I admit to almost passing this book by, being put off by the New Adult label attached to it, the young ages of its characters. Yes, I’m one of those adults who thinks one should read age-appropriate books and YA or NA fiction isn’t it. But then again, this book gathered way too much praise to just casually ignore. There was something about it…
Lo and behold, this is that precious unicorn of an adult-appropriate book featuring teenage characters. In fact, in retrospect, this story would have only worked with young characters – the kind of magnificent obsession that drives it simply doesn’t sustain itself after a certain age, out there in a real world. But in an isolated prep school of precociously well-educated well-to-do children, it works perfectly. And so, the book follows its protagonist, a naïve romantic girl who comes from Nevada to coastal Maine to a school she had always dreamed about, a school her romantic ideal, a Byronesque young writer named Webster had attended a century ago before promptly shoving off to get killed in a war, fighting on Franco’s side of all things. The modern day might perceive Webster as a fascist sympathizer and a raving fool, enough for the statue-toppling contingent, certainly, but for our main character he is perfection. She soon finds like-minded individuals in the school’s choir, led by the wildly charismatic ascetic Virginia. Now, there’s a character. A daughter of an upper middle class Jewish family, Virginia has reinvented herself as a passionate Catholic and dedicated herself to becoming World-Historical. That phrase appears throughout the book with alarming frequency. The choir kids are positively obsessed with it. It’s only logical that their generation, fed on the mothers’ milk of specialness, would make that leap. It might even be perceived as noble, this desire to become a properly significant person, to change the world, but here it manifests as toxic. A toxic character driver that makes each and every kid into their worst selves. Our protagonist finds herself completely under Virginia’s spell, first love and obsession all rolled into one with an intensity that only friendships of youth can support. She follows Virginia to the increasingly darker places, until the situation becomes unsustainable and then she becomes the unwitting witness to Virginia’s madness’ manifestation. There’s a magnificent hypnotic quality to this novel, it’s difficult to put down, it drags you in and holds you tight, like a strange dream, almost. The intensity of the story is sustained perfectly throughout. The characters in their increasingly unhinged states, the situation at its increasingly precarious and dangerous acts. If this was indeed a performance of a choir, you’d marvel at the way they sustain their high notes. This is a definition perfect coming-of-age story in that it describes exactly the moment a person grows up – the moment they abandon their romantic ideals and see the world for what it really is. The devastating disappointment of it all. The courage to live with it. And so, you see, this sort of story can only work with a young cast - it doesn’t need the characters to be mature, doesn’t even need them to be conventionally likable. Rest assured it isn’t YA. Or even NA. There’s nothing dumbed down about this story. It is about youth, it's all about youth, about that certain brazenness of of asking of the world what the world cannot give. It’s a clever, emotionally potent rollercoaster of obsession and absolutely mesmerizing in its narrative engagement. Wow, indeed. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
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Ok, so here’s a perfect instance of stepping up one’s game. The author’s previous book, Women’s World, was perfectly decent and…that’s about it. Cute silliness or silly cuteness presenting itself as the notes on the apocalypse with only women left. The jokes are amusing, but fairly basic and obvious. Enter Cyclops and watch the author’s game go up and up and up.
Guess sometimes one just needs to find a proper subject to let themselves shine…because this was lovely. Beaming up from cute and silly into charming and clever. The episodic structure of this book is quite similar to Women’s World, only now it’s a Cyclopean World or more like a world where Cyclops live side by side with Two-Eyes and must deal with all sorts of prejudice and navigate the world that isn’t always built for them. Which isn’t merely charmingly whimsical, it’s also a very clever tool to have conversations about race, prejudice, sexism, isolation, belonging, etc. Only where so many books do it in a straight-forward heavy-handed way and allow the message to overwhelm the book, here the author gets to do in through metaphors and allegories. Subtlety is a fine art and should be utilized more. And lo and behold, here it is, among these adorable cartoons. It’s so nice, so refreshing to see someone actually tackling important and timely subjects topics this way in this day and age of overwhelming confessional style sincerity and nuance-free earnestness. There’s also quite a considerable amount of world-building or maybe more like world adjusting to fit the Cyclops in it. A lot of thought obviously went into it, from characters’ names to backstory, read the extensive afterword and be impressed. All in all, this was definitely a winner and a dramatic improvement upon its predecessor. Less pages, more to say. Still a very quick read and absolutely worth it. Recommended. This book got a killer tagline. Lesbian gunslingers in space fighting spies. I mean, wow and wow, right? Well, first off, there’s really one lesbian gunslinger and her straight gunfighting cohort. Secondly…well…underwhelming.
