In this blog, I briefly review books I've read.

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Been meaning to do this forever but never got around to it, to where I even had some reviews written up for this. Some will be present, others will be past and trying to remember stuff. Won't go into too much detail on each, since "briefly", but won't be super brief or whatever. Read a bunch of different genres so expect whatever.

 

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I'll start off with the book I most recently finished. Got this from the Salvation Army, since it seemed interesting. It also taught me they were doing weird things with their book prices making getting books from there a bit flaky.

The Last Days of Krypton


When people think superheroes, Superman is one that comes to mind for many. Created in 1938, while he was by no means the first superhero, he is certainly one of the most iconic. Like many things in comics, his home planet of Krypton has been subject to numerous changes and retcons. This take by Kevin J. Anderson is one of them.

Anderson's Krypton is anything but idealistic. The eleven member ruling council of Krypton, based out of the capitol of Kandor, has banned all space exploration and contact with space. Due to a would-be warlord in the past named Jax-Ur, science and culture are stagnant, the former subject to review and potential confiscation by one Commissioner Zod. One day, a scientist named Jor-El accidentally invents a pocket dimension he names the Phantom Zone. He accidentally traps himself and is only freed by an artist named Lara. His brother Zor-El, discovers the planet is at risk of the core collapsing. The council refuses to do anything.

Then one day, Kandor is stolen by a certain alien, throwing Kryptonian society into chaos. Zod, who survived since he was officiating Jor-El's wedding, is witness to this, and twists the situation and society's paralysis to his advantage. But is what he has planned for Krypton the right way to move forward?

Mm. Mixed feelings about this one. There was a lot that bothered me about it. One of the biggest things is the complete absence of Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl. This was at a point where she was in canon, and the book points out several times Zor-El has no childrens. But J'onn J'onzz, aka Martian Manhunter, gets a cameo. Used in a neat way, but still. Ursa and Non, Zod's famous cronies, are gone. In their place are Aethyr, who serves as a sort of Lady Macbeth type character, and Nam-Ek, who's basically an expy, who share names with some Smallville character. To be fair though, Aethyr has a more flesh-out personality. The book's pacing was off at times. Like I could tell things were slow-burn until Brainiac (dubbed as such by Zod) showed up. Speaking of Zod, he goes from interesting borderline anti-villain to insane dictator pretty fast; AFAIK modern Zod in comics is more of a complex character. His would-be collapses pretty quickly when it comes time, too. Then I'm not sure what the themes of the book were supposed to be. Zod is defeated when Jor-El has enough betrays him, capturing him in a force-field while the rebel forces led by his brother defeat his armies. A new council is formed, but with majority votes instead of unanimous. The old guard votes to abolish technology with its majority, and throws the Phantom Zone into Krypton's core, leading to its destruction. Like, what? The ending dealing with this after Zod's defeat also drags for a while.

Still some good to be said, though. Probably the most interesting was the dynamic between Jor-El and Zod. The latter for all his negative traits acknowledges the former's genius and wants him on his side, but while the former is initially excited he gradually starts to grow doubts and finds ways to subtly rebel. It's good seeing Lara as an actual character, same for Aethyr rather than them just being satellite.And it is an interesting take on the world of Krypton, with vivid descriptions and doing a lot to build its culture.

I've seen reviews of this that are all over the place. My opinion is in the middle, I'd say this one is simply so-so. Nothing bad that would make you want to throw it in the trash unless you're like mega caustic critic, but there's nothing amazing either.

 

[Juliko]

Ooh, a new blog from you! Cool! Putting on my watch list for sure!

 

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Ooh, a new blog from you! Cool! Putting on my watch list for sure!

It was partially inspired by you, after all. :x

 

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I picked up this book on Kobo digitally when I got the second in the series on a sale on a whim, the zeroth being free. A romance, I know, right? I'm just as surprised at myself. I actually forget the context/reason I got the second, but I think it was to explore same-sex romance themes in writing since that was when I was in the midst of exploring them in my own writing. Finished this one months ago, but only got around to the full review now.

