Review of The Walking Dead Vol. 31 by Robert Kirkman

A long-term comics story requires a certain ebb and flow.  Not every volume of The Walking Dead can have massive set pieces.  Nor would we want it to.  And the comics do a much better job than the show at proper pacing.  But, still, the setup volumes are always a bit of a letdown, and volume 31 is definitely a setup volume.

The entire volume is devoted to Rick giving a tour of our heroes’ communities and touring the Commonwealth in turn.  Where he, of course, learns about its rotten core.  When that rotten core splits—say . . . in the next volume—there is going to be hell to pay.

Game of Thrones: Season 2 Review

My great rewatch in anticipation of the final season of Game of Thrones continues!  On to season 2!

Season 2 surely falls the farthest short of its source material.  Books 4 and 5 are markedly weaker than the first three.  Season 1 and seasons 3 and 4 (splitting the adaptation of A Storm of Swords) do their source material considerable justice.  It’s easy to forget that A Clash of Kings is just a hair’s breadth below A Game of Thrones and A Storm of Swords.  Especially given the weakness of season 2.

Titanshade is a Meaty, Inventive Fantasy Noir

For a book set in a wildly inventive fantasy world, Titanshade feels damn real.  And not just because they have 8-track players.  Most of the characters fit into well-worn roles—jaded veteran cop, earnest rookie cop, angry police captain, dirty ex-cop, conniving politician, religious, charismatic, and villainous oil baron—but none are caricatures or cardboard cutouts.  Stout makes them all feel real, people you could imagine interacting with in real life (sans mandibles) despite the outlandish setting.  Stout keeps the setting grounded too.

“There was a daily chaotic madness to my town, a blue-collar work ethic still visible regardless of how many coats of oil money had been slapped over it the last fifty years.”

Paired with a meaty, satisfying mystery, it makes for one hell of a fantasy noir.

2019 Bookish Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions—who needs them!  They mostly deal with boring stuff like diet and exercise.  I only want to talk about books.  So bookish resolutions.  Those are still cool.  So cool they are still worth making in March.

I made bookish resolutions last year (you can find that post here).  Aaaaaand that didn’t go super well.  Basically because I wrote them and promptly forgot about them, as you do with resolutions.  I’m trying to avoid that this year by tying my bookish goals to specific months and setting calendar alerts.  I’m doing relatively well on that count already.  Notes on when I plan to tackle individual resolutions are noted below.

But, first, an update on last years resolutions.

February 2019 Month-in-Review

Man, it really felt like February flew by.  Like it doesn’t have as many days as every other month or something.  And it shows!

After 21 posts in January, I managed to limit myself to 15 posts in February (a few of which were gimmes).  Rather unsurprisingly, stats were down across both blogs.

I finished five books, which isn’t bad, although I acquired six.  I sacrificed a lot of reading time so I could embark on a grand rewatch of the first seven seasons of Game of Thrones in preparation for the eight and final season.  I already have my review of season 1 up and will get a review of season 2 up in the near future.  I am two seasons in, which wasn’t bad last week, but I’m traveling and falling further behind by the day.

Real life was very, very busy, but very, very productive, in February.  Things should slow down a bit in March.  I am still trying to pace myself across both blogs, but I have a backlog of posts for Every Day Should Be Tuesday that I want to at least partially clear because something big is coming down the pipeline.

Read on for bloggish and bookish traffic!

I’ve got some bad news for no-angel about season 3…

Wyrd and Wonder: calling all fantasy fans

I’m not sure what #WyrdAndWonder specific content I will post, but I am pretty confident that I will be posting about fantasy in May!

Last May, an intrepid band of like-minded bloggers and book lovers devoted themselves to all things fantasy. Lisa, Jorie and I will be heading out in search of dragons, magic and Faerie again this year. Will you join us for Wyrd and Wonder?

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Game of Thrones: Season 1 Review

As of Wednesday, February 6 there were 67 days left before the first episode of the last season of Game of Thrones airs.  There are 67 episodes of Game of Thrones for now, with just another six episodes left in the series.  I thought it an auspicious time to start a grand rewatch.  That, and it was the last possible moment to start and have any hope of finishing.

Read on for my thoughts after my rewatch of season 1!