Reviews

If you like my taste, maybe something I liked will pique your interest.

Review: I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy

This explains why she's not in the remake

Stuart Holland

Review: Gambling Man, by Lionel Barber

SoftBank's cause and effect are a bit clearer after this

Stuart Holland

Review: Baptism of Fire, by Andrej Sapkowski

Surprisingly good drunkards

Stuart Holland

Review: Crystal Hunters #2, by Nathaniel French

少し日本語を話します

Stuart Holland

Review: The Colour of Magic, by Terry Pratchett

Don't fuck with the Luggage

Stuart Holland

Review: The Folly of Realism, by Alexander Vindman

Charting the journey of Ukraine from the fall of the Soviet Union to Russia's war to conquer it, this book outlines warnings for democracies worldwide

Stuart Holland

Review: Alan Wake 2: Night Springs, by Remedy

Kooky, bizarre, and fantastic in all the right ways

Stuart Holland

Review: The Legacy of Yangchen, by F.C. Yee

F.C. Yee's final Chronicles of the Avatar book pulls no punches and is the best one he's written yet

Stuart Holland

Review: Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson

A Cosmere entry that I missed, and am glad I went back to

Stuart Holland

Review: Information Doesn't Want to be Free, by Cory Doctorow

Digital rights, ownership, authorship, and... piano stings?

Stuart Holland

Review: Doom Guy: Life in First Person, by John Romero

A great game maker, who didn't live the life I expected

Stuart Holland

Review: Half a War, by Joe Abercrombie

Did Yarvi make it?

Stuart Holland

Review: Onyx Storm, By Rebecca Yarros

More steamy dragonic fantasy that improves on its predecessor, but doesn't quite reach the heights of the series's first entry

Stuart Holland

Review: Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress - and How to Bring It Back, by Marc J. Dunkelman

An informative dive into the seesawing effectiveness of governance

Stuart Holland

Review: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers

A heartfelt Wayfarers finale that isn't quite the finale I wanted

Stuart Holland

Review: System Collapse, by Martha Wells

A fast follow on from the previous Murderbot Diaries

Stuart Holland

Review: Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers

A stellar third entry in Becky Chambers's thoughtful and emotional sci-fi series

Stuart Holland

Review: Crystal Hunters #1, by Nathaniel French

日本語を勉強しています

Stuart Holland

Review: Disrupting the Game: From the Bronx to the Top of Nintendo, by Reggie Fils-Aimé

More 'how to be a good business executive' than I expected, but still enjoyable

Stuart Holland

Review: A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers

A masterful and almost heartbreaking story

Stuart Holland

Review: Wind and Truth, by Brandon Sanderson

The blockbuster conclusion of Stormlight Archive arc 1, I've been looking forward to this

Stuart Holland

Review: The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis, by George Stephanopoulos

A peek into modern presidential administrations through the lens of a single, important room

Stuart Holland

Review: Pure Invention: How Japan Made the Modern World, by Matt Alt

A varied tour through Japan's influence on the last 50 years of popular culture

Stuart Holland

Review: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers

An amazingly gripping sci-if adventure in a very new-feeling world

Stuart Holland

Review: The Mad Ship, by Robin Hobb

How much good can you do, when you mean so ill?

Stuart Holland

Review: Fugitive Telemetry, by Martha Wells

A continually strong audiobook performance and a return to being a short story for Murderbot

Stuart Holland

Review: 1984, by George Orwell

A prescient classic that remains relevant, possibly even more so, in the modern day

Stuart Holland

Review: The Full Moon Coffee Shop, by Mai Mochizuki

A mystical trip, complete with cats and coffee

Stuart Holland

Review: The Dawn of Yangchen, by F.C. Yee

Jumping back to another Avatar, and a new one this time

Stuart Holland

Review: Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Continuing my quest through some classics, now we have vampires

Stuart Holland

Review: The Mercy of Gods, by James S.A. Corey

Hard hitting sci-fi that takes its time getting going, but once it does, you see why it needed to

Stuart Holland

Review: Ship of Magic, by Robin Hobb

Returning to Hobb after years away

Stuart Holland

Review: To Be Taught, If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers

Becky Chambers impresses with some amazing character writing

Stuart Holland

Review: Half the World, by Joe Abercrombie

A little less cruel than usual for Abercrombie, but not to its detriment

Stuart Holland

Review: Bookshops & Bonedust, by Travis Baldree

I wasn't sure how this prequel would work, but it does

Stuart Holland

Review: The Art of War, by Sun Tzu

A treatise on warfare, and probably specifically warfare

Stuart Holland

Review: Network Effect, by Martha Wells

Feature length Murderbot

Stuart Holland

Review: The Sunlit Man, by Brandon Sanderson

A book for Cosmere fans. Thankfully that's me

Stuart Holland

Review: Alamut, by Vladimir Bartol

Inspiration for Assassin's Creed, but really its own thing

Stuart Holland

Review: And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

A mystery classic

Stuart Holland

Review: Stories of the Dreamlands, by H.P. Lovecraft

A slower-going short story collection than I was expecting

Stuart Holland

Review: The Narrow Road Between Desires, by Patrick Rothfuss

A brief return to the Kingkiller Chronicles

Stuart Holland

Review: Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Now I love Nona, and you should too

