Ihate00 Critics
A blog about reviews of Book, Anime, Manga, Music and of fighting game combo videos among some other stuff.
Sunday, October 5, 2025
Weekend Shorts - Model Collapse by Matthew Kressel review
Saturday, October 4, 2025
Weekend Shorts - Human Resources by Adrian Tchaikovsky review
Name - Human Resources
Written by - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ilustrated by - George Wylesol
Edited by - Lee Harris
Published by - Tor.com
[ Back with this special feature after quite a long time, as I have quite a lot of free time now, compared to what I used to have the last 3-4 years. Hopefully I can continue for a bit this time around. ]
Anyone who reads Tchaikovsky is bound to get attached to his unique prose style and sense of humor while telling a thoughtful or serious story. It seems he can pull this off quite remarkably in the short form as well.
This short is placed in the world of his full-length novel 'Service Model', although featuring different characters and sometimes before that story as well. This one features a human employee in an office where slowly they are becoming unnecessary due to them being replaced by artificial intelligence.
The prose is as enjoyable and smoothly flowing as always by the author. But the main problem with the setup is that the ending twist could be guessed even from the beginning. The execution was brilliantly done, but the story does seem to be desiring a bit more meat to make it as memorable as other works by Tchaikovsky.
In the end, I'll give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Friday, October 3, 2025
Retro Comic Review - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 1 #24
Name: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 1 #24
Published by: Mirage Comics
Writer & Artist: Rick Veitch
Letterer: Steve Lavigne
The notorious 'guest era' in Mirage comics' original TMNT is known mostly for its inconsistency. These issues are often filled with pure randomness, awkward humor, and sheer mediocrity. But there are also some issues that are still regarded by some fans very highly even these days.
Issues 24-26 are fondly remembered by most fans as 'The River Saga' and the first issue brilliantly sets up the story. We get introduced to how Veitch characterizes the Turtles and their companions, get acquainted with his unique style of storytelling and also get our first glimpses of the main villain, who might be one of the best antagonists of this guest era if not the best.
The art is also quite beautiful, with detailed character works and poignant facial expressions. The first reveal of the humanoid depiction of the antagonist is master class of horror storytelling that I keep remembering quite often when I think of this arc.
There are a few gripes regarding how the characters speak at times or some unorthodox clothing choices not in touch with the general personalities, but these are things that can be easily overlooked based on the overall merit of the plot.
I'll give this a well-deserved 4 out of 5 stars.
Thursday, October 2, 2025
Book Review - Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void by Tim Lebbon
Name - Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void
Written by - Tim Lebbon
Narrated by - January LaVoy
Series - Dawn of the Jedi
Published by - Del Rey
Audiobook by - Random House Audio
There are times when reading a book, you find that the actual setting is just being held back by the plot and characters on offer. 'Into the Void' has quite an interesting setting to work on and the author does quite a formidable job of world building to introduce us to it. But the plotline he uses to portray this setting and the characters he uses never do enough to engage me as a reader.
This story occurs during the time period of 'Dawn of the Jedi', which occurs more than 25,000 years before the movies. It is set on the Tython system and features the forebears of the Jedi order. The worlds described are quite detailed and certainly made me interested in further exploration.
But the story of Lanoree and his brother never really intrigued me much. The timeline kept jumping often without smooth transition, keeping me from being invested in the characters. The action bits were somewhat entertaining, but the protagonist kept getting knocked unconscious too often to seem formidable and unusually kept alive even being so vulnerable. Then when the ending came, it was just too underwhelming to register any meaningful response.
The narration by January LaVoy was quite palatable, and had no particular issues regarding accents or pacing. It is definitely not her fault; rather, the badly handled time-jumps by the author kept me losing attention at times.
This gets 3 out of 5 stars from me, mostly for the interesting setting and skillful world-building.
