Tag: Gifted

Book Review, Gaming

Moon Reads: The Official Horizon Zero Dawn Colouring Book

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The Official Horizon Zero Dawn Colouring Book

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I streamed last Thursday as I coloured on this book, so if you are interested, you may see the Video on Demand for it here. I spend ages colouring hair and going through the book and also showing off the Art of Book because I own that one. Overall it was a bit of chatting, colouring and fun followed by some gameplay of the Frozen Wilds part.

The book gets a 4.5 because it has one of my pet peeves, that the two-page spread pictures do not consider a bleed margin for the inside where the book is glued together and therefore you lose some of the artwork to that bend in the book as you cant flatten it completely. Otherwise, mostly the art is based on the comics rather than the game which is something we did discuss more at length during the stream.

It includes scenes from both of the comics, however not all of them are spoilers and if you don’t know the story then they may just seem like pretty pieces of artwork of the characters. I do recommend also checking out both comic volumes as they are amazing and good fun. You can find the first here, and the second here reviewed by yours truly!

Obviously I couldn’t resist showing off some of the HZD merch and hopefully you agree that the book is gorgeous and if you like the game and colouring, this is a wonderful choice!

Book Review

Moon Reads: August Kitko and the Mechas from Space

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August Kitko and the Mechas from Space by Alex White

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Review copy provided by the publisher

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

If you like mechas, epic battles, music and music theory, chaos and the end of the world, then this is the book for you! The best way I can summarise it is if you took Evangelion, tossed it with music and music theory, a pinch of today’s world and then fast-forwarded it a 1000 years, you might get this book.

August is having a mini pity party at the end of the world because mechas are coming to destroy humanity and he messed up his big plans for the end of the world. So when he starts hearing the mechas battle it out and it sounds like music to him so he plays a Magnus opus kinda piece, he is playing for himself not to save the world, and yet that is kinda what he does!

OK that is super summarised, but this is a story about how being the hero doesn’t always involve glamour, and there’s a LOT going on with the mechas, the world, August and his plans and music. For me, the music twist was one of my absolute favourite things to add to the idea of mechas and end-of-the-world epic battles, it made me look forward more to the battles than in other books of this style. I do admit I like music and it was just fascinating to have August’s process described and how he would communicate with the mechas and be a “pilot”. Very different to Evangelion but still cool and with in a way similar vibes.

Oh and there is a romance going on, a slight heist, a lot of government officials being themselves, and a lot more about music and people. Honestly, it was a fun chaotic read.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Stoker (Blog Tour)

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Stoker by Jenny Brigalow

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

As part of the blog tour, I will present you with an excerpt from the book, as sometimes it is interesting to read a little bit to get the right feel for it!

In the candle’s flickering light, Oddie could see stone walls and a patch of dark floor.
Beyond that he could see an old door, its green-painted surface mottled with rust
and mildew.
The siren blasted. Oddie put his hands to his ears to block it out. He sat up and
smacked his head. He cursed emphatically. Then fell silent as a warm trickle of
blood rolled between his eyes. He reached up and encountered a cold, hard metal
beam. That wasn’t right. What the hell was going on?
On the verge of panic, Oddie wiggled awkwardly towards the open space on his left.
He pulled his torso to the edge and then shifted his left leg. For some reason his
right leg refused to follow. Fragments of his dream played in his mind and Oddie felt
a stab of fear. A fear fuelled by exhaustion. His eyes closed as he braced himself.
Really, more than anything, he wanted to go back to sleep. Instead, Oddie
scrunched himself up and reached down to grab a hold of his trouser leg. But his
fingers wiggled into empty space.
He lay still, too confused for thought or action. Then, straining even sinew, he inched
his hand down a little more. He crept his hand sideways and encountered the coarse
cloth of his trousers. His hand swept back to the right. Nothing. His breath came in
shallow pants. He groped around until his fingers encountered something alien. A
thick wad of cloth. He prodded the lump. Big mistake. Pain engulfed him. It wasn’t
agony. There was no word to describe it. It felt like someone was sawing his leg off.
Then the dream died and coalesced into reality. And Oddie screamed.