Why is it that certain publishers set certain book length standards for themselves? It seems weird and restricting. Angry Robot books tend to be exactly 400 pages, which is my opinion is quite long/too long. Maybe that’s why the robot is angry. In any case, 400 was way too many pages for me with this book. I’ve been reading such excellent science fiction graphic novels, it made me want to read a proper genre novel. This one, though, however many trends it can put a checkmark next to, didn’t do the trick. It isn’t entirely the book’s fault. Maybe not of it is the book’s fault. Maybe it was just one of those reader/book incompatibilities. Technically the book is accomplished, especially for a debut. It’s very much in line with what one might think of when one thinks of a rollicking space adventure of a space operatic variety. It has a spunky protagonist, unlikely friendship, intergalactic politicking, warring factions, a romance, and so on. Lesbians, aliens of color, various creeds…a swooning amount of diversity. What a properly modern book written for its time. And yet… And yet…for me it left a lot to be desired. When analyzed, the fault seems to lie primarily with the characters, who just did not engage. At all. Rig, the main one, a factionless outlaw, who defied her planet’s expectations/orders of her, is some sort of a genius, who invented some radical nanotech and promptly absconded with it. Ginka, is a much more obedient servant of a different world, but also finds herself on the outs with it, and so the two team up. No sparks – Rig has a beloved girlfriend, a practical librarian lady, who Rig cheesily and distantly adores, because Rig doesn’t think she deserves her or some such trite crap and Ginka is actually secretly married in a very clandestine manner to her military supervisor. Just two very different individuals out to kick space butt and teach each other valuable life lessons. The thing is, though their ages are never specified, both characters, especially Rig, read very, very young. Young in a way that more reflects the age of the author than the age of the characters. Rig’s main descriptor is that she’s sassy, which translates into clumsy sexish puns, but overall, she comes across angsty and spunky like a brash youngster, not a brazen space adventurer. Ginka is kind of a brainwashed tough soldier who occasionally (as in slowly and sporadically) gets hip to the way of things. Neither seem especially bright, both are very reactionary, and, of course, both are very good at fighting, shooting, etc. for that girl power oomph. Tried as I might (400 pages worth) I just never cared about any of them. It was the kind of book I’d walk away from at any time without thinking twice about it, but for being a completist. And so, I finished it. It read long. It wasn’t for me. It’s hip, flash, action-driven, but all the thrills are pretty superficial. Presumably, this is what sells, this kind of shiny box-checking noise. And I’m sure it’ll entertain plenty of science fiction fans, it just didn’t work for this one. Thanks Netgalley. And he’s done it again. You gotta love Lemire. Not only a terrific writer, but such a versatile one. I’ve read his take on superheroes, creepy small towns with creepy barns in them and now this, a space opera with robots, and it’s all been absolutely awesome.
I don’t even like space operas as a genre, but turns out in graphic novel form I can appreciate and even enjoy them. Saga series is pretty freaking close to perfect and now this…this was right up there. On a distant planet a young boy wakes up to find himself all alone, his family gone, no one around but his robopup. We quickly learn that the boy himself is a robot, but organic components or otherwise, he is definitely and definitively the soul of this story. A story that goes something like this… Ten years ago, a number of giants robots showed up out of the blue (if space has color) and rained destruction upon a coalition of nine planets. Since then, the inhabitants of those planets have turned hostile to their own robot technology, more than hostile, really destructive. Not a safe time to be a robot. And for a disgraced father of robotics himself, Quon, no picnic either. Until it is figured out that the giant destructive robots shared their robotic DNA with his famous invention, a boy robot line named Tim, created as companions for kids. Now Quon is in demand and on a mission, find a last known surviving Tim and utilize his robogenetic makeup to prepare the world(worlds) for potential future attacks by the giant robots. This was a terrific and terrifically compelling story, a space adventure as energetically exciting as it is emotionally engaging. The writing’s great, as expected. The art…the art is a thing of beauty, pencils and watercolors, I believe. Very striking, very original, creates such stunning panels. I absolutely loved this book and hope our library (wildly inconsistent in its acquisitions) gets the additional volumes. Recommended. If nothing in these stories could be further from truth, then this author is a terrific liar. After all, all the best storytellers are.
