Happy New Year Everyone, and I mean it.
Let us hope for, strive and work hard to give a good if not great 2019 for all.
Think, feel, be, and do positive.
:) :) :) xxx
Monday, 31 December 2018
Sunday, 30 December 2018
Tuesday, 25 December 2018
Sunday, 23 December 2018
Top 12 Best 5-Star Books of 2018
EDIT: HOLY CRAP I FORGOT!
Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'Neill should have been on this list. How could I have forgotten about it?! It is a stunning, adorable, and beautiful little graphic novel, as is to be expected of O'Neill. Read my review of it here. So yes, in hindsight this should have been a Top 13 Best 5-Star Books of 2018 list. But oh well, I've tried to rectify that now, to an extent.
Enjoy reading on!
12. History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don't Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian, Ebony Adams
An entertaining and educational short history book about pioneering women, published this year. Quite powerful and vital, and the illustrations are fierce, as is the writing. Review here.
11. Practical Magic: A Beginner's Guide to Crystals, Horoscopes, Psychics, and Spells by Nikki Van De Car (Writer), Katie Vernon (Illustrator)
Wonderful, accessible, well-written, and nostalgic. Interesting info about witchcraft and spirituality, and about relaxation. Lords knows I needed to relax and take better care of myself this year. "A refined mystique" - Review here.
10. Useless Magic by Florence Welch
Pretty much indescribable, in the best way. Only my review here can do it justice.
9. Harry Potter: A History of Magic (Harry Potter: A History of Magic Exhibition) by British Library, J.K. Rowling, Various
Exactly what it says. A bubbling and gorgeous cauldron of info about all sorts of magical facts, not just about Harry Potter. The details that went into creating this world-changing series is astounding. An inspiration. A book that must be on the shelf of every Potterhead. "A museum in a book" - Review here.
8. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A novella not to be missed. Yet another reason why we should all be feminists. Even Gilman knew that in the late 19th century (not that she was intersectional in any way; she was a product of her time in that area). Unsettling, harrowing, and relevant. All the details are explained in my Review here.
7. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
One more classic horror novella from a woman's perspective that I surprisingly love. Gripping, enchanting, creative, suspenseful, creepy, and tragic. In addition there are fascinating and brilliant characters to follow around and get to know. Shirley Jackson's other novella (twenty pages), The Lottery, is also timeless. Read my review of The Haunting of Hill House here, if you dare...
6. Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World by Mackenzi Lee (Writer), Petra Eriksson (Illustrator)
The most entertaining non-fiction book of its kind that I have read since Rejected Princesses. Like History vs Women, it is also a 2018 publication. Funny, snarky, educational, and hella engaging. Also contains beautiful illustrations. Mackenzie Lee is obviously passionate about her research and writing. Who doesn't want to acknowledge and learn about the thousands of amazing but forgotten and ignored women in history? Who helped to shape our world and improve humanity (or not, as they are not perfect paragons, but human beings)? One of the thousands of reasons why feminism matters. Review here.
5. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
One of the funniest things I have ever seen, period. I giggle every time I think about it, if not spontaneously burst into fits of laughter. Yeah, don't read it in public. A freaking brilliant autobiographical graphic novel, containing many hilarious anecdotes. It is strangely drawn (it was originally a webcomic), but it works effortlessly. And it is a journey through a person's depression. So many things about it can change someone's life. Review here.
4. Supergirl: Being Super by Mariko Tamaki (Writer), Joëlle Jones (Artist)
Finally, a comic book that made me like Supergirl. I'd read a lot of bad ones. It took a female writer and artist team to achieve the best. The story and characters are terrifically written. Overall it is exciting, philosophical, refreshing, and powerful. And... super. Sorry, I had to go there. It is super modern girl power. Anyone of any age can get invested in it. Review here.
3. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, Marlon Bundo (Inspiration), E.G. Keller (Illustrator)
I don't think this needs any introduction. One of the best picture books for children ever. All you need to know is from my review here.
2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Writer), Emily Carroll (Artist)
Achingly haunting and beautiful. A perfect graphic novel adaptation of Laurie Halse Anderson's classic YA book Speak, one the first to expose and combat rape culture. The artwork suits it so well it's scary. Painfully depressing, yet enticing, hopeful, and growing in flawless development at the same time. Like a tree. In the cycle of life. It is such a relief to see this story, and others like it, receiving the attention they desperately deserve. Oh, I was laughing, and now I am crying. There is more to Speak in my review here.
1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
It couldn't have been anything else. This was one of the first novels I read this year, and its status as my favourite book of 2018 - nay, one of my all-time favourites - hasn't changed. It is just a phenomenal book that gets everything right. It has everything, and it can be read by any adult, anywhere; on the beach, on holiday, at work, or in the park. Every emotion and sense of the heart there is - it is expressed in this novel. The writing, the characters, the relationships, the mystery, the filmmaking aspects, the social commentary, the damning humanity - it is all gorgeous. Reid is such a talented writer. Evelyn Hugo needs to be made into a film, pronto. Hollywood needs more diversity, and a good long look in the mirror and realise what is has done for nearly one hundred years now. Review here, while I go and cry some more again. But they are ultimately happy tears. For I feel privileged to have encountered and read these truly special tomes this year, even if in general it has been a disappointment.
Wow. Half the entries on my favourites list are non-fiction books. Didn't expect that.
Have a Happy Christmas and New Year, everybody. Try to stay positive. Try to think about the positive things. Take care of yourselves, and your loved ones. Take nothing and no one for granted. Express your emotions, and then move on, and remember to love and enjoy and be grateful for what you have. Communicate your selfless, broadening thoughts. Bring peace and kindness to others.
Believe in inner beauty.
You are loved. You matter.
Have faith.
Keep going.
Keep wishing for a better year.
This is Artemis Crescent, bidding everyone adieu, for now.
:) :) ;)
Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'Neill should have been on this list. How could I have forgotten about it?! It is a stunning, adorable, and beautiful little graphic novel, as is to be expected of O'Neill. Read my review of it here. So yes, in hindsight this should have been a Top 13 Best 5-Star Books of 2018 list. But oh well, I've tried to rectify that now, to an extent.
Enjoy reading on!
12. History vs Women: The Defiant Lives that They Don't Want You to Know by Anita Sarkeesian, Ebony Adams
An entertaining and educational short history book about pioneering women, published this year. Quite powerful and vital, and the illustrations are fierce, as is the writing. Review here.
11. Practical Magic: A Beginner's Guide to Crystals, Horoscopes, Psychics, and Spells by Nikki Van De Car (Writer), Katie Vernon (Illustrator)
Wonderful, accessible, well-written, and nostalgic. Interesting info about witchcraft and spirituality, and about relaxation. Lords knows I needed to relax and take better care of myself this year. "A refined mystique" - Review here.
10. Useless Magic by Florence Welch
Pretty much indescribable, in the best way. Only my review here can do it justice.
9. Harry Potter: A History of Magic (Harry Potter: A History of Magic Exhibition) by British Library, J.K. Rowling, Various
Exactly what it says. A bubbling and gorgeous cauldron of info about all sorts of magical facts, not just about Harry Potter. The details that went into creating this world-changing series is astounding. An inspiration. A book that must be on the shelf of every Potterhead. "A museum in a book" - Review here.
8. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
A novella not to be missed. Yet another reason why we should all be feminists. Even Gilman knew that in the late 19th century (not that she was intersectional in any way; she was a product of her time in that area). Unsettling, harrowing, and relevant. All the details are explained in my Review here.
7. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
One more classic horror novella from a woman's perspective that I surprisingly love. Gripping, enchanting, creative, suspenseful, creepy, and tragic. In addition there are fascinating and brilliant characters to follow around and get to know. Shirley Jackson's other novella (twenty pages), The Lottery, is also timeless. Read my review of The Haunting of Hill House here, if you dare...
6. Bygone Badass Broads: 52 Forgotten Women Who Changed the World by Mackenzi Lee (Writer), Petra Eriksson (Illustrator)
The most entertaining non-fiction book of its kind that I have read since Rejected Princesses. Like History vs Women, it is also a 2018 publication. Funny, snarky, educational, and hella engaging. Also contains beautiful illustrations. Mackenzie Lee is obviously passionate about her research and writing. Who doesn't want to acknowledge and learn about the thousands of amazing but forgotten and ignored women in history? Who helped to shape our world and improve humanity (or not, as they are not perfect paragons, but human beings)? One of the thousands of reasons why feminism matters. Review here.
5. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh
One of the funniest things I have ever seen, period. I giggle every time I think about it, if not spontaneously burst into fits of laughter. Yeah, don't read it in public. A freaking brilliant autobiographical graphic novel, containing many hilarious anecdotes. It is strangely drawn (it was originally a webcomic), but it works effortlessly. And it is a journey through a person's depression. So many things about it can change someone's life. Review here.
4. Supergirl: Being Super by Mariko Tamaki (Writer), Joëlle Jones (Artist)
Finally, a comic book that made me like Supergirl. I'd read a lot of bad ones. It took a female writer and artist team to achieve the best. The story and characters are terrifically written. Overall it is exciting, philosophical, refreshing, and powerful. And... super. Sorry, I had to go there. It is super modern girl power. Anyone of any age can get invested in it. Review here.
3. A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, Marlon Bundo (Inspiration), E.G. Keller (Illustrator)
I don't think this needs any introduction. One of the best picture books for children ever. All you need to know is from my review here.
2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Writer), Emily Carroll (Artist)
Achingly haunting and beautiful. A perfect graphic novel adaptation of Laurie Halse Anderson's classic YA book Speak, one the first to expose and combat rape culture. The artwork suits it so well it's scary. Painfully depressing, yet enticing, hopeful, and growing in flawless development at the same time. Like a tree. In the cycle of life. It is such a relief to see this story, and others like it, receiving the attention they desperately deserve. Oh, I was laughing, and now I am crying. There is more to Speak in my review here.
1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
It couldn't have been anything else. This was one of the first novels I read this year, and its status as my favourite book of 2018 - nay, one of my all-time favourites - hasn't changed. It is just a phenomenal book that gets everything right. It has everything, and it can be read by any adult, anywhere; on the beach, on holiday, at work, or in the park. Every emotion and sense of the heart there is - it is expressed in this novel. The writing, the characters, the relationships, the mystery, the filmmaking aspects, the social commentary, the damning humanity - it is all gorgeous. Reid is such a talented writer. Evelyn Hugo needs to be made into a film, pronto. Hollywood needs more diversity, and a good long look in the mirror and realise what is has done for nearly one hundred years now. Review here, while I go and cry some more again. But they are ultimately happy tears. For I feel privileged to have encountered and read these truly special tomes this year, even if in general it has been a disappointment.
Wow. Half the entries on my favourites list are non-fiction books. Didn't expect that.
Have a Happy Christmas and New Year, everybody. Try to stay positive. Try to think about the positive things. Take care of yourselves, and your loved ones. Take nothing and no one for granted. Express your emotions, and then move on, and remember to love and enjoy and be grateful for what you have. Communicate your selfless, broadening thoughts. Bring peace and kindness to others.
Believe in inner beauty.
You are loved. You matter.
Have faith.
Keep going.
Keep wishing for a better year.
This is Artemis Crescent, bidding everyone adieu, for now.
:) :) ;)
Top 20 Best 4-Star Books of 2018
You might notice something similar about most of the entries on this list...
20. Batgirl, Volume 2: Son of Penguin (Batgirl (2016) #2) by Hope Larson (Writer), Vita Ayala (Writer), Various (Artists)
A fun Batgirl comic sequel. I'm very glad that DC is treating her better now. Review here.
19. Flying Witch, Vol. 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka
Kiki's Delivery Service for older audiences. Nice slice-of-life manga with a magical touch. Review here.
18. Power to the Princess: 15 Favorite Fairytales Retold with Girl Power by Vita Murrow (Writer), Julia Bereciartu (Illustrator)
Important new fairy tale retellings for children. Lovely illustrations as well. Review here.
17. Ms. Marvel Omnibus, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson (Writer), Various (Artists)
A spectacular Kamala Khan comic collection. What great stories and characters. I love the diversity of the superhero genre in recent years. Review here.
16. The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag
Another lovely, magical graphic novel for our times. The art is also fantastic. Review here.
15. The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, Volume 1 by Nagabe
An original fairy tale. A beautiful, enchanting, and dark manga - the best I've read in ages. Review here.
14. Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Vol. 2 by Various
A collection of rich, powerful, entertaining, diverse, progressive, clever, and beautifully-drawn Wonder Woman comic stories. Review here.
13. Angela: Queen of Hel: Journey to the Funderworld by Marguerite Bennett (Writer), Kim Jacinto (Artist), Stephanie Hans (Artist)
Well... this is something. It's like if Shakespeare wrote Norse mythology, while on acid, in a pub, where someone has just caught on fire. I can't quite get my head around it, but I love it anyway. Exceedingly entertaining and diverse. Punk and hell have never been written in such a sophisticated manner. A unique and bizarre entity. Review here.
12. Bitch Planet, Vol. 2: President Bitch by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Writer), Taki Soma (Artist), Valentine De Landro (Artist)
One of the very few graphic novel sequels I've read this year that I like. It's even better than the first volume. Brilliant and important for our times. Review here.
11. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris
An original graphic novel magnum opus. A shame that the sequel doesn't seem to exist. How many times will it get delayed? Screw it, I'm tired of waiting for the followup. But this is still great. Review here.
10. Heavy Vinyl, Vol. 1 (Hi-Fi Fight Club #1-4) by Carly Usdin (Writer), Nina Vakueva (Illustrator)
Zodiac Starforce Volume 2: Cries of the Fire Prince by Kevin Panetta (Writer), Paulina Ganucheau (Artist), Sarah Stern (Artist)
I've decided to put these two together, since they are similar enough graphic novels and are equally fun and contain lots of girl power! Action-packed girl power! Review of Heavy Vinyl here, and review of Zodiac Starforce Volume 2 here.
9. Kim Reaper Vol. 1: Grim Beginnings by Sarah Graley
What a cute, funny and charming graphic novel containing LGBTQ and racial diversity elements. More gothic and fun girl power, please! Review here.
8. Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson
The best Jacqueline Wilson book I have read in my marathon this year. It really is brilliant, and something special for children and adults. Hetty is a wonderful creation on Wilson's part - probably her best character ever: rebellious, brave, determined, confident, dynamic, assertive, caring, selfless, creative, sharp, witty, funny, and free. A heroine for children.
