Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay — Book Review

I wanted to love The Lions of Al-Rassan. I have always wanted to learn more about medieval cultures, especially Islamic and Jewish cultures of those periods. I was fascinated by how those cultures were the most learned and intellectual of the day, and yet we have been taught so much more about the mainstream —…

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…