Little Mushroom (Novel) Vol. 1 by Yi Shi Si Zhou: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Little Mushroom vol. 1 by Yi Shi Si Zhou

Back when Peach Flower House publishing went bust, I couldn’t get my hands on Little Mushroom: Judgement Day. The publisher had a print on demand publishing model and the books disappeared instantly. I have the second volume, Revelations, but what fun is that when I couldn’t read the first book. But luckily, Seven Seas bought the rights and now the first volume is available again, as an ebook too, with a new translation and illustrations.

Little Mushroom is set in far future where humanity has faced several extinction events that began with magnetic poles disappearing, followed by natural disasters, radiation sicknesses, and finally wild mutations that instantly change a human. Only two human bases are left of four there originally were, those protecting the new artificial poles, one in China and one in the US. Everything outside the bases is left for mutations, but some people risk their lives venturing out to forage materials for the bases.

An Zhe is a mushroom living in the Abyss, the worst contamination area. A human, An Ze, has come to his cave, badly injured, and in his attempt to heal him, An Zhe absorbs An Ze’s entire DNA and memories. Eventually, he’s able to take the man’s form too. When An Ze dies, An Zhe decides to head to the human base. His objective is to find his spore that humans have taken from him. An Ze has warned him not to go there, because humans kill all mutations at sight. The worst of the humans is The Judge who is able to detect mutations others don’t see.

When An Zhe finally reaches the base, after memorable events where the humans helping him either mutate to huge insects or get eaten by those, he comes face to face with the Judge himself, Colonel Lu Feng. But instead of killing him instantly, Lu Feng is unable to decide for the first time and takes An Zhe to be tested, only for the results show that An Zhe is human.

From there, An Zhe sets to survive in the base while looking for his spore. He settles in An Ze’s home, finds himself a job, and even makes friends of sort. But all around him, mutations increase and they’ve reached the base too. And every time Lu Feng is there, killing them. But he’s always there to help An Zhe survive too, and so he decides the colonel must be a good person.

And then comes the Judgement Day. A catastrophic breach lets mutations swarm the base, and the only solution is to save a few humans and sacrifice the rest. Thanks to Lu Feng, An Zhe is among the saved. But humanity isn’t safe. Just as things are looking a bit better for An Zhe, with a new job, budding friendship with Lu Feng, and finally finding his spore, the worst happens. The artificial pole breaks and the world is about to end once more. The first volume ends with that.

This is a good story. Despite all the death, it’s fairly quiet and melancholy. An Zhe observes humans and goes about his days. He comes close to being badly hurt or tricked a few times, but always avoids those in the last moment. Lu Feng remains a distant, scary figure for most of the book, but becomes more of a real person towards the end. This really isn’t much of a romance, even with all the tropes; just a friendship that neither party really understands but which both of them need. Yet it feels like one, and the reader roots for An Zhe and Lu Feng.

At the core though, it’s a harrowing tale. The desperate struggle of humans for survival against great odds, and the sacrifices they make for it. An Zhe, coming from a species and a place where the survival of the whole requires sacrifices of the few, understands where the leaders of the base come from. But individual humans, with the voice of An Zhe’s friend Cole, argue that it’s useless to save humanity if we lose what makes us human in the process. The base isn’t a happy place, but it’s the only place. And at the end, there might not even be that anymore.

The book is fairly well written, with minor inconsistencies and repetitions. Since I haven’t read the earlier translation, I can’t tell if there are changes there. Art is good and the characters resemble those of the manhua, which keeps the visuals consistent. 

Little Mushroom Manhua vol. 1. Art by Yuchi Jinze & Maomao Tou

 

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennet

Book 3 of the fantastical detective duo, Ana Dolabra and Din Kol, takes them to the heart of the empire, to its agricultural core where augmented cattle grow the size of wagons and whose feed is picked by small cats conditioned by a fungus to keep up with their need for food. It’s also the area where Din is from and where he hasn’t been back to since he agreed to be augmented as a scribe.