The sequels are okay. I'm disappointed that Hetty will soon lose her independence. And why no mention of menstruation, once she becomes a teenager? In these books, Wilson includes alcoholism, child abuse, child mortality, spousal abuse, fatal illnesses, religious themes, the extremely difficult and dangerous aspects of life in the circus, and hints of prostitution and even pedophilia. But periods are the taboo area she will not touch on. What horseshit. Fat people, specifically fat women, are portrayed as either nasty and horrible, or poor wretched souls. Author's bias, conscious or not?
Review here.
7. The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde
A wild ride. Both life affirming, and anger-inducing and depressing. There is an awful lot I can talk about in this emotional roller coaster of a YA contemporary. Solid, beautiful, and life changing. We need more stories like this with a female protagonist. Jen Wilde might be a new favourite author of mine. Review here.
6. Cucumber Quest: The Doughnut Kingdom by Gigi D.G.
Fun fun fun! Cute and absolutely hilarious. Now this is a parody! And it's for all ages! The sequels are worth having a look at, too. Review here.
5. Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft by Various
Short stories about witches - old, modern, white, black, Latina, gay, of this world, of fantasy worlds, of the past, present, and future: all women can be witches and take back power for themselves. So sweet and magical and entertaining. And powerful. Witches and feminists are one of the same. Highly recommended. Review here.
4. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
A lovely, soft, colourful, palatable, elegant, touching, hilarious, heartwarming, and overall wonderful standalone graphic novel. Fantastic characters and artwork. Review here.
3. Bingo Love by Tee Franklin (Writer), Jenn St-Onge (Artist)
One of the most unique, beautiful and heartbreaking LBTGQ stories and comics in contemporary times. Two black women in the sixties fall in love but are forcibly separated for fifty years, then they find they can finally be together. But what about their families? I can't recommend it enough. Review here.
2. Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
The sequel to the utterly magical and breathtaking Strange the Dreamer does not disappoint. The ending is a little rushed and too-good-to-be-true, but I enjoyed it greatly. Review here.
1. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee
My most anticipated book of 2018 that did not let me down. I was dreading that it would, considering all the hype that I bought into; enough to write a parody song expressing my excitement. Felicity Montague is a revelation, a revolutionary. It's certainly not perfect, and it could have been better, but it has earned its place as my favourite 4-star book of 2018. Review here.
Guilty Pleasures of 2018:
Geekerella by Ashley Poston
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane by Sean McKeever (Writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (Artist)
W.I.T.C.H., Part I. The Twelve Portals, Vol. 1 by Elisabetta Gnone, Various
Rent a Bridesmaid by Jacqueline Wilson
Winx Club: Magic Collection by Iginio Straffi (Creator)
Hetty Feather's Christmas by Jacqueline Wilson
And yes, most of these entries are graphic novels. I enjoyed a lot of them this year. Not planning to read that many next year, however. There are only a couple that I am interested in that are getting published soon.
Now, on to my final list of the year. The big one. The all-stars. My Top 12 Best 5-Star Books of 2018!
20. Batgirl, Volume 2: Son of Penguin (Batgirl (2016) #2) by Hope Larson (Writer), Vita Ayala (Writer), Various (Artists)
A fun Batgirl comic sequel. I'm very glad that DC is treating her better now. Review here.
19. Flying Witch, Vol. 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka
Kiki's Delivery Service for older audiences. Nice slice-of-life manga with a magical touch. Review here.
18. Power to the Princess: 15 Favorite Fairytales Retold with Girl Power by Vita Murrow (Writer), Julia Bereciartu (Illustrator)
Important new fairy tale retellings for children. Lovely illustrations as well. Review here.
17. Ms. Marvel Omnibus, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson (Writer), Various (Artists)
A spectacular Kamala Khan comic collection. What great stories and characters. I love the diversity of the superhero genre in recent years. Review here.
16. The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag
Another lovely, magical graphic novel for our times. The art is also fantastic. Review here.
15. The Girl from the Other Side: Siúil, A Rún, Volume 1 by Nagabe
An original fairy tale. A beautiful, enchanting, and dark manga - the best I've read in ages. Review here.
14. Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman Vol. 2 by Various
A collection of rich, powerful, entertaining, diverse, progressive, clever, and beautifully-drawn Wonder Woman comic stories. Review here.
13. Angela: Queen of Hel: Journey to the Funderworld by Marguerite Bennett (Writer), Kim Jacinto (Artist), Stephanie Hans (Artist)
Well... this is something. It's like if Shakespeare wrote Norse mythology, while on acid, in a pub, where someone has just caught on fire. I can't quite get my head around it, but I love it anyway. Exceedingly entertaining and diverse. Punk and hell have never been written in such a sophisticated manner. A unique and bizarre entity. Review here.
12. Bitch Planet, Vol. 2: President Bitch by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Writer), Taki Soma (Artist), Valentine De Landro (Artist)
One of the very few graphic novel sequels I've read this year that I like. It's even better than the first volume. Brilliant and important for our times. Review here.
11. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris
An original graphic novel magnum opus. A shame that the sequel doesn't seem to exist. How many times will it get delayed? Screw it, I'm tired of waiting for the followup. But this is still great. Review here.
10. Heavy Vinyl, Vol. 1 (Hi-Fi Fight Club #1-4) by Carly Usdin (Writer), Nina Vakueva (Illustrator)
Zodiac Starforce Volume 2: Cries of the Fire Prince by Kevin Panetta (Writer), Paulina Ganucheau (Artist), Sarah Stern (Artist)
I've decided to put these two together, since they are similar enough graphic novels and are equally fun and contain lots of girl power! Action-packed girl power! Review of Heavy Vinyl here, and review of Zodiac Starforce Volume 2 here.
9. Kim Reaper Vol. 1: Grim Beginnings by Sarah Graley
What a cute, funny and charming graphic novel containing LGBTQ and racial diversity elements. More gothic and fun girl power, please! Review here.
8. Hetty Feather by Jacqueline Wilson
The best Jacqueline Wilson book I have read in my marathon this year. It really is brilliant, and something special for children and adults. Hetty is a wonderful creation on Wilson's part - probably her best character ever: rebellious, brave, determined, confident, dynamic, assertive, caring, selfless, creative, sharp, witty, funny, and free. A heroine for children.
The sequels are okay. I'm disappointed that Hetty will soon lose her independence. And why no mention of menstruation, once she becomes a teenager? In these books, Wilson includes alcoholism, child abuse, child mortality, spousal abuse, fatal illnesses, religious themes, the extremely difficult and dangerous aspects of life in the circus, and hints of prostitution and even pedophilia. But periods are the taboo area she will not touch on. What horseshit. Fat people, specifically fat women, are portrayed as either nasty and horrible, or poor wretched souls. Author's bias, conscious or not?
Review here.
7. The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde
A wild ride. Both life affirming, and anger-inducing and depressing. There is an awful lot I can talk about in this emotional roller coaster of a YA contemporary. Solid, beautiful, and life changing. We need more stories like this with a female protagonist. Jen Wilde might be a new favourite author of mine. Review here.
6. Cucumber Quest: The Doughnut Kingdom by Gigi D.G.
Fun fun fun! Cute and absolutely hilarious. Now this is a parody! And it's for all ages! The sequels are worth having a look at, too. Review here.
5. Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft by Various
Short stories about witches - old, modern, white, black, Latina, gay, of this world, of fantasy worlds, of the past, present, and future: all women can be witches and take back power for themselves. So sweet and magical and entertaining. And powerful. Witches and feminists are one of the same. Highly recommended. Review here.
4. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
A lovely, soft, colourful, palatable, elegant, touching, hilarious, heartwarming, and overall wonderful standalone graphic novel. Fantastic characters and artwork. Review here.
3. Bingo Love by Tee Franklin (Writer), Jenn St-Onge (Artist)
One of the most unique, beautiful and heartbreaking LBTGQ stories and comics in contemporary times. Two black women in the sixties fall in love but are forcibly separated for fifty years, then they find they can finally be together. But what about their families? I can't recommend it enough. Review here.
2. Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor
The sequel to the utterly magical and breathtaking Strange the Dreamer does not disappoint. The ending is a little rushed and too-good-to-be-true, but I enjoyed it greatly. Review here.
1. The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzie Lee
My most anticipated book of 2018 that did not let me down. I was dreading that it would, considering all the hype that I bought into; enough to write a parody song expressing my excitement. Felicity Montague is a revelation, a revolutionary. It's certainly not perfect, and it could have been better, but it has earned its place as my favourite 4-star book of 2018. Review here.
Guilty Pleasures of 2018:
Geekerella by Ashley Poston
A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney
Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane by Sean McKeever (Writer), Takeshi Miyazawa (Artist)
W.I.T.C.H., Part I. The Twelve Portals, Vol. 1 by Elisabetta Gnone, Various
Rent a Bridesmaid by Jacqueline Wilson
Winx Club: Magic Collection by Iginio Straffi (Creator)
Hetty Feather's Christmas by Jacqueline Wilson
And yes, most of these entries are graphic novels. I enjoyed a lot of them this year. Not planning to read that many next year, however. There are only a couple that I am interested in that are getting published soon.
Now, on to my final list of the year. The big one. The all-stars. My Top 12 Best 5-Star Books of 2018!
Saturday, 22 December 2018
Top 9 Worst 1-Star Books of 2018
Exactly what it says on the tin.
9. Winterglass by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
A queer The Snow Queen retelling that's as cold and dull as its icy setting. Some good moments can't save a passionless fantasy novella featuring barely-emotional characters. The writing isn't bad, it just needs room to breathe. Its saving grace is its diversity. Race, LBGTQ, trans, nonbinary - nobody is straight and white in this fantasy story, which is terrific. I couldn't care about anything else in it, unfortunately. The ending is a horrible downer and eff-you to the reader, as well.
8. Batgirl, Vol. 4: Fists of Fury (Batgirl (2000) #4) by Kelley Puckett, Scott Peterson (Writers), Various (Artists)
Yeah, the blurb is a lie. Cassandra Cain's Batgirl never actually fights the Joker in this crap comic. It's a confusing, meandering mess. What was going on here? The issues vaguely tie in together. The only good thing about it is the female companionship and mentorship. I wish I could really like a Cassandra Cain comic - she's a fascinating character.
7. Land of the Lustrous Vol. 1 by Haruko Ichikawa
What did I get here? A confusing Steven Universe ripoff where it is nearly impossible to tell the characters apart. Without colour this manga is incomprehensible. Nothing else to add. Too bizarre, even for its medium.
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
So I finally got around to reading some Dickens this year. I surprisingly liked Great Expectations. It's not a favourite, but I thought it was fairly decent. But Oliver Twist? Oh boy. Please sir, may I have some less angst? The title lead is entirely useless and ineffectual in his own story. He is so weak, gullible and pathetic, even for a poor Victorian boy. How many times is he rendered unconscious? And the author's antisemitism is ripe in Fagin, who is nearly always referred to as "the Jew" in the narration. He is a thief and abuser, and is described in disgusting archetypal Jewish traits. And yes, at 500 pages, Oliver Twist is boring, and very contrived. Proof that just because a book is a classic and written by a famous author for his time, it doesn't mean it's any good. If anything, its screen adaptations improved it.
5. Bizenghast, Volume 1 by M. Alice LeGrow
Yet another messy comic. Not a manga, though it very obviously wishes it was. It is so mid-2000s it's almost hilarious. The characters are caricatures. We know hardly anything about them, but especially nothing about the male lead - who the hell is he? Why is he with the female lead, whom this story is supposed to be about? Why does he want to protect her? Where did he come from? Why did this have to have a boy protecting the girl? It's a tired storytelling cliché, but noticeably grating in manga, shoujo manga even. This is one of the most egregious examples of that sexist trope I have ever seen. These kids question nothing about the supernatural events happening to them. They are not shaken by anything. They have little personality anyway, what did I expect? Is there a random comic relief little animal as well? WTF? The concept is flawed from the get-go: like, there are spirits in this place where they are doomed to live out how they died, over and over again, for all eternity, I guess? Do they forget how they died over and over again, too? How did they get where they are? Why exactly is this happening? If they are ghosts then they can't be killed, they're already dead, so what's at stake here? If they are not saved? The two children can die if they fail to "save" the spirits, but again, how and why? Will they become ghosts too and relive their deaths forever as well? Why this endless cycle, anyway? This wasn't thought out very well. So many questions, and I doubt they will be answered satisfactory in the subsequent volumes. Even the artwork isn't that good. Gothic horror? You can do soooooooooooooooo much better. This is amateur gothic lolita rubbish. I hate everything about Bizenghast. How did this win any contest?
4. Queenie by Jacqueline Wilson
The worst Jacqueline Wilson book I've read in my marathon, set in 1953, England. I've found a child protagonist worse than Oliver Twist. By god, Elsie Kettle (clever, Wilson) has got to be the whiniest, stupidest, most pathetic, crybaby, selfish, and self-absorbed of Wilson's characters ever. And she has very stiff competition. I swear there isn't a single page where Elsie isn't either whimpering, sobbing, blubbering, yelling, or vomiting, or crying and vomiting. She may be a hospital patient with an ailing grandmother and an awful, selfish, neglectful mother (stop with this archetype, please, Wilson! It's so old it's crusting over), but I hate Elsie. I want to smack her so hard, and I love children and would never wish harm to a single one on earth. Because she is a JW protagonist, Elsie has to be a good storyteller to a group of other children, none of whom she is particularly sympathetic towards, considering they all have tuberculosis in a ward in a secluded hospital. She's quite bloodthirsty in her imaginings, actually. The white cat, the titular Queenie, isn't even worth mentioning. She's just there to stroke Elsie's fragile ego whilst Elsie strokes her perfectly luscious fur. I'd wanted Elsie to get scratched so badly. The writing is almost painfully inane. And guess what? The bloody Queen of England visits the hospital after her coronation! And Elsie gets to speak to her! Nobody is less deserving of this contrivance! Right, let's move on before I burst a blood vessel and end up in hospital myself.