Stoker by Jenny Brigalow, Chapter 42 p146

And now the mini-review (I admit that my favourite excerpt is probably one where there is a discussion of elements and balance, but that includes a bunch of spoilers so I can’t share that with you lot!).

I enjoyed Stoker, the chapters are relatively short, so it is easy to divide into smaller chunks if you do not have the energy for reading a lot (as I did while being ill, this helped because it was easy to do just one chapter at a time). There are a lot of Frankenstein vibes (but not a comparison or a retelling, more of the same type of gothic feel) with a bit of steampunk and gothic in it, and I have to admit it gives me a little of Charles Dickens vibes without being that wordy or dry, like a much lighter modern approach to that ambience.

The story focuses on two main characters that are from almost opposite sides of the action and at first, you wonder what is making them come together but the story is working on a lot of “science” and magic and this turns into an interesting kind of romance story with elements, magic, experiments and other parts of the adventure. It has a tiny bit of everything, even if it overall has a slightly sad vibe. It is the kind of book to read in fall while cosy with a cup of your favourite hot drink and under a blanket while it rains outside.

Overall an interesting little book that surprised me a lot!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Squire

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Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: A copy of this book was provided upon request from the publisher but I also bought a final copy, which is packed somewhere in a box currently.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I’ve been following Sara and her artwork for ages, and when I found out Squire was in the making, I was super excited about it.

Let me tell you, it did not disappoint and I can’t wait for more of it to come!

Squire follows Aiza, who dreams of becoming a Knight because it is a huge honour and also because it will probably mean people bully her less and she will be popular and a heroine. And finally, because she can then achieve Knighthood and have full citizenship. Initially, her parents are against it, reminding her of her heritage and why she is shunned, but in the end, they let her go.

At the training, she meets up with a few rivals and several other hopeful youngsters wanting to be knights. But as much as the training is hard, she is keeping her identity secret and this causes tensions.

To say much more would be to spoil the plot but I loved the many characters shown through it and their own unique stories and motivations, but not only that, the artwork is fun, the story has a lot to tell and it is, in general, a good read that I breezed through.

If you want new adventures of someone dreaming of becoming a Knight, of defending their country and the conundrum of their identity against what the values of this knighthood are, look no further, with fascinating and intricate artwork [some of those backgrounds are stunning] and a cast of characters that would provide you, someone to cheer for regardless of what your personal favourite type of character is, this I a book not to miss and read as soon as possible.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Horizon Zero Dawn Liberation

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Horizon Zero Dawn: Liberation by Anne Toole, Elmer Damaso, Bryan Valenza and Jim Campbell

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: A friend requested it form the publisher for me because I love Horizon Zero Dawn, Horizon Frobidden West and the whole story and world.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

If you have read the first main book on the Sunhawk and a little bit of a taster before Horizon Forbiddne West came out, I reviewed the volumes here. It was a good book delving on Tallanah and finding new beasts, which gave a good introduction to what the new game would bring.

Liberation is different in that it is instead giving us more backstory, the parts of Erend’s story and how his sister became the amazing person she was, how they ended up being part of the Oseram who helped Sun King Avad dethrone his father, and all that. The art as usual is amazing, and the story was interesting as we have Erend trying to tell his story while they track one of the relevant characters to the past of him and his sister. Aloy is being very much herself, which I liked because she definitely sometimes feels like she has bigger priorities and bigger things, and then it is her friends who love her who bring her down back tot he world and go “hey, you have things to worry about, but so do we, and we can help each other, no one is an island”.

It was just a very very nice comic for me to read, it added to the lore, explained the relationship and love Sun King Avad had for Ersa, and just how much everyone could admire her and why. It showed too why Erend has big shoes to fill and how unfit for it he is and yet how hard he tries. And of course, it shows us how different Aloy is to this and how much she tries to understand this part fo the story and world that she was never a part of because of how she was an Outcast and set aside and then suddenly had to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders without really choosing to. And yes, we know she could have said no, but that would not be true to herself. She ahs a big heart despite sometimes forgetting it.

