Review: Lady Mechanika, Vol. 4: Clockwork Assassin

Lady Mechanika, Vol. 4: Clockwork Assassin by Joe Benítez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone who has read this far into the series is probably enjoying it and I'm glad to say that volume four delivers more of the same. This time around, there is someone out killing inventors and all signs point to Lady Mechanika as the killer.

This book strongly follows up on the previous volumes. While Lady Mechanika's past still remains a bit of a mystery, this book plunges into the past of one of her associates. This helps round out the setting a bit and fills in some gaps of how certain characters and organizations are connected.

Someone reading this book as the first in the series really shouldn't be lost. There are a few references to events of the past few books, but nothing that should leave a reader out in the cold. The art is still good. I've had some issues with the way that Lady Mechanika and some of the other women have been drawn, but this volume seems to be moving away from a lot of those elements. The steampunk Victorian age setting is fun and the art goes a long way to bringing the books to life.

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Review: The client

The client by Zidrou
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is okay. A man falls in love with a prostitute and goes up against a mobster to try to get her back. The art is decent. It didn't stand out in any way though. I like the character interactions the best. This is a fairly short book and it feels like it moves along a little too quickly at times. There are moments that could have been extended or scenes that could have used more of a bridge to have it flow better. It was a bit different than I was expecting, which worked well in its favor. The protagonist is pretty one dimensional though.

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Review: Fear of the Dark

Fear of the Dark by Andy Diggle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Shadowman is back! It's been a long time since Shadowman had a solo series with Valiant. So I think I had some high expectations for this book because I've really enjoyed the character in the past. This was a chance to bring him back to the fore and have a little more magic in the Valiant universe. As much as I wanted to like this book, Diggle's writing didn't really work for me. I want to say it is a combination of the dialogue and the story itself that left me feeling a little blah on this volume.

Among the things I enjoyed are Stephen Segovia's art, the use of the Abettors, and at least one bad guy from Jack's past. Segovia's art is wonderful. It's different from some of the previous incarnations of Jack, but I felt like it added to his personality. The demons and such that he encounters are awful and terrific at the same time. The Abettors, for those that don't know, are a group connected with Shadowman and tried to help Jack as he emerged into his new role. Their appearance here feels like it adds more to the previous series by filling in some history and such. Baron Samedi is great. He works well as a tempter and, given the background of the character, he is a perfect villain.

While this isn't my favorite Shadowman book to date, I am excited to get more stories featuring the character and would definitely pick up the next volume.

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Review: Stalag-X

Stalag-X by Kevin J. Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was provided a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Kevin J. Anderson knows how to write a good sci-fi story. This one is set in a future in which humanity is at war with an alien race. When the crew of a starship is captured by the aliens against all common belief, it provides an opportunity to build the conflict in an interesting way. Sure, there is plenty of violence in this book, but I like what it does with two sides. There are a couple of rogue elements that don't quite fit into either side clearly too. I just like the setting a lot. The world where most of the action takes place is sort of bleak and ultimately is both not important and very important for what happens there. The way Joe Human (that name might just be the worst thing about this book) seems to be a catalyst for a lot of the events that take place and, despite being sort of a dirt bag, I want to read more about him.

The art is pretty good. I recall a few moments where it becomes kind of sloppy. For the most part, it captures the brutality of the war that is going on while highlighting some of the more interesting elements in the story. Even if I don't like every image, that synergy with the story that is being told makes it work.

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Review: BUZZ!

BUZZ! by Ananth Panagariya
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book quite a bit. Spelling bees have become huge. Like insanely popular for some reason. It even leads to underground spelling bee competitions. And everyone has a style of spelling that lets them attack their opponent. The premise makes me feel like this could have been a manga. And the art leans that way too, but it is not quite as stylized as most manga tend to be.

The story is pretty straight forward. Webster is a young man who is just entering high school, he has been studying like mad, and he happens to run across an illegal bee that jumpstarts the whole book. The characters he meets there shape how he approaches the rest of the challenges in the book. Of course, they have their own motives and hope that Webster can help them achieve their goals. There is even a group of people out to oppose them. They aren't necessarily bad guys or villains though. It takes on sort of a heist style feeling as Webster and his friends try to take down the group known as the Spelluminati.

Where the book really stood out to me is in the art. The use of color is fantastic. The art is mostly black and white with patches of yellow thrown in to accentuate the characters or events. This really sticks with the whole bee theme going on in the book. The style of the art is cartoonish. It works well with the story and lets the spelling bee moments become a bit more interesting as you see the character spelling the words and shaping the world around them. This was actually quite a bit different in tone and story than I was expecting and the book is better for it.