The stories in this absolute delight of a collection are definitely of a slice of life variety, but sometimes that life takes turn for the strange. Not so far as to venture into the magical realism territory, just kind of out there. Most of the time, it doesn’t even get that far and stays strictly within the bounds of possible, but-like the best of fiction does-it finds beauty in the ordinary, reasons in the chaos and solace in the sadness. Never read the author before, he’s Canadian, a lot of stories are based there, but it’s never all that location specific in a way that a location would define the narrative. Not like the story that takes place in an unnamed though thinly veiled Latin American country and features an exiled author, who comes back only to find himself trapped by the new regime, and three visits by his greatest fan. The pear on the cover refers to one of the stories permanently featuring pears, lots of them. An excellent story about nine siblings raising themselves, having been failed by their parents, essentially what Shameless ought to have been, had it not chosen to be stupid and ride out on cheap jokes. The titles of short stories in collections never stick with me, but in this case, it doesn’t even matter so much, because there’s no need to play favorites – there were simply too many. Every so often you read a book and the writing just really clicks with you, really speaks to you, and this was definitely one of those reading experiences for me. I just loved the way the author sees the world, the way he writes the world. It’s original, clever, just the right kind of strange. There’s so much soul in these pages, so much emotionally intelligent observation, so much compassion (the proper kind, not the lachrymose sentimental variety). I absolutely loved this book, loved the time I spent with it. A quiet treasure for the weary spirit. Recommended.. Thanks Netgalley. I’ve been checking out random kindle freebies lately, trying to be selective, looking for the bets of the best in self-published indies field. This was a pretty inspired choice. You wouldn’t know it by the cover, but one you start reading it, it draws you right in the way storytelling is supposed to. Like some many indies, it’s somewhat uneven, the interconnected stories are not all of the same quality – it begins and ends very strongly with a less exciting/consistent middle. It also would do well with a round of editing, there are typos (Shelley as Shelly), misspellings (casual as causal more than once), things of that nature. Nothing super distracting, just here and there.
But overall, it was very entertaining. The protagonist is a police dispatcher who ends up buying a heavily discounted murder estate (first story), which turns out to be a nightmare, and the subsequent terror and trauma turn him to a different path, one of being a sort of investigative journalist, a private detective/writer. The rest of the stories are tangentially or precisely connected to his cases. The stories themselves vary in tone, structure, and nature, from historical gothic-like to a heavy-duty police procedural. They are uneven, but they work, each and every one, and they make for an interesting narrative total. Very dark, very bleak, very messed up…just right to delight genre fans. It stands to mention that the age count might be off. It’s listed at just under 300, but for me it read longer. Overall, pretty good, though. The talent is there, some finesse is needed, but that’ll come with experience, most likely. Recommended. Daredevil by Bendis and Maleev Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev11/16/2021 I didn’t realize just how comprehensive this volume was, must have looked up the wrong page count originally, but this was 411 pages and that’s a lot of Daredevil. More than I was interested in, to be honest, not being much of a conventional superhero comic fan, but then again if something is done well…and this was done very, very well.
Most of my knowledge of the character comes from cinematic and tv adaptations and (this goes to show the amount of interest that sort of thing generated) I never actually finished the Netflix series. It was decent enough but didn’t wow. This comic to its credit does wow at times. I’ve read the author before to very middle of the road impressions, he did a Jessica Jones thing a while back, another Marvel Netflix superhero, which featured very average writing. This was a measure above. But what really elevate the proceedings was the art. Because this is such a large volume and it covers such a long span, it features four artists, in a strictly and noticeably declining level of quality. A very weird, almost perversely precise sort of lineup. The first story is a four comic arc featuring absolutely stunning art by David Mack. Watercolor-like, gorgeous, frame and hang it up sort of art. From there on it takes on a more superhero comic appropriate style and yet remains very good. The cover for some reason features by name only one of the artists out of four. As the book progresses, the art streamlines into a more basic version of itself; all still decent though, until the very last comic. This is really weird, it’s the last one in a long arc done by another-superior-artist and the difference is striking. A very odd choice. I don’t know enough about the industry to know how it all works, but it seems odd to maintain the same author and change up artists, especially dramatic changes like that. Anyway, for someone who doesn’t care for traditional superhero fare or mafia stories, this ended up being strangely compelling. Fun was had. Enjoy these adventures of the Man Without Fear fearlessly. On a very (and I mean, very) basic level science fiction can be divided into two categories – Star Wars – like and Black Mirror – like. I’m a huge fan of the latter and not much of one of the former, but this book is allegedly a genre classic and in graphic adaptation it seemed worth checking out.