Two families rule over the area. Now the son of one family has killed the daughter of another. Ana and Din need to solve the matter before the families descend in an open warfare, as that would threaten the food supply. She’s bored already.

But from the start it becomes evident that the crime isn’t as straightforward as they believed. The manner of killing has oddities. There have been several earlier deaths in one of the ruling families. It has made the matriarch believe her family is cursed and seek out guidance from the gods of people who inhabited the empire before—and still maybe rule it. And every time the pair thinks they’ve made progress with the investigation, a twist of fate pulls the rug from under them.

To solve the case, Ana has to delve deep into the history of the area and unearth things that she’s in a unique position to know about. But some secrets of the ancients should stay hidden.

This was another great book. The manner with which the victims were killed was unique and something that is only possible in this world, which makes the mystery feel fresh. Ana was more active in the investigation than before, and her character gained a bit of depth. Din was having a personal crisis or two, one that had to do with his augmentations and another with his family that made an appearance. He wasn’t quite as promiscuous as in the previous book, but he had his moment. We were introduced to yet another interesting group of augmented people, the Osrii, who scent and taste the world to determine its state. And the mystery that is Ana came a little bit closer to solving. Maybe.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

D.N.Angel New Edition, Vol. 3 by Yukiru Sugisaki: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

D.N.Angel New Edition vol. 3 by Yukiru Sugisaki

Third volume of this new omnibus edition consists of two stories. First, the latter part of Stage 2 (vols. 6-11), where Dark gets lost in the mirror world. Daisuke goes after him, and the only way to rescue him is to find the feathers of his memories. It’s a bit hasty, confusing sequence, but Daisuke succeeds in the end. He also learns that he likes having Dark around, and wonders what will happen when he’ll eventually leave for good.

The story takes place in the holiday island where the class has travelled. Riku is still missing, so Daisuke goes to find her. Everything should be romantic, but he shies off confessing to her, mostly because of misunderstandings, and because he kind of fears she’ll like him back, which would mean Dark would go away. So Dark takes matters into his own hand.

Another confusing sequence of events follows, where Krad manifests and he and Dark fight. We learn that the magic of Krad and Dark is too much for the hosts and it corrodes the hosts until there’s nothing left, the reason there’s a limit to how long one can host them. Only, it seems Krad doesn’t care, which is why Hiwatari is always sickly.

The second story is called The Second Hand of Time, and we get the first part of it (vols. 1-4). Daisuke’s class stages a play and decides to have an all-male cast. Daisuke is chosen to play the female lead and Hiwatari is the male lead. In a confusing twist of events, a new boy (man) shows up in the class and declares himself as the producer. He changes the classic love story so that the male character is Dark, played by Hiwatari.

Turns out, the man is really after proof that Daisuke is Dark. But Daisuke manages to trick him with the help of Wiz and leave, as Dark, to steal a legendary item, The Second Hand of Time. But things go wrong for him, and he, as Daisuke, gets sucked into a dreamworld, while Dark remains in the real world. Dark goes after him, accidentally taking Riku with him. The volume ends with Hiwatari launching his own operation. But is it to save Daisuke or end him and Dark for good?

This was a great volume, even if it was a tad confusing at times. Both Daisuke’s romance with Riku, and his friendship with Hiwatari progress. I still believe that the latter is more meaningful for them both; Daisuke prevents Dark from ending Krad, because it would mean the end of Hiwatari too. The romance with Riku is childish (though in all fairness, they’re 14) and exists for trope’s sake. But I won’t be getting my wish for a BL story here.

There was a longer extra story about Risa and Riku’s childhood, and like before, excellent full colour character plates.

Full colour character plate of Hiwatari.

 

Hiwatari as Dark for the play.

 

An Unruly Summon: Volume 1 by Cathfach: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

An Unruly Summon by Cathfach

An Unruly Summon is a fun subversion of the isekai genre. A country at war with demons is in a desperate need of a hero summoned from another world. But they’ve summoned heroes before and things haven’t gone well. Heroes don’t have a cause to fight, their unlimited magic causes trouble, they have strange ideas about slavery being bad, and they always want to invent soy sauce.

