This was cute! I’m not usually one for purely Romance Genre novels, but it was delightful to branch out to something like this as a light read. AdmittThis was cute! I’m not usually one for purely Romance Genre novels, but it was delightful to branch out to something like this as a light read. Admittedly, I have mistakenly not read The Queer Principals of Kitt Webb yet, which is probably necessary to understand the context of some parts of this, but it was thankfully still understandable and enjoyable without that - defs makes me keen to pick up Kitt Webb sometime!
I enjoy Marian as a protagonist, I really like that she has a naturally flat affect and a different way of expressing affection with people that she knows gets her misread as cold - thats autism coding babey! i also thought the characters being bi 4 bi was cool!! Fair warning, there are explicit sex scenes in this book (which I probably should have expected, but I don’t have genre familiarity, so.), though I do feel each of those scenes showed further character development.
Anyway, this was really nice! I like Cat Sebastian’s prose style, and this is a nice light and pleasant read if you like really character-driven works. Recommemd reading its predecessor first though....more
I finally read this book after a dear friend gifted it to me years and years ago for my 15th birthday, due to my interest in historical scientist biogI finally read this book after a dear friend gifted it to me years and years ago for my 15th birthday, due to my interest in historical scientist biographies! She understands my taste very well and I thank her so much! ...more
Really fun and aesthetically pleasing sword-and-sorcery comic, with a CMYK palette and style that harken to vintage comic art, while still looking freReally fun and aesthetically pleasing sword-and-sorcery comic, with a CMYK palette and style that harken to vintage comic art, while still looking fresh and utilising the colour capabilities of the screen! It kinda reminds me of reading Bitch Planet!
Speaking of making use of the screen, I really appreciate how this comic makes use of the captions under every page - while most of us webcomic-ers use the page captions for chatter, updates, and links, Blade Maidens' captions are extra content that adds to the story, such as journal entries, exerpts from lore/history books for this world'a worldbuilding, letters, and even adventure equipment receipts - truly making full use of the webcomic medium!
I've veen meaning to get into Zoe Tunnell's work for a while, and thanks to this comic I also got to find out about the lovely artwork of Valentine M Smith! Will definitely be watching out for both of them in future! ...more
The fantasy worldbuilding, the mystery and political thriller elements, and the delightful romance kept me on the edge of my seat!! This novel packs tThe fantasy worldbuilding, the mystery and political thriller elements, and the delightful romance kept me on the edge of my seat!! This novel packs the exact amount of intrigue I enjoy - not without its twists and turns, but not whiplash-inducing either, so I get to have a nice comfy read! This was a really fun and earnest story, and I’m so lookig forward to getting more into Polk’s work!!...more
Backed this on Kickstarter, and I’m so glad to finally be able to read my ebook copy!
This was a lot of fun, and a great way to dip into the horror geBacked this on Kickstarter, and I’m so glad to finally be able to read my ebook copy!
This was a lot of fun, and a great way to dip into the horror genre as a newer reader! I’ve always been a big baby about horror in film, but my tolerance for written horror seems to be higher than I thought! A lot of stories left me with the reaction of “WOOOO yeaaaaa SICK >:D”, and some stories were even fun and campy!
My favourite story was absolutely “Vlad, The Brides, and I” because I’m a sucker for vampires and anything that puts a positive spin on vampirism - in this case, the gaining of self confidence! I think one of the most fascinating stories to me, concept-wise, was “Infinite Skin”, which was pretty gross and had a really interesting supernatural take on a character’s emotional neglect, and the idea of giving until you can’t give anymore. Others I really loved leaned heavily into Fantasy-Horror, especially with fantasy witches, such as “Dead Boy’s Teeth”, “Beneath the Blood Moon”, “The Fisherwoman’s Wife”, and “The Bound Heart”. This anthology was mostly prose, but I LOVE that comics were included as well, and I really loved the art style in “Beneath the Blood Moon”.
There was a story or two that could have maybe used a copyeditor for grammar, but the publisher is a micropress, so I can’t fault them for not having one on hand, and most stories were indeed well-edited. A few stories also got a bit heavy-handed in discussing the lack of queerness in media, but that wasn’t too much of a dealbreaker, since that’s what this anthology aims to address!
Lastly, I think the way the stories were placed in order in this anthology was well-done - “The Bound Heart” opens the anthology by setting the tone, placing violent horror scenes in a Hard Fantasy setting, and dealing with interpersonal relationships and abuse of power; and the closing story, “The Day After Your Funeral” is an absolute gut-punch. Arden Powell, who wrote that last story, discussed being influenced by “Constantine” (2005) in their creator interview, and I can see that influence! It was brilliant! And so very sad!
Overall, it was an anthology I had a lot of fun reading, and was the perfect kind-of-introduction to the genre. I’d recommend it to anyone who can tolerate fictional violence but wants to test their tolerance for horror literature. It’s not too scary (at least for me!), it’s sometimes fun and silly, there’s no psychological horror that kept me up at night, and all stories contain trigger warnings in the table of contents, if you’d like to know which ones to skip. ...more
Cinematic, full of earnest adventure and found-family storytelling, and of course, drawn with some of the most innovative and beautiful panel layouts Cinematic, full of earnest adventure and found-family storytelling, and of course, drawn with some of the most innovative and beautiful panel layouts I’ve ever seen! I had to stop every few minutes just to be in awe of some interesting way Peterschmidt laid out or bordered her panels with aspects from the environment! Her lettering is just as full of life and really well designed, and the trailing speech balloons and creatively-placed onomatopoeia are really well thought-out!
