Book Reviews: May 2021

It’s a good month of reading. I managed 5 books, and they’re all pretty interesting, so here goes:

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones:

Part A-to-Z reference book of the fantasy genre, part tongue-in-cheek travel guide, this book contains explanations of every trope and cliché you’ll find in fantasy (or encounter during a tour through Fantasyland) from ambush and assassin to wizard and zombie. It’s not exactly a book that you can sit down and read thought – it’s more of a reference book. It’s not as hilarious as I’d hoped, but it did give me a few good chuckles here and there, and it can be useful if you’re an aspiring fantasy writer and/or Dungeon Master. 3/5

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Restoration Britain & The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain by Ian Mortimer:

So I went from a fantasy guide to two history guides. What can I say? My feet are getting itchy again. I’ve enjoyed Ian Mortimer’s previous Time Traveller’s Guide books (to Medieval England and Elizabethan England) a great deal, and these two are no different. I’m more familiar with these eras – Restoration, thanks to Samuel Pepys’ diary, and Regency, thanks to the many Jane Austen adaptations (and both thanks to “The Supersizers”, the TV series with Sue Perkins and Giles Coren) – so the information is not exactly new, and there’s quite a lot of statistics that can be a bit dry, but the whole is still very readable and entertaining. I especially enjoy the various quips about Pepys’ diary in the Restoration guide (I’d forgotten what a dick Pepys was!) 4.5/5

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill:

After three guidebooks, I wanted something a little different – horror. I don’t read/watch much horror anymore, and if I do, I definitely prefer ghost/haunting to gore; however, I came across this on r/booksuggestion, and, seeing it as a new take on vampires (NOS4A2 is pronounced “Nosferatu”) and knowing that Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son, I thought I’d check it out. It follows a woman who can teleport to the locations of missing objects (I’m simplifying things a great deal here), and this causes her to cross paths with an immortal that feeds on the souls of children. Comparison to Stephen King is inevitable – the setting of New England and the theme of childhood horrors certainly remind me of It – but I think Joe Hill can stand on his own. The story is creepy but not too scary; it’s a quick read despite the length (nearly 700 pages); and the characters are all memorable, including the minor ones. My one complaint is the ending – not the climax, but the wrap-up afterward, which feels rushed. 4/5

Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories, edited by Doug Murano and D. Alexander Ward

NOS4A2 has put me in the mood for some more horror, but I’m a bit of a wimp and don’t want to be too scared, so I decided to pick up this short story anthology – if it gets too intense, I can always put it down. Now, the stories in this collection are not “horror” in the traditional sense; rather, they’re about the dark side of the human condition. However, I didn’t love any of the stories. Some have good ideas (“Picking Splinters from a Sex Slave”, “Cards for His Spokes, Coins for His Fare”, “When We All Meet at the Ofrenda”, “Hey Little Sister”) but the endings are disappointing or predictable, while the others are just plain disappointing. It does feature a Neil Gaiman story (“The Problem with Susan”) but it’s actually one of my least favorite of his so… yeah. It was a letdown. 2/5

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