Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

The Wall of Storms (Dandelion Dynasty, Book 2) by Ken Liu — Book Review

I started Wall of Storms right after the first book, Grace of Kings, since I didn’t want to lose momentum on this Dandelion Dynasty series. Grace of Kings introduced us to Dara, an empire of island nations, through a story of rebellion leading to civil war, culminating in a new empire under protagonist Kuni Garu….

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz — Book Review

I don’t read much cozy sci-fi (though this is my second one this year), but there’s something about Automatic Noodle that grabbed me. I want to say that it wasn’t just marketing, but it kind of was. From the colourful cover art, to the cute title, to the low-stakes story premise of a ragtag group…

The Last Wish (The Witcher, Book 1) by Andrzej Sapkowski

My journey with The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski’s super-popular fantasy series, got off to a bumpy start when I read The Blood of Elves. I understood it to be the first book of the series and assumed that the short story collections (including The Last Wish) were extra, optional prequel stories. Boy, was I wrong! Without…

A Drop of Corruption (Shadow of the Leviathan, Book 2) by Robert Jackson Bennett — Book Review

It is great to be back in this world that I discovered last year when reading the first book of this series, The Tainted Cup. There I met the eccentric crime solving genius, Ana Dolabra, and her assistant, Din Kol. No ordinary world, this steampunk empire has been changed to revolve around the presence of…

Spider-Man: Brand New Day – Movie Review

I admit that I had not been planning to watch another Spider-Man movie in the same way that I had anticipated watching The Odyssey. My MCU-love had seriously waned. However, after hearing the cheers and reviews, I was excited to watch Brand New Day. I thought the other two movies featuring Tom Holland as Spider-Man…

The Odyssey — Movie Review

Christopher Nolan’s big budget, big screen adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey was so exciting to me that it brought me out of a nearly one-year absence from cinema-going. I have been a lifelong mythology nerd. I even read Stephen Fry’s Odyssey retelling a month ago to remind myself of this classical epic tale. This film was…

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender – Movie Review

It’s been a long time since I reviewed a movie and so it feels appropriate for me to resume with this long-awaited sequel to one of my favourite animated series of all time: Avatar: The Last Airbender. Over the years, I have watched the original series at least four times through (maybe more), and so…

Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman – Book Review

I have had a really good time with Christopher Buehlman’s The Blacktongue Thief and The Daughters’ War, so I was excited to dip my toes into his horror writing with Those Across the River. Instead of being set in a medieval-style fantasy world full of thieves, soldiers, wizards, corvids and goblins, this story is set…

Odyssey (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths, Book 4) by Stephen Fry — Book Review

Choosing between Homer’s original (read by Claire Danes) and a reimagining of the timeless tale by Stephen Fry himself as part of his Greek Myths series, wasn’t easy. I wanted to prep for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film adaptation, and since I’d read Homer’s epic poem back in university, I decided to give Fry a try…