The Duke Heist


Chloe Wynchester is from a family of adventurous orphans adopted by their (late) eccentric father Baron "Bean" Vanderbean. They never gained much notoriety (except negative) as nobles, like your reputation might be ruined if you so much as associated levels of others having disdain. Bean once bought a painting of the Shakespearean Puck and his crew from the Duke of Faircliffe, only to be asked for its return. When he declined, it was stolen, leaving a vase in its place. Never one to stand out, Chloe's a master of disguise and the perfect candidate to break in and recover it from the current Duke, Lawrence Gosling, replacing it with a forgery. He has a reputation of being a cold man. He finds himself accidentally kidnapped in midst of Chloe recovering the painting. But behind this man is an aspiring artist who becomes caught between doing what's best for his estate - marrying a woman who doesn't seem to be that interested - and following his heart and his dreams.

This was better than I expected. Slow to start, but it eventually finds its stride. That said, one thing I noticed was how insanely horny the book was at times. Like the Duke could be displeased or uncomfortable about this woman from an infamous family, then he thinks about what it'd be like to touch her. Or vice versa, there's this cold duke with icy eyes, what would it be like if he suddenly kissed her? Maybe it's a staple of romance, but it felt hilariously absurd at times.

The romance was kind of mediocre for it. There didn't seem to be much room for it to grow, just went from nothing to lust to love in that sense. Not to say that it wasn't there, like discovering the Duke's hidden depths played a role from Chloe's side. That said, the family and setting was fun. It was just the right type of over the top. I actually felt it would be better focused on the siblings going on adventures because there's a lot to work with there, but I guess that's what the zeroth is for. The friendship between Chloe and the Duke's would-be bride was also a fun dynamic, especially after she finds out who Chloe, who had previously infiltrated her friend circle, really is and still treats her the same. So far, there's three main books in the series each focusing on one of them finding love, with a fourth due out in September of this year. Might check out the third, may as well check out the second since I have it and heard it does way better.

All in all, there's probably better romances out there. But if you want to read this one, it's not terrible by any means. From what I gathered, Erica Ridley is prolific in the genre.

 

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Let's reach into the vault. Forget the context of getting this but it was on Kobo.


It's a story about a man called Ove (duh). Set in Sweden, it stars the eponymous widower in the present time as well as giving looks into his past. He's a bitter yet honorable old man, one from a bygone era. He has to deal with peppy new neighbors, annoying red tape, cats, guys in white shirts, and people driving in the residential area as he goes through what's left of his broken life, which might not be much if he has his way.

This book is well-regarded for a reason, but it's definitely not for everyone. Ove can be grating despite his depths (or sometimes going over into amusingness), and the stream of failed suicide attempts can ring too macabre. I found it hard to get through sometimes, needed to be in the right mood. That said, there's nothing really wrong with it outside of that. The characters are strong, it reads funny in several places, and you definitely can get attached to it all. Ove himself edged out to being likeable overall, and the supporting cast are good foils. Also that cat is definitely more of a dog in its behavior, and apparently one of the big conflicts is based on something that's just the opposite of how Sweden works.

Also hilariously it recently got an Americanization movie. It's now set in Pittsburgh. Ove is now Otto, Sonja is now Sonya, Volvo vs Saab is now Chevy vs Ford, and the Iranian Parvaneh is now the Mexican Marisol. It got mixed reviews compared to the original Swedish release which won or was nominated for several awards and did just over double the budget.

All in all, I'd say this is a good one, but again, not for everyone.

 

[Juliko]

I have a friend who really likes the works of Fredrik Backman and recommended them to me quite a bit. But the only one I'm familiar with is the short novella about an old man with Alzheimer's, that's it.

 

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I started this massive adventure in reading of over a million words many months back, but only now did I finish the second.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger


"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." These are the opening words of the first book of Stephen King's "modern" (this started in the 80s) fantasy epic, which is a compilation of five short stories. It's about the titular gunslinger, who goes unnamed until the very end, and his pursuit of a mysterious man sowing chaos across a post-apocalyptic old west-style wasteland as part of his goal: to reach the Dark Tower.