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Review: Ravencry

Ravencry by Ed McDonald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via Penguin Books First to Read in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start by saying that I have not read the first book in this series. I usually skip opportunities to pick up a book later in a series when I haven't read the earlier volumes, but Ravencry sounded so interesting I couldn't pass it up. It reminded me of The Black Company in some ways, which might be part of why I liked it so much.

Ryhalt Galharrow is the captain of a small pseudo police force employed by an extremely powerful sorcerer to help keep the peace in the borderlands. The story takes a bit to get going as Galharrow uncovers a series of strange, seemingly unrelated events. There is the emergence of a new religion centered around his dead girlfriend, a theft, and a man who returned from the dead. All of this culminates in the appearance of someone who could potentially rival Galharrow's benefactor.

I like McDonald's writing. It captured my attention pretty early, which is good because that helped keep me interested until the story picked up some more. The setting is wonderful. As a first time reader I could pick out the power hierarchy among the wielders of magic and I was able to get a sense of the world pretty easily. This is mostly urban fantasy, but the few times the characters venture out into the world bring a nice contrast.

The characters are written really well. Galharrow is defined by his relationships, or lack thereof. I enjoyed reading about how he connected with the people around him and seeing how that has changed. Even Galharrow is changed dramatically over the course of the book. The story might move slowly at times, but it does a lot of things right with the characters which makes that forgivable.

There are references to events that I can only imagine were covered in the first book. I never felt lost for not having read it, although it is clear that this book only touches on some of that. Having finished this book I am definitely interested in going back to read the first volume.

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Review: Star Wars: Lando

Star Wars: Lando by Charles Soule
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lando is a decent heist story. This book focuses on a younger version of Lando in which he is still a smuggler and charlatan. He gathers together a group of thieves a la Ocean's Eleven to steal a luxury starship. Things turn from bad to worse when they discover who the owner is.

Soule does a wonderful job capturing the character of Lando. The supporting characters, particularly Lobot, help to round things out. Having read quite a bit of the previous Expanded Universe stuff, I felt like these characters fit right in. And the book as a whole fits well with the stories that Marvel has been telling in the Star Wars setting lately.

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Review: Night's Dominion Vol. 2

Night's Dominion Vol. 2 by Ted Naifeh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Night's Dominion is basically a mix of a superhero comic with a Dungeons and Dragon game. The first volume served to bring the heroes together, falling on some fantasy and superhero tropes. This volume was a little harder to get into for me. The heroes have gone their separate ways and the story takes a step back to introduce a new threat to the city these characters call home. I like that it mixes in some political aspects and builds on some of the issues from the first volume. It takes some time to reintroduce all the characters and bring them headlong into the problem.

Part of what I didn't like actually made me enjoy this book a lot more in the end. Although it is slow to get going, I thought Naifeh did a nice job creating a believable setting and establish some motives for the heroes rather than just tossing them at a problem because it is there. The writing can be a little clunky at times, so I don't think he is entirely comfortable with this particular format yet. I did enjoy the art too. The images aren't always well defined and that seems to fit in with the uncertainty caused by some of the events of the book.

Even though this volume leaves the story unfinished, I still liked it. I am interested in seeing how things progress in volume three.

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Review: Quantum and Woody! Vol. 1: Kiss Kiss, Klang Klang

Quantum and Woody! Vol. 1: Kiss Kiss, Klang Klang by Daniel Kibblesmith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Quantum and Woody are back! For those that aren't aware, Quantum and Woody are a superhero duo that resemble the Odd Couple. They are constantly bickering, but they have to put up with each other because the accident that gave them their powers will kill them if they don't klang their bracelets together. They are also adopted brothers. These characters have humor baked right in, but it might not work for everyone.

In the previous series featuring these characters we learned a bit about Quantum's father, who raised the two men. This time around there is a chance that Woody's father might be around and he is not going to let that opportunity slip through his fingers. I thought this volume did a nice job of rebooting the series and still making it accessible to new readers. Sure, there are elements that people might want to know more about. I've only read about half of the previous series and felt like this book worked well with the characters and built on some of the earlier stories.

The art was a little different from what I was expecting. I liked it though. It fits with the characters and the tone of the book. I am interested to see more of these characters and plan to go back and finish the previous series.

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