The BiblioSanctum

Book Review: I Am Satan by Tim Hawken

Posted on December 18, 2013 1 Comment

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

Series: Book 2 of the Hellbound Trilogy

Date of Publication: June 25, 2012

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Tiara’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars – “Hawken’s writing can invoke very vivid imagery, especially if you’re a highly visual person who can easily get lost in descriptions and ideas.”

I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my review of the last book, but I really enjoy when authors explore theological themes and make old religious ideas feel fresh and exciting in their books. I think my interest in theology and religious themes stem from my background. It also may have a little something with me being a history geek as well. When writing heavy religious themes, especially when adding many unique elements, I often find that I think the writer is either trying too hard or not trying hard enough. I can be very particular about this, and for that reason, that’s why I’m pleased that this series has continued to entertain me.

I Am Satan is the continuation of Michael’s journey through Hell, the second book in Tim Hawken’s Hellbound trilogy. After the events of the last book, Michael is now Hell’s new caretaker, and he is not pleased. This displeasure doesn’t just come from his new role as Satan, even though it is part of the reason. In the last book, Michael learned some harrowing truths about God, Satan, and how he fit into this master plan. These new truths, along with his primary motivation (love) compel him to vow that he’ll get his revenge by building an army.

This book was more of a slow burn for me than the last one. In the first book, there was so much being introduced and so much going on as Michael and Satan traveled around Hell. There was much more mirth in the beginning of that book mostly because of Satan (the old Satan, I should say). The last part of the first book sort mellowed more into introspection, and that same feeling continues in this book. Now, that’s not to say that there isn’t any action or that this book is only thought-provoking prose. There’s plenty of action to be had, but in a way, it feels like the story ripens as Michael matures in his journey.

Even with all the knowledge Michael gained in the last book, this book reinforces that there is still more for him to learn. There was more emphasis on Michael’s learning process and exploring the idea of things like time, destiny (which I really liked Hawken’s take on that) and emotions, which is spun in refreshing ways that can give a reader pause to think about these things. I appreciated that Michael didn’t suddenly become this super being with all this unfathomable power just because he’s the new Satan.

Michael is set to rebel against his fate and create his own by amassing knowledge. In the last book, he’d made great strides with learning how to control things such as the elements. There are still many things he has to learn in order to challenge what he’s expected to do and take the fight to heaven, however. Then, there’s the added fact that Michael’s thirst for revenge, the fact that he’s holding hard and fast to hatred, is starting to shape him physically into something sinister, a demon. In Hellbound,going to Heaven is presented as a choice for Hell’s denizens which is a twist on the universal reconciliation idea. For some people, though, they decide to wallow in their sins, and they eventually become the avatar of the sin they hold to firmly.

Michael is starting down that path, but feels it will be worth it to save his love and forge his own destiny.As I stated in my last review, destiny is seen as something that isn’t linear. There could be many possible ways for a person to achieve their ending fate. This second book took that a step further and played with the idea that there are many final outcomes that could be achieved in a innumerable amount of ways with some outcomes being more likely than others. It doesn’t state that destiny doesn’t exist more so than it’s tempered with many external and internal factors.

With that in mind, Michael does have a clear goal for what he wants to achieve, how he wants to challenge his “fate,” but the road to achieving this is full of funny twists and turns.

Michael isn’t the only person who keeps this story running. There’s a colorful cast of characters that you’ll love and hate who help to round out Michael’s journey. Hawken added a few of The Bible’s more infamous characters to the story, and he even toyed around with some elements of The Divine Comedy, which I think I was expecting this to be some take on that poem originally and it turned out to be much more than that.

Hawken’s writing can invoke very vivid imagery, especially if you’re a highly visual person who can easily get lost in descriptions and ideas. The prose definitely pops. There were parts of the story that felt a bit too convenient and tidy in the midst of what was going on, but that didn’t dampen my enjoyment of the book. I think this was a strong follow-up to the first book, and I’ll be bumping the last book, Deicide, higher on TBR pile because I have to see how this all ends.

4 of 5 stars

I’d like to thank Tim and his publisher for providing me a copy of this book to review.

Waiting on Wednesday 12/18/13

Posted on December 18, 2013 Leave a Comment

“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!

