Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, Book 1) by Katherine Arden – Book Review

This was the perfect story for the season as we approach midwinter: even the beautiful cover and title of this book promise an enchanting tale, full of magic and infused with Slavic folklore. The story of a country lord, Pyotr Vladimirovich and his family, starts out with a recounting of the legend of the Frost…

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – Book Review

Having seen the beautiful and fun movie adaptation from Studio Ghibli, I went into reading Howl’s Moving Castle with the expectation of finding a twee, charming, quaint, light-hearted children’s story with a lot of magic and a little adventure, something in the vein of Peter Pan or Mary Poppins. The story began with a young…

The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, Book 1) by Robert Jackson Bennett — Book Review

Start with a complex murder case, feature a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson-esque pair of protagonists, and set it in a well-conceived fantasy world full of plant and fungus based semi-science, and I am an easy catch to hook. The Tainted Cup winning this year’s Hugo award for Best Novel didn’t hurt either, allowing its…

Tales From The Loop, written and illustrated by Simon Stålenhag — Book Review

This is the third Simon Stålenhag book I’ve experienced this year (and I’ve actually got one more on loan from the library, so another review should be coming soon). I’ve loved them all, but sadly, I got to these books out of order. This book should have been the first one (and I already read…

The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, Book 1) by James Islington – Book Review

I was hoping to love The Will of the Many, a very popular book about an orphaned prince named Vis, surviving in the Rome-inspired empire that destroyed his nation and family. When he is adopted/blackmailed by a prominent senator to act as his agent and spy within a highly reputable academy, Vis’s life not only…

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – Book Review

Any post-apocalyptic story was going to start out behind the ball for me, as I am not a fan. However, this one was written by acclaimed Canadian author Emily St. John Mandel, it’s one of Barack Obama’s faves, and has already been adapted for TV, so there’s a lot to like even before reading it….

The Nice House on the Lake by James Tynion IV (art by Álvaro Martínez Bueno) – Graphic Novel Review

The creepy covers of this comic book series suggest something dark, macabre and scary — perfect for spooky season. However, what we have is a Lost style mystery box where a group of 12 individuals are invited by their mutual friend, Walter, to a luxuriously nice house by the lake. It doesn’t take long before…

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury – Book Review

This classic autumn tale of a spooky carnival that torments a small American town was written a lot more beautifully and lyrically than I had expected. When two young boys, Will and Jim, stumble upon a mysterious carnival setting up outside their town in the middle of the night, things don’t seem quite right, but…

What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, Book 1) by T. Kingfisher – Book Review

One of T. Kingfisher’s “scarier” Gothic horror stories (a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of User) is not too scary — even for my delicate nerves — but unfortunately I didn’t find it very engaging or compelling either. I had not expected to read another T. Kingfisher story so soon,…