Reviews Archives - Full of Words

Inner Workings: LaserWriter II by Tamara Shopsin

November 13, 2021November 13, 2021 by Jeff

Tamara Shopsin’s debut novel, LaserWriter II, is slim and largely plotless, and yet somehow manages to be charming and totally compelling.

It’s a very quick read, but it has stuck in my mind in the weeks since I finished it.

LaserWriter II is a coming-of-age story about Claire, a young woman who gets a job at Tekserve, a famous (now long-closed) Apple repair shop in New York City in the 90s. She starts in intake and then moves up the ranks into repair technician. Along the way, she discovers that she is really good at repairing obscure and discontinued printers.

Forbidden Fruit: Comfort Me With Apples

November 13, 2021November 11, 2021 by Jeff

All I knew about Comfort Me With Apples before I read it is that it’s hard to summarize without spoilers. The basics are that it’s about a woman, Sophia, who lives in a planned community; Sophia’s only purpose in life is to please her husband. She was made for him.

Truth is a Mystery: Magic for Liars

September 10, 2021 by Jeff

Magic for Liars has a very cool cover, but I think it led me astray. I was expecting something a bit more dynamic based on that design and the book’s excellent title, but the resulting story was only competent and a bit unexciting. I did like the book well enough, and would definitely be game for reading work by Sarah Gailey – I’ve seen raves for just about everything they’ve ever written – but maybe I’d prefer the ones about carnivorous hippos?

A Picture is Worth Less: Mawrth Valliis

September 9, 2021 by Jeff

Mawrth Valliis by EPHK has a gimmick: all of the dialog is in the “original Martian”, so you have to infer the story from the illustrations. However, nothing in the book itself actually explains the conceit; instead, all context is left to whatever marketing materials you’ve read before cracking the cover.

Blame It On The: Black Star by Eric A. Glover and Arielle Jovellanos

June 18, 2021 by Jeff

Sticking with a recent theme, Black Star is minimalist sci-fi, focusing on characters caught in a deadly conflict. In this case, my favorite part of the book was the art. The story was straightforward enough, but the main character spends all her time doing terrible things for the sake of no one but herself.

This Time: Aion by Ludovic Rio

June 8, 2021 by Jeff

Ludovic Rio’s Aion is a simple but effective sci-fi story. There really isn’t very much to it, but that minimalism isn’t necessary a mark against it; instead, the book takes a few basic elements and delivers a solid genre piece that explores the ethical boundaries of technological advancement.

We Regret to Love You: The Regrets

March 28, 2021 by Jeff

The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons is a book that holds you at arm’s length. It’s also not quite what the summary on the back advertises, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The overall effect adds up to a bizarre and compelling story about a toxic relationship.

Color of Life: In by Will McPhail

January 22, 2021November 7, 2020 by Jeff

I think I experienced a bit of synesthesia while reading In by Will McPhail.

The book is largely done in sketch-like black and white, the characters little more than outlines on a white background, except for moments when Nick, the main character, experiences real human connection. As soon as he makes that connection, the pages burst into fully painted, dynamic scenes, and I oftentimes felt like I could hear the sounds of crashing waves or the swell of some imaginary film score in my head. It made the whole thing quite extraordinary.

Not Much There: Fangs by Sarah Anderson

October 7, 2020 by Jeff

Sarah Anderson is best known for her Sarah’s Scribbles web comics, where a big-eyed, spiky-haired version of herself deals with introversion, anxiety, and the vagaries of modern life in a humorous, relatable way. Those strips are the exact sort of thing that people love to share on social media.

When I heard about her new book, Fangs, I was intrigued because it sounded so different from her oftentimes silly work in Sarah’s Scribbles.

Turtles and Cats in the City at Night: The Intergalactic Interloper by Delas Heras

October 3, 2020October 2, 2020 by Jeff

When I read about Delas Heras’ debut, The Intergalactic Interloper, it sounded like a perfect change of pace from the world outside.

It’s a short book, humorous if not laugh-out-loud funny, and charming in a gentle, nostalgic way.

The action begins in the distant past of New York City 1995, a place and time that feels comforting purely because it is a quarter of a century and thousands of miles away from where I am right now.

Relatable Urchins: Nancy by Olivia Jaimes

January 2, 2020September 1, 2019 by Jeff

I’ve never read any of the classic Nancy comics, but her look is iconic. I feel like I could identify a Nancy comic from across the room by the shape of Nancy’s head alone. The fact that those comics were ubiquitous enough to become iconic but passé enough that I’d never read any of them is a fascinating contradiction.

Resting Witch Face: The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams

January 2, 2020August 21, 2019 by Jeff

I wanted to like The Babysitters Coven. It has a fantastic, eye-catching cover with an illustration of a badass girl facing down some presumably nefarious multicolored clouds. I am always a sucker for a good cover design, so it breaks my heart when the book doesn’t live up to the cover.

The Name of the Game: Cryptofauna by Patrick Canning

January 3, 2020August 4, 2019 by Jeff

Cryptofauna is an entertaining book that runs on pure momentum. The sheer volume of absurdity paired with the author’s constant digressions and convoluted wordplay keeps things humming along while the mysterious nature of the game at the center of the book keeps you hooked until the end.

More Than Wordsmiths: Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

January 16, 2020July 12, 2019 by Jeff

Golems from Jewish folklore have always fascinated me, with their heads full of instructions written on a life-giving scroll. A golem is both the creation myth in miniature and a way to codify magic, a sort of early computer programming where the processors are clay giants. It’s strangely comforting to imagine that human beings could control the world in such a fashion, while also terrifying to imagine the many ways it could go wrong.