Short one since this was a while ago. It somehow reads less episodic than the second book despite explicitly being so. It's also a lot shorter compared to other books in the series. Paints an interesting setting and has an interesting overall narrative, especially with the gunslinger's interactions with a young boy named Jake he meets who seems to be from another world, even if it's something of an acid trip at times. It's nice on its own and a good benchmark of whether you'd like the rest, with one little asterisk I'll get to.


The Dark Tower: The Drawing of the Three


The second book in Stephen King's "modern" fantasy series. The titular gunslinger, Roland Deschain, awakes one night to having to fight off a horrific lobster-like monstrosity, getting critically wounded in the process. He manages to make his way to a mysterious door, where he finds he sees through the eyes of another man in another world (which is much like our own). This Eddie Dean, aka the Prisoner, who is an addict and drug smuggler, may be his only hope to survive. But they'll have to work together to make it through their predicaments. Later, he will find two more doors with two others his destiny will intertwine with, per the prophecy of the previous book: the Lady of Shadows and the Pusher.

This one, hm. It felt like one long setup or bit of worldbuilding for the series as a whole. It's more character focused, particularly between Roland and Eddie, the latter whose story is fleshed out a lot more and gets the most time to interact. It definitely felt like a different sort of narrative. Wasn't too sure about the second story, which was a ton of exposition followed by a quick resolution (and dealing with the consequences of said quick resolution), but the third which tied it together helped. Don't go looking for an adventure across strange lands here, though: it's all set in either the same beach on one side, or New York City (at different times) on the other.

All in all, this one is what it is. Heard varying opinions on this series, some say it's plodding early and finds its stride later, and others hate the last few books. I'm in the former camp thus far given this second one, but we'll see where the rest of the series goes.

 

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Slow progress, read this a couple weeks back but only got around to the review now.

- The Governess Gambit


This is the prequel to The Duke Heist and it shows a little too much. The Wynchester siblings and their father are approached by a woman from their former orphanage. They have a runaway! ...back to the orphanage. It turns out a young girl was sent to a boarding school by her parents which is using them as cheap labor. It falls upon Chloe to infiltrate the place and shut it down.

One of the problems with the book is that there's a bunch of points where it delves into setting up stuff for the first book too much. This was to the detriment of the main plot, which didn't get as much focus as a result. It's pretty disappointing. On the good side, it does establish Chloe had an admiration for the Duke before he went all cold, so that helps. It also shows their father before his passing. Again, some of this stuff distracts from the main plot, which resolves pretty quickly once the time comes. I've seen way worse, namely the first Millennium Trilogy, but I'll get to that when appropriate.

That said, I learned there's a sideseries that's hopefully closer to what this was supposed to be - adventures that don't necessarily involve romance. Either way, it's also a decent book you can get for free. That's the US Kobo link, but there's other places.

 

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You Can Run


Finished it a while ago and only wrote this up because the subject of eBooks came up with @Juliko

I got this because it was the first book in a then-new thriller series starring one Laurel Snow and I had some more money on the prepaid card. Little did I know that it was a romantic thriller. Rebecca Zanetti, in her or her publisher's words, writes about alpha males and the women that claim them. Laurel is the woman in question, and the man is Huck Rivers, a fish and wildlife officer. She is called by her mother to return to her hometown of Genesis Valley, Washington, because her uncle has been accused of being a serial killer. While there, she has to put up with a sheriff who doesn't take kindly to outsiders, the connection she's making with Huck, and Dr. Abigail Caine, a cunning and abrasive witness.

Okay, so this book certainly gets off to a rough start. The main character went to college when she was like 11. She has special heterochromic eyes and auburn hair. She now works as an FBI profiler and is just trying to find her place in life. Seems like it has Mary Sue written all over it, right? Huck is a bit better, a former sniper who has been burned by government and love alike. Kind of a closed-off guy. There is his very unique dog, however. And both get very detailed descriptions.

Well, as long as you can get past that, the book is surprisingly decent? It's a good solid suspense/mystery that kept me guessing the whole way. The twist wasn't obvious. That said, the focus is definitely on the characters over the mystery, whether that's good or not to you is subjective. Backstories aside, the characters were fine. There's a bit of saucy stuff, but it doesn't really overstay its welcome and the romance is surprisingly well-handled. A big thing is that though there's mutual attraction, a relationship doesn't actually start. Both have issues to work through.

