City of Fiends (Knights Templar Mystery #31) - Michael Jecks

This is one of the paperbacks I picked up on the HPB jaunt. I 100% loved the cover, and the summary drew me in. Side note: the price sticker was covering the smoldering man in the corner, so when I peeled it off, I had an interesting surprise!

There are a few different threads that will come together throughout the course of the story. Murders are occurring in Exeter, a rogue knight is ravaging the land in the name of who he perceives as the rightful king, and there's tons of little subplots with priests, tenants and love affairs. With the amount of stories going on, I won't say much about the plot itself.

I really liked the writing in this, and the story itself. I didn't realize it was part of a series until I was looking up the cover for this review. Also, there's a few different titles for the series, but I took the one from the cover of my book. This book is historical fiction, so there's some basis in fact, but it's also fiction.

I liked the mystery for sure. I had parts of it figured out, but not everything. There's some carnage in there and rape as well, so if that bothers you, just know it's there. It's not super detailed and graphic, but it's there. I appreciated the character development that happened. Usually when I pick up a book this long, there are parts I feel could've been left out or were unnecessary. I didn't feel that way in this case. With all the characters, I was invested in them, so it was nice to get updates on them at the end. Also, other than the tiny print, I don't really have anything negative to say. 

Overall, I really liked this one and wouldn't mind reading more of this series. I think it says a lot that I had no idea it was part of a series when I started it, let alone #31! I didn't feel like I was missing anything, and the time period is new for me. I enjoyed it, though, and wouldn't mind reading more of it in the future! Good Book!

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Volume 3-8) - Koyoharu Gotouge

So, these are a bit on the shorter side, and I want to just leave a brief summary of what happens for my own memory. To save some space, I'm going to combine multiple volumes. They are only around 189 pages, so I don't have a ton to say about them.

In volume 3, we head off to a really weird house. Tanjiro finds two children outside claiming their brother is inside with monsters. The inside of the house isn't straightforward, though. There are multiple demons, and the rooms change with every beat of the drum. There also seems to be a boar/bear demon slayer in the house with his own agenda. Tanjiro is able to get his blood sample of one of the twelve and send it back to Tamayo, and we learn the secret of Zenitsu. Unfortunately, it revolves around him whining and being scared. I'm really liking the variety of powers the demons have and the imagination Tanjiro has to use to defeat them.

Volume 4 - We're still dealing with the boar guy, who is just gung ho about fighting literally anyone or anything, but once everyone is recovered, they're sent to a mountain where the group encounters a nest of demons who have teamed up as a family. While that's unusual, the worst part is they're frickin' spiders! Zenitsu is having fits again,  and he's hit, but he manages to take out the one that spewed upon him before seemingly succumbing to the poison. This one ended before I got resolution on that, but I'm hoping there's a way to heal him. He's a nut!

Volume 5 - We're still dealing with the spider demons. Eww. Unfortunately, it seems like these are going to be more than the new Demon Slayers can handle. On the plus side, there are others on the mountain that have the skills to help them out. I like the new characters. The butterfly one cracked me up a bit. She was all sweet, and then delivered an epic zinger to the dead demon. I had to send that one to my kids. They found it amusing as well. I already saw the first page of volume 6, and I love it for Zenitsu. On a more serious note, I liked how Tanjiro challenges the new slayer about his blanket statements about demons. Tanjiro is willing to extend sympathy to demons who show regret and remorse for what they've done once they are able to tap back into their human side. It's intriguing how he judges the demons on an individual basis as they're dying, even though they were trying to murder him mere minutes before.

Volume 6 - Love the cocoons at the beginning. In this one, Tanjiro has to prove himself to the premier Demon Slayers. They want to kill Nezuko, but he'll do anything to protect his sister. It's going to mean taking out one of the Twelve Kizuki, and that isn't going to be easy! Tanjiro finds something of an ally in Shinobu, even though it seems like they'd be on opposite sides at first. Zenitsu and Inosuke are still being their crazy selves and getting into trouble, but that's not shocking. While Tanjiro focuses on learning while he's healing, the other two are whining and quitting. Eventually, they all learn what they need to and are ready for the next challenge.

Volume 7 - Tanjiro is wanting to find out how he knew a fire breathing technique, and he needs to find a Hashira named Rengoku. They all end up on a train where they have to deal with a dream demon. This particular demon has human minions that do their dirty work for him. He infiltrate dreams and go to the Demon Slayer subconscious to destroy their soul cores. I felt bad for the one who ended up in Tanjiro's dream, as he was so affected by what he experienced. Enmu 's plan falls apart, but he has a backup plan. His true body isn't what Tanjiro sees. It's actually the train they're riding on! It's going to take a lot of teamwork to take this one out for sure. Also, the bonus manga telling Kanao's origin story was super cute and heartbreaking.

