Review: BLINK

Review: BLINK

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

*I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.*

Wren Booker can barely remember when she was discovered covered in blood on the streets of New York. But years later, when she finds a cryptic website supposedly streaming multiple strange rooms, she is haunted by forgotten memories. Desperate to find the truth, she hunts down the website source and breaks into a camera-filled maze building that isn’t as abandoned as Wren once thought. 

I was enticed by the cover and art style and finished reading it all in a (literal) blink of an eye. Wren has followed her obsession with her past into a world of uncountable surveillance cameras and feeling that someone – or something – is watching her. The art style and illustration really carry this entire story – it encapsulates Wren’s dark, obsessive nature and the labyrinth in which she finds herself trapped. 

If anything, I was disappointed in the found-footage aspect of the graphic novel since it sets up readers for an entirely different story. Found footage assumes we are witnessing Wren’s story as if it were discovered film or recordings, but instead, it’s about what Wren finds within the sinister building. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading the story, but it was a shame to realise the direction wasn’t going in the way it was promoted. 

Blink was almost perfect. It starts with a great premise, fantastic art and panels—an urban tale about the dangers of surveillance. Unfortunately, the execution is disappointing and loses steam towards the end, leaving behind a ghost of what could’ve been. 


GOODREADS | AMAZON

Short Review: Aphrodite Made Me Do It and Mooncakes

Short Review: Aphrodite Made Me Do It and Mooncakes

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

*I received a copy of both books via the publisher and NetGalley in return for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.*

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Aphrodite Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY | AUTHOR

“Regardless of whether you desire it, love is what sits at the core of the world. It is stronger than greed and hate and jealousy and pain. What brings us together will always be more powerful than what keeps us apart.” 

A poetry and prose collection that uses mythological goddesses to create a story of self-love and healing. I’m a not a massive fan of poetry collections anymore, but something about Aphrodite particularly caught my attention. Maybe, I’m just a sucker for mythological goddesses.

 The poetry collection begins with Aphrodite and the author conversing before weaving into different pieces that discussed topics such as body image, abuse and queerphobia. I think about stood out the most was how Mateer framed this collection and its narrative. The collection flows through Aphrodite’s life, while also mentioning other women such as Medusa and Pandora, intertwining their stories with her own experiences. 

I absolutely loved the illustrations and the designs of the tarot cards. I haven’t read anything previously by Mateer, so I don’t know if it’s a common thing, but I wasn’t expecting it. So it added such a nice touch to the entire collection. I would definitely consider buying a physical copy because of the art. 

“I belong to no one. They never wrote that part down.”


Mooncakes

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker (Author) Wendy Xu (Artist)

GOODREADS | AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

Nova Huang either spends her time at her grandmothers’ bookstore or investigating supernatural events that occur in her small town. Nothing new rarely happens, until the appearance of a white wolf changes everything. Her childhood crush returns, fighting a horse demon, asking for Nova’s help.

Damn, this story is sweet as hell. Reading this was quite comforting. The autumn vibes were really up my alley. I love Wendy Xu’s style, and it’s what drew me to Mooncakes in the first place. Nova, a Chinese-American, is struggling to cope with the loss of her parents and her duties of being a witch. Tam Lang, a nonbinary werewolf, returns to their childhood home to bring down the demon the resides in the woods, and returning home can bring up some not so good memories. Despite having not seen each other in ages, they return to each other unconditionally, and their support for each other was so endearing and sweet. 

I’d hate to pit the writing and art style against each other since they’re two different things, but, personally, the art carried most of the book. I felt like the writing was more on the weaker side. I think the character development was great, Tam and Nova are adorable. Nova’s grandmothers were funny and great. However, the plot is a little underwhelming at first. I was very interested in the wolf magic and Tam’s past, and how it all connected together in the end. So it’s a shame that wasn’t fleshed out as much as you’d expect, along with the magic system. It felt a little rushed at the end, in my opinion. However, I wouldn’t hold it against the series though. There’s so much to love and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Book Review: Amazing Women

Book Review: Amazing Women

Rating: ★★★✰✰ (3/5)

* I received a physical copy of this book from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.

Amazing Women spotlights a unique collection of female figures with a focus on British women. It features a vast variety of women in different fields from the sciences to the arts, including the lives of many women.

The illustration of this book is adorable. Sarah Green has a style that I just love and which worked well with this book. And I liked how the book is divided which highlighted the different areas in which these women contributed to society, highlighting older and new voices.

