Tag: series

Women Are Some Kind of Magic by Amanda Lovelace | Series Review

Siobhan

★★★☆☆ | ★★☆☆☆ | ★★★★☆
June 22nd, 2018 | June 23rd, 2018 | March 14th, 2019

I find it difficult to rate poetry. I talked a little bit about this in my joint review of Jason Reynold’s books last year. His books are spoken word, and in that review I mentioned that I wasn’t a fan of this style of poetry.

I’ve now read the full Women Are Some Kind of Magic series by Amanda Lovelace, and I still feel the same way about it. I feel like there’s no room for interpretation by the reader, and you’re being told exactly what you’re supposed to be thinking or feeling.

In the first book I found this particularly jarring, but I still found the subject matter interesting. It was a story of triumph and survival, and though the format took away from that, I didn’t hate it. My biggest problem is that any nuance and metaphor is immediately shattered at the end of the small poem by the title, explicitly saying what was creatively implied. I wasn’t a huge fan of this, but I was willing to carry on to the second book.

My opinion changed in the second book, which I found angry and full of fire (ironically). I didn’t think that I would be able to go back to Amanda Lovelace as a writer, but decided to give the third book a try just to finish the series.

I’m glad I did. I found the third one the most interesting of the three. It had the parts I enjoyed about the first one, and a slower, smoldering fire from the second, coupled with poetry from other people. While I still didn’t enjoy the format, I found this one the best, and it had the most growth and best overall message of the three.

I’m still searching for a “new style” of poetry that I like. I don’t think that this is exactly that, but I’ll keep looking for it. Based on the third book, if she were to release anything new I would give it a try just to see if I like the direction, but I hope that as her writing grows, her format changes and there’s more nuance to it.

-Siobhan

Saga, Vol 5-9 | Series Review

Siobhan

This is actually the second time I’ve written this review. Always save your work, kids.

I didn’t expect myself to get invested in Saga. Three days after finishing volume four, I finished volume nine. And now I have to wait over a year before there are new issues released, let alone a combined volume to read.

The first thing that I have to say about this story is that I’m in it for the characters 100%. I want to know what happens to Hazel. I care about Marko and Alana’s relationship. I like Prince Robot, even though he can be a jerk a lot of the time. I love Hazel’s grandmother. The reporters are two of my favorite characters. Everyone in this story is flawed, and feel real.

The second thing that I have to say is that while the entire story is full of metaphors, they don’t feel over the top to me. It might be because of the format, but it doesn’t feel like I’m constantly being reminded that it’s referencing real life directly.

The end of the latest volume was heartbreaking in more than one way. I agree with other reviews and reactions I’ve seen online to the latest installment. I’m sad that I have to wait so long for a continuation, but it gives me a chance to check out more of both Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples other works.

-Siobhan

Saga, Vol 1-4 | Series Review

Siobhan

To be completely honest, I didn’t think that I’d have anything to talk about this early into the year, but one week in and I’ve read 5 books? Who even am I?

I’ll start this off by saying that I still feel like I’m new to graphic novels. I’ve read some, and the ones that I’ve read I’ve really enjoyed, but it’s not a medium I frequent. I haven’t read Watchmen or a lot of graphic novels that people point to and say “No you have to read that one if you’re going to read any.”

Maybe someday I’ll get to those, but this year I did start out my reading with Saga.

How do I even describe it? I guess at its absolute base it’s a Romeo & Juliet-esque story that takes place in space. Two people from opposite sides of a war fall in love and have a baby. That’s just the basis. There’s a whole slew of characters, each more complex than the last, who are fantastic. They’re really the reason that I keep reading.

To quote a friend of mine, “Saga puts the graphic in graphic novel.” This isn’t for the squeamish or the easily offended. The volumes are violent, sexual, and heartbreaking all at the same time. But you read it for the characters. At least, I do. The development and changes that these people go through are enough to keep me going through the explicit content.

The first four volumes of this epic tale have brought me deep into this world of war, love, drugs, parenting, ghosts, and romance novels. I’m excited and scared to continue the series. I don’t want to be caught up, because then I’ll have to wait for more to come out. At the same time, I need to know what happens. I need to know if The Will is going to be okay. I need to know more about Sophie. I want to see what happens to Marko. These characters have totally hooked me, and the story is just getting started.

Scott Pilgrim Series by Bryan Lee O’Malley | Book Series Review

Siobhan

Scott Pilgrim Series by Bryan Lee O’Malley
August 1st – 2nd
★★★★☆ (each)

I don’t tend to read a lot of graphic novels. It’s a shame, too, because when I read them I find that I really enjoy them. I find them quick reads, and I like that the format lends itself to more comedic moments visually than a traditional book does. My partner really loves the Scott Pilgrim movie directed by Edgar Wright. During the course of our relationship, I don’t think I can count all of the times that we’ve watched it.