3. Letorian Descendants (Casey Blane Series #1) by Jodi Ann Fahey
I hate the paranormal genre in books. I hate the romances. I hate the love triangles. I hate the pathetic, ineffectual, male-dependent female leads. I hate them whether they are for adults or teens. I thought this would be different. I was wrong. Letorian Descendants starts off with promise, and it is written nicely and believably. But the further into it I got, the more the cliches started piling up. It is convoluted, uninteresting, and so trite and contrived that it reads like Twilight fanfiction. But the worst part is the love triangle. Oh, wait, no. The worst part is the out-of-nowhere, sudden love interest at the end, who is a typical bad boy, and who had very nearly killed the female teen lead at the beginning of the book. He tried to drown her in a swimming pool, or he was just protecting her from something worse. But he still nearly drowned her. He traumatised her; she's been scared of him throughout the book, and for good reason. But now he is a legit love interest. He's not even sorry for what he did to her. He wants to use her and own her, in some BS patriarchal vampire hierarchy. And the heroine gives in to him. She gives herself to him. Why? Fuck if I know. I seem to remember forced control of her emotions and mind being involved, making all of this even worse. She is forced by the men around her to pretend to be dead to her family, for some saving-the-world-type BS I wasn't really paying attention to. Yep, fuck this self-published shit (it was published in 2016! Why aren't these clichés and misogynistic abuse tropes dead yet?!). I won't be fooled by this redundant genre ever again.
2. Showcase Presents: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Vol. 1 by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Ernie Colón (Illustrator)
Disgusting. A comic for children that features the preteen-in-a-hot-woman's-body being threatened with rape in its first couple of issues. The sexual assault is not mentioned again. In fact, allusions to attempted rape happen more than once. Even for the eighties, this is reprehensible. It is inexcusable. The whole tome is too long, dense, convoluted, and boring, too. And all in black and white. Amethyst seems like a character I could like, in a nostalgic, Magical Girl-loving sense. But she is no She-Ra. Her character and lore are improved in Sword of Sorcery. Shame it didn't get to last.
1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Expected anything else? I hate this book so much that I did a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of it here on the reasons why I think it is contributing to the death of the human race as we know it. The self-indulgence, geek snobbery, and tone deafness on how geeks are viewed in the 21st century are the least of its problems. The male problematic figure arse-kissing is the tip of the iceberg. As is the lack of social commentary and self awareness for a science fiction novel. Things I should have mentioned about it in my read-through are its smug nihilism (that video games are literally the only thing that make life worth living) and shameful gatekeeping, and how the author thinks that there is only one way to be a nerd - keep living in the eighties, the best decade ever, apparently. Yeah, if you're American, white, male, straight, cisgender, fairly wealthy, and abled and healthy. I don't understand why it is so popular, even among woke feminists. Still haven't seen the film. I am beyond tired of talking about this overrated garbage heap. It is one of the things that depressed me in 2018. Fuck you, Ready Player One, and may 21st century intersectional feminists beat thee to thy Atari 2600s landfill. The ET game cartridges await you.
Phew! Too much negativity isn't good for anyone. Let's look at the positives of this year next time. Join me soon for my Top 20 Best 4-Star Books of 2018! Goodnight!
9. Winterglass by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
A queer The Snow Queen retelling that's as cold and dull as its icy setting. Some good moments can't save a passionless fantasy novella featuring barely-emotional characters. The writing isn't bad, it just needs room to breathe. Its saving grace is its diversity. Race, LBGTQ, trans, nonbinary - nobody is straight and white in this fantasy story, which is terrific. I couldn't care about anything else in it, unfortunately. The ending is a horrible downer and eff-you to the reader, as well.
8. Batgirl, Vol. 4: Fists of Fury (Batgirl (2000) #4) by Kelley Puckett, Scott Peterson (Writers), Various (Artists)
Yeah, the blurb is a lie. Cassandra Cain's Batgirl never actually fights the Joker in this crap comic. It's a confusing, meandering mess. What was going on here? The issues vaguely tie in together. The only good thing about it is the female companionship and mentorship. I wish I could really like a Cassandra Cain comic - she's a fascinating character.
7. Land of the Lustrous Vol. 1 by Haruko Ichikawa
What did I get here? A confusing Steven Universe ripoff where it is nearly impossible to tell the characters apart. Without colour this manga is incomprehensible. Nothing else to add. Too bizarre, even for its medium.
6. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
So I finally got around to reading some Dickens this year. I surprisingly liked Great Expectations. It's not a favourite, but I thought it was fairly decent. But Oliver Twist? Oh boy. Please sir, may I have some less angst? The title lead is entirely useless and ineffectual in his own story. He is so weak, gullible and pathetic, even for a poor Victorian boy. How many times is he rendered unconscious? And the author's antisemitism is ripe in Fagin, who is nearly always referred to as "the Jew" in the narration. He is a thief and abuser, and is described in disgusting archetypal Jewish traits. And yes, at 500 pages, Oliver Twist is boring, and very contrived. Proof that just because a book is a classic and written by a famous author for his time, it doesn't mean it's any good. If anything, its screen adaptations improved it.
5. Bizenghast, Volume 1 by M. Alice LeGrow
Yet another messy comic. Not a manga, though it very obviously wishes it was. It is so mid-2000s it's almost hilarious. The characters are caricatures. We know hardly anything about them, but especially nothing about the male lead - who the hell is he? Why is he with the female lead, whom this story is supposed to be about? Why does he want to protect her? Where did he come from? Why did this have to have a boy protecting the girl? It's a tired storytelling cliché, but noticeably grating in manga, shoujo manga even. This is one of the most egregious examples of that sexist trope I have ever seen. These kids question nothing about the supernatural events happening to them. They are not shaken by anything. They have little personality anyway, what did I expect? Is there a random comic relief little animal as well? WTF? The concept is flawed from the get-go: like, there are spirits in this place where they are doomed to live out how they died, over and over again, for all eternity, I guess? Do they forget how they died over and over again, too? How did they get where they are? Why exactly is this happening? If they are ghosts then they can't be killed, they're already dead, so what's at stake here? If they are not saved? The two children can die if they fail to "save" the spirits, but again, how and why? Will they become ghosts too and relive their deaths forever as well? Why this endless cycle, anyway? This wasn't thought out very well. So many questions, and I doubt they will be answered satisfactory in the subsequent volumes. Even the artwork isn't that good. Gothic horror? You can do soooooooooooooooo much better. This is amateur gothic lolita rubbish. I hate everything about Bizenghast. How did this win any contest?
4. Queenie by Jacqueline Wilson
The worst Jacqueline Wilson book I've read in my marathon, set in 1953, England. I've found a child protagonist worse than Oliver Twist. By god, Elsie Kettle (clever, Wilson) has got to be the whiniest, stupidest, most pathetic, crybaby, selfish, and self-absorbed of Wilson's characters ever. And she has very stiff competition. I swear there isn't a single page where Elsie isn't either whimpering, sobbing, blubbering, yelling, or vomiting, or crying and vomiting. She may be a hospital patient with an ailing grandmother and an awful, selfish, neglectful mother (stop with this archetype, please, Wilson! It's so old it's crusting over), but I hate Elsie. I want to smack her so hard, and I love children and would never wish harm to a single one on earth. Because she is a JW protagonist, Elsie has to be a good storyteller to a group of other children, none of whom she is particularly sympathetic towards, considering they all have tuberculosis in a ward in a secluded hospital. She's quite bloodthirsty in her imaginings, actually. The white cat, the titular Queenie, isn't even worth mentioning. She's just there to stroke Elsie's fragile ego whilst Elsie strokes her perfectly luscious fur. I'd wanted Elsie to get scratched so badly. The writing is almost painfully inane. And guess what? The bloody Queen of England visits the hospital after her coronation! And Elsie gets to speak to her! Nobody is less deserving of this contrivance! Right, let's move on before I burst a blood vessel and end up in hospital myself.
3. Letorian Descendants (Casey Blane Series #1) by Jodi Ann Fahey
I hate the paranormal genre in books. I hate the romances. I hate the love triangles. I hate the pathetic, ineffectual, male-dependent female leads. I hate them whether they are for adults or teens. I thought this would be different. I was wrong. Letorian Descendants starts off with promise, and it is written nicely and believably. But the further into it I got, the more the cliches started piling up. It is convoluted, uninteresting, and so trite and contrived that it reads like Twilight fanfiction. But the worst part is the love triangle. Oh, wait, no. The worst part is the out-of-nowhere, sudden love interest at the end, who is a typical bad boy, and who had very nearly killed the female teen lead at the beginning of the book. He tried to drown her in a swimming pool, or he was just protecting her from something worse. But he still nearly drowned her. He traumatised her; she's been scared of him throughout the book, and for good reason. But now he is a legit love interest. He's not even sorry for what he did to her. He wants to use her and own her, in some BS patriarchal vampire hierarchy. And the heroine gives in to him. She gives herself to him. Why? Fuck if I know. I seem to remember forced control of her emotions and mind being involved, making all of this even worse. She is forced by the men around her to pretend to be dead to her family, for some saving-the-world-type BS I wasn't really paying attention to. Yep, fuck this self-published shit (it was published in 2016! Why aren't these clichés and misogynistic abuse tropes dead yet?!). I won't be fooled by this redundant genre ever again.
2. Showcase Presents: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Vol. 1 by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Ernie Colón (Illustrator)
Disgusting. A comic for children that features the preteen-in-a-hot-woman's-body being threatened with rape in its first couple of issues. The sexual assault is not mentioned again. In fact, allusions to attempted rape happen more than once. Even for the eighties, this is reprehensible. It is inexcusable. The whole tome is too long, dense, convoluted, and boring, too. And all in black and white. Amethyst seems like a character I could like, in a nostalgic, Magical Girl-loving sense. But she is no She-Ra. Her character and lore are improved in Sword of Sorcery. Shame it didn't get to last.
1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Expected anything else? I hate this book so much that I did a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of it here on the reasons why I think it is contributing to the death of the human race as we know it. The self-indulgence, geek snobbery, and tone deafness on how geeks are viewed in the 21st century are the least of its problems. The male problematic figure arse-kissing is the tip of the iceberg. As is the lack of social commentary and self awareness for a science fiction novel. Things I should have mentioned about it in my read-through are its smug nihilism (that video games are literally the only thing that make life worth living) and shameful gatekeeping, and how the author thinks that there is only one way to be a nerd - keep living in the eighties, the best decade ever, apparently. Yeah, if you're American, white, male, straight, cisgender, fairly wealthy, and abled and healthy. I don't understand why it is so popular, even among woke feminists. Still haven't seen the film. I am beyond tired of talking about this overrated garbage heap. It is one of the things that depressed me in 2018. Fuck you, Ready Player One, and may 21st century intersectional feminists beat thee to thy Atari 2600s landfill. The ET game cartridges await you.
Phew! Too much negativity isn't good for anyone. Let's look at the positives of this year next time. Join me soon for my Top 20 Best 4-Star Books of 2018! Goodnight!
Top 14 Worst 2-Star Books of 2018
14 books because that is the exact number of times I've rated them 2 stars this year.
My opinion of them all, go!:
14. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
I was bored with this, mostly, even though it isn't difficult to read in the slightest in its simple writing style. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, or what was happening. It is very well received on Goodreads. Indeed the subject matter and themes (cults, abuse in the name of religion, patriarchal norms, etc) are important to discuss. And it is the only book I've ever read with a handless protagonist. I just... didn't care. Especially not for the romance. Too many plot contrivances. The ending is far too on-the-nose, thematic and silly. And the only LBGTQ character shows up twice, and is a sexual predator. Maybe I was having bad reading days, which happened often in 2018.
13. Lily Alone by Jacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson is back with her atrociously neglectful parents and overburdened child protagonists! Lily's mum, a single parent, literally leaves her four little kids for a man she only met twice to be abroad with him, right at the spur of the moment. I don't care if it is for a week (she admits she's uncertain and that it could be longer) and that she thought her ex will be looking after the kids while she's gone (she doesn't bother to see if he would or could), Lily's mum should be in prison. And she was a teenage mum, how typical. Lily still loves her, for some ungodly reason. Again, how typical, like everything else in this book. Poor Lily, left to look after her three younger siblings by herself. She isn't much better at parenting than her mum when she decides to leave home with them to live in the woods, inside a tree, for under a week. But she has the excuse that she is only eleven. The kids are lucky to be alive! Lily Alone is just uncomfortable to read about - not a good start for my Wilson marathon - and it seems to sympathise with the terrible terrible mum, wanting a happy ending for her together with this poor, abused family. The ending is ambiguous, but I can tell that mum will be let off the hook, eventually. Child neglect is not something to be made light of. It is a crime, and everybody, adults especially, should be made accountable for their actions.
12. The Butterfly Club by Jacqueline Wilson
One more Jacqueline Wilson book, and at this point I'm thinking, "Maybe I'm too old for this crap." The Butterfly Club is very babyish, even though it is marketed as middle grade. The main children are seven years old, and I was so bored and tired of its inanity and cliches that I couldn't wait to finish it, which didn't take long. I'm sure actual seven year olds can relate to it, and learn to read on a year two level from it, but that is all the praise I can give it. Add on a ridiculous ending (televised! Of course!), plus completely unnoticed racism on a micro level from the little girl's granddad towards her only POC school friend, and I was done. It isn't very challenging, is what I'm saying. The cameos of the twins from Wilson's classic book, Double Act, who are now adults, is a nice touch, though.
11. Franklin's Flying Bookshop by Jen Campbell
Maybe I should give this another look. The premise is great for a kid's picture book: a bookworm dragon flying around with a bookshop on its back. Goodreads loves it. But I found too many typos and moments of characters being poorly introduced to give it high praise. It needs a good editor. Still, I thought it interesting enough to buy it for my four year old nephew, if not for the pictures alone. And his name is Franklin; that might have been a contributing factor.
10. Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge
The author's other graphic novel, Page by Paige, is a favourite of mine, so I decided to give this a go, as it had been in my library for ages. Good artwork, interesting premise and thematic decisions, but man is it dull! It does not convey grief and anxiety well at all, in my opinion. The whole comic seems rushed and underdeveloped. I barely remember the scenes in it. Some character relationships are developed decently, however.
9. Zatanna by Paul Dini
Why? Why do you keep doing this to me, Paul Dini? Zatanna isn't too bad; some of the issues are interesting. But I'm not that interested in Zatanna herself. She just seems like yet another superheroine who keeps being manipulated and hamstrung by the men in her life. She has backbone only when the plot requires it. Her obnoxious cousin can go to hell, as well. And I don't need to look at artwork that reminds me of Brian Azzarello's New 52 Wonder Woman monstrosity (seriously, Zatanna looks exactly like Diana - are women really that hard to draw differently for men artists?). A little meanspiritedness all around, and I don't care for this piece.
