October 2021 Update

Happy Halloween! Put on your witch's hat, vampire bat leggings and black-cat-and-orange-pumpkin jumper (or is that just me when at home on All Hallows Eve?).

It's been one of the better months. I finally got my driving test booked for early next year (considering the waiting list nowadays, I got lucky). Surprisingly, I read and really liked some comics and books: perhaps finally breaking me out of my 2021 reading slump?

Again I watched a lot of films and TV. Here is a list of them:

(Pink is for films I really liked. Purple is for films I loved. Bright Red is for films I absolutely hated.)

Films:

Okko's Inn, Little Manhattan, Chocolat, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Princess Switch, A Christmas Prince, The Knight Before Christmas (don't ask about the last three), Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Paprika, The Little Norse Prince, White Snake, Grave of the Fireflies, Charlie's Angels (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Witch, Mary and the Witch's Flower, Patti Cake$, Nim's Island, Lady in the Water, Carmilla (2020), Ratchet & Clank, Meet the Parents, Girl Most Likely, Welcome To Me, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Fun with Dick and Jane, Love Actually (words will never be able to describe how much I loathe this movie), Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, The Bookshop, Nanny McPhee, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Akira, Miss Potter, Shaun the Sheep Movie, Flushed Away, Tomb Raider, I Kill Giants, The Tale of Despereaux, Last Christmas, Tangerine, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Police Academy, Panic Room, Arrival, and documentaries about Aardman, Marsha P. Johnson, Brené Brown, and US immigration.

As you can see, I haven't had much luck with movies in October, but the few that are worth it, are worth it.

TV:

Batwoman Season 2 - It is very good. The presence of a Black queer Batwoman as the protag is enough to elevate and transcend this series towards the revolutionary. But its stories are good, too, as is its biting social commentary. The acting is superb. It's also the best anti-Bury Your Gays anything I've ever seen. However, as much I liked it, I don't think I'll continue on to season 3. By season 2's ending, I can just tell when it'll go too far for me; when it'll jump the shark and get really ridiculous. I've learned the hard way too many times to quit while you're ahead when watching TV shows. And it's a superhero show at that, so... yeah.

Good Girls Season 1 - It starts off strong and entertaining, but loses me quickly along the way. It might have been better as a movie instead of a long-running TV series. I don't think there's enough material to draw out with this premise to make it last as inexplicably long as it has. And as "feminist" as Good Girls is, it contains some abhorrent male characters who you are still supposed to like and find funny and endearing. Example: an attempted rapist is regulated to a bumbling comic side character. Nuff said. Another thing: anything that contains a character (in this case male) who fakes having cancer in order to manipulate a female character into staying with them, and this is immediately forgiven and forgotten about by everyone once the lie is revealed, is crossing the line for me, and so I happily quit Good Girls.

Maya and the Three - The animation, fight scenes, and voice acting are fantastic. Sadly, this is another show which gets many things right, but just as many things so, so wrong, adding up to a frustrating viewing experience. Some characters, and character arcs, development and relationships, are in fact hardly developed. Like, certain villains are not redeemed so much as they just decide not to be evil one episode later on, and that's that. It feels sudden, poorly earned, with little to no explanations. There're nine episodes, which are 25-40 minutes long; you'd think that'd leave plenty of time for development for characters and their relationships with each other. Also I must make a public announcement, a shout to the rooftops: I really hate the liar-revealed trope, and Maya and the Three has the worst example of this I've ever seen in anything ever, and that's saying a fucking lot. The lie itself, supposedly told by the title character, comes out of nowhere in the middle of the series, and it is so poorly established, and what it even is doesn't matter. It is never mentioned again the episode after it's revealed to the rest of the cast; just the very act of lying is treated like it's the worst thing imaginable committed by the lead. It is that bad. The liar-revealed element is so arbitrary, so clumsily established and executed in the story, that it is never mentioned again after the "forgiveness" episode. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT?! THERE REALLY WAS NO OTHER WAY TO INCITE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE GOOD GUYS BEFORE THE FINAL THREE EPISODES?! Another public announcement: I really, really fucking hate it when a female lead is punished by the narrative for not being 100% perfect all the time. Having her friends and loved ones turn against her for petty and stupid reasons - and her pathetically saying sorry billions of times as a result - is cringey, cruel, horrible, and is simply bad writing. Some writers seem to be afraid of making their female characters Mary Sues (an old, overused, and definitely sexist and too often misinterpreted term now), and so they give them flaws... but then in turn they punish them for having those flaws; for being human. It's a vicious cycle, and rather than combatting sexism and misogyny in the media it only feeds it. STOP HAVING FEMALE CHARACTERS APOLOGISE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! Male heroes are almost never treated so terribly, and are almost always excused and forgiven easily for whatever they do, which will be glossed over. Overall, Maya and the Three, while entertaining and cool for the most part, is like a half-baked version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which it obviously was inspired by. Oh yeah, one more thing: everyone in the show is so aggressively heterosexual. When Netflix has had success with kids' cartoons such as Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power in recent years, there is no excuse. A love triangle is resolved by one person in it dying, too. Easy, and lazy!