I will say there were times where the panel layouts may have gotten too interesting - cartooning is subtractive, not additive, so at times the very detailed page spreads, painterly textured environments, and ship engineering diagrams got a bit overwhelming to read - but that hardly subtracts from the way I enjoyed this book as a work of art, and I think Peterschmidt’s addition of the cartoony engineering diagrams is so very unique and probably likely to awaken a love of engineering in so many kids!!!
A few other reviews here are calling the plot a bit weirdly paced? While I do think some more intense story beats could have been paced further apart, I think people coming mostly from prose novels aren’t really taking into account the limited page space graphic novels provide (and the limited budget and pay) - I think BC Peterschmidt used the allotted page space really well for the beats of her story! (If you would like more Paced Out multi-volume storytelling in graphic novels, or think most graphic novels don’t have meaty enough storytelling like prose, then please consider advocating for cartoonist unions and better pay, or advocate for Americanized comics to be printed in black and white on cheaper paper like manga) (this is not a drag! it’s just a weird misunderstanding trend I see a lot in graphic novel reviews)
Okay, back to the review.
It’s not often in recent media that I get to see an adventure story that’s just earnest and heartfelt rather than bluntly self-aware, so Amelia Erroway is a really comforting breath of fresh air! It is also (no spoilers) an adventure runaway story with a nice mostly cathartic ending that I found GREAT, while still leaving a little space open for a follow-on book if they want!
I rate it 4.5 stars, and would be happy to recommend it to a kid (or grown-up) looking for adventure and escapism, and interested in the magic of flight engineering! I would hand it to anyone who liked Treasure Planet, Laputa Castle in the Sky, or Victoria Ying’s “City of Secrets” graphic novel series!...more
4.5 stars This was great fun!! Reminds me of a lot of edu-tainment comics I enjoyed as a kid, and I think it’s a great book to hand to any young perso4.5 stars This was great fun!! Reminds me of a lot of edu-tainment comics I enjoyed as a kid, and I think it’s a great book to hand to any young person in your life, with really great character moments and lots of educational facts about Judaism and general Jewish culture and lore. I learned a lot!
If I had the choice, I would have wanted this to be a longer book with more character fleshing out for a few characters (Judith in particular); bUT while the transitions between some scenes and story moments were a bit fast, I think they were used really effectively for the pacing of a middle grade graphic novel, as well as the limited allotment of page space. It does the McCloud-ian thing of hiding some character development Between the panels.
Petrovicz’s artwork is really fun, and I’m keen to check out more of her work! Would love to check out more publications from Wonderbound!...more
I love SFF that lets you sit and breathe comfortably in a world for a bit, absorb a gentle fantasy, and spend time with characters. Simply beautiful.
I love SFF that lets you sit and breathe comfortably in a world for a bit, absorb a gentle fantasy, and spend time with characters. Dex, Mosscap, and their travels through nature and human emotion brought to mind the same feelings I had when I read Alison Evans’ “Euphoria Kids” - SFF where the conflict is internal rather than externalised into climactic battles or the like, and in which you are guided through a fantasy or sci-fi world with the characters, but nothing is over-explained.
Dex as a protagonist was also made that much more appealing to me in that they genuinely reminded me of a friend or two of mine - Becky Chambers excellently captures the emotions and personality of a real, existing, messy person with lifelong aspirations beyond the stars, and the real burnout that comes with that.
Looking forward to reading Chambers’ other work!!!...more
People who live in the margins are often influenced by the stories we see and the stories we tell ourselves. Sometimes we need to see stories where pePeople who live in the margins are often influenced by the stories we see and the stories we tell ourselves. Sometimes we need to see stories where people like us triumph and live to the end. Sometimes we need to see the same story come from multiple countries and lineages, to feel connection and community across oceans and languages. And sometimes, storytelling means forging a path in the story of our own lives.
The Magic Fish is simply beautiful! Trung expertly weaves a gorgeous line-art style with extremely well thought-out colour storytelling, with a limited palette of blues, pinks, and yellows being used to seamlessly transition the visuals between multiple storylines!
This is an incredibly well written tale of family, community, heritage, and finding your footing through the stories you tell. The relationships between Tiêń and his mother and friends feel so alive, and Trung’s explainer for the different eras and aesthetics chosen for each person’s fairy tale is so expertly thought-through.
I personally really appreciate queer stories that centre around more relationships than just romance, so to see Tiêń’s focal relationship be his time with his mother, to see Tiêń supported by his friends even when that means giving him space, and to still be able to see Tiêń grapple with his childhood crush on another boy without necessarily focusing on whether or not he’d end up with him in the end, is so refreshing. Trung tells a coming out storyline with so much compassion for the young queer audience as well - even in brief scenes where Tiêń worries about being outed against his will, it is never written in a way that forces the the queer audience through 2nd-hand fear and anxiety, never forces us to deal with the thoughts and rationales of bigot characters for longer than we need (so, like, just a few panels).
And as a queer person whose own trajectory has been influenced by queer media and the act of forging community through storytelling, The Magic Fish absolutely struck a chord with me, and will stick with me for a long time.
The Magic Fish is a triumph of graphic novel storytelling and visual narrative! I will read anything Trung makes next!...more