8. Wonder Woman, Vol. 4: Ends of the Earth (Wonder Woman (2006) #4) by Gail Simone (Writer), Aaron Lopresti (Artist), Matt Ryan (Artist)
The sequel to the fantastic Wonder Woman comic, The Circle. It has nothing to do with that. Or it barely does. Wonder Woman is at the beck and call and mercy of men. *sigh*. And why the fuck is Steve Trevor or Thomas Tresser or whoever (they are alike) suddenly called an Amazon by the Amazons of Themyscira?! Did I miss something important in another comic? I didn't even know that Diana and her boy-toy were officially together. Why is Queen Hippolyta going on about them having children? Why does she keep repeating "Babies. Babies. Babies." in one panel? Is she teasing the man, or having a stroke? Judging by her expressionless face, it could be interpreted as anything. Did Gail Simone really write this? Screw this, I'm out of here.
7. Heart in a Box by Kelly Thompson (Writer), Meredith McClaren (Artist)
A disappointing Kelly Thompson comic. Good premise, and I was into it for a while. But then the internalised misogyny and slut shaming happened. I didn't sympathise with the lead at all. She is horrible towards the end - literally beating up her ex-boyfriend's current girlfriend, when she did nothing wrong. She is not sorry for what she did, and is instantly forgiven for it. That poor girlfriend, she only appears in two pages, as well. What bullshit. And this is a 2015 comic - Thompson should have known better. The whole magical heart transplant system isn't well explained, either. Like, how is the lead girl alive? It's not a metaphor: she literally has no heart suddenly upon making a deal with someone in order to be rid of it due to heartbreak. I'm seriously asking how she is still alive. That is underdevelopment. The art is catching, bleak and suitable, though.
6. Reborn: Book One by Mark Millar (Writer), Greg Capullo (Artist), Jonathan Glapion (Artist)
This is rated low on Goodreads for a reason. It is yet another poorly developed and rather simplistic graphic novel, which for a fantastic premise is blasphemous (no pun intended, for a comic exploring religious beliefs). What if the afterlife were a fantasy world? A medieval/cyberpunk hybrid? And the protagonist is an old woman saving this world while at death's door. Mark Millar needed to have taken the time to make Reborn reach its full potential. To make something truly great and existential. Sadly, he chose the safe, typical, comics-for-fratboys route to go with it. The elderly grandmother is young and blonde and sexy in the fantasy world! Why? Not very well explained in-narrative, though we know why on a marketing standpoint. She's a typical chosen one. Yeah, typical describes Reborn to a T. How does this afterlife work, anyhow? How can the dead people grow older and have children in it? How can they still be killed in it? Is there an afterlife after this afterlife? Do people stop aging at random stages? How can the female lead's menstruation cycle still work? Horrendously contrived and amateurish, the only reason Reborn gets two stars and not one is because the artwork isn't bad, and the premise in of itself is gold. It might be called Book One but there is no sequel in sight. You know, maybe there are too many heterosexual men working in the comic book industry today. Their priorities tend to get skewered on certain elements.
5. The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Good grief this is boring! Sorry, I had to get that off my chest (again, pun unintended). Like Heart in a Box, The Hearts We Sold is a sell-your-heart story, and it is at least better developed and thought-out than the comic. But this YA novel is so tedious and lifeless that I have no shame in admitting to skimming the last half of it. I don't understand how it is rated so favourably on Goodreads. The plot, when it bothers to show up, is thin and weak. I couldn't connect to any of the plot device mannequins that the author calls characters. They are either one-note or no notes at all. When one major character dies suddenly in a senseless tragedy, hardly anyone cares. Why are female authority figures always portrayed as incompetent? The ending is at least unexpected, atypical of a YA happy ending between heterosexuals. The one LBGTQ character is the only person in the book that I can call interesting. I'm sure there is more that I could add, but I can't remember them right now. I'm too bored.
4. Jade Street Protection Services by Katy Rex (Writer), Various (Artists)
One of the most poorly planned, poorly developed, disjointed, confusing, clumsy, and clunky wasted potentials for a comic I have ever read. It's a very diverse Magical Girl comic with a crime detective mystery twist and violent adult edge. Pity I can't tell you what happens. Not because of spoilers, but because I don't understand what the hell is going on! Did the writers even know? Who? What? Why? How? Where? HUH? Was this storyboarded properly? How did it get greenlit? It clearly isn't very good. But the diversity is excellent; one magical girl is even openly revealed as autistic. One wears pink Muslim garb (and needs to pee all the time for some reason). Though a queer girl ends up with a boy instead of a girl. That is all the sense I can make of this nonsense. It has more substance to it than Pretty Deadly, at least. Between Jade Street Protection Services and Crystal Cadets, why is the Magical Girl genre being treated so badly by American comic book publishers?
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Review here. Fifteen months of my life I'm never getting back. Moving on.
2. Circe by Madeline Miller
I don't get it. I just don't. One of this year's biggest disappointments for me. And it is a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award winner. I didn't enjoy Circe. I thought the "feminist" leading lady stale, and the plot uneventful for the majority of the book. Circe, the demigod and witch, remains lifeless and at the beck and call of men throughout her whole immortal existence. Motherhood should be a goal of all women, too! I didn't like Madeline Miller's other book pertaining to Greek mythology, The Song of Achilles, either, so perhaps she is an author who's not for me. She doesn't add much of anything new or exciting to these tales, in my opinion. I can't remember a lot about what happens in Circe. It didn't grab me, I'm afraid.
1. The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Review here. When it isn't dull and meandering, it is disgusting and offensive. 800 pages of navel-gazing. I am disturbed by the author's views on women. What a way to end one of my favourite book sagas. I should have stopped at The Shadow of the Wind.
Next, the finale, the finality, of the negative, the Top 9 Worst 1-Star Books of 2018!
My opinion of them all, go!:
14. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes
I was bored with this, mostly, even though it isn't difficult to read in the slightest in its simple writing style. I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, or what was happening. It is very well received on Goodreads. Indeed the subject matter and themes (cults, abuse in the name of religion, patriarchal norms, etc) are important to discuss. And it is the only book I've ever read with a handless protagonist. I just... didn't care. Especially not for the romance. Too many plot contrivances. The ending is far too on-the-nose, thematic and silly. And the only LBGTQ character shows up twice, and is a sexual predator. Maybe I was having bad reading days, which happened often in 2018.
13. Lily Alone by Jacqueline Wilson
Jacqueline Wilson is back with her atrociously neglectful parents and overburdened child protagonists! Lily's mum, a single parent, literally leaves her four little kids for a man she only met twice to be abroad with him, right at the spur of the moment. I don't care if it is for a week (she admits she's uncertain and that it could be longer) and that she thought her ex will be looking after the kids while she's gone (she doesn't bother to see if he would or could), Lily's mum should be in prison. And she was a teenage mum, how typical. Lily still loves her, for some ungodly reason. Again, how typical, like everything else in this book. Poor Lily, left to look after her three younger siblings by herself. She isn't much better at parenting than her mum when she decides to leave home with them to live in the woods, inside a tree, for under a week. But she has the excuse that she is only eleven. The kids are lucky to be alive! Lily Alone is just uncomfortable to read about - not a good start for my Wilson marathon - and it seems to sympathise with the terrible terrible mum, wanting a happy ending for her together with this poor, abused family. The ending is ambiguous, but I can tell that mum will be let off the hook, eventually. Child neglect is not something to be made light of. It is a crime, and everybody, adults especially, should be made accountable for their actions.
12. The Butterfly Club by Jacqueline Wilson
One more Jacqueline Wilson book, and at this point I'm thinking, "Maybe I'm too old for this crap." The Butterfly Club is very babyish, even though it is marketed as middle grade. The main children are seven years old, and I was so bored and tired of its inanity and cliches that I couldn't wait to finish it, which didn't take long. I'm sure actual seven year olds can relate to it, and learn to read on a year two level from it, but that is all the praise I can give it. Add on a ridiculous ending (televised! Of course!), plus completely unnoticed racism on a micro level from the little girl's granddad towards her only POC school friend, and I was done. It isn't very challenging, is what I'm saying. The cameos of the twins from Wilson's classic book, Double Act, who are now adults, is a nice touch, though.
11. Franklin's Flying Bookshop by Jen Campbell
Maybe I should give this another look. The premise is great for a kid's picture book: a bookworm dragon flying around with a bookshop on its back. Goodreads loves it. But I found too many typos and moments of characters being poorly introduced to give it high praise. It needs a good editor. Still, I thought it interesting enough to buy it for my four year old nephew, if not for the pictures alone. And his name is Franklin; that might have been a contributing factor.
10. Will & Whit by Laura Lee Gulledge
The author's other graphic novel, Page by Paige, is a favourite of mine, so I decided to give this a go, as it had been in my library for ages. Good artwork, interesting premise and thematic decisions, but man is it dull! It does not convey grief and anxiety well at all, in my opinion. The whole comic seems rushed and underdeveloped. I barely remember the scenes in it. Some character relationships are developed decently, however.
9. Zatanna by Paul Dini
Why? Why do you keep doing this to me, Paul Dini? Zatanna isn't too bad; some of the issues are interesting. But I'm not that interested in Zatanna herself. She just seems like yet another superheroine who keeps being manipulated and hamstrung by the men in her life. She has backbone only when the plot requires it. Her obnoxious cousin can go to hell, as well. And I don't need to look at artwork that reminds me of Brian Azzarello's New 52 Wonder Woman monstrosity (seriously, Zatanna looks exactly like Diana - are women really that hard to draw differently for men artists?). A little meanspiritedness all around, and I don't care for this piece.
8. Wonder Woman, Vol. 4: Ends of the Earth (Wonder Woman (2006) #4) by Gail Simone (Writer), Aaron Lopresti (Artist), Matt Ryan (Artist)
The sequel to the fantastic Wonder Woman comic, The Circle. It has nothing to do with that. Or it barely does. Wonder Woman is at the beck and call and mercy of men. *sigh*. And why the fuck is Steve Trevor or Thomas Tresser or whoever (they are alike) suddenly called an Amazon by the Amazons of Themyscira?! Did I miss something important in another comic? I didn't even know that Diana and her boy-toy were officially together. Why is Queen Hippolyta going on about them having children? Why does she keep repeating "Babies. Babies. Babies." in one panel? Is she teasing the man, or having a stroke? Judging by her expressionless face, it could be interpreted as anything. Did Gail Simone really write this? Screw this, I'm out of here.
7. Heart in a Box by Kelly Thompson (Writer), Meredith McClaren (Artist)
A disappointing Kelly Thompson comic. Good premise, and I was into it for a while. But then the internalised misogyny and slut shaming happened. I didn't sympathise with the lead at all. She is horrible towards the end - literally beating up her ex-boyfriend's current girlfriend, when she did nothing wrong. She is not sorry for what she did, and is instantly forgiven for it. That poor girlfriend, she only appears in two pages, as well. What bullshit. And this is a 2015 comic - Thompson should have known better. The whole magical heart transplant system isn't well explained, either. Like, how is the lead girl alive? It's not a metaphor: she literally has no heart suddenly upon making a deal with someone in order to be rid of it due to heartbreak. I'm seriously asking how she is still alive. That is underdevelopment. The art is catching, bleak and suitable, though.
6. Reborn: Book One by Mark Millar (Writer), Greg Capullo (Artist), Jonathan Glapion (Artist)
This is rated low on Goodreads for a reason. It is yet another poorly developed and rather simplistic graphic novel, which for a fantastic premise is blasphemous (no pun intended, for a comic exploring religious beliefs). What if the afterlife were a fantasy world? A medieval/cyberpunk hybrid? And the protagonist is an old woman saving this world while at death's door. Mark Millar needed to have taken the time to make Reborn reach its full potential. To make something truly great and existential. Sadly, he chose the safe, typical, comics-for-fratboys route to go with it. The elderly grandmother is young and blonde and sexy in the fantasy world! Why? Not very well explained in-narrative, though we know why on a marketing standpoint. She's a typical chosen one. Yeah, typical describes Reborn to a T. How does this afterlife work, anyhow? How can the dead people grow older and have children in it? How can they still be killed in it? Is there an afterlife after this afterlife? Do people stop aging at random stages? How can the female lead's menstruation cycle still work? Horrendously contrived and amateurish, the only reason Reborn gets two stars and not one is because the artwork isn't bad, and the premise in of itself is gold. It might be called Book One but there is no sequel in sight. You know, maybe there are too many heterosexual men working in the comic book industry today. Their priorities tend to get skewered on certain elements.
5. The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones
Good grief this is boring! Sorry, I had to get that off my chest (again, pun unintended). Like Heart in a Box, The Hearts We Sold is a sell-your-heart story, and it is at least better developed and thought-out than the comic. But this YA novel is so tedious and lifeless that I have no shame in admitting to skimming the last half of it. I don't understand how it is rated so favourably on Goodreads. The plot, when it bothers to show up, is thin and weak. I couldn't connect to any of the plot device mannequins that the author calls characters. They are either one-note or no notes at all. When one major character dies suddenly in a senseless tragedy, hardly anyone cares. Why are female authority figures always portrayed as incompetent? The ending is at least unexpected, atypical of a YA happy ending between heterosexuals. The one LBGTQ character is the only person in the book that I can call interesting. I'm sure there is more that I could add, but I can't remember them right now. I'm too bored.
4. Jade Street Protection Services by Katy Rex (Writer), Various (Artists)
One of the most poorly planned, poorly developed, disjointed, confusing, clumsy, and clunky wasted potentials for a comic I have ever read. It's a very diverse Magical Girl comic with a crime detective mystery twist and violent adult edge. Pity I can't tell you what happens. Not because of spoilers, but because I don't understand what the hell is going on! Did the writers even know? Who? What? Why? How? Where? HUH? Was this storyboarded properly? How did it get greenlit? It clearly isn't very good. But the diversity is excellent; one magical girl is even openly revealed as autistic. One wears pink Muslim garb (and needs to pee all the time for some reason). Though a queer girl ends up with a boy instead of a girl. That is all the sense I can make of this nonsense. It has more substance to it than Pretty Deadly, at least. Between Jade Street Protection Services and Crystal Cadets, why is the Magical Girl genre being treated so badly by American comic book publishers?