The movie has grown on me a lot. At first I found it really confusing, but I didn’t have any context. I’ve come to find it really funny, and I wanted to see if the graphic novels carried that same humor.

I was not expecting to like these as much as I did, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to like them more than the movie. Scott in the movie is a little pathetic. He’s kind of wandering through his life and doesn’t know what he wants to do. And Ramona in the movie is a bit dramatic. She talks about her dark past and wanting to escape, but says things like “I do that sometimes” which always really bothered me. I think that these two things are what prevented me from reading these sooner than I did, because I didn’t want more of that dynamic.

The books couldn’t be more different in this regard. Ramona has a backbone and a personality outside of her past in the books. She’s not confined to the love-interest and manic-pixie-dream-girl for Scott, but she has her moments where she acts out and gets scared. In the movie, they seem random and unprovoked. In the book we get more of a glimpse into her past, as well as indications about her desire to change, but how she keeps coming back to Gideon.

Scott is extremely different in the book as well. He still has his moments where he’s pathetic, but he’s less likable and more human. He’s more of a real person, who has his own flaws which mostly parallel Ramona’s. The two of them are a perfect couple, and this makes the ending of the series that much more sweet. He becomes one of her evil exes, then makes a conscious change and goes after her again. It’s wonderful.

A lot of the lines in the movie are directly taken out of the book, as are most of the transitions and the style decisions. I liked the consistency between page and screen, and the movie is definitely a faithful adaptation. The things lost in the movie are to be expected: exposition, backstory and things which there just isn’t time for when you’re condensing six volumes down into one feature length film.

I read all six of these over the course of a couple days. I highly enjoyed the art, reading them in color, and looking at all of the similarities between what I already knew and liked, versus what I now know and love.

Thank you for reading through this latest review, feel free to check out some of my recent reviews and come back next week for a look at more titles that I read.

-Siobhan

Scott Pilgrim Series by Bryan Lee O’Malley | Series Review

Siobhan

Scott Pilgrim Series by Bryan Lee O’Malley
August 1st – 2nd
★★★★☆ (each)

I don’t tend to read a lot of graphic novels. It’s a shame, too, because when I read them I find that I really enjoy them. I find them quick reads, and I like that the format lends itself to more comedic moments visually than a traditional book does. My partner really loves the Scott Pilgrim movie directed by Edgar Wright. During the course of our relationship, I don’t think I can count all of the times that we’ve watched it.

The movie has grown on me a lot. At first I found it really confusing, but I didn’t have any context. I’ve come to find it really funny, and I wanted to see if the graphic novels carried that same humor.

I was not expecting to like these as much as I did, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to like them more than the movie. Scott in the movie is a little pathetic. He’s kind of wandering through his life and doesn’t know what he wants to do. And Ramona in the movie is a bit dramatic. She talks about her dark past and wanting to escape, but says things like “I do that sometimes” which always really bothered me. I think that these two things are what prevented me from reading these sooner than I did, because I didn’t want more of that dynamic.

The books couldn’t be more different in this regard. Ramona has a backbone and a personality outside of her past in the books. She’s not confined to the love-interest and manic-pixie-dream-girl for Scott, but she has her moments where she acts out and gets scared. In the movie, they seem random and unprovoked. In the book we get more of a glimpse into her past, as well as indications about her desire to change, but how she keeps coming back to Gideon.

Scott is extremely different in the book as well. He still has his moments where he’s pathetic, but he’s less likable and more human. He’s more of a real person, who has his own flaws which mostly parallel Ramona’s. The two of them are a perfect couple, and this makes the ending of the series that much more sweet. He becomes one of her evil exes, then makes a conscious change and goes after her again. It’s wonderful.

A lot of the lines in the movie are directly taken out of the book, as are most of the transitions and the style decisions. I liked the consistency between page and screen, and the movie is definitely a faithful adaptation. The things lost in the movie are to be expected: exposition, backstory and things which there just isn’t time for when you’re condensing six volumes down into one feature length film.

I read all six of these over the course of a couple days. I highly enjoyed the art, reading them in color, and looking at all of the similarities between what I already knew and liked, versus what I now know and love.

Thank you for reading through this latest review, feel free to check out some of my recent reviews and come back next week for a look at more titles that I read.

-Siobhan

The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel | Book Series Review

Siobhan

 

January 1st – 12th 2017 | May 19th – 25th 2017 | June 26th – July 3rd 2018
★★★★☆

This is a weird moment.

I started the first book in this series, Sleeping Giants, at the beginning of last year. I got a free digital version of the book from some promotion, and it sounded really interesting. Giant robots? Science? Aliens? Sign me up! I read it in just under two weeks, coming off of a massive re-read of Harry Potter that I had started at the beginning of December 2016. This was the first “new” book that I had read in a few years. I felt rusty, learning new stories instead of depending on old ones that felt nostalgic to me. There’s something amazing about re-reading a series you love, but there’s something even more amazing about discovering a new one.

