Theaker's Week! (w/c 20 July 2026)

I've been on a streak of finishing one book or audiobook a day – usually a very short one! – for quite a while now. I haven't had time to write up many full reviews lately, so I thought, why not do a little round-up each week of the books I've read and the audiobooks I've listened to. I haven't been writing much and maybe writing a little bit will encourage me to write a bit more.

So, last week, on Monday, I finished Conan: The Halls of Immortal Darkness ***, a decent novella by Laird Barron from Titan Books. I also finished Saga Vol. 11 *** by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples on Monday. For me this comic hasn't lived up to its initial promise, and already feels a bit dated in some ways, and what appear to be the computer-generated environments are a bit distracting. On Tuesday I finished Issak, Vol. 1 ***, a manga book by Shinji Makari and DOUBLE–S about a sniper who has travelled from Japan to medieval Europe in search of revenge. It was pretty good, but I don't know if I'll read any more of them. On Wednesday I read Saga, Vol. 12. *** On Thursday I finished East of West, Vol. 9 *** and Vol. 10 *** by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta which bring this beautifully-drawn but slightly confusing story of future war to a fairly satisfying end. I never stopped being annoyed by all the blank pages padding out the books in this series. On Friday I finished another series, Valerian and Laureline, with The Future Is Waiting. *** It's an odd book, basically a homage by the creators Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières to their own work. I wish the series had carried on being the science fiction adventure it had been in the early volumes, rather than introducing gods and rebooting Valerian and Laureline as children and stuff like that, but I'm still glad I read it. *** On Saturday I read Koma, Vol. 1: The Voice of the Chimneys ****, an album by Pierre Wazem and Frederik Peeters about a child chimney-sweeper who keeps passing out, and the demon who eventually makes his acquaintance. An interesting start. And on Sunday I listened to Counter-Measures Season 2, **** a highly entertaining Doctor Who spin-off from Big Finish about characters who originally appeared in the Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred story Remembrance of the Daleks. The stories in this set are by Matt Fitton, James Goss, Cavan Scott and Mark Wright.