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Review here. Fifteen months of my life I'm never getting back. Moving on.
2. Circe by Madeline Miller
I don't get it. I just don't. One of this year's biggest disappointments for me. And it is a 2018 Goodreads Choice Award winner. I didn't enjoy Circe. I thought the "feminist" leading lady stale, and the plot uneventful for the majority of the book. Circe, the demigod and witch, remains lifeless and at the beck and call of men throughout her whole immortal existence. Motherhood should be a goal of all women, too! I didn't like Madeline Miller's other book pertaining to Greek mythology, The Song of Achilles, either, so perhaps she is an author who's not for me. She doesn't add much of anything new or exciting to these tales, in my opinion. I can't remember a lot about what happens in Circe. It didn't grab me, I'm afraid.
1. The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Review here. When it isn't dull and meandering, it is disgusting and offensive. 800 pages of navel-gazing. I am disturbed by the author's views on women. What a way to end one of my favourite book sagas. I should have stopped at The Shadow of the Wind.
Next, the finale, the finality, of the negative, the Top 9 Worst 1-Star Books of 2018!
Top 20 Most Disappointing 3-Star Books of 2018
I'm quite busy now, as I've said before. With Christmas, work, driving, family, TV. In the wake of this development, I've decided to do my end-of-year book lists a little early, when I know I will have the time.
I will start off by writing my overall assessment of 2018 so far:
IT. IS. TERRIBLE.
Good god. If 2016 is the year of despair and the death of faith in humanity, and 2017 is the year of righteous anger and rage, then 2018 is the year of giving up. The year of apathy, of running on fumes, of "Oh, what's the point anymore?" and "Who gives a shit anymore? I'm too tired". Yes, it has been extremely tiring. Don't even get me started on my own country's disastrous political climate. I might not have a job next year. I'm ashamed and embarrassed to be British, more than usual.
Another aspect that makes 2018 awful is my reading material. I said in my The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo review that 2018 is looking to be a promising year.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being wrong is soul crushing.
I have read a total of 132 books in 2018. And I have never rated so many 3 stars, 2 stars, and 1 stars in a single year, ever. It's been so bad that I have decided to make individual lists of those books, since a single post listing them all would take far too long. So it's crap divided into three parts, basically. Then I will list the good books I've read this year. Get the negative out of the way before I reach the positive and feel better about life again.
Starting out this festive endeavour is my Top 20 Most Disappointing 3-Star Books of 2018. These are not bad, per say, just not as good as I'd hoped. They are not as good as they should be. These are the over-hyped, the wasted potential, the missed opportunities, the misguided, the misleading, the bad endings, the unfortunates, and so on.
Here we go, then: My many, many, aching disappointments of 2018:
20. Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
A Bury Your Gays graphic novel story with as much angst as the pretty watercolours depict. And it is nice artwork, and the drama and relationships themselves aren't bad. It is realistic and sad. But the ending threw me and left me cold and unsatisfied. Haven't seen the film adaptation, which I've heard has pornographic overtones. Like the LBGTQ community hasn't been undermined, exploited, perverted and fetishized by the "adult" media enough, like heterosexual romances are not.
19. Sword of Sorcery, Vol. 1: Amethyst (The New 52 Sword of Sorcery 0-8) by Christy Marx (Writer), Aaron Lopresti (Artist), Various (Writers, Artists)
The story itself is interesting enough, and I like the worldbuilding, action, and character dynamics. I LOVE the artwork. I didn't even mind the rushed ending due to the series' cancellation (oh, thank you, DC's New 52, you sure knew what you were doing). But as soon as I got to the other, unrelated stories in the volume, I was lost. Why were they included? As individual DC issues that needed to go somewhere in a trade? As proof of their existence? But this is an Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld book. The issues are either boring or disturbing or horrific or confusing or all of the above. They don't fit the tone of the Amethyst story at all. Very poor marketing decision on DC's part (but what's new?)
18. The Frog Princess by E.D Baker
So, this is the book that partly inspired Disney's The Princess and the Frog? It's okay. Well-written, with good action set pieces and memorable characters. Good twist on a fairy tale as well, and interesting female friendships. I just didn't care for the romance at all. The male lead is capricious, inconsistent, arrogant and chauvinistic, and the strong female lead (a clumsy, messy and smart princess) ends up falling for him for some reason anyway. Because that is the way of fairy tales, apparently. Girls have to love boys, regardless of how he treats them and how long they have actually known each other. Wait, that's true of nearly all stories, not only fairy tales. But if your kid likes talking animals and witches, then they'll like this, I guess.
17. I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly (Writer), J.M. Ken Niimura (Artist)
A good graphic novel, just not for me. The politically incorrect moments (for 2009) made me uncomfortable. For a comic supposedly about female power, featuring a relatively ordinary yet extraordinarily interesting female protagonist, there is a lot of internalised misogyny on display. Aside from this, it is like a graphic novel version of A Monster Calls. Good representation of anxiety and grief from a teenager's perspective - the dark, sketchy artwork does a fantastic job. Some of the characters, while certainly not always likeable, are okay, as well. I thought the ending could have had more to it.
16. As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman
You have no idea how excited I was to read this. The protagonist is a thirteen-year-old queer, fat, bespectacled girl of colour, attending an all-white, all-female Christian youth camp, and her possible love interest is transgender. The art is tremendous, and the story is very interesting. What a premise! What could go wrong? Well, a few un-self-aware moments bogged it down. The protagonist herself is ignorant of things she should really know better about, like thinking that feminism is about bra-burning and man-hating. She is quite gleeful and sadistic in thinking about abandoning and even committing manslaughter on her fellow campers - I know she's thirteen and lonely amongst these people, but seriously. None of the campers and adult guides (one of whom is POC herself, and the protag's crush) even seem that bad, just ignorant on subjects concerning race and adapting their religion to 2013 (who would still think that feminists burn bras by then?!). So an unlikable lead - and I hate to say that about such a diverse one - made me ultimately decide to give this comic three stars. It does show girls having periods, is a critique on white feminism, and a realistic depiction of camping, hiking, and the Christian experiences concerning them. Making my rating even more tragic. Its intersectional feminism is confusing, at best.
15. A Dash of Trouble (Love Sugar Magic #1) by Anna Meriano
An average middle school book, in my opinion. Kind of boring, for a fantasy children's story. But maybe I've read too many similar fantasy books before, as this does seem a bit been-there-done-that for me. Not much happens, or anything interesting happens. Where are the stakes? Good for sisterhood and diversity, however. It's about the Dia de los Muertos festival. I just don't care for the love lives of preteens. Everybody - the young female protag, the ordinary American people - is a little too accepting of magic existing, too. Still better than Kat, Incorrigible.
14. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
The longest novel I've read this year. Included because it starts out so well, but peters out towards the end. Read my review here.
13. The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst
The sequel to one of my favourite fantasy books, The Queen of Blood. Boy, what a disappointment. So Daelina isn't dying; she's just been poisoned by a rival kingdom, eh? She'll be cured by the end of the book? Didn't see that coming! But okay, sure, tension eradicated, tragedy averted, good job. Some characters are very good, like the mother (the titular reluctant queen) and her two children. The pain and inner conflicts of these people are well-written. But the so-called "plot twist" is so obvious (like, literally the one person who isn't suspected of poisoning Queen Daelina? Turns out they did it! Who would have guessed?!), it's insulting. I thought that the author would have known better - she can write YA that respects its audience's intelligence, and she can tell an exciting story. Another thing I have to point out is that The Reluctant Queen is an additional example in the fantasy and sci-fi genres where a violation of a person's free will isn't made a big deal of at all. Not even by the victim. Without revealing spoilers, this issue is just brushed aside: "Oh, you cast a spell on me and made me your happy and obedient slave? Made me forget my dying loved ones? Oh well, it worked, and I have my free will back now, so it's all good; you're good at what you do, so where's my apprenticeship contract with you?" Seriously. Writers of fantasy and science fiction: Think through your implications when it comes to mind control. Stop doing this.
12. Sovereign by April Daniels
Speaking of disappointing sequels to YA fantasy novels, here is Sovereign, right off the heels of Dreadnought, about a teen transgender superhero. Again, it's not bad, really. Only not as great as it could have been. Danny Tozer is scary in how violent and temperamental she is - I was actually concerned she was going to seriously injure and kill the people who love her and want to help her. She isn't aware of how power hungry and abusive she is (she actually enjoys hurting people in her anger as a world famous superhero) until the very end of the book, and even then it is hardly enough. It's not even clear if she is aware of becoming like her abusive father. She's cynical and unpleasant for the majority of the book. Danny's character seems to have gone downhill, unlike the beautiful and tragic, yet purely altruistic and heroic person she was in Dreadnought. Fame and fortune got to her head? Her estranged parents? Who knows. And a bit of a spoiler here, but the TERF, Graywytch, is a straight-up villain here. Right at the end (out of nowhere, actually) she tries to kill every single male on earth. I am not joking. She's turned into a Strawman Feminist of the worst imaginable kind. She very almost succeeds in killing over half the human population (because some women, including Graywytch, not that she will ever accept it, don't have all X chromosomes, and male doctors, builders, pilots and drivers dying on the job isn't good for anyone). But is this global tragedy the downer ending it should be? Treated with the gravitas it deserves? Nope! A couple of pages infodumping and it's back to Danny's happy love life! In space, over the devastated planet! Her romantic relationship is rather forced as well, only positive in racial and sexuality diversity. On second thought, maybe I should have given Sovereign two stars. But it isn't badly written, considering.
11. Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood & Vine (Faith #1) by Jody Houser (Writer), Various (Artists)
It's wonderful to see a fat female superhero get her own solo comic book series. She's refreshingly positive, and her appearance does not define her, and is never remarked upon. A shame that the story in this volume is rather cliched and confusing. Am I missing something from other comics? LOADS of pop culture references here. The art, while colourful, soft and serviceable, makes the men's torsos and chests look huge! With abs bigger than their heads! It might be the first time in comic book history where sexual objectification and unrealistic anatomy in males, in their trunks, is clearly present. And the ending reveals a typical mind control plot in the superhero genre. I am so tired of seeing those. Not as subversive as advertised. Good protagonist, not much else to go on, I'm afraid.
10. Moonstruck, Vol. 1: Magic to Brew (Moonstruck #1) by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle
Another graphic novel that's just confusing. The artwork is soft and absolutely lovely, and so is the diversity - race, sexuality, trans, nonbinary, etc, it's gorgeous. It all needed a better told story, however. Characters are introduced out of nowhere and the reader is expected to know them the way the other characters do. Subplots go nowhere, side characters go nowhere, or end up in weird places, almost at random. Conflicts between characters in relationships are suddenly sprung up out of nowhere, for the sake of a conflict. Rushed and underdeveloped fantasy narrative. Really wish I could have enjoyed it as much as I wanted to.
9. How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis
Heard about this book by chance and bought it almost instantly. It is about a romance between two gay teenage boys, but one of them is dealing with internalised homophobia as a result of a religious upbringing (specifically, Catholic). He wasn't sent to a conversion therapy camp, but he might as well have. A priest's voice in his head is his barrier to true happiness. Mechanical Heart isn't anti-religion, it's about living life to the full and loving the way you are, and how people, regardless of background, should support others. I thought it would be like Queens of Geek and Geekerella; YA about geek culture and conventions. And it is. But to me it isn't as well-written. Or maybe it's too complicated. I didn't understand the boys' antagonism towards the m/m fanfiction of their favourite characters in their favourite Star Trek-like show - they seem to be making fun of "deluded" and silly heterosexual teenage girls. Wouldn't they want and support queer rep in television? There's no indication that they are against queerbaiting and fans fetishizing male relationships, interpreting something perverse for their own personal fantasies. I got irritated with the main boy's lies towards his friend-to-lover: they're both out of the closet, and are very close - why aren't they together yet? Also, there are some too many characters that aren't developed well, like the guys' female companion on their convention trip whose name I can't remember. Why is she in this? As moral support? Disposable female support, that's new in storytelling. An interesting look into internet culture and convention culture, at least, plus queerbaiting in TV shows. Nicely written, as well. Not for me, perhaps, or I don't get it.
8. Solitaire by Alice Oseman
I didn't expect much from this, due to its mixed reviews on Goodreads. But I love the author's graphic novel webseries Heartstopper, and I want to read more of her work. She is someone who has achieved her dream and is writing (and drawing) books, and she is younger than me. Alice Oseman was only eighteen when she wrote Solitaire, and I am impressed. It is surprisingly well-written and addictive. I could have read it in a day. A realistic portrayal of the life of a severely depressed teenage girl in England (not rare, I assure you). It is scary how much I related to Tori, back in my own schooldays. Cynical, antisocial yet very funny, insightful, and caring of others: she is a girl of the 2010s. Solitaire is like a female-led Catcher in the Rye "for the digital age", as one reviewer put it. However, I really don't like the male lead, Michael. He belongs in a mental institution. He stalks Tori constantly, and he hardly gets called out for it. One time he even rides his bike right beside a moving bus and smacks on the window where Tori is seated. WHO DOES THAT?! Get this boy some help! He has anger management issues too. And he wants (not just in his fantasies) to burn his school down. Why isn't he being checked out? I know he is meant to be Tori's exact opposite, but it is far too much. It isn't realistic. Neither is the ridiculous ending, which is as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. How heartbreaking, and I was really into the book up to that point. Oh, and the tagline, "This is not a love story", is a lie, I'm warning you now. I don't like to be lied to by a book. But I will try out Radio Silence next year, as Alice Oseman does show huge potential, to be met eventually in Heartstopper (Nick and Charlie are in Solitaire, as a couple already, but not as leads - their love will reach their fullest in the webcomic).
7. Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
A great debut, but it could have been better. It is, like some other books on this list, okay. Nothing spectacular, like the hype promised. It's about witches and zombies in modern times. It's YA that teaches about witchcraft and Wicca practices to go along with its story. The main lead is a young fat Latina Wiccan. It should have been up my alley. But the girl zombies' single reaction to being dead is far too blasé for me. They are typical spoilt, self-absorbed high school teens, and they remain that way throughout. In fact, quite a few of the characters are high school drama stereotypes. Not as much depth as it could have had to be truly subversive and self-aware (a sarcastic narrator doesn't count). The romance is cheesy, cliched and boring, even if it ended untypically, and even that I could see coming from a mile off. I felt sorry for the female lead, who gets treated like shit and used by nearly everyone, but it's not like she treats other people any better, either. It's not hard to sympathise with her, but it gets taxing at times. Not much strong plotting; I didn't care much about what was going on. There is no LBGTQ representation, which for 2018 YA is highly disappointing. Undead Girl Gang is like Heathers with witches. If that sounds like your thing, then give it a go. Maybe you won't mind the flaws like I do.
