Courtly Manners: A Review of The Frozen Crown, by Greta Kelly

Not every novel needs to be a masterpiece.  Most books will not become the next great American novel, or spawn a never-ending franchise, or elicit well-reasoned think pieces and critical analysis.  Most are written, and read, for pure entertainment.  More often than not, these are the books that I prefer to read.  Books that do not require you to think about them too hard, but draw you in with well-told, interesting stories and entertaining characters.  The literary equivalent of a popcorn movie.  And it is perfectly acceptable to enjoy these stories for what they are.  No reader should ever be judged for choosing to read something for fun, or to escape from reality for a few days to weeks.  In the middle of a global pandemic, this sort of escapism can be more important than ever.  However, just because a book is meant for pure entertainment does not mean that the construction should always be overlooked.

Practical Villainy: A Review of Hench, by Natalie Zina Walschots

This is no longer the Golden Age of Superheroes.  We are long passed the silver and bronze ages as well.  In the world of comic books, and superheroes in particular, we currently find ourselves the Modern Age.  A literary and creative time period where superheroes cannot be taken at face value anymore, where the implications of people with extraordinary powers must be considered and no longer ignored.  We have seen this trend in both comic books and film, where a certain practicality has been applied to thinking about superheroes and their effects on the world.  Readers and consumers of superhero fiction are not content with just watching Superman demolish buildings in order to stop the latest villain’s world-ending plot.  We need creators to consider the people in those buildings.  There are generations of people today—like millennials and gen Z—who have been raised on tragedy and destruction.  Terrorist attacks, never ending school shootings, and plagues were out childhood.  Like these disasters, literature cannot ignore the destruction and death caused just off-page when superheroes and supervillains clash.  Because, when you truly think about it, the idea of a superman in real life is horrifying.

The Heist: A Review of Enemy of All Mankind, by Steven Johnson

The nature of pirates and piracy in popular culture has enjoyed a romanticization beyond nearly any other historical group of individuals.  We know many of their names, from Blackbeard to Anne Bonny, and when they appear in movies, television shows, and novels, they are portrayed as free men and women of the sea.  Believing in democracy and freedom and fighting against the tyranny of England and the other empires of the time.  For the epitome of this effect, look no farther than Jack Sparrow from The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  First seen as morally grey, he is quickly changed to have a heart of gold.  Even the villain of the first film quickly becomes one of its central heroes.  However, historical pirates enjoyed a well-earned notoriety upon the high seas, and Steven Johnson’s Enemy of Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History’s First Global Manhunt goes through great pains to disassemble these myths and portray the most successful pirate of the Golden Age as he truly was.