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imals who were engineered to serve nor of the intricate politics in the underworld where the animals live enter skotch a racoon who left his corporate job and instead earns his keep through odd jobs when he is given an offer he cannot refuse to find a mouse he begins to greatly wonder why one rodent could be so important there are definite noir elements here even a femme fatale this is the maguffin in which tchaikovsky uses his scientific background to thoroughly discuss how genetic manipulation would affect each of the species biology and psychology it is interesting stuff at first but admittedly became far too much like reading a speculative academic thesis rather than an adventure story the characters are well drawn but like so many of the author s figures are very flawed and thoroughly unlikable even despicable at times you do feel the precariousness of their situations but that doesn t make them any more likable or worth rooting for because of all the science this does feel like a very long book that could easily have fit into a novella instead managing the expectations of adventure action noir versus biology and genetics will likely make a big difference in the enjoyment of the book the science is solid and intriguing there s just a lot of it to have to digest reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews sci fi sci fi science fiction tagged book reviews book review books science science fiction leave a comment how to fake it in society by k j charles posted on april 21 2026 by talvi i ve enjoyed k j charles previous books and this is much of the same it s a pleasant comfy romance with sweet characters one you never question the plot too closely story titus is from a noble family but as a youngest son now tries to make a living in the art world creating paints with times tough his ex lover throwing him out of his home shop and no prospects in sight things look grim that is until he is convinced to marry an elderly dying matriarch who desperately wants to keep her nephew from inheriting when nicolas a french count shows up at titus door with a story of being engaged to the woman titus recently married things get complicated for titus and nicolas both so yes the plot is silly and most of the story is nicolas friending titus while also trying to hide his own desperate financial situation nicolas helps titus adjust to society while titus provides nicolas a place to live but both have detractors willing to do terrible things to get their hands on titus new fortune of course each will be the solution to the others problems filling in each other s weaknesses i listened to the audio version and the narrator did an excellent job with the english and french the book required those who have red charles other book will most likely enjoy this one as well reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc audiobook historical romance leave a comment the extended universe by vicky osterweil posted on april 21 2026 by talvi i typically enjoy these explorations of modern corporations particularly disney but this one was problematic for me the research was definitely there but the author spends far too much time exploring their own feelings about disney or giving opinions of what worked and didn t work in disney franchise movies rather than outlining the ramifications of disney s fierce stranglehood on ip legality as such this rambles quite a bit and never really gelled for me into a coherent discussion there are a lot of assertions made to grab your attention e g disney wants you to die of covid that came across more as the author s conflicted feelings about disney particularly their movies rather than what or why disney does what it does this is a very personal piece and that will likely decide whether this book is for you again it is well researched but also very emotional but it is also to me more of an apologist piece for the author rather than a fascinating look into the disney ip machine reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews non fiction nonfiction leave a comment the boyfriend academy by js strange posted on april 21 2026 by talvi in many ways i was reminded of adam silvestri s works we have a very moody morose and dark view on life and the future with a hero who often can t decide whether or not life is even worth going on this is a dystopian but the stakes are low society now predicates itself on allowing men to be more in tune with their emotions and to respect women better the titular academy is a feeder into a society where everyone is nice to each other and everyone has their place of course those who don t fit in often experience issues with the formula story dylan is an outsider who especially feels keenly a disassociation from a world where being a perfect husband to a chosen female partner is the norm he has no interest in women and knows he would make a terrible husband as a result at the ganymede academy where they train men never to make the barbaric patriarchal mistakes of the past he makes a friend when blake disappears and is considered dead dylan is devastated at the same time he begins to develop feelings for another student roman so yes this is a slow burn almost slice of life exploration of disenfranchisement and depression the plot of blake s disappearance is honestly kind of silly admittedly so is the overall world building so really this is a slow exploration of dylan s coming to terms with being so different and also falling for roman if you don t mind that type of languid pace this will work for you but if you are looking for a thriller with a gripping romance that isn t this type of book in all it is decently written by honestly far too depressing for me to really enjoy also i felt this should have been called the ideal husband and male academy since the goal is immediate marriage to the pre chosen partner after graduation rather than creating stepford wives boyfriends none of the dystopian elements made sense or even worked for me nothing felt organic or realistic either just a reason to do an exploration of what it means to be a gay man reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews dysotpian dystopian tagged book reviews book review books life reading leave a comment smoke and scar by gretchen powell fox posted on april 21 2026 by talvi this came across as a very overwritten first time writer type of books with a lot of issues with pace originality and creativity from the names to the world building we ve seen it all before it is easy to see how the book got written just take what s popular in romantasy right now and mash it together fae trials enemies to lovers loose magic system supposedly tough heroine marshmallow overidealized male add in a romance where she s unbearable and has no redeeming qualities and have the love interest inexplicably fall madly in love with her and you get the idea here even the names of the characters were fairly cringe elyria lightbreaker for me the heroine has to be interesting nuanced and not continually making foolish decisions that get her into trouble just so she can pretend she s tough to get out of them the male lead has to have an iota of intelligence enough to avoid the unpleasant woman and certainly the believability to not fall into instaluv territory the story flows roughly with so many scenes set