Liked this one overall, and will probably read the next ones in line as I go. But yeah, that backstory is just hilariously absurd to where I swear it was parody, but it doesn't seem to be.

 

[Juliko]

Oh, I remember you mentioning the character's Mary Sue-esque design and backstory!

 

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Sea of Tranquility


Goodreads' winner of science fiction novel of the year of 2022. I think I got it because it was recommended for being from a Canadian author?

It's hard to talk about this without going into spoiler territory. This book is set across four time periods. A man exiled from his family to Canada in 1912, a woman in 2020 investigating the disappearance of her friend (and character in a previous novel), a worldwide book tour by a novelist in 2203, and an aimless man from the moon colonies in 2401. The book covers the lives of the first three characters and each having a strange experience before going into the fourth: the Time Institute has discovered that these unrelated people having a common experience where they seemed to be transported elsewhere might be proof that all of reality is a simulation. It takes like half the book for this to get going, to the 2401 section specifically. From there, the book covers the character's induction and foray into time travel to investigate.

It's a weird book in style and format. The 2203 sections in particular stand out for being all one chapter, and the 2401 sections are in first person. The book has an element of relevance to the real world, as it's framed around multiple pandemics (the Spanish Flu, COVID-19, and a fictional SARS variant) as well as the novelist in 2203 having written about one. It goes into a lot of things, like existence and the ethics of time travel and problems with monopolizing it. The plot is intentionally disjointed, intending to build up a mystery. But it moves a bit too fast in the 2401 portion which is the main meat. In particular, the book's text talks up how the protagonist there must resist the urge to alter time, then he does so nearly instantly. Furthermore, the Time Institute bothered me. They're this authoritarian government body that strictly controls time travel, going as far to strand violators in time and frame them for murder. Except it turns out they're incompetent and don't know of another institute. The worldbuilding was interesting and realistic aside, but that part stuck out as odd. The characters are just sort of there, the consequence of the book's nature. The big one is the 2401 ones, and they get just enough. That said, I felt one part came out of nowhere at the very end. It was hinted at, but never really got the proper development. Still, it ultimately ends with a satisfying resolution.

The story is really more of a backdrop for the philosophical aspects of the book, however. The connections we make with others, what we can do, and so on. That's really more what it's about. There's bound to be confusion and shenanigans when it comes to time travel stories, but this is definitely one of the better-handled ones in that regard. I think I like most was the conclusion the protagonist reaches, which may resolve some of my criticisms about the Time Institute. He's ultimately feels, so what if they're in a simulation? Not as many people would care as they seem to think. Their views were specifically mentioned as "inhuman", and a lot of humanity is on display elsewhere.

In conclusion, I think this a solid book in spite of its flaws. It goes a lot deeper with its themes than other books, and they carry the whole thing. Don't go into this one expecting a light read, is what I'm saying here.

 

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Full Metal Panic! Volume 1


I always had an interest in this series because of its appearance in Super Robot Wars. I found they were cheapest to buy in eBook form from J-Novel directly, so I did so on a whim. Finished it in record time. This is one of the best-selling light novel series of all time, the twelfth ever according to Wikipedia[citation needed].

FMP is half military science fiction and half romantic comedy, described as its author as an action-adventure B-movie. The main characters are Kaname Chidori, a normal if fiery high school girl who is one of the Whispered - people born with knowledge of black technology locked away in the reccesses of their mind - that makes her a target for terrorists and governments. The other is Sergant Sousuke Sagara, a young agent for independent peacekeeping organization Mithril, a model soldier who has never known anything resembling normal social interactions. Sousuke is enrolled in Kaname's high school to protect her under the belief that she may be a target for kidnapping. What follows is hilarity, teenage awkwardness, mecha and military action, and surprisingly heartwarming stuff.

