Jan 21, 2025
From Our TBR Pile Manga & Light Novels

Review BLAME! — Master Edition, Volume 2 by Tsutomu Nihei

Woman sitting on destroyed robot BLAME! Master Edition Volume 2
By: Tsutomu Nihei
Illustrator: Tsutomu Nihei
Translator: Melissa Tanaka
Release Date: December 13, 2016
Publisher: Vertical Comics
Series: BLAME!
Rating:


After several years, I’ve finally picked up the second volume of a series I quite enjoyed: BLAME! This is a manga series by Tsutomu Nihei, whose other manga series include fan favorites such as Knights of Sidonia, Aposimz ,and Kaina of the Great Snow Sea, among others. Science fiction rules the day here, with some toes dipped into horror elements.

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Jan 07, 2025
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Guardian of Fukushima by Fabien Grolleau

Guardian of Fukushima
By: Fabien Grolleau
Release Date: February 18, 2021 (original French); January 15, 2023 (English Edition)
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Rating:


If you haven’t delved into French graphic novels and manga-styled graphic works, consider this your formal invitation to give them a try. Guardian of Fukushima by Fabien Grolleau is a French graphic novel done in the style of a manga. This nonfiction work explores the life of Naoto, a real person from Fukushima who survived the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear plant leak in 2015.

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Feb 13, 2024
From Our TBR Pile

Review — We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets (Translated by Emma Rault)

City landscape against a pink sky We Had to Remove This Post
By: Hanna Bervoets
Translator: Emma Rault
Release Date: March 6, 2021
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Rating:


The novella We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Bervoets took BookTube and BookTok by storm. It was all anyone talked about for months and every library in the general vicinity had a hold list a mile long. This was of little wonder; Dutch author Hanna Bervoets holds much acclaim, including being granted the Frans Kellendonk Prize and having her works adapted for film and TV.

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Nov 11, 2023
Uncategorized

Review — Confession by Martín Kohan

Confessions
By: Martín Kohan
Translator: Daniel Hahn
Release Date: 2020
Publisher: Charco Press
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Martín Kohan’s novel Confession is a look into Argentina’s past. More specifically, it is a look into the life of Mirta Lopez from the time she’s a young girl to her years as an elderly grandmother. These are broken into three main sections of the novel, each one centered on Mirta’s teenage, adult, and twilight years, respectively.

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Jul 03, 2023
New & Upcoming Releases

Review — Of Cattle and Men by Ana Paula Maia

Of Cattle and Men
By: Ana Paula Maia
Translator: Zoe Perry
Release Date: April 11, 2023
Publisher: Charco Press
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


[drocap type=secondary] Award-winning author Ana Paula Maia’s novella Of Cattle and Men, translated from the original Portuguese by Zoe Perry, is an engrossing read that’s impossible to put down. Published in English in April 2023, the novella brings together themes of isolation, death, and slaughter into a slim volume that lingers long after the last page.[/dropcap]

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Apr 18, 2023
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Woman in a tattered dress floating near rooftops with birds flying in an eerie green sky. Hex
By: Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Series: Robert Grim #1
Rating:


Horror author Thomas Olde Heuvelt flexes his abilities to leave readers shaking in terror in his latest novel, Hex. Traditional hauntings, the reverberations of the US’s witch trials, and an exploration of the darker aspects of humanity are blended beautifully into a novel that is simultaneously unputdownable and will have you sleeping with all the lights on. Like many books that rise above their brethren, Hex is much more than the sum of its parts.

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Mar 21, 2023
From Our TBR Pile Uncategorized

Review — The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

The Decagon House Murders
By: Yukito Ayatsuji
Translator: Ho-Ling Wong
Release Date: December 3, 2020
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Rating:


Author Yukito Ayatsuji is known for supporting a return to classic detective fiction—the sort of fare produced by the likes of Christie and Doyle—and his novel The Decagon House Murders is no exception. In fact, this novel is credited with beginning the shinhonkaku movement, a literary movement in Japan to restore Golden Age mystery novel plotting and style, while at the same time, influencing anime as well.

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Dec 29, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — The Missing Word by Concita De Gregorio

Two fall leaves against a pink background with cracks running through the picture, making it look like a broken window The Missing Word
By: Concita De Gregorio
Release Date: July 5,2022
Publisher: Europa Editions
Rating:


One of the best explorations of grief, possibly ever written, is Concita De Gregorio’s The Missing Word. Originally written in Italian and translated into English by the fantastic Clarissa Botsford, The Missing Word is the true story of a woman whose two young daughters disappear, never to be seen again. It is a story of desperation and grief, told with all the urgency of a psychological thriller. It is a story that will rip your whole soul right out of your chest, laying everything bare for all to see. And it is a story that I cannot recommend enough.

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Jul 28, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun and Translated by Janet Hong

Silhouette of a woman in a yellow dress Lemon
By: Kwon Yeo-Sun
Translator: Janet Hong
Release Date: October 7, 2021
Publisher: Apollo
Rating:


Lemon is a slow, introspective story about a cold case murder expertly written by author Kwon Yeo-Sun and translated from the original Korean by Janet Hong. Despite being focused on a cold case, this isn’t so much a whodunit, traditional murder mystery, or thriller. Instead, we find a slowly paced, introspective tale featuring a myriad of people left behind after the murder of the nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on: how they cope and do not cope, how they move on and how time stops in that moment forever.

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Jul 26, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Front cover of the novel The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa The Cat Who Saved Books
By: Sosuke Natsukawa
Translator: Louise Heal Kawai
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Publisher: HarperVia
Rating:


Books about books is a genre that many if not most readers often find themselves drawn to. This is true for The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa’s novel as well. Translated from the original Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, this is a Japanese novel about Rintaro Natsuki, a young man whose grandfather has recently passed away. His life is immediately upended, as his grandfather was also his guardian.

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