Mogsy’s Pick

The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan: February 18, 2013 (Orbit)

The highly anticipated second book of The Power Mage series, sequel to Promise of Blood that I really enjoyed earlier this year. Check out that gorgeous cover.

‘The hounds at our heels will soon know we are lions’ Tamas’s invasion of Kez ends in disaster when a Kez counter-offensive leaves him cut off behind enemy lines with only a fraction of his army, no supplies, and no hope of reinforcements. Drastically outnumbered and pursued by the enemy’s best, he must lead his men on a reckless march through northern Kez to safety, and back over the mountains so that he can defend his country from an angry god. In Adro, Inspector Adamat only wants to rescue his wife. To do so he must track down and confront the evil Lord Vetas. He has questions for Vetas concerning his enigmatic master, but the answers might come too quickly. With Tamas and his powder cabal presumed dead, Taniel Two-shot finds himself alongside the god-chef Mihali as the last line of defence against Kresimir’s advancing army. Tamas’s generals bicker among themselves, the brigades lose ground every day beneath the Kez onslaught, and Kresimir wants the head of the man who shot him in the eye.”

Book Review: The Cormorant by Chuck Wendig

Posted on December 17, 2013 5 Comments

The Cormorant by Chuck Wendig

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal

Series: Book 3 of Miriam Black

Publisher: Angry Robot

Date of Publication: December 31, 2013

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars – “The best and my favorite Miriam Black book yet”

I just can’t resist Miriam Black. Come to think of it, that might be how I start all my reviews for the books in this series. What can I say, though? It’s true. These books are so addictive, and I couldn’t put off reading The Cormorant any longer, knowing I had the eARC burning a hole in my ereader. I desperately needed my Miriam Black fix.

Our heroine with the freaky ability to foresee people’s deaths is back. And she has been busy experimenting with her powers, after finding out the one way to prevent a person from dying is to take the life of another, because Death will not be denied. But then someone is not at all pleased with the way Miriam is messing around with fate…

Miriam is lured to Florida by a rich businessman offering her an obscene amount of money just to find out how he dies. The death vision she sees, however, is of a brutal murder of the man in a year’s time, committed by a mystery killer with a bloody message written just for her. Someone clearly has it in for Miriam. Now everyone she has interacted with is in danger, including her own estranged mother, but how do you fight an enemy who knows your every move and is always two steps ahead?

The sheer awesomeness of this book is going to be hard to convey without getting into spoilers, but know that if you’ve been following the series all along the plot of this one is going to blow you away. It goes without saying, if you enjoyed Blackbirds and Mockingbird, you will love The Cormorant too because the nature of the character and story is as twisted as always. Furthermore, we get a nice beefing up of Miriam’s history, with a further look into her mysterious abilities as well as the appearance of her mother Evelyn Black. Finally, we get to watch the fireworks as the two women meet again for the first time in many years.

And still, Miriam remains the foul-mouthed spitfire I know and love. In her own words, “Rare is the other human who doesn’t mind being dragged over the deepening lines of impropriety while talking to Miriam Black.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. I would never want to be trapped in the same small space with Miriam when she goes off, but boy, she’s always a riot to read about. She’s a woman with a way with words, but also a bigger heart than she would probably like to admit.

Books that play around with time jumps and framing are also tough to pull off, but Chuck Wendig does it here perfectly, switching to flashbacks and other perspectives at the most appropriate moments, emphasizing the suspense when it is most required. Reading this one was like a roller coaster ride, except there are no dips, only highs and loop-de-loops. Between the outrageous things Miriam says and finding all about the creepy villain in this book, my butt alternated from being perched on the edge of my seat one moment to being laughed off the next. Yeah, let’s just put it that way.

The Cormorant is probably the best and my favorite Miriam Black book yet; I absolutely loved it, from beginning to end. Fans need to pick this one up too, and if you haven’t read this series yet, what are you waiting for? Miriam is totally awesome; I highly recommend this!

5 of 5 stars

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes contained above are from the advanced reader edition and are subject to change.