Was it, though? Well, turns out it really, really wasn’t for me, not only the contents, but the execution – this freaking thing is manga. I don’t like manga, this book has done nothing to change my mind. The people all look the same, weird, basic, near expressionless. On top of it, the art was black and white, which every so often works, but most of the time just looks like someone wanted to save on a colorist. Why would you draw this grand space adventure without color? Seriously? The plot seemed pretty basic too – an intrepid forever 25 but really 200-year-old space adventurer, two funky looking aliens and a babe go have a space adventure and discover the titular ringworld. There’s some mildly amusing banter along the way. That’s about it. Somehow Nivel had spun out worlds and worlds of sequels and prequels out of it, but then again that’s Star Wars all over for you. So, no, this reviewer didn’t love the book and it had absolutely nothing to do with sexism – the thing so many other reviewers on GR seem to be having a conniption about, because this reviewer (being an intelligent mature adult who understands historical context) isn’t going to b*tch and moan about the depiction of women in the book. This was 50 years ago; things were different 50 years ago. Things haven’t changed all that much, really. Just look at the recently (finally) freed Britney, who perpetuated for years under a medieval-like in its paternalism protectorship of her father. Women still get paid less than men for the same jobs. Burn your bra on the modern battlefield, don’t go analyzing old books from your present-day hyperwoke perspective – you will find them wonting. The world (literary and otherwise) didn’t start with you and owes absolutely nothing to your modern delicate sensibilities. Contextualize, people, contextualize. Ok, soapbox away, back to review, to conclude it with…no, not impressed, not with the art, not with the story, don’t care to read more. It goes by quickly, but that’s about it. And still no to manga. Oh, the possibilities. A high sea adventure, a cult…this book might have been excellent. Instead, in. decidedly less so fashion, it was hip. Think critical darling instead of something with a much easier (and more commercial) appeal. Mind you, normally I‘d appreciate that sort of thing – there’s plenty of sellouts peddling best-sellers out there, it’s nice to find something different – but, but this book was slightly too enamored with being different and it resulted in a dream-like dense nightmare-like spiral journey of a not especially compelling protagonist that even high seas and cults were unable to save.
Or, to go in more detail, this is a story of a woman of an uncertain age, an alcoholic who left her adoring spouse to go work on a luxury cruise ship. The ship is a grand and self-contained affair featuring every amenity, including your friendly neighborhood cult the woman ends up in. The cult follows a Japanese idea that all things come from and go into nothingness and, to this end, the woman has to submit to a variety of trials, from intense talk therapy to having her finger cut off. Yes, you read that right, her finger. And once she mastered herself, she can advance to becoming a master. There are some onboard associations she has, friendships, jobs, and every so often she goes to the land and has drunken hazy adventures there, but that’s about it. The protagonist essentially spends her time not so much building a life but avoiding it and, specifically, avoiding going back to the life she had before, on land. There’s nothing quite like traditional three act structure and the untraditional appeal of this novel is somewhat tough to discern. The title presupposes a grand journey of self-discovery. In a way, I suppose, it is, for the character, it just isn’t especially interesting or engaging to read about. But, to its credit, it reads very quickly. Thanks Netgalley. I seem to be the first to review this book…lovely. Thrillers are dime a dozen right now, especially of marital variety, so one must exercise caution. I’ve tried to be very selective with my choices (not an easy thing to do with new books, which often have no reviews) and this one definitely worked out.
Never read the author, but would again, based on this. Intriguing plot, good writing, complex characters cut freestyle without any cookie cutter assistance. Some marriages end in fights and tears, some in loaded silences and mountains of resentments, some just sort of dissolve over the years…but for the couple in this story it’ll all end in blood, someone else’s blood, but still, lots of it. Over one explosive night’s events, a two-decade strong couple still reeling from the death of their young daughter, will reevaluate all they know about each other, will really get to know what each other has become. This is a story of what happens when your beloved wife calls you in the middle of the night to help her dispose of a body of a man she just killed. Told in real time to maximize the narrative dynamism, the story and the situation spiral out from there, with the ever-mounting pressure and the ever-increasing body count. And yes, the spiraling ends up in a major diabolical sort of situation that seems like a far cry from the simple self-defenceish kind of initial murder, but that’s the nature of these thrillers, gotta systematically turn the dial up, boil that pot and all in it. But then again, presumably it goes a long way to exculpate the protagonists, because sometimes murder is just downright justifiable. I won’t say any more than that, this thriller, like every thriller, hinges on its plot twists, and unlike every thriller, this one is certainly worth a read. A fun ride through a very dark night. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley. |
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