King and his council come up with a plan to carefully curate what the hero sees after summoning, so that he’ll help voluntarily. They even gather a harem for him, so that he doesn’t have to do it himself, because that always ends up happening. And they promise to send him back if he doesn’t want to stay.

The plan works well. Thomas is summoned, and unlike so often, knows immediately what is going on. What he sees and learns makes him agree to help the country. He even turns out to be extremely powerful with magic. He learns complicated spells instantly and spells he hasn’t been taught yet. Only problems are that he tends to overuse his mana and pass out, and a dragon haunts him in his dreams, trying to kill him. Oh, and Thomas has no interest in his harem, because he has a girlfriend at home where he intends to return.

Things take a bit of a turn when Thomas learns about having been led. But since the demons are a real threat, the plan remains the same. And then it’s time for the battle. Thomas faces a massive horde of demons and kills them all with a powerful spell. Problem is, demons aren’t the only things it kills. But the hero’s job is done, and it’s time to go home.

This was a good, entertaining read. It was the First Prize winner in the first-ever J-Novel Club Original LN Contest, and I’m sure it deserved to be. Thomas was a good hero, the girls had a role other than bedfellows, because he didn’t want them in his bed, and bad guys weren’t the obvious people.

It was much too long though. The bulk of the book’s almost 400 pages—massive for a light novel—is taken by Thomas’s training. He doesn’t learn about being led until beyond half-point, and the battles don’t take place until 75% mark, after which everything is crammed in a small space. This could’ve been cut to a half of its length and the story would’ve remained the same. Epilogue sets the stage for the next volume, but the events of this one conclude here. I don’t need to read more.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

Burn for Me starts Hidden Legacy UF series. I picked it at random for a quick summer read having been in a bit of a reading slump, and it worked perfectly for it. It’s ‘old-school’ urban fantasy from over a decade ago when UF still had heroines who weren’t afraid to stand their ground and who didn’t fall on their back when the hero so much as glance at their way. Sex and romance are something that is worked towards, not a page filler.

The book takes place in modern Houston, a location that isn’t exactly overused in fiction. It’s a world with magic that’s been introduced to it less than two centuries ago, but which has since become hereditary, with powerful Houses breeding for best results. Magic has altered the geopolitical situation too, so it’s not US of our world.

Nevada Baylor, 25, is in charge of her family’s PI business, running it with her younger sisters, cousins, mother and grandmother. Her magic allows her to tell when people are lying, something she’s kept tightly hidden so she wouldn’t be used by Houses or government, so much so, that she’s clueless to her own abilities. She’s about to learn.

Thanks to a business decision Nevada’s made around the time her father died, the agency is owned by a large House corporation, and they’re not above pressuring her to take a suicide case. She has to bring in a fugitive magic user who is a Prime level pyrokinetic capable of incinerating her from a distance and psychopathic enough to do it too. Since she knows she can’t apprehend him, her only option is to bait him to come to her. It works a bit too well.

It gains her the attention of one of the most powerful, destructive Primes in existence, Connor “Mad” Rogan who is the head of Rogan house and equally psychopathic to Nevada’s prey. Reluctantly, with equal parts of fear and lust, she agrees to work with him. It’s an explosive case with a high body count that turns out to be more than meets the eye. The case is solved on the surface, but the backstory will continue, as we don’t learn who’s behind everything.

This was a good start to a series. It’s fast-paced and entertaining, with a main couple that’s not so much ‘will they or won’t they’ as it is about ‘when’. There’s enough heat on the page to entice though. Rogan isn’t the typical protective alpha male. He’s cold, callous and selfish, and doesn’t really believe rules apply to him. I’m guessing the romance won’t advance until he’s worked through some of this to become a more decent person. Nevada is the protective one, with issues of her own. And more magic than she thought she did. For all that I chose this for a one-off, I might read the rest of the series too. Had I read this a decade ago when it came out, I would’ve devoured it.