July 2026 Indie Book Reviews

The Corpse Ritual by Yin Leong

Tourist-Mauling Mummy Escapes Museum
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4 Stars

Our delightful Geomancers, shabby Joe & spritely Junie, must save Washington, D.C. yet again. This time an ancient Chinese zombie (aka a bloodthirsty jiangshi) attacks during the covid pandemic. Mauling & sucking his victims’ life force or infecting them with a contagious bite, the ghastly undead monster ravages the populace. Joe’s sister Pearl smugly spies on our heroes biding her time to steal Junie’s legendary weapon the Energy Devourer. After nearly everyone’s been bitten but haven’t completely succumbed or turned into zombies yet, Joe & Junie hatch a plan to replicate a bygone Taoist priest’s binding ritual. It’s fright night at the museum!

Various highlights: Due to a brisk but thorough summary of books one & two early on, uninitiated readers could easily start with book three if they wished. The wonderful, spooky folktale of corpses hopping in synchrony during the night along China’s lonesome roads. A welcome increase in the series’ level of intrigue probably means we may eventually solve the mystery of Joe’s father’s murder. Great scary movie mood-setting imagery including pale moons, thunderstorms & lurching zombies. One big kitty!

The Destiny Paradox by W.O. Torres

There Can Be Only One… or None
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4 Stars

Mostly Brody Rodregez tells this exciting tale, but Destiny has her own version too. When the alternate universes became entangled from too much transporting between times & realities via the Blue (or Red, both sentient machines composed of dark matter from the future. Please read Tomorrow Lives Today & Enter the Butterfly first where all that happens; this is the third book.), oblivion arrives in the form of a rapidly expanding black hole. As it devours everything, Destiny takes matters into her own hands and, bouncing into her other selves across the planes, rescues them one at a time. However, her success proves ultimately detrimental to the entire multiverse according to an angelic musical seamstress. But knowing the truth & educating others about it aren’t the same. Some lessons, Brody learns, must be discovered the hard way.

Various highlights: Just when I feared that Gonzo would be left out of the story, well, there he was, gruff & efficient as usual. Of a few great “screenshots,” the Destiny shattering a mirror & glimpsing all her other various versions of herself, each reflected in a shard, was an instant classic. Many characters manifested in interesting or unique ways in the alternate dimensions. Plenty of fantastic Easter eggs like (almost) quoting Highlander’s iconic catchphrase & replicating that moment where Neo first applies his power to manipulate the Matrix added a flavor I’ll call nostalgia.