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Graphic Novel Review - Star Wars: Yoda
Name: Star Wars: Yoda
Published by: Marvel Comics
Writers: Cavan Scott, Jody Houser & Marc Guggenheim
Artists: Nico Leon, Luke Ross, Alessandro Miracolo & Ibraim Roberson
Colorists: Photobunker's Dono- Sánchez-Almara, Nolan Woodard, Annalisa Leoni & Neeraj Menon
Letterer: VC's Joe Caramagna
I was a bit sceptical about picking up this one. Yoda is a huge brand name for the Star Wars franchise, anything with his name usually results in quick and sure sells, so I thought there might not be any worthwhile substance in this. Despite my reservations, I decided to finally check this out based on the reviews on the internet and also as part of timeline wise read-through.
There are a total of three stories here featuring different time periods throughout the long lifespan of Yoda's life, all culminating in a brilliantly executed last issue. The first story occurs on a previously unknown planet inhabited by two new species, who are at odds with each other and the author slowly explores the reality of the situation.
The second one seemed the weakest to me despite having one of my favorite characters, Dooku. The exploration of the enmity between Trandoshan's and Wookiee's and the unreliability and maddening effect of prophesies was the main focus.
The third story occurs during the time of another of my favorite time periods 'The Clone Wars' and also featured maybe my favorite Star Wars villains General Grievous, so obviously I enjoyed it.
The art was quite gorgeous throughout, with detailed backgrounds and appropriate facial reconstructions and expressions. The action sequences were also done quite competently.
Overall score - 4.5 out of 5 stars. And I do hope other adventures from Yoda's lifespan will be explored in this format, as there is vast scope for experimentation.
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Graphic Novel Review - Hyperspace Stories: Qui-Gon
Name: Star Wars Hyperspace Stories: Qui-Gon
Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: George Mann
Artists: Andrea Mutti, Gigi Baldassini
Colorist: Vladimir Popov
Letterer: Comicraft's Tyler Smith and Jimmy Betancourt
The new line of character centric 'Hyperspace Stories' initiative truly seems like a promising initiative. It is a great scope to tell fun stories featuring these beloved characters occurring throughout the vast timespan of the franchise. And the first entry is quite enjoyable in a simplistic yet poignant way.
The story is placed sometime before 'The Phantom Menace', while also incorporating a glimpse into Qui-Gon Jinn's time as a Padawan. The characterization was spot on and the cameo by Dooku was a nice delight.
It was nice to have the story focus on the greyer side of the force rather than a straightforward concept of light vs dark. I really liked the interesting yet less known cult that was a part of the story. The interesting story did make up for the relative scarcity of action.
The art was okay, but nothing extraordinary barring a few detailed backgrounds. I would have liked if the art was a bit more eye-catching.
This gets 4 out of 5 stars from me mostly based on the interesting story.
Saturday, September 27, 2025
New Book Review - Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Name - Walking to Aldebaran
Written by - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Series - Terrible Worlds: Destinations
Published by - Rebellion Publishing Ltd. / Solaris Books
Audiobook by - Tantor Media
Adrian Tchaikovsky is an author who is a pure workforce with the versatility of a computer. And his unique prose style and ability to convey so much enjoyment in a wide range of lengths and his genre versatility make reading any of his fiction a wholesome and unpredictable experience.
'Walking to Aldebaran' is a novella-length tale of science fiction told in the first person that can also be perceived as a metaphor for dealing with the trauma of isolation or torturous ordeals. The build up is a bit slow at first, but the slow reveal of the twist was quite intriguing. And the ending was very satisfying to say the least.
The prose uses quite a lot of humor and pop-culture references to make the shock have that much more impact and after the reveals towards the end the readers realize there were various hints dispersed throughout the story all along.
As I listened to this as an audiobook, I would also like to mention the brilliant narration by the author which added quite a lot to the experience (although as English is not my first language I had a few problems with some accents).
This gets a well deserved 4 out of 5 stars from me and I'll surely delve deeper into the works by Adrian Tchaikovsky soon.