Highly recommend adding this book to your comic collection and to your Aloy and her friend’s collection. It is as good or even better than the first one.

Book Review

Moon Reads: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Copy provided by the publisher. They asked if anyone wanted one to review and I felt I had to given I am Mexican and I knew this would be a book I could talk about. I just didn’t realise how much I would understand this book.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I have just finished reading this book, and woah. I will start by saying that the whole fact that Julia’s mum expects her daughters to be perfect and to behave as if they were in Mexico and everything as she wanted to, is very much something I get. My own mum had her dreams of what my future should look like and it had incredibly intense consequences on the decisions I made around Julia and Olga’s age, and that in turn caused consequences I wish I could have avoided. Sometimes Mexican mums think they know best because they have imagined a full future and suddenly something clicks and they hold unto that.

But our story starts after Olga dies, the perfect daughter who is always helping her mum, who is studying to be a secretary and has a job but still lives at home, everything Julia is not. And without Olga to hold the high standards of their mother, Julia’s world quickly becomes suffocating and even harder to live in. And not only that but there are small hints that maybe Olga was not exactly who she said she was, that maybe she had carefully constructed a bunch of lies and there was more to what Julia considered a boring meek life as the perfect daughter.

Overall, the book is quite intense and paints a picture that I actually never felt was not Mexican enough or that was trying to romanticise it or anything. Instead it was factual, you can see how Julia judges some of it because she doesn’t understand the reasons, the culture, the traditions behind, or the hardships. And you can also see how the family does not get Julia and this American dream they hoped for either. The dream was not actually a dream, and in a way they are too afraid to make it be more. But you get all the little details that make it be true, be real, be genuine, and I liked that. I had no complaints on how Mexican this felt.

Overall, the one thing I have to say is that this book deals with a lot of intense topics and therefore it is worth coming to it prepared. Among them it deals with depression, death, attempted suicide, drugs, drug dealers, violence, pregnancy, abortion, affairs, parental abuse. There is a lot going on and it is an intense book, but it is also very nice to see Julia slowly find herself, and get out of the shadow of her perfect sister that was not actually that perfect or good and was trying just as Julia was, to live a life that would make their parents proud and make her happy, and that is a very hard balance and a lot of pressure to be under.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Diary of an Accidental Witch – Flying High

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Diary of an Accidental Witch – Flying High by Perdita and Honor Cargill

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Series: Diary of an Accidental Witch, book 2.

Ownership: Review copy provided by the publisher upon request, this does not affect my review and honestly I had this on my wishlist anyway because I enjoyed the first one a lot.

As per above, I really enjoyed the very first book don’t he series, which you can find a review for it here. Flying high picks up more or less after the end of the first book. We find Bea starting a new diary to tell us all about Winter solstice, a special task for her and relating to magical creatures, and some fun events for the Winter Solstice.

There is a lot of flying to be made and competitions and then suddenly things take an odd turn kinda because of her but also not entirely her fault.

The story is quite funny, with a lot of pointers to the previous book, however, it also explains again the rules of games like Go or other magical things you may not have picked up from the first book if you somehow missed it. And the story is once again focused on values and learning to treat others well, and you know, Bea adapting to being a witch secretly, or how to balance her friendships between magical and non-magical friends.

There are some very good moments of considering that not everyone approaches things the same way and that maybe we all do it a little differently and still manage it and how easy it is to forget your privilege or that your view may be quite narrow. And obviously, there is a good party at the end because apparently, witches love parties.

Oh and I read this for #Februwitchy which I forget to say I have been doing because I am a distracted being, but yeah.

Anyway, I recommend you buy this one and the prequel because you’ll have a good laugh with adorable illustrations and it reads just like a diary, good for young readers and slightly older readers, or maybe an adult like me who loves to read and sometimes needs fun soft stories with low stakes and a lot of childhood bliss.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Star

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Star by Holly Webb

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read Before: No

Ownership: Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for a review. This does not affect my opinion of the book nor do I receive any other compensation for reviewing it beyond the book.

