REVIEW: Zicky-Wrath of the Rat King by Darin S. Cape

 

Zicky: Wrath of the Rat King is a fast-paced fantasy adventure with a dark, fairy-tale feel. Zicky is not heroic in the grand sense but he is in his world. A rich, imaginative world. He is small not only against the scale of the foes he faces but also in size and age. This gives the story its tension. It is clear and engaging, making the action scenes engaging while allowing readers to connect emotionally with Zicky, his family and his fantasy world. the characters. The Rat King is a dominant villain—both creepy and powerful—which raises the stakes throughout the story. Overall, Zicky: Wrath of the Rat King  is an enjoyable graphic novel, especially for those who like an underdog and adventures with a little  touch of darkness.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Darin S. Cape and SHP Comics for a digital copy (ebook) of #ZickyWrathoftheRatKing  in exchange for my honest opinion. Zicky Wrath of the Rat King will be published on April 16, 2026.

I AM A GREEN READER

 I took the Read Your Color quiz and I am a green reader (scored 45%)

Based on the concept or theory developed by Steven Reese that explores how readers, think, feel, process thoughts, enjoy or dislike books. "Our quiz is designed to get beneath the surface of your reading preferences — not by asking about favorite genres, but by exploring how you think, feel, and approach stories. We’ve blended insights from reader psychology, narrative theory, and thousands of book reviews and patterns to create a system that helps you find books you’ll actually finish — and love." Courtesy of https://www.readyourcolor.com/how-it-works-
Reese started posting last April and has shared books recommendations based on these six color categories. I went through his posts (the ones not behind a pay wall) to pull out the recommended GREEN books - see the titles listed below. The results were interesting as majority of them are nonfiction. On an annual basis I would say about 25% of my reading is nonfiction titles. Out of this 45 titles recommended for green readers, only a handful are fiction. I will see how well I engage with this list throughout the year. 

I OWN three of these titles, have three on my TBR and have only READ one. Am I really a Green Reader?

The Green List

1. The Gulag Archipelago (abridged) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1973)

2. Neptune’s Fortune by Julian Sancton

3. Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story by Max Marshall

4. Attensity! by The Friends of Attention

5. Why We Drink Too Much by Dr. Charles Knowles

6. A Flower Traveled in My Blood, by Haley Cohen Gilliland

7. The Sea Captain’s Wife: A True Story of Mutiny, Love, and Adventure at
    the Bottom of the World by Tilar J. Mazzeo

8. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) OWN

9. True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey)¹

10. Redeployment by Phil Klay

11. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann OWN

12. This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Polla

13. Judgment at Tokyo by Gary J. Bass

14. Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert

15. Bottle of Lies:The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom by Katherine Eban

16. The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet

17. King of Kings by Scott Anderson

18. The Great Contradiction by Joseph J. Ellis

19. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin

20. How Infrastructure Works (Deb Chachra)

21. The Patriarch — David Nasaw

22. Cloudsplitter (Russell Banks)

23. The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan

24. The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America by Sarah Igo

25. On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss

26. This Republic of Suffering by Drew Gilpin Faust

27. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean

28. War Trash by Ha Jin

29. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut

30. The Face of Battle by John Keegan

31. American Pastoral by Philip Roth (1997)

32. The Cold Millions by Jess Walter OWN

33. The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson

34. On Consolation by Michael Ignatieff

35. The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel – Douglas Brunt

36. Cue the Sun! – Emily Nussbaum READ

37. Work – James Suzman

38. Abundance – Ezra Klein

39. Some People Need Killing – Patricia Evangelista TBR

40. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson TBR

41. The Tiger by John Vaillant

42. The Sirens Call by Chris Hayes

43. Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

44. The Prosecutor by Jack Fairweather

45. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green TBR

Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell (Graphic Novel)

 

Another graphical adaptation of George Orwell's enduring political fable Animal Farm. This very gritty and visually compelling adaptation was brought to life by illustrator Jakub Politzer and adapters Christina Dumalasova and Katerina Horakova. The original novel—a classic is a cautionary tale about revolution, power, and corruption—endures because of its striking simplicity and its ability to expose the mechanics of how easy it is for those who gain power to lose control and oppress others. It is more relevant in today's society than every before. So much of Orwell's work is relevant to our current political climate making is a timeless classic. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, the team of adapters J. Politzer, C. Dumalasova and K. Horakova, and Gemini Books Group  for a digital copy (eBook) of #GeorgeOrwellsAnimalFarm (a graphic novel) in exchange for my honest opinion. #GeorgeOrwellsAnimalFarm will be published on March 3, 2026. 

REVIEW: Analog Sun by Alex Woodard

 

Alex Woodard’s short, atmospheric an allegorical novel that follows a man who wakes up injured, disoriented, and cut off from the digital life that once defined him. No phone. No GPS. No easy way to explain himself. What begins as panic gradually becomes possibility, as he moves farther from the hyperconnected world and deeper into a quieter, more elemental one.

This isn’t a plot-driven novel, but one of sparing reflective prose. If you enjoy this type of writing you will welcome this novel like an old friend sitting around a camp fire. However, if you do not, you may find this type of introspective a bit hard to follow and borderline boring.

Analog Sun is not anti-technology or nostalgic for some idealized past. It is really about taking life slow. Being observant and appreciative of nature, peace, one with nature and  attuned to the quiet rhythms that make us human. Analog Sun is less about resolution and more about attention.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Alex Woodard for a digital copy (audiobook) of #Analogsun in exchange for my honest opinion. Analog Sun was published on November 18, 2025. 

REVIEW: The Merge by Grace Walker

Grace Walker’s The Merge left me both unsettled and deeply moved. Set in a near-future Britain where two minds can be merged into one body, it explores what happens when love and desperation blur the line between salvation and surrender. Through Laurie, a mother fading into Alzheimer’s, and her daughter Amelia, who risks everything to preserve her, Walker asks haunting questions about memory, identity, and how far we’ll go to hold on to those we love. At its heart this is a story about a mother-daughter bond under extreme strain.

Quietly dystopian yet achingly human, The Merge balances speculative intrigue with emotional truth. It’s less about technology than about what it means to be known — and what we lose when we merge too much of ourselves for someone else’s sake.

A powerful, provocative debut that lingers long after the final page. Interestingly, I can't stop thinking about what fragrance Amelia and her mother would be wearing. The Merge embodies the fading memory and speak to Narciso Rodriguez for Her for its nostalgia and Juliette Has a Gun for its minimalism like consciousness pared down. 

Thank you to #NetGalley, the author Grace Walker and Mariner Books for a digital copy of #TheMerge in exchange for my honest opinion. The Merge will be published on November 11, 2025.