Stuart Holland

Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson

Clearly named after the blogging software

Stuart Holland

Review: Cosmos, by Carl Sagan

A science communication classic for a reason

Stuart Holland

Review: Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree

We need more fantasy like this

Stuart Holland

Review: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, by Brandon Sanderson

More Cosmere goodness

Stuart Holland

Review: Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

The first addition to 'my favorite books' in about 8 years, this book absolutely knocks it out of the park

Stuart Holland

Review: Age of Ash, by Daniel Abraham

A fun fantasy book from half of James S.A. Corey

Stuart Holland

Review: Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir

Lesbian necromancers in space - a very different kind of fantasy book

Stuart Holland

Review: The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway

A great struggle

Stuart Holland

Review: Exit Strategy, by Martha Wells

Another fantastic Murderbot outing

Stuart Holland

Review: Rogue Protocol, by Martha Wells

I would've liked to spend just a little bit more time with this Murderbot story

Stuart Holland

Review: Iron Flame, by Rebecca Yarros

More steamy dragons, but doesn't quite capture the spark of the first book

Stuart Holland

REview: Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells

A great second showing for Murderbot

Stuart Holland

Review: All Systems Red, by Martha Wells

Great sci-fi bundled up into a small package, with a particularly strong audiobook performance

Stuart Holland

Review: The Republic of Pirates, by Colin Woodard

A historical take on piracy

Stuart Holland

Review: Memory's Legion, by James S.A. Corey

A joy to return to The Expanse for some smaller, more experimental fiction

Stuart Holland

Review: Revenger, by Alastair Reynolds

Is this a human future, or something completely different?

Stuart Holland

Review: Murder in the Family, by Cara Hunter

It's definitely a mystery, but unfortunately not a great one

Stuart Holland

Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

An unusual book for me, but one I enjoyed a lot

Stuart Holland

Review: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

A strong start for the steamy dragons romantasy

Stuart Holland

Review: Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, by Reni Eddo-Lodge

A close and insightful look at race relations in the UK

Stuart Holland

Review: Romanitas, by Sophia McDougall

Rome that survived to the modern era, but it's the characters' story not the empire's

Stuart Holland

Review: The Odyssey, by Homer

Odysseus, Laertes' son, has a trustworthy swineherder

Stuart Holland

Review: Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games, by Sid Meier

I love Civilization, so it was enjoyable to hear how it got started

Stuart Holland

Review: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

A sci-fi classic for good reason

Stuart Holland

Review: Human Universe, by Brian Cox

A hopeful look at humanity's potential future

Stuart Holland

Review: Happy People Are Annoying, by Josh Peck

Josh has been through a lot

Stuart Holland

Review: Time of Contempt, by Andrzej Sapkowski

The second Witcher book, I enjoyed the way this was stylistically different

Stuart Holland

Review: Bahama Tales, by Wm. Johnson Jr

Some books describe an experience that could only be realized in their particular circumstances

Stuart Holland

Review: Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson

An impressive tome that I'm not part of the audience for

Stuart Holland

Review: Darksiders: Genesis, by Airship Syndicate

A fun but unstable spin-off of the Darksiders series

Stuart Holland

Review: The Banner Saga, by Stoic

Stuart Holland

Review: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, by Bethesda

Stuart Holland

Review: Gears 5, by The Coalition

Stuart Holland

Review: Kinect Sports Rivals, by Rare

Stuart Holland

Review: Dead Cells, by Motion Twin

Stuart Holland

Review: Bayonetta, by PlatinumGames

Stuart Holland

Reviews: Guitar Hero: World Tour, by Neversoft and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, by Beenox

Stuart Holland

Review: Rare Replay, by Rare

Stuart Holland

Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us, by NetherRealm

A return to another fighting game, and in keeping with my DC theme

Stuart Holland

Review: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, by Big Huge Games

Stuart Holland

Review: Halo: The Master Chief Collection, by 343 Industries

Stuart Holland

Review: Naruto: Broken Bond, by Ubisoft Montreal

Only briefly revisited, due to hardware issues

Stuart Holland

Review: Batman: Arkham Origins, by WB Games Montréal

I, am Batman!

Stuart Holland

Review: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, by MercurySteam

A challenge to pick up again midway through, but fun in its own way

Stuart Holland

Review: Uno Rush, by Carbonated Games

The classic card game is back in

Stuart Holland

Review: Killer Instinct (2013), by Double Helix Games and Iron Galaxy Studios

A fighting game with the kind of training wheels I need

Stuart Holland