2026-03-21 17:26:18
Spoilers
Minor backstory spoilers in the first paragraph
Our heroine, Zélie, has suffered immensely; her mother is dead, killed by the tyrant king's soldiers for the crime of having magic, her father beaten for the crime of being married to her mother, and her own latent magic stripped away leaving only the characteristic white hair that marks her as "other" from the rest of the villagers.
But Zélie is powerful in other ways. Her determination, powered by rage, and her stick fighting abilities make her the ideal candidate to bring down the corrupt monarchy and restore peace to Orïsha.
Despite Adeyemi having said she was inspired by Harry Potter, this doesn't appear to have anything in common with Rowling's series.
It feels like it has more in common with Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games or Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen series. Strong female leads in epic fantasy with a dystopian authoritarian bent where emotion and the power of a woman are just as important as swords and sorcery.
We uncover the story through the eyes of three characters in largely alternating chapters which adds flavour to the narrative.
The plot isn't hugely original; a ragtag bunch of young misfits must have all their wits about them as they go on a magical quest to overthrow a tyrannical monarch, but Adeyemi steeps the whole world in West African culture.
Adeyemi explains in the Author's Note about the rage and the tears of helplessness she shed writing this love letter to Black culture as a direct response to anti-Black police brutality and the named victims behind the headlines.
This is where the magic lies, for me at least — a white British man; this is a familiar story in a completely new outfit. There's enough I recognise to not get lost but so much new that it feels like a completely fresh take on the genre.
Now to binge the other two books in the series!
2026-03-21 14:38:45
I didn't really follow Brendon's career post-Buffy but he made a lasting impact on me as Xander.
The role of the only non-magic member of the "Scooby Gang" allowed for some amazing storylines ably acted by a young man in an acclaimed breakthrough; from the hyena mind meld to abandoning his fiancée at the altar, complex narratives about belonging and outsiderness.
All cleverly written (usually the one magic person is the outsider!), what made them truly special was Brendon's approach. His goofy smile and sardonic phrasing were Xander.
RIP Nicholas Brendon (1971—2026)
2026-03-20 22:02:34
"Eurythmics meet Chappell Roan in a Big Top" is my pithy one-liner to describe Haute and Freddy, the LA clown duo making some amazingly nostalgic synth pop.
Their debut, "Big Disgrace", is an entire album of bangers from this Probably Sane Clown Posse; my only gripe being I wish some of the songs were longer so there was more to enjoy.
I am so happy that Mclusky are back! I honestly can't think of another band like them; chaotic post-punk indie grunge punk. New EP, "i sure am getting sick of this bowling alley", is six short tracks of lyrical genius underpinned by incredible use of noise and genre-fuck. If you need an introduction, "fan learning difficulties" should be your go-to.
Channelling Lana del Rey and Alannah Myles at the same time takes a level of skill that only Nessa Barrett could pull off without sounding derivative. "Moulin Rouge" from new EP "Jesus loves a primadonna" is down tempo, sparse, lush, and dark. Which is exactly how I like my pop music. Mad props for the Buffalo 66 reference!
LA emo band and hater of capital letters, never easy have dropped their Sophomore album, "i still care", consisting of 10 Deftones-flavoured tracks. That kind of whiny American emo singing grates after a while (personal opinion) but can't fault the tunes; the blend of shoegaze and metal and pop evokes a particular era of emo. If they ever release an instrumental version of this album it'll go on rotation but, as it is, I'll probably just listen to Deftones.
Any regular readers will know I'm a slut for female-vocal symphonic metal bands. You're probably also aware how much I love Eurovision. Well, thanks to Alexandra Căpitănescu I get both! Nothing stunningly original in the music for her 2026 entry, "Choke Me", but, by Jove, those Plava Laguna operatic fills breaking up her growl are 🔥! I'd love for this to win; let's find out this May! 😍😍😍
2026-03-20 16:39:06
I received some rare SPAM today offering web design services
Hello,
I noticed your website and thought a modern redesign could enhance its impact.