As I mentioned in the Frost review, Star was my first Holly Webb book, which I read in December and honestly, I loved it. It was the right kind of cute and gentle but also had a little adventure, a little bit of moving in space to another area or in a way living someone else’s experiences.

The story follows Anna, who wishes for snow and borrows a little wooden tiger from her Russian grandmother while she hears stories of her cousins back in Russia. But as she goes for a walk, she wonders about a loose tiger cub in Russia near the village where her cousin lives. As such, we suddenly are now in that village and being the cousin Anna.

The story follows Anna as she tries to save the tiger cub but also not be in danger, and it is very cute, very intriguing and cares about the little animal and just shows how things can affect life, but also to be safe. I really liked some of the measures Anna took to be sensible before leaving her house and a few of the things she cautiously does before approaching the tiger cub.

Overall, the story was enjoyable, made me want to have a few wood-carved animals to display somewhere and just to think about animals and the roles they have and what can happen when we disrupt them.

Recommended for readers that can read on their own or a family read to slightly younger readers with some guidance on topics and explanations on the content, nothing untoward or anything like that but it does deal with hunters and animals and other little things. The illustrations are absolutely stunning and it is so worth reading.

Books

Moon Reads: Cytonic giveaway

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Welcome to my stop on the Cytonic blog tour, if you are here to check on Spin, I mean Spensa, then you are in the right place.

Today I have a little treat for you, a giveaway. If you follow Gollancz account and me on Twitter then retweet the giveaway tweet, you’re in for a chance to win a copy of Cytonic, and complete your set!

https://twitter.com/themoonkestrel/status/1466029564484747268

So what are we finding out about the story after all the amazing stuff Spensa has already managed to do? Here is a quick summary of what to expect in the book.

Spensa’s life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell—the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What’s more, she traveled light-years from home as an undercover spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home.

Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war. And Spensa’s seen the weapons they plan to use to end it: the Delvers. Ancient, mysterious alien forces that can wipe out entire planetary systems in an instant. Spensa knows that no matter how many pilots the DDF has, there is no defeating this predator.

Except that Spensa is Cytonic. She faced down a Delver and saw something eerily familiar about it. And maybe, if she’s able to figure out what she is, she could be more than just another pilot in this unfolding war. She could save the galaxy.

The only way she can discover what she really is, though, is to leave behind all she knows and enter the Nowhere. A place from which few ever return.

To have courage means facing fear. And this mission is terrifying.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Kindness (a user’s guide)

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Kindness (A User’s Guide) by Ali Catterall and Kitty Collins

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: The publisher did a giveaway of the books for Kindness Day and I got one

I am really bad with dates and remembering what day is meant to be what, so when I found out it was kindness day and there was this little book to be a “guide” I decided to give it a go. If you ever read Chicken Soup for Children/Teens, this is a more adult and less fun kinda book. It tries hard to be fun and it is presented in a very cute way with quotes and little tips, which were nice to read. But the stories had a very small font and not all of them had a little tip at the end. At first, I was interested to read a variety of them but slowly some became very focused on things that had happened in the UK or US and nowhere else, and I felt like there were missed opportunities of kindness.

It does explore things like the Japanese Skilled Veteran Corps or the meaning of ubuntu, but it would have also been really interesting to read about more recent acts of kindness, like the one included of Marcus Rashford. I felt like it had a lot of room for more unknown acts of kindness, the kind done less by rich or famous people and more the kind one does every day to that make people famous.

Still, some were new stories of kindness for me and I enjoyed those, I just wish there had been more of those. But overall it is a nice collection of stories and I will be passing it on to a friend because as soon as I saw it I already knew I had to pass on the favour and pass on the kindness.

I do think this book will be right for others and it will be a comforting book for many, it just wasn’t exactly what I hoped for with a title like this. But nevertheless, it is a kind book with lots of stories.