Since it's Halloween, I've been watching some of my favourite not-so-scary films for the season (several of which are included here on my Top 20 Halloween Movies list.)

Continue to stay safe and loving and caring, everyone.

Book Review - 'Iron Widow' by Xiran Jay Zhao

Let's see:

What do you get if you mix every mecha anime ever, sci-fi dystopia, 'Pacific Rim', 'The Handmaid's Tale', a pinch of Super Sentai and Pokémon, and Chinese historical elements; specifically its treatment of women, and the rise of Empress Wu?

You get a bit of everything in an epic, thrilling and splendidly written feminist YA sci-fi juggernaut of a book.

You get 'Iron Widow'.

I'd been doubtful about "feminist" books for a while now. However I was drawn to 'Iron Widow' mainly because I wanted to support diverse stories and authors; and in this case the book's Chinese nonbinary author.

Funnily enough, I hadn't heard of Xiran Jay Zhao before reading their debut publication, and I started watching their videos on YouTube during my reading of it. They seem like an awesome, brilliant, funny and well travelled, informed and educated person. It turns out they can write stories just as marvellously. They can create a dystopian world full of mechas, that pays homage to many East Asian properties, historical events, cultures and politics. Among Xiran Jay Zhao's victories - such as 'Iron Widow''s much needed revolutionary feminist agenda, as an original twist - they break the stereotype of the YouTuber making bad content outside of the media platform that made them internet famous. Wider fame isn't unattainable to them, as proven by this bestseller.

But what is the plot of 'Iron Widow'? Well, it is set in Huaxia, a part of the ravaged postapocalyptic world. It is about Wu Zetian, an eighteen-year-old poor frontier girl who willingly signs up to be a concubine-pilot for mechas called Chrysalises - which is almost certain death for girls in a horrifically sexist piloting system that sacrifices them in favour of the "heroic" males they co-pilot with and support through their "minimal" spirit energy and "weak" minds. Zetian only takes part in this to avenge her older sister, a concubine-pilot who was murdered by a famous Chrysalis pilot; one of many in this terrible, dehumanising system that is just a reflection of the patriarchy. It is the patriarchy, as we know it today, nothing extreme or hyperbolic about it.

One way or another, even if it means her death and the deaths of the rest of her family (who are awful people, it must be noted), Zetian, who has suffered and been in pain her entire life, will kill the pilot. And possibly reveal the truth of what girls are really capable of, and topple the lying, deadly patriarchy piece by piece.

In the cautionary tale that is 'Iron Widow', girls' families would either sell them to be concubine-pilots, or to be married off, if the price is right. If they should ever step out of line, they are punished severely, and drowning in a cage in a river is what awaits them if they have premarital sex, or are perceived to have premarital sex. As if that wasn't bad enough, girls' feet will usually be broken and bound by their own family when they are as young as five, crippling them for life, for the sake of keeping their feet tiny and ineffective in running away. Zetian is a victim of this abuse; she doesn't "walk" so much as shuffle and totter.

