The fifth Discworld novel brings things back to Rincewind (the star of the first two books) after changing focus in Equal Rites and Mort. Nonetheless, while there are very vague allusions to his previous adventures, it’s essentially a standalone novel that could be enjoyed without having read any of the others. Having said that, I wouldn’t recommend it as a first Discworld novel, because it’s been my least favourite so far.

It being my least favourite doesn’t mean it’s bad though. In fact, I’d say that the opening of the novel, where Death comes to collect an old wizard, is one of the most beautifully written things that I’ve ever read. If the entire book had been like this, it’d have been a contender for being a 10/10 book for me. Unfortunately, the rest of the book, was much less enticing.

The story is about the eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son, who grows up to become a “Sourcerer” which means that he is someone who is a source of magic in the world. This character, named Coin, of course has the power go to his head, which prompts him to take over Discworld’s Unseen University for wizards and attempt to introduce a new magic order.

Rincewind, meanwhile, running away from all this, finds himself once again in the position of an unlikely hero after being swept up in an adventure by a woman named Conina. Ultimately, of course, they end up opposing Coin – and along the way there are a lot of laughs, and a lot of fun over the top actions sequences. I was decently entertained throughout, but I felt it lacked anything really profound and didn’t really have anything meaningful to say in the same way that Mort, Equal Rites, and even The Light Fantastic did.

The ending was pretty cool though, and quite a bit more serious than I was expecting it to be (which was a refreshing surprise). I just can’t say anything about it without spoiling it – but I will say that I liked getting more of an insight into the history of Discworld. The rest just mostly felt like fairly light entertainment – not bad, or boring, by any means at all, it’s a good book, I’ve just read a lot of better ones.

Rating: 6.9/10

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This book contains a selection of anonymous nude paintings of several women, non-binary people, and trans men. Alongside every painting, each model has written a short piece of writing about their relationship with their body – and you know what? I think this is one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen for a book in a long time. I absolutely love it.

If you’ve just read that description and find yourself thinking, well, what’s the point of that? The intention behind it was to help strive towards a broader notion of body neutrality. So often in our society, we’re encouraged to see nudity as inherently sexual, even though nakedness is the natural state of all our bodies – this then feeds into body image troubles and issues with self-confidence.

The pieces of writing that accompany each painting confirm this too – some are very positive, while others are really sad. However, one thing that they all have in common is that the models all experienced some kind of shame of self-consciousness about their body. I hope that those who struggle with these things will be able to take some solace from the fact that they seem to be universal among people of every different body type – if they aren’t currently dealing with it, it’s something that they have overcome in the past.

Aside from the statements alongside each one, I also really admire. The portraits are really, really good. I studied them closely for inspiration in my own art, and I have to say that the artist did a really good job of capturing the fact that every body really is a beautiful piece of art.

Of all the projects of this kind that I’ve seen, this is my personal favourite. It truly is a celebration of the human body and perfectly underlines the fact that we come in all shapes and sizes and no matter how someone looks, they have no reason to be ashamed of their body.

Rating: 9.5/10

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This the novel that helped get cosy fantasy on the map as a genre, and I love it. I have always been a big fan of fantasy fiction, but I have never read anything quite like this. I looked forward to a new chapter at the end of each day, where I enjoyed it as just as much as the characters in the novel might enjoy one of the “Thimblets” sold in the titular café (which I could practically taste).

That’s what the whole story is about. The main character is an orc woman named Viv who decides that she’s tired of being a hardened adventurer and wants to try a new line of work – so she opens a café. Viv is an interesting character who’s quite unlike anything I’ve ever really seen before (and not just in the sense of being a female orc). At first, she might come across as just the typical strong and powerful character who doesn’t have a lot to say, but you start to realise that that’s just how she ended up as an adventurer, and you get to see she’s got a big heart with room for lots of friends. She’s very endearing.

The book’s blurb describes it as low-stakes, and that’s quite true (for the most part). Most of the story sees Viv growing her business, making new friends, and finding new ways to expand her business. It might sound pretty bland, but it’s actually really satisfying to see the café grow, improve, and attract more customers. The fact that it’s in a fantasy setting seems to add to the overall feeling of cosiness, and as it goes on, a little community of characters grows around Viv.