6. The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson
I would have loved this if it weren't for the unlikable characters. The premise is BRILLIANT. A queer (bisexual) teen girl of colour is a modern Jesus Christ - product of a virgin birth, can heal people - and she is faced with the impossible choice, forced upon her by talking objects that only she can hear, of healing. Because every time she heals someone, someone else on earth disappears in a light from the sky to who knows where. Another planet? Another dimension? Heaven? Hell? Elena doesn't want to make that choice for other people, but there are people who need healing as well, and she can't just ignore them. Thrilling, exciting, philosophical, harrowing, funny, a social commentary, a satire, a coming-of-age story - Elena Mendoza has it all. And it is extremely well-written, considering its myriad of themes. Pity then that I didn't like any of the characters. Elena herself is okay, but her friends - but especially her love interest, her ex-boyfriend, and her stepfather - are monstrously horrible. Why she puts up with their crap, for someone so assertive and self-aware, I don't know. Her ex won't leave her alone no matter how many times she tells him to piss off - and she actually ends up liking him by the end, as a friend, as a reward for him invading her privacy. Elena's stepfather is cartoonishly stereotypical - a jobless bum who does nothing, is proud to do nothing, and hates Elena for existing. Don't even get me started on her female love interest, Freddie. So if someone insults you for existing and literally tells you to your face that nobody gives a shit about you, that they only care about your "specialness", clearly it means true love! Elena doesn't really do anything wrong in the whole book - she's a teenager who is trying her best, for fuck's sake - but her "friends" call her selfish and stupid for the littlest of reasons. I hate this normalisation of abuse. It's Buffy all over again! Yes, people are flawed and screwed up, but at least call them out on it more often! A little appreciation of the female lead would have made this a more pleasant reading experience. Nice not-so-subtle fuck-you to America's current president, however.
5. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
A very good diverse sci-fi novella of barely eighty pages. Containing themes of educational freedom and progress, racism, colonialism, cultural erasure, cultural approbation, and understanding traditions. However, this is a story that condones terrorism and mass murder of students - children - in order to get what you want, and to make governments listen to you. I couldn't connect to the main character or her emotions and trauma, or lack thereof. Maybe the book could have benefited from being longer. I can't like a story where innocent children are killed in horrific and gruesome ways (reminiscent of the Alien movies) and barely a thought is given to them and their families. Hell, we hardly get to know them when they are alive (they're just names on a page, bar one), and there is a reason why - so we won't feel bad and be distracted from the political themes when they die. I'm sure the author didn't intend for this to be the case, but overall, upon reflection, Binti does read that way. Me having a sleep-deprived headache in the afternoon I read this probably didn't help.
4. Harley Quinn: Mad Love by Paul Dini, Pat Cadigan
The 2018 novelisation of Mad Love, and another novel in which it starts off so well, but ends on an unsatisfying note. I love the writing, and reading about Harley Quinn's childhood and home life in the beginning (but three baby brothers? I knew that canonically she has one younger brother, but three?). Harleen Quinzel's time at Arkham as a psychologist is fantastically written. It's exciting, creative, inventive, and funny as hell. A great plot and character piece that reminded me of why I love Harley so much. She is a very smart, clever and charismatic woman. But then it becomes a rehash of the original Batman: Mad Love comic book and animated series story, with lines of dialogue copied word-for-word, and scenarios that are not expanded or improved on. The ending is abrupt and rushed. Why didn't the book end with Harley joining the escaped female Arkham criminals? So there is no payoff to her forming a female patient therapy group at Arkham. The book is under 300 pages, what's the harm in adding one more page dedicated to female unity and supporting power? There is no written chemistry between Harley and Poison Ivy whatsoever - they are not even friends. At worst Harley sees Ivy as a threat, and at best she sees her as a nuisance. What a colossal disappointment. Stop this backslide in developing these two gals, DC! Urgh! How heartbreaking. This year sucks.
3. Seafire by Natalie C. Parker
Why oh why did this have to be a romance? Why does every single YA book have to have a romance? When it doesn't make any sense for it to be there? Seafire is a female pirate crew novel, and it is action-packed and awesome. What a relief! Until the heterosexual kissing starts about thirty pages from the ending. Let me clarify: the Stockholm Syndrome heterosexual kissing starts, with no development leading up to it in sight. WHY!? And what about that ending? WTF? So the female lead is a faux action girl after all. Perfect. At least there is LBTGQ and POC rep, and female friendships. Solidarity for the win. Until that damn, nonsensical and abrupt ending. Go sink to the bottom of the ocean, Seafire.
2. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
One of my most anticipated books of 2018. Race and sexuality issues in 19th century America, but with a zombie apocalypse twist. The protagonist is a mixed-race former slave girl, trained into an action girl, fighting the white supremacist and patriarchal government more than the distracting zombies. Is that not the coolest thing you have ever heard in your life? What a great metaphor for modern times! Sadly, the execution is somewhat lacking. The action is very well written, but the characters are not that interesting. For a critique on race relations and slavery in the US, there is highly questionable representation of Native Americans; when one Indian character does show up. He is a slave, and a hardened and silent stereotype, described as looking "red" and strange by the oppressed black female protagonist. This is never called out on. There is no LBGTQ rep, either, that is a lie. Well, the female lead only mentions being attracted to girls once, in a single paragraph, and she is attracted to at least three men in the book, plus her white-passing companion-turned-begrudging-friend is implied to be asexual, but that's it. What bullshit. I don't want to think about this disappointment anymore - it should have been revolutionary!
1. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
I REALLY wanted to love this. I should have loved this. An #ownvoices Asian culture-inspired YA fantasy about taking down the patriarchy, with two young lesbian sex slaves leading the path to freedom, to a revolution. I certainly enjoyed the majority of it, like I did with many of the previous entries of this list. How the author writes rape scenes is harrowing and intense - operatic, even, in its horror. But love and hope shine through in its other scenes. The characters are memorable and magical, for the most part. Girls of Paper and Fire is like Memoirs of a Geisha for fantasy fans, and better. But, you guessed it, the ending let me down. Or the final page let me down. For it turns out that the main heroine is entirely ineffectual in her own bloody story! Writers, here is a tip: In writing a so-called "strong female character", make sure she actually achieves something! No, romance goals don't count. If she is meant to be a revolutionary, show us why. Let her have her revenge on her rapist! Let women's anger and right to justice lead to something good! The book also contains catty females and jealous females over men. Of course. It is YA after all. And I swear one woman is called a bitch more than three times, and more than once on one page. Though Girls of Paper and Fire does talk about sex and sexual pleasures in interesting ways, for YA. Still, it is the book I wanted to love most in 2018, after Dread Nation, and as a result was the hardest, biggest letdown.
Up next, the Top 14 Worst 2-Star Books of 2018!
I will start off by writing my overall assessment of 2018 so far:
IT. IS. TERRIBLE.
Good god. If 2016 is the year of despair and the death of faith in humanity, and 2017 is the year of righteous anger and rage, then 2018 is the year of giving up. The year of apathy, of running on fumes, of "Oh, what's the point anymore?" and "Who gives a shit anymore? I'm too tired". Yes, it has been extremely tiring. Don't even get me started on my own country's disastrous political climate. I might not have a job next year. I'm ashamed and embarrassed to be British, more than usual.
Another aspect that makes 2018 awful is my reading material. I said in my The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo review that 2018 is looking to be a promising year.
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Being wrong is soul crushing.
I have read a total of 132 books in 2018. And I have never rated so many 3 stars, 2 stars, and 1 stars in a single year, ever. It's been so bad that I have decided to make individual lists of those books, since a single post listing them all would take far too long. So it's crap divided into three parts, basically. Then I will list the good books I've read this year. Get the negative out of the way before I reach the positive and feel better about life again.
Starting out this festive endeavour is my Top 20 Most Disappointing 3-Star Books of 2018. These are not bad, per say, just not as good as I'd hoped. They are not as good as they should be. These are the over-hyped, the wasted potential, the missed opportunities, the misguided, the misleading, the bad endings, the unfortunates, and so on.
Here we go, then: My many, many, aching disappointments of 2018:
20. Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
A Bury Your Gays graphic novel story with as much angst as the pretty watercolours depict. And it is nice artwork, and the drama and relationships themselves aren't bad. It is realistic and sad. But the ending threw me and left me cold and unsatisfied. Haven't seen the film adaptation, which I've heard has pornographic overtones. Like the LBGTQ community hasn't been undermined, exploited, perverted and fetishized by the "adult" media enough, like heterosexual romances are not.
19. Sword of Sorcery, Vol. 1: Amethyst (The New 52 Sword of Sorcery 0-8) by Christy Marx (Writer), Aaron Lopresti (Artist), Various (Writers, Artists)
The story itself is interesting enough, and I like the worldbuilding, action, and character dynamics. I LOVE the artwork. I didn't even mind the rushed ending due to the series' cancellation (oh, thank you, DC's New 52, you sure knew what you were doing). But as soon as I got to the other, unrelated stories in the volume, I was lost. Why were they included? As individual DC issues that needed to go somewhere in a trade? As proof of their existence? But this is an Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld book. The issues are either boring or disturbing or horrific or confusing or all of the above. They don't fit the tone of the Amethyst story at all. Very poor marketing decision on DC's part (but what's new?)
18. The Frog Princess by E.D Baker
So, this is the book that partly inspired Disney's The Princess and the Frog? It's okay. Well-written, with good action set pieces and memorable characters. Good twist on a fairy tale as well, and interesting female friendships. I just didn't care for the romance at all. The male lead is capricious, inconsistent, arrogant and chauvinistic, and the strong female lead (a clumsy, messy and smart princess) ends up falling for him for some reason anyway. Because that is the way of fairy tales, apparently. Girls have to love boys, regardless of how he treats them and how long they have actually known each other. Wait, that's true of nearly all stories, not only fairy tales. But if your kid likes talking animals and witches, then they'll like this, I guess.
17. I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly (Writer), J.M. Ken Niimura (Artist)
A good graphic novel, just not for me. The politically incorrect moments (for 2009) made me uncomfortable. For a comic supposedly about female power, featuring a relatively ordinary yet extraordinarily interesting female protagonist, there is a lot of internalised misogyny on display. Aside from this, it is like a graphic novel version of A Monster Calls. Good representation of anxiety and grief from a teenager's perspective - the dark, sketchy artwork does a fantastic job. Some of the characters, while certainly not always likeable, are okay, as well. I thought the ending could have had more to it.
16. As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman
You have no idea how excited I was to read this. The protagonist is a thirteen-year-old queer, fat, bespectacled girl of colour, attending an all-white, all-female Christian youth camp, and her possible love interest is transgender. The art is tremendous, and the story is very interesting. What a premise! What could go wrong? Well, a few un-self-aware moments bogged it down. The protagonist herself is ignorant of things she should really know better about, like thinking that feminism is about bra-burning and man-hating. She is quite gleeful and sadistic in thinking about abandoning and even committing manslaughter on her fellow campers - I know she's thirteen and lonely amongst these people, but seriously. None of the campers and adult guides (one of whom is POC herself, and the protag's crush) even seem that bad, just ignorant on subjects concerning race and adapting their religion to 2013 (who would still think that feminists burn bras by then?!). So an unlikable lead - and I hate to say that about such a diverse one - made me ultimately decide to give this comic three stars. It does show girls having periods, is a critique on white feminism, and a realistic depiction of camping, hiking, and the Christian experiences concerning them. Making my rating even more tragic. Its intersectional feminism is confusing, at best.
15. A Dash of Trouble (Love Sugar Magic #1) by Anna Meriano
An average middle school book, in my opinion. Kind of boring, for a fantasy children's story. But maybe I've read too many similar fantasy books before, as this does seem a bit been-there-done-that for me. Not much happens, or anything interesting happens. Where are the stakes? Good for sisterhood and diversity, however. It's about the Dia de los Muertos festival. I just don't care for the love lives of preteens. Everybody - the young female protag, the ordinary American people - is a little too accepting of magic existing, too. Still better than Kat, Incorrigible.
14. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
The longest novel I've read this year. Included because it starts out so well, but peters out towards the end. Read my review here.
13. The Reluctant Queen by Sarah Beth Durst
The sequel to one of my favourite fantasy books, The Queen of Blood. Boy, what a disappointment. So Daelina isn't dying; she's just been poisoned by a rival kingdom, eh? She'll be cured by the end of the book? Didn't see that coming! But okay, sure, tension eradicated, tragedy averted, good job. Some characters are very good, like the mother (the titular reluctant queen) and her two children. The pain and inner conflicts of these people are well-written. But the so-called "plot twist" is so obvious (like, literally the one person who isn't suspected of poisoning Queen Daelina? Turns out they did it! Who would have guessed?!), it's insulting. I thought that the author would have known better - she can write YA that respects its audience's intelligence, and she can tell an exciting story. Another thing I have to point out is that The Reluctant Queen is an additional example in the fantasy and sci-fi genres where a violation of a person's free will isn't made a big deal of at all. Not even by the victim. Without revealing spoilers, this issue is just brushed aside: "Oh, you cast a spell on me and made me your happy and obedient slave? Made me forget my dying loved ones? Oh well, it worked, and I have my free will back now, so it's all good; you're good at what you do, so where's my apprenticeship contract with you?" Seriously. Writers of fantasy and science fiction: Think through your implications when it comes to mind control. Stop doing this.