up just to make a plot point or to provide peril for the main character nothing was organic about the plot and certainly the world building really needed fleshing out in all this felt very overwritten and lacked a reason to continue to continue to the second book reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews fantasy romance leave a comment devious prey by scott reintgen posted on april 21 2026 by talvi as with reintgen s previous works this is a ya that skews to the younger teen audience rather than older we have teens in peril a survival story authority figures that are untrustworthy and an entity that is foreign but could pretty much be a random american from how it talks with this novel i found i really disliked both main characters and didn t want to read their story this is probably the strength and weakness of reintgen s work his characters are very flawed and you either appreciate the flaws or just find them stupid and annoying story teen pearl has stealthily smuggled an illegal item on an airship a very dangerous dragoness marken is a prisoner on the ship framed for a crime he did not commit pearl has a secret magic and marken is a sorcerer scorned for his magic when the ship crashes on a deserted island freeing the dangerous dragoness in the process pearl and marken will have to learn to trust each other if they want to survive the malevolent intelligent dragoness i had the same problems here as i did with his nyxia series the dragoness doesn t come across as a foreign creature and instead just sounds like a person similarly pearl and marken come off as unpleasant and selfish not really characters i want to root for and honestly at times i wished the dragon would just eat them there is a solid reason the dragoness does what she does but it speaks of an intelligence on par with the humans supposedly she evolves on the island but it is strange that so few people know much about dragons considering they are hardly a new species and the possibilities that would occur she was pretty much an intelligent velociraptor and i kind of wished more for the dinosaur than a dragon i ve read enough anthropomorphic dragons now the entire plot is on the island and it was just a matter of watching people get picked off typically through stupidity or the usual betrayals there are some good moments in the survival but i didn t care enough about any of the characters to care if i am to be honest so while this is a decent read it does skew to a younger audience even with the violence and gore reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews fantasy ya tagged book reviews book review books fantasy fiction leave a comment book of fallen leaves by a s tamaki posted on april 21 2026 by talvi while this is by no means poorly written and i enjoyed the milieu and world building i have to admit that the characters never felt fleshed out or compelling i would get bored often because i never really had a reason to care for any personalities they felt simplistic in a way that made them very one dimensional creating a disenfranchising experience the politics were interesting and i appreciated that we got a perspective from several strata of the society there are the usual betrayals and machinations making things interesting this feudal era japan was loosely translated creating less of an urban fantasy and more of a straight fantasy with some japanese trappings in all not a bad book at all i would have liked more depth of the characterization to really make it work reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews fantasy leave a comment the legend of vox machina the white stone chronicles the briarwoods by marieke nijkamp aviv or diana sousa jimmy betancourt richard starkings posted on april 1 2026 by talvi the third comic in the whitestone chronicles set in the world of vox machina provides a backstory of the main villain the briarwoods while the story is quite short i do like getting a glimpse into how things came to be from the show my impression of the lord and lady of whitestone was mostly that of typical mustache twirling villains here we see delilah as a person of huge ambition desperation and a desire to protect those she loves in the story we see her past as a young mage rising through the ranks eventually meeting her husband and the event that led her to commit to a dark path to save him in this her character becomes more well rounded and interesting though we have little to no understanding of her husband it is mostly separate from the story presented in the series the art in the comic is good and enjoyable the characters look the part and i especially enjoyed the depictions of the academy it s not quite up to the level of the wonderful first installment but it s far beyond what we got in part two overall this returns to the high quality seen in the first installment of the whitestone chronicles it s not quite at that high a bar but it s much better than the subpar second installment if you re a fan of the series you ll want to pick this up if you read the other two definitely pick this one up as well reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews fantasy graphic novel leave a comment world trigger 28 by daisuke ashihara posted on april 1 2026 by talvi while i am still enjoying the series i ve found that this particular arc hasn t been quite as exciting we are still in the middle of the simulator battles with each team trying to figure out how to best the other in seemingly very random mock battles there are the usual strategies counter strategies and osamu managing to pull wins out of nowhere this long arc is still ongoing in current issues as of the writing of this review so it will likely continue for another year or more depending on how many breaks mangaka ashihara will need to take for illness honestly i hope we can finish it soon and get the squads back together reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher posted in arc book reviews manga sci fi sci fi science fiction leave a comment frieren beyond journey s end prelude vol 1 by mei hachimoku kanehito yamada posted on april 1 2026 by talvi in this charming light novel set in the world of frieren beyond journey s end we get five small novellas each giving a short glimpse into the past of notable characters from the massively popular manga and anime the writing style maintains the series calm slice of life feeling although it contains no great insights or new story reveals the whole thing is a pleasant read the writing style is appropriate and all the characters feel correct a difficult feat when jumping mediums especially as the author here is not the original author for the series each novella concentrates on one character fern stark lawinne kanne aura the guillotine and frieren of these fern and stark are perhaps the weakest because they mostly cover ground already explored in the series the lawainne kanne is all new but the story told is quite similar to the ones we have seen already the one on aura is perhaps the most interesting and gives us the best insight i also quite liked the last one focusing on frieren overall this left me wanting more and i would have happily read similar tales from other characters i wish there were a bit more bravery and treading new ground since the series spans a vast timespan creating new places and characters should be easy without ...