My favourite, aside from Viv herself, was Tandri, a succubus who Viv hires to work for her. She has a similar character arc to Viv, but the difference is that rather than just being a quiet person who keeps to herself, she’s more of a snarky, standoffish sort of person, who learns to become friendlier and more emotionally vulnerable. The relationship that grows between her and Viv was one that I was very invested in.

Towards the end, it became much more intense than I was expecting for a self-proclaimed low stakes book, but I don’t think it was at odds with its overall wholesome feel. It probably feels even more intense specifically because the earlier bits are a little more rooted in everyday things (or, everyday things in a fantasy world) which all just helps make the book more impactful.

For me, fantasy is at its best when there’s at least a decent amount of whimsy involved, and that’s certainly the case in Legends & Lattes. If you’re somebody who reads before bed to de-stress, this book will serve that purpose wonderfully – and considering that fantasy in general seems to be going down an edgier path full of sex and violence, this novel is pleasantly refreshing.

Rating: 8.8/10

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This is the eighth Wheel of Time novel, and by this point it really feels like the series is just resting on its laurels, because barely anything happens. It’s just Rand musing about the responsibility he carries on his shoulders while being insufferable, Perrin and Faile having a rubbish and toxic relationship, every woman wanting to sleep with Rand while judging other women for dressing in revealing clothes, and that’s about it.

I’m being kind of flippant here – ultimately I enjoyed this book and that’s because I’m invested in its world, and its characters, but if it weren’t for that and this was just a standalone piece of fantasy fiction, I’d find it very boring. It really felt like such tiny amounts of progress were made in the overall story, that it kind of felt like, what’s the point? Right at the end, there was a pretty major development, but with the way that some characters aren’t in certain books, I’d not be surprised if it’s not addressed in the next one anyway.

It’s a shame, because I remember reading the first book and feeling a truly enchanting sense of adventure as the characters set out across the world. At this point it feels like they’ve all already been everywhere so there’s much less curiosity about what might happen and what they might encounter, and nothing new happens to keep it interesting.

Long-running TV shows sometimes have filler episodes as they build up to larger, more important events. This felt like a filler book and that makes for pretty dull reading. It wasn’t outrageously bad and reading it was not a negative experience, but I desperately hope that something a bit more interesting happens next time.

Rating: 5/10

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Everyone knows the story of Jekyll and Hyde – it’s easily one of the most well-known stories ever written, to the extent that it transcends the medium of literature and is literally something that gets used in day-to-day speech. How often, for example, have you heard something described as a “Jekyll and Hyde situation” where somebody is very nice one minute, and very nasty the next? Probably loads of times. I want to read practically everything, but a novel as influential as this? Of course I was excited to see what it was like.

The only problem is that because it’s so well known, a lot of the fun is taken out of it. Most of the story is built around a mystery. What’s the connection between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? How does Hyde have so much sway over Jekyll? These days we all know they’re the same person, so the ultimate twist at the end is much less impactful. I can imagine that it was an absolutely incredible ending back in the day, but it’s a shame that the novel is essentially universally spoiled – especially as it’s very short and all built around this one mystery.

Nonetheless, I don’t mean to suggest that there is no point in reading this. It’s still an enjoyable ride that is beautifully written. The novel’s narrator, Gabriel Utterson, has that kind of deeply affectionate friendship with Dr. Jekyll that I love to see in nineteenth century literature. I could also totally read Jekyll as gay, because when talking about his repressed desires, he mentions things he finds too shocking to mention – and considering the violent things he does mention, and the extremely uptight Victorian mindset, I think that would work quite well. That then also explains his self-loathing and desperate attempts to change himself. I thought this was a much more overt than any other allegedly gay character in nineteenth century literature that I’ve come across, so found that quite an appealing aspect.

If you love gothic novels, this is definitely one you’ll want to read. If it were longer, it’d potentially outstay its welcome when it can no longer depend on mystery and intrigue to keep people interested. Nonetheless, this is a novel with great characters and a delightful atmosphere, and it’s central premise, of their being a dark side to even the nicest people, is an endlessly interesting one.