This is a VERY anime-esque series, as you might expect. Sousuke gets mistaken for being a creep and/or pervert more than once, one of Sousuke's comrades is pervy (although nothing physical), Kaname is pretty much a model tsundere, characters can be pretty exaggerated (but still relatable), and so on. But! It's a very interesting world, and the characters manage to be endearing in spite of the nature. At least for me. One thing I appreciate about Kaname is that she's absolutely not a damsel-in-distress. Sousuke may be there to protect her, but she manages to save him multiple times over the course of the book with her fiery determination, simple aid, and secret knowledge. She also puts up a fight against her captors, as much as a high schooler can against terrorists and government agents anyway, and at the very least isn't afraid to let them know exactly what she thinks of them. It's a breath of fresh air over similar dynamics. Sousuke is also amazingly dorky. You could probably make a case for him being on the autism spectrum. Most of it is played up for absurdist comedy, but it does get into the more exploratory category as he starts to develop feelings he doesn't quite understand. Like Kaname might get mad at him, and he'll feel bad but be unsure why. The supporting characters are also great. I'm a big fan of Melissa Mao, Sousuke's tough and strict but easygoing and protective squad leader. She gets more characterization in just this one book than I've seen in SRW games. Kurz Weber, the other member of his squad, might be more polarizing, but he pretty much always gets his when he goes too far with his jokes. The antagonist is especially vile and pretty hammy too.

I was prepared for anything going into this, but it certainly exceeded my expectations. Probably my biggest problem stems from the translation, actually: Japanese characters like Kaname and Sousuke have their last name given first, whereas others go in western order. Bit of a confusing design choice. The other is weird: like Kaname is shown/depicted with blue hair on the cover and in the anime, but she's described with black in the first novel at least. If you don't mind a few heavy anime tropes, I'd highly recommend checking this one out even if you don't like military/mecha, the more slice-of-lifey stuff makes up for it (there are spinoffs that just focus on that but they don't show Sousuke in his element at all and exaggerate his lack of social skills from what I understand). Pretty cheap anyway, $7 USD on J-Novel, and I think they have decently sized free previews to boot.

Also amusingly, it was announced like a week ago a sequel series is being written focusing on Sousuke and Kaname in their adult years. So interesting timing on starting this

 

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Been a while. Haven't been reading as much as I wanted, or at least reporting, but.


The third book in the insanely long Dark Tower epic written by Stephen King. It's really more like two novels in one 173,489 word doorstopper.

The first part is like a continuation of the second book. When Roland traveled to New York through different time periods, one of the bodies he saw through was a psychopath. Taking control of this man's body to kill him, he saved Jake Chambers, his companion from the first book. Except Jake entered Roland's world when he died, but he didn't die so...he created a time paradox, his mind caught between these two realities. Jake is also suffering in his life, feeling as if he must find a way back to...wherever this was.

In the second part, the now four and quickly five piece ka-tet travels through the remains of Roland's world, the world that has moved on. They come to an old city enveloped in an eternal war between two factions, the Grays and the Pubes. Jake is quickly captured by one of the former. But there may be more to the city than meets the eye. Like, why is there a ZZ Top Beat playing? Why do Roland's companions know things about the world they logically shouldn't? And what is this ghost that the Pubes speak of? A couple of childrens' books that Jake brought over may prove to be one of the keys.

This was about what I expected from the previous two books. The first part dragged a little, really. There were a lot of interesting parts, like the revelation Jake encountered Eddie when he was young, or the whole scene with Jake being drawn into the world. But the second part was where it started to find its stride, finally getting to exploring the mysterious world Roland lived in. The characters' bonds really started to come together. The actual threat in the city, an insane riddle-obsessed AI in a train, was hilarious and chilling. It left a lot of hooks and ended on a cliffhanger in the truest sense, although I do have to call BS on one of the hooks I saw. Namely, the leader of the Grays that kidnap Jake is shot by him when Roland comes to rescue him. Somehow, he survives despite getting hit in the head. Not unreasonable, but then Roland somehow doesn't notice he's actually dead. Also the ending had one of the funniest things I've read, where Roland goes on a vulgar tirade against the train, levying hypothetical insults in response to being called rude and saying he could be much ruder. Don't really have much to say about it. I did hear that about the halfway point of the series is a major turning point where some either hate or think it's where it really takes off. We'll see.

