Book Reviews

In this category, find our book reviews, with a strong focus on fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres, as well as some movies, comics, or superhero-based stories.

Take a look through the Recommended Reading tag for some great stories to add to your TBR!


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Book Review: ‘Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard’ By Tom Felton

For those of us who can remember our childhood and adolescence, I think we can all agree that growing up isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. We learn through experience, with the goal to become functional adults, though not every experience is enjoyable. Sometimes the best lessons come from the hardest falls, where we get back up with a scraped knee and

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Book Review: Almost There: A Twisted Tale by Farrah Rochon

We all love to ask these questions when thinking about our favorite stories. What if Cinderella didn’t lose her shoe? What if Belle hadn’t shown the villagers the beast? And what if Tiana had accepted the Shadow Man’s deal? How would these choices have changed their stories? Well, Disney’s Twisted Tale series allows us to indulge in these fantasies and see

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Book Review: ‘Uncanny Times: A Huntsmen Novel’ by Laura Anne Gilman

Uncanny Times: A Huntsmen Novel tells the story of sister and brother Rosemary and Aaron Harker. They have been trained since birth to hunt down and kill the uncanny. The uncanny are supernatural creatures of all different varieties. It’s basically the TV show Supernatural, set in 1913 and it’s great. Uncanny Times is the first of a potential series by author Laura

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Book Review: ‘Such Sharp Teeth: A Werewolf Novel’ By Rachel Harrison

Rory Morris has a perfect life. She is the youngest VP at her company ever, she has flings every week with a different D-list celebrity, and most importantly, she escaped her tiny little backwoods town. Until her twin sister, Scarlett begs her to come back. Scarlett is pregnant and the daddy seems to have split. Being a good sister Rory packs

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Book Review: The Star Trek Cookbook – A Culinary Delight

Star Trek is near and dear to our hearts at The Cosmic Circus, so when we found out about The Star Trek Cookbook from New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, we quickly opened a new channel and sent a priority one communique to try to review it. The book is the first official Star Trek cookbook since 1999, so it makes sense that

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Book Review: ‘A Dowry of Blood’ by S.T. Gibson

October is here, which means it’s time for another vampire romance. It’s been a common trope since Bram Stoker’s Dracula: A powerful vampire comes in and sweeps an unsuspecting woman off her feet. Sometimes it’s his charm, sometimes it’s good looks, sometimes he has hypnotic powers, the exact mechanism varies but the overall story is the same. A Dowry of Blood

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Book Review: ‘Elsa Bloodstone: Bequest A Marvel Heroines Novel’ by Cath Lauria

Elsa Bloodstone is one tough cookie. She travels the world fighting monsters so the rest of us can sleep a little safer at night. She’s a master of weaponry and hand-to-hand combat and is extremely formidable on her own. Add in her bloodstone shard choker that she inherited from her father and all the advantages it gives her and she becomes

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Book Review: ‘The Monsters We Defy’ by Leslye Penelope

Clara Johnson is one hell of a girl. Born with a caul over her face and screaming her head off, she sees what others can’t and she never bites her tongue. In The Monsters We Defy author Leslye Penelope tells the story of Clara and her friends who are trying to save humankind from losing the very thing that makes us

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Book Review: ‘The Skeptics Guide to the Future’ by Dr. Steven Novella

There’s something about the future that just seems to fascinate so many people. Be it our own personal future or the general future of the world, people tend to spend plenty of time thinking about it. I grew up on media such as The Jetsons, Back to the Future, and Lost in Space; shows and films that were set in wildly

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Book Review: ‘One Dark Window’ by Rachel Gillig

Welcome to Blunder, a kingdom cut off from the rest of the world by a strange mist. Here magic is real and dangerous. There is sanctioned magic connected to providence cards that are allowed and “wild” magic that comes from the mist and is outlawed. Most people live in fear of the mist and the wild magic but some think that

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Review: ‘Secrets In Scarlet: An Arkham Horror Novel’

If you have been following my reviews then you know that I love the Arkham Horror Series from Aconyte. So it was with great anticipation that I sat down to read an advance copy of the latest installment Secrets in Scarlet: An Arkham Horror Novel (during a perfectly timed thunderstorm, no less). While I wasn’t as taken with Secrets in Scarlet as

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Book Review: Anne Rice’s ‘Interview With The Vampire’

This is the book that started it all. Nearly 50 years ago Anne Rice penned the tragic tale of Louis, Lestat, and Claudia and rekindled our love for vampires which is still going strong today. Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire was so loved by fans that it kicked off a 15-book series chronicling Louis, Lestat, and their fellow vampires. It

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