The Themis Files are that series for me. I’ve read a few series the past two years, but this one stands out as one of my favorites. Finishing the first book in January of last year, I had to wait until March for the second book to come out. The real eternity came with the over year-long wait for the third and final book. Though this book came in the mail in the midst of my reading slump, I’m glad that I finally picked it up and was able to get back into this world.

Sylvain Neuvel started writing this book on his iPhone, sitting on his couch at the end of the night. He’s a busy dad, he didn’t have time to write

And he did. Three times. He’s a huge inspiration for me. I’ve read his interviews, I’ve talked to him briefly on Twitter and Goodreads. Besides being a great author, he’s a kind and amazing human being who loves his fanbase and is just excited to have someone to talk to about the stories that he’s telling. If I’m ever published, I hope to some day be the type of author that Sylvain Neuvel is.

Spoilers ahead.

These books tell a complex story. They weave characters in from other planets, and they do so with such care. The entirety of the trilogy is told through interviews, recorded conversations, news broadcasts, letters, and journal entries from a sea of different characters. He killed off and brought back one of my favorite characters, then killed two other favorites. But they’re all favorites. Neuvel’s characters are beautifully flawed and real. They react as humans would react.

The main premise of the books are this: mankind finds giant robot parts buried at different points in the Earth. They uncover them, build the robot, and try and find ways to pilot it. They find that the robot was put here by an alien race who visited a long time ago, and that alien race comes to Earth to finish what they started.

Things get more complicated from there. There are politics, science, and giant robot fights. It’s a wild ride from start to finish. Countries are at war, people are detained, different languages are spoken in the book, not all of them from Earth.

The third book in particular feels extremely relevant to everything going on in today’s world, and makes me wish that an alien race would just come down and tell us to stop everything happening politically.

I found myself lost in these books. They’re quick, fun, enjoyable, and I can’t wait to see what else Sylvain Neuvel writes, because I know I’ll get just as lost there.

The Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel | Series Review

Siobhan

January 1st – 12th 2017
★★★★☆

May 19th – 25th 2017
★★★★☆

June 26th – July 3rd 2018
★★★★☆

This is a weird moment.

I started the first book in this series, Sleeping Giants, at the beginning of last year. I got a free digital version of the book from some promotion, and it sounded really interesting. Giant robots? Science? Aliens? Sign me up! I read it in just under two weeks, coming off of a massive re-read of Harry Potter that I had started at the beginning of December 2016. This was the first “new” book that I had read in a few years. I felt rusty, learning new stories instead of depending on old ones that felt nostalgic to me. There’s something amazing about re-reading a series you love, but there’s something even more amazing about discovering a new one.

The Themis Files are that series for me. I’ve read a few series the past two years, but this one stands out as one of my favorites. Finishing the first book in January of last year, I had to wait until March for the second book to come out. The real eternity came with the over year-long wait for the third and final book. Though this book came in the mail in the midst of my reading slump, I’m glad that I finally picked it up and was able to get back into this world.

Sylvain Neuvel started writing this book on his iPhone, sitting on his couch at the end of the night. He’s a busy dad, he didn’t have time to write 

And he did. Three times. He’s a huge inspiration for me. I’ve read his interviews, I’ve talked to him briefly on Twitter and Goodreads. Besides being a great author, he’s a kind and amazing human being who loves his fanbase and is just excited to have someone to talk to about the stories that he’s telling. If I’m ever published, I hope to some day be the type of author that Sylvain Neuvel is.

Spoilers ahead.

These books tell a complex story. They weave characters in from other planets, and they do so with such care. The entirety of the trilogy is told through interviews, recorded conversations, news broadcasts, letters, and journal entries from a sea of different characters. He killed off and brought back one of my favorite characters, then killed two other favorites. But they’re all favorites. Neuvel’s characters are beautifully flawed and real. They react as humans would react.

The main premise of the books are this: mankind finds giant robot parts buried at different points in the Earth. They uncover them, build the robot, and try and find ways to pilot it. They find that the robot was put here by an alien race who visited a long time ago, and that alien race comes to Earth to finish what they started.

Things get more complicated from there. There are politics, science, and giant robot fights. It’s a wild ride from start to finish. Countries are at war, people are detained, different languages are spoken in the book, not all of them from Earth.

The third book in particular feels extremely relevant to everything going on in today’s world, and makes me wish that an alien race would just come down and tell us to stop everything happening politically. 

I found myself lost in these books. They’re quick, fun, enjoyable, and I can’t wait to see what else Sylvain Neuvel writes, because I know I’ll get just as lost there.