Rating: 8.3/10

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While most people will know the Super Mario series for its video games, there has actually been a long-running manga running alongside it for over 30 years. The manga follows the same storylines as the games, but with a strongly distinctive style. The sense of humour is very different to anything you’d expect from Nintendo, and Mario is portrayed as comically dumb and aggressive (even if still generally heroic).

Over all these years, Yukio Sawada has been writing the Super Mario-kun manga and it’s never been officially translated into English until this collection. Though you only get a few chapters taken from larger story arcs, anyone who’s played the games won’t have any difficulty understanding what’s going on in the samples included – and even those who haven’t played them can use the brief summaries included before each chapter to get the gist (it’s never anything too complex).

I was particularly pleased to see that it included a chapter from the Super Paper Mario arc, as that is quite possibly my favourite Mario game and I think it has one of the most interesting storylines. I wish it had included some of the more serious moments from Super Paper Mario though, or even Super Mario Galaxy – it’s usually just wacky takes on fairly standard parts of the games.

Having said that, the most interesting thing in this collection (and to my mind, the best) was the story called Super Mari-Old. This story is not based on any of the games, but rather, the author’s life. In it, Mario finds himself starting to grow old, and as he does, he finds it harder to be so constantly happy and full of life. He becomes so depressed that he even needs to admitted to hospital – which the author notes, is a parallel of his own life, where he fell into a depression after his father died and then struggled to write funny, silly Mario comics while it was happening, ultimately being hospitalised himself.

I love the Mario series, I always have, but one critique that I’d aim at it is that it sometimes lacks a level of emotional depth that I’d like to see more of. This story had exactly the kind of depth that I like, and it used Dr. Mario in a very cool and interesting way too. It’s such a unique piece of Mario media that I think any fan would enjoy reading it.

Don’t get me wrong though – it’s mostly very fun and silly. You’ve got Mario obnoxiously dismissing people as losers and using his friends as bridges to get over lava, and you even have a scene of Bowser peeing on someone. It’s quite juvenile, really, but I still had a good time reading it and I’m sure I’d have had an even better time if I read it as a child or teenager.

Altogether, it’s a fascinating slice of both Mario and manga history, and I think it will be enjoyable to anyone with even a mild interest in Mario. I wish it had more serious moments (or at least a bit of Donkey Kong content) but I still loved it.

Rating: 8.7/10

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The United Kingdom seems to become a more and more transphobic place all of the time – fortunately, we have people like Shon Faye speaking with a voice of reason and compassion. Trans people are just ordinary people trying to live their lives, and yet they’ve been portrayed in such a way that suggests that their very existence is problematic.

The biggest thing is the moral panic that surrounds children receiving treatment after they realise they are trans. A lot of people talk about children receiving irreversible surgery, or act as though everyone who comes into the GP talking about gender dysphoria is immediately given hormone treatment. This book details the reality – that surgery can only be given after somebody reaches age 18, and that any kind of treatment for trans people is really hard to get (requiring them to jump through lots of hoops that essentially force them to act in a way that is stereotypical of their gender). She also then highlights that very few people who receive treatment ever regret it, and indeed see a significant increase in quality of life (while those who don’t gain access to it are at a much higher risk of suicide).

She also addresses concerns that well-meaning but ignorant parents are making their children pursue treatment as trans kids, when they’re really just mildly interested in things traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Using several case studies, she highlights that this is really not the case, and that, in fact, a parent with two trans children actually faced serious problems from social services because of it – even though it was ultimately discovered that there was no wrongdoing, they just had two trans kids. With a legal system that’s so keen to stop parents imposing a trans perspective on their kids even when they are actually trans, how would they ever have room to do so?

It also tackles the rampant transphobia in the media, with several examples of tabloid newspapers posting highly inaccurate stories in order to provoke a negative response. By the time a clarification is posted in the following issue (which will have nowhere near as much prominent as the misleading headline) the damage will be done and thousands will retain the prejudice misinformation as truth. It’s the kind of thing that kids should read while they’re in school so that they can be conscious of the manipulative behaviour of the media and how it works to make people hate those in minority groups. Very sadly, it also details how one particularly nasty story likely contributed to the death of a trans person.