Volume 8 - Rengoku wasn't in the story for long, but it's super sad to see him go. Tanjiro takes it hard and goes to his new friend's house to convey a message and retrieve a book on flame power. It might tell Tanjro more about the mysterious flame power his father taught him. Little does he know Rengoku's father will identify Sun Breathing as the real source of the power. Toward the end, some of the girls are being kidnapped when Tanjiro, Inosuke and Zenitsu offer to take their place for the mission. And they're on their way!

I'm really enjoying this one. I like the bits of humor in it, especially coming from Inosuke. I also love the humility and little gator guy Gotouge that pops up. He's super informative and cute. I love him. I'm ready for the next set for sure! Good Manga!

Berserk #9 - Kentaro Miura

Guts and his friends are dealing with the trolls in the city. Schierke still doubts her magic skills, but she's able to pull it off in the end. Casca and Farnese are abducted and taken to the realm of Slan, one of the God Hand. And she's in the Uterine Sea...eww. The Skull Knight shows up and helps out, and everyone ends up escaping.

They travel back to the place where they left Flora, the witch that initially helped them. Her place is on fire, and the newly reformed "Band of the Hawk" made up of abominations is there to capture the witch. Guts tries to fight one of the Apostles, but his body can only take so much. Flora uses the last of her strength to guide Schierke to put the Berserker armor on Guts. It's the only way he'll survive.

I'm still waiting for Casca to regain her memories. I'm struggling with her continued issues with Guts. I can't wait to get into the next one. I feel bad for Schierke, and I think it'll be nice for Farnese to have something to focus on besides what she believes are her inadequacies. I really liked this one, and it had some of the most striking images I remember seeing thus far. Especially when Guts first got the Berserker armor on. Good Book!

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot #9) - Agatha Christie

This book probably has one of the best mystery twists I've ever read. It's also probably one of the most famous. The problem is, you can only have one first time. My first experience with this story was the Hercule Poirot show with David Suchet. He's always been my favorite Poirot.

I'm not saying one word about the plot of this book. If you've never read this book, and you love a good mystery, you should read this one. Or watch the show. I've never seen the 2017 film. It seems like the mustache is its own character in that one, but I'm just not interested in it regardless. I don't think you can go wrong with the book or David Suchet, though.

The book is great. Nothing else to say. Agatha Christie was a genius! Great Book!

More Lives Than a Ship's Cat - G. A. Stoke, Jeremy Stoke

G. A. (Mick) was a highly decorated midshipman in the Royal Navy. This book covers his service in detail through personal letters, descriptions and excerpts from memoirs of men he served with.

I think the sheer number of sources used in this book was a tad overwhelming for the flow of the story. Sometimes, it would almost feel like it wasn't really Mick's story anymore, but then one of his letters would pop back up.

As someone who's worked on family genealogy for decades, I feel like someone who is part of Mick's family would love this book. They would get to read how other's viewed their ancestor. For me, it wasn't quite as interesting. The letters are the best part, and they're more sprinkled in there than the main "meat" of the book. The pictures are hidden at the very end after a few appendixes and most of those are documents. My favorite one had to be of Douglas V. Duff. He was the author of May the Winds Blow. He was just so happy!

 

Douglas Duff

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Volume 2) - Koyoharu Gotouge

For the second volume, Tanjiro gets a mission to protect a town from a demon. This monster is pretty complicated in that it can split into three demons and come up from the ground. Also, Nezuko joins the fight. Tanjiro gets a lead on a way to heal his sister and finds the demon that might have the answers, but there's a problem. Muzan has a human family. Tanjiro has found some friends with demon blood, but Muzan has some new friends as well.

I really liked this one. Again, the uncluttered, straightforward art drew me in, and I love the crow. Muzan is sending out his new friends to track down Tanjiro. We'll have to see what happens in Volume 3!

Berserk #8 - Kentaro Miura

Update on Berserk:

We're headed off to fairyland!

The gang meets a witch who knows a bit about Guts and Casca's situation. A nearby village is slowly disappearing from troll attacks. Guts is struggling with the curse that's trying to take possession of him. He's being tempted to leave Casca behind and pursue Griffith. The Hawk is on his own mission and has an army of monsters that are taking care of the Kushans.

I'm getting worried about Guts and Casca. Guts took some pretty large steps backward with her in this tome, so that was frustrating. I did cheat a bit, and at some point, she's supposed to get her memory back. It's just so hard to see her in this state. The trolls struck me since they didn't look anything like I expected them to. I really liked the little bits of whimsy here and there, which is interesting, because I don't think I did at first. I'm curious to see what happens next. Volume 9, here I come!