberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have book hoarding issues. I bought this book over a year ago, and it’s been languishing on my shelf for over a year.* I picked it up to take a break between epic George R. R. Martin tomes, and I’m glad I did!
I love games and I’d say I consider myself a gamer, but I’m not as hardcore as a lot of dyed in the wool gamers. I’ve loved playing video games since my parents bought me a copy of Jumpman back in the day; I still spend an ungodly amount of time in front of a glowing screen.
I may be playing Jumpman here, or I may be hacking into the Pentagon. It’s hard to say.
Even so, I learned a lot about the history of video games reading this book. It’s by no means encyclopaedic, but there were games I hadn’t even heard of before described in the pages; I learned new things about the games I already knew and loved, too. Harold Goldberg has a lot of personal, hands-on experience in the gaming world, and his personal anecdotes make the text even more engaging. The only complaint that I have is that his writing style can be a bit jarring at times. His prose is engagingly conversational, then abruptly shifts to a formal tone peppered with obscure words in a heartbeat. The flow would have been improved immensely with a little consistency.
Overall, this was a quick, fun read. It rekindled my interest in creating video games, and I think I might take a few courses (or just read a few books!) on game writing and programming, as a result!
*That’s not true. It was on the floor under my computer desk; I tried to class it up with a little white lie.
Review: A Storm of Swords
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m a big fan of the HBO series, Game of Thrones. I wait with bated breath every week to see what happens to the people of Westeros and beyond, and I usually want to throw the remote through the television screen when it ends, furious that I have to wait another week to see more.
You’d think I would be a huge fan of the books too, right? Well, the first two left me kind of cold; I had a hard time getting past the long-winded descriptions of food, heraldry, family history, clothing… the list, like GRRM’s writing style, goes on and on. I was ready to give up on the series and let HBO run with it.
I’m glad I didn’t. A Storm of Swords is undoubtedly the best of the first three books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. The characters that I’ve come to love (Dany, Jon, Tyrion, Arya) go through some amazing growth, and the characters that I’ve come to hate (Cersei, Jaime) or at least dislike (Sansa) do too. By the end of this book, Jaime became one of my favourite characters, because his motivations and feelings were allowed to come to light.
There were a lot of unexpected plot twists in this one (The Red Wedding! I’m so glad no one spoiled that for me, so I won’t spoil it here), and even the plot twists that were not so unexpected (I won’t spoil even the most obvious turns here) were interesting and relevant to the plot. This one ends on such a cliffhanger that I almost threw my Kindle at the wall!
Now that the characters have been introduced and fleshed out, I hope the series continues in this vein. I don’t mind reading hundreds upon hundreds of pages of meal descriptions, as long as the events surrounding the meal continue to be this exciting!