I learned a lot from this book and it helped me to better understand the problems facing trans people and the extent of the lies that have been told about them. People are often lead to believe that they’re defending women by attacking trans people, but these two things are not at odds. Yes there are still questions to be asked about the most effective way to support trans people during their transition (a lot of improvements are needed) – but there are no questions to ask when it comes to treating them with basic compassion and respect.

Rating: 9.1/10

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Emma is a novel that I’d heard about many times before I read it – always in the context of it having an unlikeable protagonists. The funny thing is, I didn’t find Emma unlikeable at all. Sure, she’s a flawed character, but she’s well-intentioned and quite funny too – the scenes with her tend to be more entertaining than those without. It probably comes from Jane Austen herself saying that the novel’s protagonist is a character that nobody but she will like, and perhaps it ended up being sell-fulfilling. Ironically, I hear Emma described as unlikeable much more than lots of much more unlikeable characters in other novels.

What may be off-putting for some readers is that there’s not very much of a story to this novel. It’s essentially about Emma and her interactions with her friends and family at various social gathering and private get togethers. A big focus is on her relationship with her friend Harriet, with whom she gets involved in a number of misunderstandings – typically, it’s that Emma thinks that Harriet is in love with someone, or vice versa, and then tries to ignite the embers of attraction in the other person, but ends up creating one-sided crushes. Big over-arching plots may be preferable to some, but I feel like this style is much truer of life.

The way it’s all presented is actually kind of funny. I can see why it makes some people dislike Emma, but she’s never shown as meddling for the sake of meddling – she’s always thinking of her friends’ wellbeing and acts in their best interests. Although, to be fair, I was a little bit disappointed by some of her actions towards the end (just not enough for me to stop liking her).

I also quite enjoyed Emma’s relationship with Mr. Knightley. The two of them are old friends and he quite frequently thinks that Emma is making bad decisions, and then they have the kind of affectionate arguments that only people who are very comfortable with one another have. They’re a good duo.

Besides the interesting relationship dynamics, and the humour behind witty retorts and unfortunate understandings, one thing that stood out to me about this novel was its high levels of cosiness. The whole atmosphere of the book is great, and one scene where characters are enjoying a Christmas get together on a snowy night, was truly wonderful to read.

As is quite common for Jane Austen novels, it’s a little too drawn out, and is definitely overly wordy at times (to the extent of being confusing). Nonetheless, if you’re used to her style, it’s not going to be a problem (though keep in mind that in this regard, she’s worse than a lot of contemporaries) – but for me, these were relatively small issues. My overall impression of this book was definitely a positive one.

Rating: 8.2/10

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I haven’t read an enormous number of academic papers before, but this was easily the most entertaining read of them all. Of course, I don’t want to suggest that it favoured entertainment over information, because it’s a well researched and informative piece of writing – there’s just something very satisfying about seeing the hateful perspectives of regressive people unravelled and debunked.

People who subscribe to far-right political beliefs always seem to point to history and say “Well, we had those same beliefs hundreds of years ago, it’s arrogant to think new so-called progressive perspective should supplant them” but so often, this is done with a misunderstanding, or intentional misrepresentation of how the actual history played out. Rory does an excellent job of highlighting some modern examples of this.

There are modern far-right groups who claim to be continuations of medieval military orders, perhaps in an attempt to make themselves seem more prestigious or respectable, but who are really entirely unrelated and tend not to even follow the same ideologies. The most embarrassing thing that Rory highlights is the fact that in a lot of cases, there’s evidence that the actual, historical medieval orders had a more progressive attitudes towards women, or people of other races.

Not only does it do a good job of highlight these groups’ ignorance (or dishonesty), but it’s a good reminder that history is rarely as simple as people try to make it out to be – and those who do so are usually doing so with an agenda. Overall, it was a really interesting piece of writing and I enjoyed reading it.

Rating: 8.7/10