OriginalBarbas started reading Fire Born of Exile
A Fire Born of Exile is a sapphic Nirvana in Fire/Count of Monte Cristo in …
I have heard great things about this book and the author and I'm quite excited about it!
User Profile
He/Him. A wandering Spanish physicist who reads too much of everything that is not related to my work. I enjoy reading books (mostly #SciFi, #fantasy or #mystery), comics (mainly #EuropeanBD but I just devour anything that looks interesting to me) and from time to time #TTRPG manuals, #nonfiction (#physics and #anarchism) and whatever else I find that might be cool. Glad to join Bookwyrm and I'm loooking forward to see what everyone is reading!
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OriginalBarbas finished reading Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush has begun. Settlers stream out …
OriginalBarbas reviewed Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey
The gates have opened the way to thousands of habitable planets, and the land rush …
A great display of hard sci fi
5 stars
As with every book from The Expanse that I have read before this one, the authors do a great job of imagining a possible future for humanity and to take those premises to places that feel extremely plausible.
Also, murder mystery on a galactic scale, which is always nice. Looking forward to the next one!
OriginalBarbas rated Blake y Mortimer: 5 stars
Blake y Mortimer (Norma)
Blake y Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs
LLEGA LA ESPERADA EDICIÓN INTEGRAL DE UNO DE LOS GRANDES CLÁSICOS DEL 9º ARTE
Al fin en edición integral las …
OriginalBarbas finished reading Blake y Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs
Blake y Mortimer (Norma)
Blake y Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs
LLEGA LA ESPERADA EDICIÓN INTEGRAL DE UNO DE LOS GRANDES CLÁSICOS DEL 9º ARTE
Al fin en edición integral las …
OriginalBarbas started reading Blake y Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs
Blake y Mortimer (Norma)
LLEGA LA ESPERADA EDICIÓN INTEGRAL DE UNO DE LOS GRANDES CLÁSICOS DEL 9º ARTE
Al …
I have read some Blake & Mortimer albums in the past, but it is my first time owning one and actually reading the first ones. Exciting!
OriginalBarbas reviewed World War in Balance by Harry Turtledove
A good take on alternate history
4 stars
I am not a big fan of WWII stories, but this book reads very well, features prominent physicists (always a plus in my book, it makes for relatable content) and also displays the point of view of the "Others".
OriginalBarbas reviewed Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky by Chip Zdarsky
A great Daredevil run
5 stars
This will be a short review, but the long and short of it is that Zdarsky and the rest of the team have been outdoing themselves once more.
OriginalBarbas reviewed Written in dead wax by Andrew Cartmel
"He is a record collector -- a connoisseur of vinyl, hunting out rare and elusive …
An unexpected finding
5 stars
For a book whose main plot is the finding of rare vinyls in small shops in London, the book itself it's one of these unearthed gems.
Without spoiling much of the book, it starts with the protagonist (the Vinyl Detective) looking for a rare jazz album for a mysterious client. Then the book continues with this plot, but adding classical elements from the mystery genre ("accidental" deaths with the worst timings possible, mysterious strangers following the protagonists, layers of plot threads to unravel) mixed with a commentary on the history of Jazz and the exploitation of its musicians.
I love Jazz, I also have a terrible musical ear and I am a cheapskate with my audio equipment, so a lot of the technicalities in the text I wasn't able to fully understand. But it is fine, as most of the characters also didn't get them.
Like any good mystery novel, …
For a book whose main plot is the finding of rare vinyls in small shops in London, the book itself it's one of these unearthed gems.
Without spoiling much of the book, it starts with the protagonist (the Vinyl Detective) looking for a rare jazz album for a mysterious client. Then the book continues with this plot, but adding classical elements from the mystery genre ("accidental" deaths with the worst timings possible, mysterious strangers following the protagonists, layers of plot threads to unravel) mixed with a commentary on the history of Jazz and the exploitation of its musicians.
I love Jazz, I also have a terrible musical ear and I am a cheapskate with my audio equipment, so a lot of the technicalities in the text I wasn't able to fully understand. But it is fine, as most of the characters also didn't get them.
Like any good mystery novel, the characters are well rounded, with many depths and very interesting to follow.
Also, the book, like vinyls, has a Side A and a Side B and that is great, as there is a big overarching plot but also individual plots to each side.
I think I will try to buy the next books on the series sooner rather than later.
OriginalBarbas reviewed Usagi Yojimbo Origins, Vol. 3 by Stan Sakai
More Usagi, and that's great
5 stars
As always, all the Usagi Yojimbo stories are great and by reading the earlier ones, such as this one, you can see how Stan Sakai's craft improved over each the previous ones.