I believe this book can be inspiring to girl and women from all backgrounds and shows the diversity of women that did amazing things. I would say this is quite a cute book with unbiased overviews of every woman and their achievements. I loved the adorable designs and illustrations. I understand its need to be unbiased but I most likely would’ve never picked this book up when I can clearly see women on here I don’t personally agree with supporting.


GOODREADS |AMAZON

 

Comic Review: Ms Marvel: Generation Why (Volume Two)

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Rating: ★★★★★

SPOILERISH PICTURES AHEAD!!

Ms. Marvel returns! And now she has to face the Inventor! Working alongside one of her favourite superheroes and meeting Inhumanity for the first time, Kamala bands together with some of the most unlikely of people to stop Inventor before he does real damage.

I’m just going to apologise in advance. This isn’t a review. This is me just flailing as I try to attempt to describe how GOOD this was! In volume one, there was something about it that stopped me from giving it 5 stars but Generation Why was even more enjoyable than No Normal. Kamala is even more adorable and hilarious. In Generation Why, Kamala learns more about the nature of her powers. After her encounter with Wolverine during a mission, both Wolverine and Kamala became more curious about her possible origins.

Her self-appointed role as New Jersey City’s superhero has caught the interest of Inhumanity. (Since I don’t read comic books, I actually had no idea who they were but a quick google search cleared that up!) They send a superpowered watchdog called Lockjaw to aid her in missions. And this page is one of the funniest in the two volumes I’ve read.

In this issue, the villain sees the current generation of youth as shallow and I loved how Kamala faced the topic of how this generation is undermined by the previous one – calling us self-entitled, unambitious and lazy. I thought this was a great topic to tackle and it worked well using Kamala to tell it, a young teen who is suffering from a generational gap that everyone faces. She admits our flaws but doesn’t excuse or condemn them either. I love how passionate Kamala is, and how she refuses to see her and others her age as a lost cause. She gives a speech, while cheesy as heck it was to read, it was a well-timed moment of self-awareness which just stacks up the moments and things I love about her.

Simply put, this is so good! As always, the art is good and so hilarious! I recommend this to anyone. Go read it and see what you’re missing out on!


GOODREADS | AMAZON | THE BOOK DEPOSITORY | BARNES & NOBLE

Comic Review: Ms Marvel: No Normal (Volume One)

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Rating: ★★★★☆

No Normal is Kamala Khan’s origin story. The story of how she suddenly finds herself with the power to shift into anyone she wants and can enlargen her own body parts. In the first volume, it’s mainly Kamala spending time coming to term with her new powers while struggling to hide it from her real life, where she struggles to fit in with her friends while trying not to disappoint her family.

I loved this from start to finish. Kamala is so relatable, quirky and adorably funny! And the way Wilson incorporated her family and religion was done so well. She made it feel natural and added truth depth to Kamala.

Adrian’s artwork is so gorgeous and funny, I loved it so much. The way he draws the dramatic and comedic artwork is so good and nice. I loved the style and the colours, it works well with the story and made it more memorable for me. I definitely need to see more of his art.

Continue reading “Comic Review: Ms Marvel: No Normal (Volume One)”

BOOK REVIEW: Poorly Drawn Lines: Good Ideas and Amazing Stories by Reza Farazmand

You Can Find the Book At:

GoodReads
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Author Website

GoodReads Summary:

Life is weird. Embrace it.

A bear flies through space. A hamster suffers a breakdown. Elsewhere, a garden snake is arrested by animal control and jailed for home invasion, while a child marvels at the wonder of nature as worms emerge from the ground and begin looking for vodka (as they always have). These are common occurrences in the world of Reza Farazmand’s wildly popular webcomic, Poorly Drawn Lines. […] This eponymous collection brings together fan favorites with new comics and original essays to share Farazmand’s inimitable take on love, nature, social acceptance, and robots.

My Review:

Rating: ★★★☆☆

~ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time, you’ve probably seen a Poorly Drawn Lines comic and didn’t even know what it was. Poorly Drawn Lines is definitely weird.

It’s a very short, and a moderately funny read. I really liked the art style, but some of the jokes felt repetitive. It was funny the first few times but then got stale real quick. There’s not really a plot to summarize. It’s a collection of comics, some already available online, some for the book alone, as well as strange short stories from unnamed narrators that often veer off into a strange direction.

Poorly Drawn Lines is not all laugh-out-loud funny. Some of the comics aren’t funny at all, some are very confusing. Overall, I still enjoyed a few of the comics. Here are some of my favourites:

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