Book Review: The Abominable by Dan Simmons

Posted on December 16, 2013 Leave a Comment

The Abominable by Dan Simmons

Genre: Historical Fiction Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date of Publication: October 22, 2013

Author Information: Website

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars – “A decent book that is not without its high points; story is paced slowly and weighed down with a lot of technical detail”

Dan Simmons has always been hit or miss for me, but I have to say his historical-horror novel The Terror about Franklin’s lost expedition to the arctic remains one of my all time favorite books ever. While his newest novel The Abominable may not be a follow up, it certainly can be considered a companion piece; the fact that both books seem to share the same vein made me hopeful that Simmons will blow me away again.

Unfortunately, that just didn’t happen. Still, the book started promisingly enough, with an introduction from the author that really isn’t an introduction at all. Instead, it’s an interesting little meta-story about how Dan Simmons came upon a manuscript of this book, starting with a visit more than ten years ago to a former mountaineer named Jake Perry in a Colorado nursing home. The Abominable is essentially Jake’s account of his 1926 expedition to Mount Everest, which Simmons receives in the form of a whole stack of notebooks hand-written by the old man.

Thus it was not so surprising that most of this book read like a memoir. What did surprise me, however, was how little action there was in a book supposedly touted as a “thrilling tale of supernatural adventure”. A good chunk of it felt more like a guide to mountain climbing, complete with descriptions of climbing techniques and equipment which Simmons goes into with exhaustive detail.

Okay, I’ll give that it’s interesting and all, but where’s the relevance? I was more than a quarter of the way through this book (and that’s about 150 pages in this monster of a novel) and they still weren’t even in the Himalayas yet. At a certain point, I just desperately wanted the story to get moving, and the last thing I needed was yet another dozen or so pages on ice axes and 12-point crampons. At the end of this book, I felt like knew the ins-and-outs of how a Primus stove works more intimately than some of the main characters. This really bothered me, especially since I’ve never known Simmons to be the kind of author to flaunt his knowledge or research prowess by overwhelming the reader with unnecessary info dumps.

When he does get around to the action though, it can be very suspenseful. If I’d ever entertained thoughts of becoming a mountain climber, this book pretty much killed them dead. Mountain climbers are insane; I’ll settle for living their adventures vicariously though books like this one, thanks. That being said, readers with a fear of heights might have a rough time with this, and of course Simmons is also the master of pushing his characters to extremes by placing them in these horrible, godforsaken situations. And it doesn’t get any scarier and more extreme than on Mount Everest.

To date, more than a thousand people have reached Everest’s summit including a thirteen-year-old, but it’s still one of the most treacherous mountains in the world, killing climbers every year. Can you imagine what a nightmare it must have been like in the 1920s? Climbers back then didn’t have our current tech, didn’t have the kind of safety gear and improved equipment we have today. It was less than a hundred years ago, and conquering Everest was still just a dream. Or more like, a hopeless challenge. When you read The Abominable and take in the struggles of Jake Perry and his companions, Simmons doesn’t let you forget that for a second.

Nevertheless, this book fell short of my expectations. Its dragging pace played into this, certainly. By the time things really started to heat up it was already three-quarters of the way through the book and a little too late. Still, it was the climax and big reveal that disappointed me the most. Without going into spoilers, let’s just say that one of the reasons I loved The Terror so much was its touch of the supernatural. From its description, The Abominable looks like it teases the same, but things didn’t actually turn out that way. The big twist was ultimately a let down, and I’ll just leave it at that.

Bottom line, this book was not as good as I thought it would be, though it is not without its high points. History buffs with an interest in Everest and mountaineering will find the some of the details here fascinating (the doomed 1924 British Mount Everest Expedition and the deaths of renowned climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine served indirectly as a background for this novel) and a few sections of the plot are genuinely terrifying. Still, it is very little payoff for the amount of effort. The Abominable was a decent book, but I just wished it had been more the “bone-chilling, pulse-pounding story of supernatural suspense” its description vaunted.

3 of 5 stars

YA Weekend: Planesrunner by Ian McDonald

Posted on December 15, 2013 2 Comments

Planesrunner by Ian McDonald

Genre: Young Adult Science Fiction Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of Everness

Publisher: Pyr (US ed.)

Date of Publication: December 6, 2011

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars – “One of the most well-written and interesting YA novels I’ve ever read and just plain fun, this book will appeal to a wide audience”

Add Ian McDonald’s Planesrunner to the list of the most interesting and well-written young adult novels I’ve read this year. With the third book coming out soon, I’d initially picked this up to get caught up with the series, but in doing so I also finally discovered why so many readers have been raving about Everness. Adventurous and fun but also fresh and clever, if you’re looking for a YA offering that’s a little different but has a great story at the same time, consider checking this one out.