We focus on clean layouts, faster loading speed, and mobile-friendly designs.
Shall I share some samples?
Warm regards,
[REDACTED]
Nice try!
I have near perfect scores on PageSpeed Insights, my design is clean and minimal, my pages are static and lightweight, and the whole site is designed "mobile-first".
Perhaps I could offer you some advice?
2026-03-19 17:46:10
This has to be one of the most popular bags of all time.
Manufactured in Sweden in the 1960s (not mine, obviously) and visible on virtually everyone on the commute, this hardy rucksack is big enough for everything I need without being overly big.
I've been after a Mustard one for ages and spotted this for £8 on Vinted which is an absolute steal. Admittedly the bag was pretty dirty but that doesn't really bother me; it's going to spend half its life on the floor of a train anyway!
Designed originally as a school bag, it has a little front pocket for pens and trinkets, a thin sleeve on each side for a water bottle and an umbrella, and a large main compartment for everything else.
There is zero padding anywhere. Luckily I was brought up to always carry a towel which protects my fragiles in transit.
This modern variety has a sleeve inside for a laptop. My 14" Macbook Pro fits perfectly.
The only downsides are the tiny side pockets. I had to buy a specially slim water bottle as a regular Chilly's didn't fit.
I'm not entirely sure I'd cough up full price for one but it's an ideal size for my daily commute, comfortable enough on the shoulders, and infinitely affordable secondhand.
2026-03-19 03:28:38
Following in the footsteps of Alex and Joel, here's my contribution to the Great Genre Debate™.
Fantasy.
There's a lot of sub-genres from Sword-and-Sorcery to Historical Fantasy, contemporary Urban to the encompassing world building of High Fantasy.
I much prefer contemporary urban fantasy to sword-and-sorcery; think Harry Potter instead of Conan the Barbarian, but I do enjoy a bit of swashbuckling every now and again. There's some snobbery around "low fantasy" but I say fuck snobbery and fuck book snobs in particular.
I have a few depending on the sub-genre.
Sarah Painter's Crow Investigations series is a modern classic of the urban fantasy magical realism genre.
Susan Cooper and Juliette McKenna mix magic and mythology and folklore into places I know like the back of my hand and show me a world I know through new eyes.
Brian Jacques' masterful descriptions designed to make his books more inclusive for disabled children make him some kind of writing god.
Victoria Aveyard and Suzanne Collins both write strong female leads in dystopian authoritarian universes.
I've read some incredible debuts recently from Sunyi Dean, Tomi Adeyemi, and Gareth Brown.
Obviously no list of fantasy authors is complete without Ursula K LeGuin — absolute queen.
A combination of variety and escapism.
I love the idea of magic particularly. I would probably be utterly freaked out by that amount of power if I were to have magic myself and I don't like the potential ramifications of such power being abused.
Fantasy, despite appearances, tells us a lot about our own mundane society. Much like science fiction (often the two genres are lumped together as SFF
), fantasy is often a mirror or a speculation; “what would the world look like if…” Giving heroes mystical abilities to overcome the horrors, I feel, shows us we need to work to prevent the worst because we can't rely on magic to save us!
There's probably only a handful of actual "stories" but infinite ways to tell them and there's so much beauty in that.
I can't quite remember what came first; Mr Preston reading The Hobbit to us in school like he had done for countless other classes year-in year-out, or getting Redwall books from the library.
I think everyone should read "A Wizard of Earthsea" at some point. Ursula K LeGuin's high fantasy series is just brilliant. It's a peak example of how the genre can be done well. That said, it's also approachable. It doesn't suffer from a level of pretension that makes a lot of "classical" (pale, stale, male) fantasy impenetrable and, dare I say, dull. Sorry not sorry, JRR!
That's like asking a bird why it sings — it's what I do, it's what I've always done.
I love the way my imagination powers the story, my experiences fill ambiguity and colour my reading between the lines.
Reading is my entertainment, my education, my way of processing the world.
So, what about you? What's your favourite genre to read? Get in touch by email, hit me up on the Socials™, or elsewhere online.