It was a long one. And the books only get longer from here, save for the sixth which is closest to II in length. But I'm in this for the long haul since I bought that big eBook.

Also I learned that one of the childrens' books featured in the book was defictionalized and is...kind of as creepy as it is in the book itself. It's called Charlie the Choo-Choo. The characters in the book don't trust his face and make a point of saying it looks like the kids on him are screaming to be let off. It's not hard to see it.

Now hopefully I can get in motion for more books. Hopefully some physical ones too.

 

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Okay. Let's try to read more. Try being the operative word.


Silence of the Lambs is considered a landmark release in American cinema due to the portrayal of cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter by Anthony Hopkins. The book it was adapted from is lesser known but is still considered to be high-quality. I read it, it was really good, not for the faint of heart but I enjoyed it. It was so long ago that I forget most of it. But I'm here to talk about the more obscure prequel novel.

Red Dragon is sort of an anamoly to me. It's okay, but it's certainly of less quality than Silence of the Lambs. Will Graham felt like a less interesting lead than Clarisse Starling to me. He is a bitter retired formed FBI agent, which I suppose makes more sense than a rookie being given the task of tracking a deranged serial killer. He is professional and by-the-book with a family consisting of a wife and his child. I suppose untapped potential are the words I'd used for him. There are some interesting bits, like how he fears he's not too different from the psychopaths he pursues, but this isn't touched upon enough. Apparently, parts of his personality were based off FBI agent John E. Douglas who had worked on the case that inspired the killer.

Speaking of, it can't be said that Thomas Harris doesn't know how to write a chillingly insane serial killer. The Tooth Fairy, or the Great Red Dragon as he calls himself, slaughters entire families on nights of the full moon under the thrall of another personality inspired by his abusive grandmother, who he was sent to live with after his mother abandoned him after birth due to deformed lips. The chapters from his perspective as he grappled with this murderous persona and his were certainly unsettling. That said, I felt the book spent too much time going into his backstory. There were enough chapters from his perspective that he almost took over the main character role. He was loosely inspired by Dennis "BTK" Rader.

It might also surprise you to learn that Hannibal Lecter plays only a bit role here, to where he could've been cut from the novel and little would have changed. While he is consulted early on, he by contrast refuses to help Graham and instead tries to send the killer some coded aid while occasionally mocking Graham. Not really a criticism, just an interesting contrast to his huge presence in Silence of the Lambs. Not much is explored between the two, except showing some evident disdain. Considering Graham was the one who caught Lecter, felt it was a missed opportunity. The other supporting characters did their job well. Freddy Lounds, a sleazy tabloid reporter chief among them. He is brutally killed off in a way that garners pity no matter how much of a scumbag he is, and now I know what that one old South Park episode was referencing, back when I used to watch it.. Several characters who would later go on to appear in Silence of the Lambs also show up here.

The plot's pacing was a bit off. It starts out okay, builds up, sort of stalls because of those backstory chapters, then picks up when it shows the killer falling in love with a blind coworker. He's torn between his feelings for her and his other half wanting to kill her for indecency. Graham remains a little behind the curve while these play out, while his marriage is shown to be uneasy because of the work he's doing. Then it ends with a massive diabolos ex machina - not as bad as Hannibal's ending which was so infamous it helped kill the series and got changed for the theatrical release, but still out of nowhere. Then the last chapter ends with an explanation of how that happened, ambiguity that only gets partially answered in Silence of the Lambs, and philosophical thoughts.

All in all, while I feel that the good in Red Dragon outweighs the bad, it wasn't as well polished as Silence of the Lambs was. And it's still leagues over Hannibal and Hannibal Rising. Certainly not a waste of time, but this is one example of adaptations certainly being better than the source: Manhunter was the first and in modern times has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes (just between Silence of the Lambs' 95%) though takes some liberties, the 2002 Red Dragon follows the source closer but changes the ending to be happier (lower rated but not bad), and the critically acclaimed TV series Hannibal more or less serves as a prequel that adapts the plot of this in the final season. It also notably greatly expands upon the relationship between Lecter and Graham.

 

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Here has to be a record for overdue reading.