Planesrunner tackles a topic in fantasy and science fiction that I have a great interest in: multiple universes and alternate dimensions. I have rarely seen it handled with such detail when it comes to YA fiction, though. The protagonist is Everett Singh, whose father is a brilliant scientist and one of the leading researchers in the study of parallel earths. But then Tejendra Singh is kidnapped from the streets of London one day, leaving his son with a mysterious file on his computer called the Infundibulum.

The Infundibulum ends up being a map to the parallel earths — all 10 to the power of 80 of them! — making Everett the guardian of the most valuable tool in the whole entire multiverse. But there are others who see the Infundibulum as a powerful weapon, nefarious factions in the group of plenipotentiaries of the Ten Known Worlds. To escape their reach, Everett travels to a very different parallel earth. With the help of new friends, he is determined to find and rescue his father, while fighting to protect the Infundibulum at all costs.

Hard sci-fi readers will probably find the science behind the quantum physics and theory of multiple universes to be on the light side, but I still find Planesrunner to be a fabulously clever novel. There’s enough information to enjoy this fun and action-filled story without getting bogged down with details, and when it comes to his imaginings of parallel earths, Ian McDonald takes things all the way.

The sights and sounds in the world Everett ends up in, designated E3, are beyond amazing. It is a world where fossil fuels have never existed, leading to a society powered by a system that can only be described as a souped-up version of steampunk or, as Everett so amusingly observed, “electropunk”. Everett ends up being taken in by an airship crew, thus introducing the reader to the rich, imaginative culture and language of the “Airish”. The author certainly does not skimp on the descriptions of the people and their way of life, making it easy to picture the setting and put myself right there.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the characters, though Everett himself comes off as a bit unrealistic as a 14 or 15-year-old boy. The extent of his intelligence is played up and so farfetched it’s difficult for me to feel otherwise, but on the other hand, his more mature point of view and way of thinking might make him more relatable to a non-YA reader, thus making Planesrunner a book that may appeal to a much wider audience.

And finally, this book was just plain fun. Where else would I be able to get the craziness and thrills of an actual airship duel outside the pages of this awesome novel? I love YA fiction like this — quick, clever and full of great ideas. The Everness series is simply “bonaroo”! Looking forward to continuing Everett’s journey with the next book, Be My Enemy, and then on to Empress of the Sun, dropping early next year.

4 of 5 stars

UK Edition

Mogsy’s Book Haul

Posted on December 15, 2013 Leave a Comment

Welcome to the latest edition of my Book Haul, where I feature and talk about the books added to my library in the last two weeks. Great deals on Black Friday have caused my leaning tower of books to grow a few more inches, as well fortune has smiled upon me in the last fortnight:

Red Rising – received an ARC of this book, which has been getting a lot of positive buzz lately. And no wonder. Reading this one now and thus far it is so so so so so good!

Season of the Witch – YA novel, first book I ever received from Random Buzzers’ program, which finally arrived after a couple months.

Shadow and Bone – I had a coupon from Black Friday, and using it on this book was a no brainer. I’ve been waiting to read it for so long, after seeing all the good reviews.

Bloodstone – the sequel to Firebrand which I read and enjoyed earlier this year. I was lucky enough to win this, with much thanks to Tor and the Little Red Reviewer for holding the giveaway.

The Waking That Kills – another giveaway win, this time with thanks to Solaris Books. I look forward to reading this one when I’m in the mood for a good horror.

Shift – finally, big thanks to Angry Robot Books for putting our humble blog on the shortlist for their Team Robot Blogger Award! It was such an honor just to be nominated, and I definitely look forward to another great year of AR books. The blogs that were short-listed got to choose a prize of three books from across all their imprints, and so myself and my co-bloggers each chose one. My choice was Strange Chemistry’s Shift by Kim Curran.

The ebooks and audiobooks:

The Grim Company – at the end of last month I realized I was only one book short of qualifying for a promotion that Audible had in November. I ended up going with The Grim Company out of all the other choices on my wishlist, and having listened to this one already I don’t regret that decision at all.