12. Sovereign by April Daniels
Speaking of disappointing sequels to YA fantasy novels, here is Sovereign, right off the heels of Dreadnought, about a teen transgender superhero. Again, it's not bad, really. Only not as great as it could have been. Danny Tozer is scary in how violent and temperamental she is - I was actually concerned she was going to seriously injure and kill the people who love her and want to help her. She isn't aware of how power hungry and abusive she is (she actually enjoys hurting people in her anger as a world famous superhero) until the very end of the book, and even then it is hardly enough. It's not even clear if she is aware of becoming like her abusive father. She's cynical and unpleasant for the majority of the book. Danny's character seems to have gone downhill, unlike the beautiful and tragic, yet purely altruistic and heroic person she was in Dreadnought. Fame and fortune got to her head? Her estranged parents? Who knows. And a bit of a spoiler here, but the TERF, Graywytch, is a straight-up villain here. Right at the end (out of nowhere, actually) she tries to kill every single male on earth. I am not joking. She's turned into a Strawman Feminist of the worst imaginable kind. She very almost succeeds in killing over half the human population (because some women, including Graywytch, not that she will ever accept it, don't have all X chromosomes, and male doctors, builders, pilots and drivers dying on the job isn't good for anyone). But is this global tragedy the downer ending it should be? Treated with the gravitas it deserves? Nope! A couple of pages infodumping and it's back to Danny's happy love life! In space, over the devastated planet! Her romantic relationship is rather forced as well, only positive in racial and sexuality diversity. On second thought, maybe I should have given Sovereign two stars. But it isn't badly written, considering.
11. Faith, Volume 1: Hollywood & Vine (Faith #1) by Jody Houser (Writer), Various (Artists)
It's wonderful to see a fat female superhero get her own solo comic book series. She's refreshingly positive, and her appearance does not define her, and is never remarked upon. A shame that the story in this volume is rather cliched and confusing. Am I missing something from other comics? LOADS of pop culture references here. The art, while colourful, soft and serviceable, makes the men's torsos and chests look huge! With abs bigger than their heads! It might be the first time in comic book history where sexual objectification and unrealistic anatomy in males, in their trunks, is clearly present. And the ending reveals a typical mind control plot in the superhero genre. I am so tired of seeing those. Not as subversive as advertised. Good protagonist, not much else to go on, I'm afraid.
10. Moonstruck, Vol. 1: Magic to Brew (Moonstruck #1) by Grace Ellis, Shae Beagle
Another graphic novel that's just confusing. The artwork is soft and absolutely lovely, and so is the diversity - race, sexuality, trans, nonbinary, etc, it's gorgeous. It all needed a better told story, however. Characters are introduced out of nowhere and the reader is expected to know them the way the other characters do. Subplots go nowhere, side characters go nowhere, or end up in weird places, almost at random. Conflicts between characters in relationships are suddenly sprung up out of nowhere, for the sake of a conflict. Rushed and underdeveloped fantasy narrative. Really wish I could have enjoyed it as much as I wanted to.
9. How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis
Heard about this book by chance and bought it almost instantly. It is about a romance between two gay teenage boys, but one of them is dealing with internalised homophobia as a result of a religious upbringing (specifically, Catholic). He wasn't sent to a conversion therapy camp, but he might as well have. A priest's voice in his head is his barrier to true happiness. Mechanical Heart isn't anti-religion, it's about living life to the full and loving the way you are, and how people, regardless of background, should support others. I thought it would be like Queens of Geek and Geekerella; YA about geek culture and conventions. And it is. But to me it isn't as well-written. Or maybe it's too complicated. I didn't understand the boys' antagonism towards the m/m fanfiction of their favourite characters in their favourite Star Trek-like show - they seem to be making fun of "deluded" and silly heterosexual teenage girls. Wouldn't they want and support queer rep in television? There's no indication that they are against queerbaiting and fans fetishizing male relationships, interpreting something perverse for their own personal fantasies. I got irritated with the main boy's lies towards his friend-to-lover: they're both out of the closet, and are very close - why aren't they together yet? Also, there are some too many characters that aren't developed well, like the guys' female companion on their convention trip whose name I can't remember. Why is she in this? As moral support? Disposable female support, that's new in storytelling. An interesting look into internet culture and convention culture, at least, plus queerbaiting in TV shows. Nicely written, as well. Not for me, perhaps, or I don't get it.
8. Solitaire by Alice Oseman
I didn't expect much from this, due to its mixed reviews on Goodreads. But I love the author's graphic novel webseries Heartstopper, and I want to read more of her work. She is someone who has achieved her dream and is writing (and drawing) books, and she is younger than me. Alice Oseman was only eighteen when she wrote Solitaire, and I am impressed. It is surprisingly well-written and addictive. I could have read it in a day. A realistic portrayal of the life of a severely depressed teenage girl in England (not rare, I assure you). It is scary how much I related to Tori, back in my own schooldays. Cynical, antisocial yet very funny, insightful, and caring of others: she is a girl of the 2010s. Solitaire is like a female-led Catcher in the Rye "for the digital age", as one reviewer put it. However, I really don't like the male lead, Michael. He belongs in a mental institution. He stalks Tori constantly, and he hardly gets called out for it. One time he even rides his bike right beside a moving bus and smacks on the window where Tori is seated. WHO DOES THAT?! Get this boy some help! He has anger management issues too. And he wants (not just in his fantasies) to burn his school down. Why isn't he being checked out? I know he is meant to be Tori's exact opposite, but it is far too much. It isn't realistic. Neither is the ridiculous ending, which is as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. How heartbreaking, and I was really into the book up to that point. Oh, and the tagline, "This is not a love story", is a lie, I'm warning you now. I don't like to be lied to by a book. But I will try out Radio Silence next year, as Alice Oseman does show huge potential, to be met eventually in Heartstopper (Nick and Charlie are in Solitaire, as a couple already, but not as leads - their love will reach their fullest in the webcomic).
7. Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
A great debut, but it could have been better. It is, like some other books on this list, okay. Nothing spectacular, like the hype promised. It's about witches and zombies in modern times. It's YA that teaches about witchcraft and Wicca practices to go along with its story. The main lead is a young fat Latina Wiccan. It should have been up my alley. But the girl zombies' single reaction to being dead is far too blasé for me. They are typical spoilt, self-absorbed high school teens, and they remain that way throughout. In fact, quite a few of the characters are high school drama stereotypes. Not as much depth as it could have had to be truly subversive and self-aware (a sarcastic narrator doesn't count). The romance is cheesy, cliched and boring, even if it ended untypically, and even that I could see coming from a mile off. I felt sorry for the female lead, who gets treated like shit and used by nearly everyone, but it's not like she treats other people any better, either. It's not hard to sympathise with her, but it gets taxing at times. Not much strong plotting; I didn't care much about what was going on. There is no LBGTQ representation, which for 2018 YA is highly disappointing. Undead Girl Gang is like Heathers with witches. If that sounds like your thing, then give it a go. Maybe you won't mind the flaws like I do.
6. The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson
I would have loved this if it weren't for the unlikable characters. The premise is BRILLIANT. A queer (bisexual) teen girl of colour is a modern Jesus Christ - product of a virgin birth, can heal people - and she is faced with the impossible choice, forced upon her by talking objects that only she can hear, of healing. Because every time she heals someone, someone else on earth disappears in a light from the sky to who knows where. Another planet? Another dimension? Heaven? Hell? Elena doesn't want to make that choice for other people, but there are people who need healing as well, and she can't just ignore them. Thrilling, exciting, philosophical, harrowing, funny, a social commentary, a satire, a coming-of-age story - Elena Mendoza has it all. And it is extremely well-written, considering its myriad of themes. Pity then that I didn't like any of the characters. Elena herself is okay, but her friends - but especially her love interest, her ex-boyfriend, and her stepfather - are monstrously horrible. Why she puts up with their crap, for someone so assertive and self-aware, I don't know. Her ex won't leave her alone no matter how many times she tells him to piss off - and she actually ends up liking him by the end, as a friend, as a reward for him invading her privacy. Elena's stepfather is cartoonishly stereotypical - a jobless bum who does nothing, is proud to do nothing, and hates Elena for existing. Don't even get me started on her female love interest, Freddie. So if someone insults you for existing and literally tells you to your face that nobody gives a shit about you, that they only care about your "specialness", clearly it means true love! Elena doesn't really do anything wrong in the whole book - she's a teenager who is trying her best, for fuck's sake - but her "friends" call her selfish and stupid for the littlest of reasons. I hate this normalisation of abuse. It's Buffy all over again! Yes, people are flawed and screwed up, but at least call them out on it more often! A little appreciation of the female lead would have made this a more pleasant reading experience. Nice not-so-subtle fuck-you to America's current president, however.
5. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
A very good diverse sci-fi novella of barely eighty pages. Containing themes of educational freedom and progress, racism, colonialism, cultural erasure, cultural approbation, and understanding traditions. However, this is a story that condones terrorism and mass murder of students - children - in order to get what you want, and to make governments listen to you. I couldn't connect to the main character or her emotions and trauma, or lack thereof. Maybe the book could have benefited from being longer. I can't like a story where innocent children are killed in horrific and gruesome ways (reminiscent of the Alien movies) and barely a thought is given to them and their families. Hell, we hardly get to know them when they are alive (they're just names on a page, bar one), and there is a reason why - so we won't feel bad and be distracted from the political themes when they die. I'm sure the author didn't intend for this to be the case, but overall, upon reflection, Binti does read that way. Me having a sleep-deprived headache in the afternoon I read this probably didn't help.
4. Harley Quinn: Mad Love by Paul Dini, Pat Cadigan
The 2018 novelisation of Mad Love, and another novel in which it starts off so well, but ends on an unsatisfying note. I love the writing, and reading about Harley Quinn's childhood and home life in the beginning (but three baby brothers? I knew that canonically she has one younger brother, but three?). Harleen Quinzel's time at Arkham as a psychologist is fantastically written. It's exciting, creative, inventive, and funny as hell. A great plot and character piece that reminded me of why I love Harley so much. She is a very smart, clever and charismatic woman. But then it becomes a rehash of the original Batman: Mad Love comic book and animated series story, with lines of dialogue copied word-for-word, and scenarios that are not expanded or improved on. The ending is abrupt and rushed. Why didn't the book end with Harley joining the escaped female Arkham criminals? So there is no payoff to her forming a female patient therapy group at Arkham. The book is under 300 pages, what's the harm in adding one more page dedicated to female unity and supporting power? There is no written chemistry between Harley and Poison Ivy whatsoever - they are not even friends. At worst Harley sees Ivy as a threat, and at best she sees her as a nuisance. What a colossal disappointment. Stop this backslide in developing these two gals, DC! Urgh! How heartbreaking. This year sucks.
3. Seafire by Natalie C. Parker
Why oh why did this have to be a romance? Why does every single YA book have to have a romance? When it doesn't make any sense for it to be there? Seafire is a female pirate crew novel, and it is action-packed and awesome. What a relief! Until the heterosexual kissing starts about thirty pages from the ending. Let me clarify: the Stockholm Syndrome heterosexual kissing starts, with no development leading up to it in sight. WHY!? And what about that ending? WTF? So the female lead is a faux action girl after all. Perfect. At least there is LBTGQ and POC rep, and female friendships. Solidarity for the win. Until that damn, nonsensical and abrupt ending. Go sink to the bottom of the ocean, Seafire.
2. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
One of my most anticipated books of 2018. Race and sexuality issues in 19th century America, but with a zombie apocalypse twist. The protagonist is a mixed-race former slave girl, trained into an action girl, fighting the white supremacist and patriarchal government more than the distracting zombies. Is that not the coolest thing you have ever heard in your life? What a great metaphor for modern times! Sadly, the execution is somewhat lacking. The action is very well written, but the characters are not that interesting. For a critique on race relations and slavery in the US, there is highly questionable representation of Native Americans; when one Indian character does show up. He is a slave, and a hardened and silent stereotype, described as looking "red" and strange by the oppressed black female protagonist. This is never called out on. There is no LBGTQ rep, either, that is a lie. Well, the female lead only mentions being attracted to girls once, in a single paragraph, and she is attracted to at least three men in the book, plus her white-passing companion-turned-begrudging-friend is implied to be asexual, but that's it. What bullshit. I don't want to think about this disappointment anymore - it should have been revolutionary!
1. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
I REALLY wanted to love this. I should have loved this. An #ownvoices Asian culture-inspired YA fantasy about taking down the patriarchy, with two young lesbian sex slaves leading the path to freedom, to a revolution. I certainly enjoyed the majority of it, like I did with many of the previous entries of this list. How the author writes rape scenes is harrowing and intense - operatic, even, in its horror. But love and hope shine through in its other scenes. The characters are memorable and magical, for the most part. Girls of Paper and Fire is like Memoirs of a Geisha for fantasy fans, and better. But, you guessed it, the ending let me down. Or the final page let me down. For it turns out that the main heroine is entirely ineffectual in her own bloody story! Writers, here is a tip: In writing a so-called "strong female character", make sure she actually achieves something! No, romance goals don't count. If she is meant to be a revolutionary, show us why. Let her have her revenge on her rapist! Let women's anger and right to justice lead to something good! The book also contains catty females and jealous females over men. Of course. It is YA after all. And I swear one woman is called a bitch more than three times, and more than once on one page. Though Girls of Paper and Fire does talk about sex and sexual pleasures in interesting ways, for YA. Still, it is the book I wanted to love most in 2018, after Dread Nation, and as a result was the hardest, biggest letdown.
Up next, the Top 14 Worst 2-Star Books of 2018!
Book Review - 'Hetty Feather's Christmas' by Jacqueline Wilson
2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
It's quite fitting that my final review of the year should be of a Christmas book. Right before the special holiday, and not like where I read and reviewed 'The Haunting of Hill House' after Halloween.
Anyway, 'Hetty Feather's Christmas' is okay. I'd read 'Sapphire Battersea' and 'Emerald Star' beforehand, and they are okay as well. Not as exciting or well-written as the first book, in my opinion, but they grow on you (I would read further if I didn't know that, later on, there would be the abominable love triangle and Hetty renouncing independence for a man who wants to own her and who doesn't respect her. Did I dodge a bullet? I think so). They are good, educational historical reads for children.
Hetty herself remains the best feature, a fantastic character and narrator.
In Hetty's very own Christmas special, where she is twelve years old, she is shown to be treated cruelly at the London foundling hospital on Christmas Day, just as she had opened a lovely, handmade present from a secret loved one. It is destroyed almost instantly. Then, after suffering in the hospital's archaic punishment room, she is taken to have dinner with a rich family, the Rivers, where she experiences for the first time in her life how the privileged in Victorian society live. And how they celebrate Christmas. Classes collide, and old and new friendships are cemented (but not really, as they are not mentioned in the 'Hetty Feather' sequels).