This is the first multi issue story arc, and the first to involve all the previously introduced characters. It follows a familiar structure (admitted by Stan Sakai himself on the notes), but it does so in a way that it is incredibly difficult to notice.
The fact that it is colourised only adds to the piece, without substracting anything.
OriginalBarbas reviewed Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of …
A great book and (hopefully) more to come
5 stars
This is the first book from Samantha Shannon I have read, and I have really liked it. The overall story is very good, the characters are very interesting and the worldbuilding has many layers (as it should).
I like how each chapter starts by having a geographical distinction, which helps situate the different characters in the map. It also cements the differences between each region and the lore.
Another important topic of the book is the rupture with other fantasy novels in the importance of the women in the plot (which is good) and the prominence of queer characters in it (which is also good).
I am looking forward to more works from the same author and I imagine that I will be reading them as soon as I know that they are released.
Now with even more comics in the comics about comics
5 stars
Brubaker and Phillips could have done things the easy way in Criminal, with a linear timeline and just showing the exploits of the criminals from wherever in the US criminal happens (never been there so I actually have no clue where that may be), but instead they create layer after layer of extra details that end up making this series extra good.
In this volume we have two issues that merge the stories and characters from the world of Criminal with the comics they read. The issues are a mix of the "actual" issues of Savage Sword and Deadly Hands and criminal issues. Very original and quite well thought indeed.
On the other hand we also have long novellas like All My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, that is both artistically and thematically quite distinct and Bad Weekend, where we see the insides of a comic con from the point …
Brubaker and Phillips could have done things the easy way in Criminal, with a linear timeline and just showing the exploits of the criminals from wherever in the US criminal happens (never been there so I actually have no clue where that may be), but instead they create layer after layer of extra details that end up making this series extra good.
In this volume we have two issues that merge the stories and characters from the world of Criminal with the comics they read. The issues are a mix of the "actual" issues of Savage Sword and Deadly Hands and criminal issues. Very original and quite well thought indeed.
On the other hand we also have long novellas like All My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, that is both artistically and thematically quite distinct and Bad Weekend, where we see the insides of a comic con from the point of view of an old author.
Criminal is great and, with these issues, it has shown that it will be in constant evolution so I am looking forward to the next volume!
Quite mysterious but also a very thriling read
5 stars
As a disclaimer, I have to say that I am a quantum physicist and I know about the topic quite a lot, so some parts of the comic that I believe common knowledge, might not be so. With that out of the way, I will move on to the review per se.
This is a lovely comic where we follow the journey of the lookalike of a certain franco-belgian pair of reporter and dog through the Quantum Lands. It is quite a delight to read, as everyone that decided to venture those territories has suffered the same bewilderement and frustations as our host, Bob.
Without going into many spoilers, Bob meets a great number of important physicists and they offer they guide as they journey together through the Quantum Lands and unravel its mysteries.
Sometimes it does delve into some esoteric and hard to understand topics, but I can say …
As a disclaimer, I have to say that I am a quantum physicist and I know about the topic quite a lot, so some parts of the comic that I believe common knowledge, might not be so. With that out of the way, I will move on to the review per se.
This is a lovely comic where we follow the journey of the lookalike of a certain franco-belgian pair of reporter and dog through the Quantum Lands. It is quite a delight to read, as everyone that decided to venture those territories has suffered the same bewilderement and frustations as our host, Bob.
Without going into many spoilers, Bob meets a great number of important physicists and they offer they guide as they journey together through the Quantum Lands and unravel its mysteries.
Sometimes it does delve into some esoteric and hard to understand topics, but I can say that this comic is one of the gentlest approaches to the topics that I have seen.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with some interest in quantum physics.
OriginalBarbas reviewed Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 9 by Stan Sakai
Another banger from Stan Sakai
5 stars
Recently I have been rereading the rest of the Usagi Yojimbo volumes and I can say that they only improve as the series progresses (and they were already quite good since the beginning). Stan Sakai's work is impeccable and his sense of the narrative is excellent.
I do not want to go into details on this volume, but I will just say that on some of the stories the focus is shifted from Usagi into other characters and... they are great. It feels like a completely different style while also retaining Sakai's usual technique, polish and care.
I am looking forward very much to the next one!
OriginalBarbas reviewed Decapitation by NISIOISIN
A dropout from an elite Houston-based program for teens is on a visit to a …
A much better closed room mistery than what I remember
4 stars
First off, a disclaimer, I have read the previous edition of this book some 10 years ago, give or take and I found it "okay". I've forgotten almost everything about the plot and characters and also the tricks involved.
So, now that I've re-read it I can say that, while I still dislike some of the characters and specially the narrator, but the pacing, twists and overall plot and solutions are quite original and well along the lines of NisiOisiN's usual writing. I am quite excited about the sequels so I might read them sooner rather than later.