Ship of Magic – falling prey to Black Friday deals again. Couldn’t resist $5 audiobook deals and snagged this one, since I’ve had a hankering to read Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders ever since reading about the liveships in the books of her Rain Wilds Chronicles. I know I’ve been sort of reading her Elderlings series out of order…

Magic to the Bone – same Black Friday deal as above, but recall how I recently read Devon Monk’s newest book Hell Bent and only realized after I started that it was a spinoff of an earlier series. Magic to the Bone is actually the first book, which I did say I was curious about checking out.

The Waking Dark – a YA horror novel that I picked up for a good price, again during the week of all the big sales. I’ve heard a lot about this one from Random Buzzers. It sounds terrifying, actually.

Daughters of the Nile – I have been waiting for this book for what feels like ages. This is the third and final book to an amazing trilogy about Princess Selene, daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. If you’re into historical fiction with a touch of magic, this is a great series.

Mitosis – a short story set in the world of Steelheart. I loved that book, so it was a pleasure to pick this one up to enjoy while I wait for Firefight, not to mention Sanderson’s work is always top notch, even his shorts.

Panels: Hawkeye vol.2: Little Hits

Posted on December 14, 2013 Leave a Comment

Kate Bishop tries to talk some sense into Clint Barton.
Hawkeye vol.2: Little Hits

Audiobook Review:Molly Danger Episode 1 by Jamal Igle

Posted on December 14, 2013 Leave a Comment

Molly Danger by Jamal Igle

Publisher: Action Lab Comics

Audiobook Publisher: AudioComics

Publication Date: October 2013

Author Info: www.jamaligle.com

Molly Danger is the world’s oldest 10 year old – that is, she’s been fighting bad guys and Supermechs and protecting Coopersville since her ship crash landed on earth twenty years ago. She now works for D.A.R.T. (Danger Action Response Team) and loves her job and her fandom, but what she’d love even more is to have a normal life. Sure she wears pink and pigtails, but she’s no mere prancing princess. She’s a feisty superhero that any young boy or girl (or grown up) can love and my daughters are now big fans.

We first met Molly Danger on Free Comic Book Day, but recently had the pleasure of rereading the story, accompanied by the very fun audio narration. I’m a big fan of audiobooks, but I had wondered how well narration would work for a comic book. Molly Danger Episode 1 removed all my doubts with a full cast narration, complete with sound effects. My girls initially read along with the comic in hand, but soon enough, they were happily acting things out themselves.

Huge praise goes to Olivia DuFord, the voice of Molly herself. The other voice actors did their part, but as the main character telling her own story, DuFord’s crisp an snappy delivery lifts the Molly right off of the page.

Book Review: The Doctor and the Dinosaurs by Mike Resnick

Posted on December 13, 2013 Leave a Comment

The Doctor and the Dinosaurs by Mike Resnick

Genre: Steampunk, Western

Series: Book 4 of Weird West Tales

Publisher: Pyr

Date of Publication: December 10, 2013

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars – “Meant to be sensational and a little over the top, and in that sense the book does its job and does it well. Fun and entertaining”

The Doctor and the Dinosaurs is my first venture into Mike Resnick’s Weird West Tales, and actually my first exposure to the author, period. Like many kids growing up, I went through a phase in my childhood where I was just nuts for dinosaurs. I suppose a part of that love has stayed with me all this time, because when I saw the cover and description for this one I just couldn’t resist.

This is the fourth book of the series starring Doc Holliday of American Old West fame, but if I’m not mistaken, each installment can be read on its own. We seem to be catching our protagonist at a pretty bad time though, as the book opens on Doc bedridden and coughing out his lungs in a sanitarium, dying of the dastardly consumption. But then he is visited by the medicine man and great chief Geronimo, who grants him one more year of life in exchange for a favor.

Doc Holliday is tasked to stop two paleontologists who have been carrying out their digs on sacred Comanche burial grounds in Wyoming. Sounds easy enough. But that was before Doc learned that the two scientists involved are none other than Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two men who hate each others’ guts and are locked in eternal competition. Time is running out and the Comanche medicine men have made things clear: stop desecrating their lands or they will unleash a horde of monsters, the kind our world has not seen in 65 million years.