When I was like 10 and in grade 5, my teacher told me we would be reading a book called Twelve Angry Men in grade 11. I was like, cool, and for some reason it stuck with me. Come grade 11, I didn't read it. Maybe it was because I was in advanced English. I only put halfhearted effort into resolving that until I got Kobo, whereupon I found it there. But I didn't pull until a sale showed, or some sort of reduced price anyway. It finally happened recently, so I bought and read it.

The play (as I found out it is, not a novel) begins at the end of deliberations of a homicide trial, in which the twelve gentlemen of the jury are sent to decide the verdict and ask the question is there room for reasonable doubt in the case? It is a hot summer day, the fan doesn't work, and the facts seem clear enough that many just want to get on with it and get out. Eleven men vote guilty, but one, juror number 8, believes that they shouldn't be too hasty. While he isn't entirely convinced the defendent is not guilty, there are too many things about the case that bother him. Can he convince his peers to change their minds? It has seen many adaptions over the years, most famously the 1957 and 1997 films.

One thing that I found interesting was the lack of interaction between Jurors Eight and Nine, considering that they end up the only ones named in some of the adaptations; the final scene of the film where they learn each others' names does not happen in the play. Indeed, the jurors get equal screentime, and it's not just Eight who does the convincing along the way. They all have their reasons for supporting the guilty verdict, and many go along with not guilty be it for becoming convinced or just not caring anymore. Many of their backstories or little intricacies about them get revealed along the way. It's made clear throughout that this isn't about whether or not they believe that the teenaged defendant killed his own father, but whether there is reasonable doubt. It's an interesting contrast to many other legal dramas where the truth is most important.

I don't really have much else to say about this. It's a nice little play, and glad that I finally got around to reading it even if it wasn't exactly what I expected.

 

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Time for a lightning round!

- Who Censored Roger Rabbit?

I originally got Kobo to read this book. If you're expecting the zaniness and family friendliness of the Disney animated version, well, this one is a lot darker. The characters are a lot more jerkish, there's themes like drugs and nudity, and there are even demons. Not that it's a bad thing. Instead of animation, it's based around comics, so things like Haggar the Horrible get mentioned. It's also explicitly framed as a mystery.

Interestingly it's also explicitly an alternate canon, since it has two sequels closer to the film in tone and canon (and this is passed off as a dream, as well as the other sequel in the second). It's different. Check it out if you're interested.

- Ready Player One

In a world ruled by an evil megacorp, virtual reality has become a major part of life. The innovator of it dies, and puts forth a contest influenced by his love of all things 80s pop culture to determine the heir. The characters' exploits sometimes border on the absurd, like a single man infiltration of the evil corporation. It sometimes feels like a referencefest at times, or shallow at others. But it is well researched and interesting in getting the vibe of that era.

Most people's opinion is that this book didn't age well. It's not bad for what it is, though. Go in not expecting anything resembling high literature, and you might just have a fun time. Also, apparently, stay the hell away from the sequel.

- The Past is Never

Southern gothic fiction I picked up on a sale. This features two separate narratives: one detailing the history of the quarry and town, and another covering Bert's quest to find the truth. But sometimes it's costly to pursue and better to leave it where it lies...

Hm. Been forever since I read this, so I don't remember too much. I liked the dual narration style. I didn't see part of the twist at the end coming, but part of it I did. It does a good job with setting and characters. But I liked it, much as a lot of it didn't stick. I'd recommend it if you like or are interested in the genre.

- Final Fantasy: Memory of Heroes

This book serves as a retelling of the stories of Final Fantasy 1-3. It is 224 pages long. Even for plots that are as simple as they are, that's not nearly enough time to go over the plots of each game. A lot gets cut and abridged as a result. What plot is covered moves at breakneck speed. It doesn't do a lot to expand on anything. The characters are laughably shallow. And it has an irritating fascination with making the girl the White Mage, even when it doesn't fit like with Refia. I stopped reading at the FF3 part in disgust over that. Maybe one of the only books I've done that for.

Can't really recommend this one. There's actually a FF2 novelization in Japan that hasn't been translated yet. Which also cuts some stuff, but expands on other things (most notably, the Emperor's name which became canon). Hopefully it eventually comes out.