Presents, food, games, families, joining together regardless of class and social standing, what a nice Christmas message. Not exactly charity so much as showing the good yet superficial side, and the bad, critical side, of being privileged above the less fortunate, especially the children. There is a message about forgiveness and giving people a chance to be good too.
The characters are very memorable for such a short story. The author's dislike of fat people sadly shows up once again in the form of the Rivers' classist, snobby, thoughtless, lazy mother. In contrast to the thin and kind father, who has a job that supports his wife and seven children, and their servants and pets. But I am interested in Clover and Rose enough to want to read their own books where they are the leads. They seem like lovely characters, especially the caring and enthusiastic Rose Rivers.
A quick read for the day. A sweet, yet flawed, little Christmas story, with a young, strong, female lead. Among many other strong female characters. Good ideas for presents and party games are included, plus facts about Victorians at Christmas.
Well, that is all. Everybody have a happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc. Or however you choose to spend this holiday of compassion and love and giving to others (which, it should not have to be said, should be an all-year requirement).
Have a very Hetty Christmas, and a Hetty new year.
Take care.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
It's quite fitting that my final review of the year should be of a Christmas book. Right before the special holiday, and not like where I read and reviewed 'The Haunting of Hill House' after Halloween.
Anyway, 'Hetty Feather's Christmas' is okay. I'd read 'Sapphire Battersea' and 'Emerald Star' beforehand, and they are okay as well. Not as exciting or well-written as the first book, in my opinion, but they grow on you (I would read further if I didn't know that, later on, there would be the abominable love triangle and Hetty renouncing independence for a man who wants to own her and who doesn't respect her. Did I dodge a bullet? I think so). They are good, educational historical reads for children.
Hetty herself remains the best feature, a fantastic character and narrator.
In Hetty's very own Christmas special, where she is twelve years old, she is shown to be treated cruelly at the London foundling hospital on Christmas Day, just as she had opened a lovely, handmade present from a secret loved one. It is destroyed almost instantly. Then, after suffering in the hospital's archaic punishment room, she is taken to have dinner with a rich family, the Rivers, where she experiences for the first time in her life how the privileged in Victorian society live. And how they celebrate Christmas. Classes collide, and old and new friendships are cemented (but not really, as they are not mentioned in the 'Hetty Feather' sequels).
Presents, food, games, families, joining together regardless of class and social standing, what a nice Christmas message. Not exactly charity so much as showing the good yet superficial side, and the bad, critical side, of being privileged above the less fortunate, especially the children. There is a message about forgiveness and giving people a chance to be good too.
The characters are very memorable for such a short story. The author's dislike of fat people sadly shows up once again in the form of the Rivers' classist, snobby, thoughtless, lazy mother. In contrast to the thin and kind father, who has a job that supports his wife and seven children, and their servants and pets. But I am interested in Clover and Rose enough to want to read their own books where they are the leads. They seem like lovely characters, especially the caring and enthusiastic Rose Rivers.
A quick read for the day. A sweet, yet flawed, little Christmas story, with a young, strong, female lead. Among many other strong female characters. Good ideas for presents and party games are included, plus facts about Victorians at Christmas.
Well, that is all. Everybody have a happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc. Or however you choose to spend this holiday of compassion and love and giving to others (which, it should not have to be said, should be an all-year requirement).
Have a very Hetty Christmas, and a Hetty new year.
Take care.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Friday, 21 December 2018
Just saw 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse', and it is a lot of awesome fun, unique in quite a few ways. Animation is the best filmmaking style, is it not?
I haven't had a chance to do a lot online leading up to the end of the year. I've been so busy, and fed up with pretty much everything. So effing tired! So much to plan for next year.
I'll catch my break soon, and I will relax. And really feel Christmas.
Remember that you are not alone. People love you.
Happy Christmas.
I haven't had a chance to do a lot online leading up to the end of the year. I've been so busy, and fed up with pretty much everything. So effing tired! So much to plan for next year.
I'll catch my break soon, and I will relax. And really feel Christmas.
Remember that you are not alone. People love you.
Happy Christmas.
Sunday, 16 December 2018
Graphic Novel Review - 'Cucumber Quest: The Flower Kingdom (Cucumber Quest #4)' by Gigi D.G.
2022 EDIT: From my 'Cucumber Quest: The Doughnut Kingdom' review:
I'm clearing out some of my books, and I'm afraid I've decided to give this series away, especially since I've read in the author's blog posts that they won't be finishing 'Cucumber Quest', at least not for a while. No plans seem to have been made yet. No more paperback volumes are being published either. Oh well, 'Cucumber Quest' remains a funny, cute, subversive and heartwarming cartoony webcomic series, but I will no longer be continuing it.
Original Review:
The latest and most divisive of the 'Cucumber Quest' comic volumes. Don't let the title and the pink cover fool you - 'The Flower Kingdom' is certainly the darkest instalment, and the most convoluted in plotting.
I still enjoyed it, and I loved a lot of its character and story developments. But overall its narrative structure and content can get confusing and overwhelming, particularly for a child audience. Some of the great humour is lost at the expense of the tonal whiplash as well.
There's the new minion Rosemaster, the most complex of the lot so far, who is like a darker, more sophisticated Poison Ivy; the return of Lord Cabbage, working various jobs; Peridot is given many, many chances to shine in this volume - and she is becoming my favourite character; Carrot also shines, quite literally, in his brave development as a knight. Sadly Cucumber hardly does anything here.
Next up there's Boltergeist the guardian spirit of doors, who hates door haters; the salad duo become a trio again by picking a random postman for their group; let us not forget the kingdom with two kings who are married!; and Saturday and her butler return in an ending plot twist. Among other features that would take too long to list. There is more than meets the eye, concerning the Nightmare Knight and his minions, is all I'll say.
Like I said, the story is rather complicated.
Was there any real point to the beauty contest, the main plot?
Oh Peridot, she is one of the saving graces in 'The Flower Kingdom'. She interacts with a bunch of characters, is fiercely proactive, and she slowly but surely grows to have feelings for her opponent Almond; even dreaming of their wedding day! The LBGTQ content is strong in this comic - another saving grace. Peridot also bonds with the Nightmare Knight - over baking! and a Magical Girl TV show! (which Almond also loves).
Plus, more of Princess Parfait and the Nightmare Knight being friends (reluctantly on his part), and it is still sweet and beautiful. Siblings Almond and Cucumber share a nice, heartbreaking moment or two together. Cordelia, little that she actually appears in the series, is funny and interesting, and her relationship with Peridot is very adorable and touching, for a master and her minion.
The artwork is stronger and more vibrant than ever. It fits the dramatic story exceedingly well.
I don't know. A dark tone is fine when executed carefully, with the subversion theme. That's not the problem here. But I think the series is just becoming too perplexing. All those subplots and characters. 'The Flower Kingdom' doesn't even contain a bonus issue at the end.
'Cucumber Quest' needs to develop slowly, introducing plot and character elements a bit simpler, in my opinion. I don't think I'll be continuing the series, however; I'm not even sure when the next volume will be published. I'm very picky about what I read, especially graphic novels and their sequels.
Well, that's all folks.
For now.
Final Score: 3.5/5
I'm clearing out some of my books, and I'm afraid I've decided to give this series away, especially since I've read in the author's blog posts that they won't be finishing 'Cucumber Quest', at least not for a while. No plans seem to have been made yet. No more paperback volumes are being published either. Oh well, 'Cucumber Quest' remains a funny, cute, subversive and heartwarming cartoony webcomic series, but I will no longer be continuing it.
Original Review:
The latest and most divisive of the 'Cucumber Quest' comic volumes. Don't let the title and the pink cover fool you - 'The Flower Kingdom' is certainly the darkest instalment, and the most convoluted in plotting.
I still enjoyed it, and I loved a lot of its character and story developments. But overall its narrative structure and content can get confusing and overwhelming, particularly for a child audience. Some of the great humour is lost at the expense of the tonal whiplash as well.
There's the new minion Rosemaster, the most complex of the lot so far, who is like a darker, more sophisticated Poison Ivy; the return of Lord Cabbage, working various jobs; Peridot is given many, many chances to shine in this volume - and she is becoming my favourite character; Carrot also shines, quite literally, in his brave development as a knight. Sadly Cucumber hardly does anything here.
Next up there's Boltergeist the guardian spirit of doors, who hates door haters; the salad duo become a trio again by picking a random postman for their group; let us not forget the kingdom with two kings who are married!; and Saturday and her butler return in an ending plot twist. Among other features that would take too long to list. There is more than meets the eye, concerning the Nightmare Knight and his minions, is all I'll say.
Like I said, the story is rather complicated.
Was there any real point to the beauty contest, the main plot?
Oh Peridot, she is one of the saving graces in 'The Flower Kingdom'. She interacts with a bunch of characters, is fiercely proactive, and she slowly but surely grows to have feelings for her opponent Almond; even dreaming of their wedding day! The LBGTQ content is strong in this comic - another saving grace. Peridot also bonds with the Nightmare Knight - over baking! and a Magical Girl TV show! (which Almond also loves).
Plus, more of Princess Parfait and the Nightmare Knight being friends (reluctantly on his part), and it is still sweet and beautiful. Siblings Almond and Cucumber share a nice, heartbreaking moment or two together. Cordelia, little that she actually appears in the series, is funny and interesting, and her relationship with Peridot is very adorable and touching, for a master and her minion.
The artwork is stronger and more vibrant than ever. It fits the dramatic story exceedingly well.
I don't know. A dark tone is fine when executed carefully, with the subversion theme. That's not the problem here. But I think the series is just becoming too perplexing. All those subplots and characters. 'The Flower Kingdom' doesn't even contain a bonus issue at the end.
'Cucumber Quest' needs to develop slowly, introducing plot and character elements a bit simpler, in my opinion. I don't think I'll be continuing the series, however; I'm not even sure when the next volume will be published. I'm very picky about what I read, especially graphic novels and their sequels.
Well, that's all folks.
For now.
Final Score: 3.5/5
Graphic Novel Review - 'Cucumber Quest: The Melody Kingdom (Cucumber Quest #3)' by Gigi D.G.
2022 EDIT: From my 'Cucumber Quest: The Doughnut Kingdom' review:
I'm clearing out some of my books, and I'm afraid I've decided to give this series away, especially since I've read in the author's blog posts that they won't be finishing 'Cucumber Quest', at least not for a while. No plans seem to have been made yet. No more paperback volumes are being published either. Oh well, 'Cucumber Quest' remains a funny, cute, subversive and heartwarming cartoony webcomic series, but I will no longer be continuing it.
Original Review:
I'm clearing out some of my books, and I'm afraid I've decided to give this series away, especially since I've read in the author's blog posts that they won't be finishing 'Cucumber Quest', at least not for a while. No plans seem to have been made yet. No more paperback volumes are being published either. Oh well, 'Cucumber Quest' remains a funny, cute, subversive and heartwarming cartoony webcomic series, but I will no longer be continuing it.
Original Review:
The best of the 'Cucumber Quest' volumes so far.
I don't know how it all works, it just does. 'The Melody Kingdom' is brilliant. Funny, clever, heartwarming, touching, and loud, silly and over-the-top without being obnoxious. The balance in tone and humour to go along with the storytelling is fantastic. So is the worldbuilding. Much effort and sincerity was put into this series.
There is Princess Piano - cool, regal and shy, but prone to screaming outbursts, and who is also hinted to be on the LBGTQ specter (she's like a music hall-themed Elsa); the mysterious Prince Crescendo, who inflicts on people one of the worst crimes imaginable: kidnapping them and forcing them to perform in his own Gary Stu fanfiction play; and Noisemaster and Mutemaster, the next minions to be defeated - at a concert and a rave!
Bacon the pig is fired from the guard trio and finds his calling as a beloved and talented actor. The return of Cosmo sees his most dangerous and hilarious scheme yet. Then, spontaneously heroic pizza people! Then a bonus issue about the return of the baker women Baguette and Tartelette.
And last but absolutely not least, the best bonding between the Nightmare Knight and Princess Parfait.
Every joke lands and flourishes. All is wonder and unpredictability. In a comic full of great moments, my favourite has to be the strange but lovely side-plot where Parfait and the Nightmare Knight are becoming friends, and not in a Stockholm Syndrome way. The development is well done, and I especially look forward to seeing how the so-called big bad lord of all evil Nightmare Knight will be handled. The parody is moving smoothly towards deconstruction territory now.
Every bond between certain characters, like Cucumber and Almond, and Cordelia and Peridot (and even Almond and Peridot), is sweet. There is an anti-bullying message in here as well.
One of the best lines, when Nautilus is ordering a pizza:
"Well, we're flying into the sun right now - is that going to be a problem?"
Final Score: 5/5
I don't know how it all works, it just does. 'The Melody Kingdom' is brilliant. Funny, clever, heartwarming, touching, and loud, silly and over-the-top without being obnoxious. The balance in tone and humour to go along with the storytelling is fantastic. So is the worldbuilding. Much effort and sincerity was put into this series.
There is Princess Piano - cool, regal and shy, but prone to screaming outbursts, and who is also hinted to be on the LBGTQ specter (she's like a music hall-themed Elsa); the mysterious Prince Crescendo, who inflicts on people one of the worst crimes imaginable: kidnapping them and forcing them to perform in his own Gary Stu fanfiction play; and Noisemaster and Mutemaster, the next minions to be defeated - at a concert and a rave!
Bacon the pig is fired from the guard trio and finds his calling as a beloved and talented actor. The return of Cosmo sees his most dangerous and hilarious scheme yet. Then, spontaneously heroic pizza people! Then a bonus issue about the return of the baker women Baguette and Tartelette.
And last but absolutely not least, the best bonding between the Nightmare Knight and Princess Parfait.
Every joke lands and flourishes. All is wonder and unpredictability. In a comic full of great moments, my favourite has to be the strange but lovely side-plot where Parfait and the Nightmare Knight are becoming friends, and not in a Stockholm Syndrome way. The development is well done, and I especially look forward to seeing how the so-called big bad lord of all evil Nightmare Knight will be handled. The parody is moving smoothly towards deconstruction territory now.
Every bond between certain characters, like Cucumber and Almond, and Cordelia and Peridot (and even Almond and Peridot), is sweet. There is an anti-bullying message in here as well.
One of the best lines, when Nautilus is ordering a pizza:
"Well, we're flying into the sun right now - is that going to be a problem?"
Final Score: 5/5
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