A crazy blend of steampunk, fantasy, alternate history and western, this book was as much fun as I thought it would be! I’ve never had the pleasure of reading a “true” dime novel from the latter half of the 1800s, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Mike Resnick is in some way emulating the spirit and style of the popular fiction in those days. As you would expect from the above synopsis, the book’s story and characters are more sensational than deep, with an entertaining plot that contains more clever, snappy dialogue than exposition. Nevertheless, that’s the kind of book it was intended to be. In that sense, it does the job and does it well.

This book was also such a treat for the part of me that still loves dinosaurs. We all know there’s no shortage of stories about the Old West featuring famous gunfighters like Doc Holliday, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Cole Younger, and the list goes on. But while this series also features an impressive list of shootists, I loved how this particular story directed its focus to another significant event that took place during America’s Gilded Age — the Great Dinosaur Rush. For one, the hatred between Cope and Marsh was so intense, their rivalry so frenzied, that the two men actually spawned a period in paleontological history known as the Bone Wars. It’s fascinating stuff! I was happy to see a spotlight on this idea, and an entire story built around it.

Is The Doctor and the Dinosaurs a little over the top? Perhaps. But is it fun? Definitely. I picked up this book hoping for an afternoon of fun, light reading, and that’s exactly what it delivered.

3 of 5 stars

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Graphic Novel Review: Fables, Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham

Posted on December 12, 2013 Leave a Comment

Fables, Vol. 2: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Fairy tales

Publisher: Vertigo

Date of Publication: August 1, 2003

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Tiara’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars – This volumes adds another important struggle to the fables’ life (conformity versus nonconformity), one that I hope will be touched on continuously throughout the series and not promptly forgotten.

Coming on the heels of the first volume, Jack and Rose Red are serving community service for the stunt they pulled. Snow White takes her sister to The Farm, a place where fables who can’t blend with human society because of their looks are sent. Snow says the trip would give them some sister time to resolve their issues and that she thinks it’s important that Rose visit The Farm to see how others in their community live. Naturally, Rose is resistant to the idea. When they arrive at the farm, the sisters realize that things are a little off in the idyllic community, and soon find themselves embroiled in bitter politics.

In this volume, we see a naïve side to Snow. She believes that, because they try to make The Farm as comfortable as possible, there’s no reason for the fables that live there to be unhappy. She doesn’t look beyond the material assistance they provide the fables there. Therefore, she can’t see that some things aren’t made better by throwing money at it. There are things that are worth far more than things such as freedom, independence, and dignity. It frustrated me a little bit just how far the depth of her naïveté went. It took Snow an extremely long time to grasp that things were more than a little strange there. I could understand her not grasping what was happening at first, but as these troubling things continued to happen, she still didn’t get it. I just think Snow is smarter than that.

In a way, it’s a little ironic that Snow took Rose there in hopes of making her aware of this part of the community, but she is the one who leaves with a new awareness about The Farm and how the inhabitants feel about it. I hope that this aspect doesn’t just stop here because this adds an important struggle to their story. Every book doesn’t need to be about this, but this isn’t something that should promptly be forgotten. I think this will be something visited again in the future if I’m to judge by some of the panels.

This volume also adds another facet to Snow and Rose’s relationship. We learn a little more about how deeply these old hurts run. It was a relief to see that Charming wasn’t their main problem. I didn’t want this to be yet another story about women falling out because of a man. It’s too easy, so while Charming did play a part in their rift, the damage had been done long before him. (I will concede the main reason may be a bit cliché, as well, though.) Also, I appreciated that there’s acknowledgement that it’s going to take time for the two women to regain their former closeness instead of them hugging it out over ice cream in just one volume. I hope this relationship will truly be explored and restored over the course of the series.

I recently played the first episode of Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us (if you like interactive fiction type games, I highly recommend this and The Walking Dead Game by Telltale), which is based on these comics. I loved the direction the game took and decided to jump into the second volume of the series. However, I’m still not quite as taken with this series as I want to be. I think the idea of it and the characters are interesting, and I’m a big fan of imaginative retellings. But there’s something about the story that’s not quite engaging me as much as I feel it should. And I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Hopefully, my feelings will change to be more positive as I continue to read the story. Wait, did I say that in my last review?