Girls are disposable and dispensable in this world, seen as weak in every aspect, and only good for breeding. And sacrificing themselves in aid of male pilots in Chrysalises - in the ying-yang cockpit system - so that the men can garner enough spirit to destroy and salvage the shells of the giant monsters bent on destroying humanity, the Hunduns.

I don't know about you, but I'm on the Hunduns' side here. Given the atrocities that humans, usually men, commit both in this book and in real life (that've inspired the events of the book), are we really worth saving? Can we really call ourselves humans? At least the oppressed and marginalised female half of the human race continue to fight to prove that we are not all bad, and that we are strong - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

We are survivors.

We will keep going, keep coming back, no matter what misogynistic men or any "invaders" will do to us, either for profit, "tradition", cynicism, or sick sadistic pleasure.

For indeed, Wu Zetian is far from the only concubine-pilot to be called the Iron Widow. Those before her were merely executed and erased from history and public knowledge. Anything to keep women down, and subservient and powerless.

'Iron Widow' also comments on the evils of capitalism, which goes hand in hand with the patriarchy.

As a testament to its epic-ness in scale in terms of its content and themes, it offers representation of a polygamous relationship, which doesn't become clear until near the end of the book, but its slow building development is warranted in a world that would steadfastly only prefer monogamous partnerships.

Zetian, a defiant, rebellious and snarky girl with a warrior's spirit and raging fire in her soul, loves Gao Yizhi, one of the twenty-something sons of a rich, megalomaniacal head of a monolithic corporation. Due to class divides their relationship is forbidden, but that's not going to stop them, and Yizhi is a genuine sweetheart and cinnamon bun despite being rich, so he's worth it. But Zetian - and Yizhi, too - also surprisingly grow to love Li Shimin, aka the Iron Demon, the most powerful Chrysalis pilot in Huaxia. Shimin was convicted of murdering his family (as well as, later, the dozens of girls he had piloted with, drained and overwhelmed, but of course the men in charge of everything don't care about that), and is only kept alive because of his high spirit level (which is the 'Dragonball Z'-like element of the story). Shimin is a very tragic figure; it turns out he is not the heartless, animalistic monster he is reputed to be. Furthermore he is far from the stereotypical bad boy. He is, in fact, a scholar from a poor background, and he wears glasses when he's not piloting. He is as much a tool of the Chrysalis piloting system, and thus a victim of the patriarchy, as Zetian and every other female character. His alcohol addiction is treated seriously and meticulously, and is also the result of the men in power controlling everyone's lives, who are the true monsters in 'Iron Widow'.

Zetian, Yizhi and Shimin are the bisexual power trio (Zetian mentions once that female bodies fascinate her) that this corrupt, toxic world needs. They love each other, and they will show no mercy to anyone who gets in their way of maybe, just maybe, saving their world from the patriarchy.

Additionally, I love the mention of the triangle being the strongest shape, and the ying-yang butterfly and what it symbolises: gender is a manmade concept, and people of both, more or no genders and sexes exist.

Unfortunately, as exciting, shocking, tragic and triumphant 'Iron Widow' is, it is not perfect. Slight spoiler here: Zetian achieves what she originally sets out to do early on in the story, leaving the rest of the narrative without much plot, beyond a vaguely established overarching, impending Hundun counterattack further on from Huaxia. Plus the possible awakening of a legendary Chrysalis pilot and emperor, who's said to be literally put on ice for over two hundred years. A few cool mecha battles happen, in between character interactions, development, and Zetian being a calculating survivor in a media-drenched society obsessed with labelling her and putting her in her place, despite her polarising status and fame as the feral, bloodthirsty Iron Widow (one theory is that she is possessed by a fox spirit, a vixen, because any woman who isn't soft, docile and subservient to men must be possessed, right?). These things are not bad in of themselves, but some more urgency and a solid plot could have fixed any lagging issues.

Zetian, while everything about her, from her self-awareness, anecdotes, verbal castrations, to her high fighting spirit in a Chrysalis, is created to be explicitly feminist and progressive - made to be a towering icon - she does need to be rescued by men a few times in the book. She even laments how helpless she is in her crippled physical state - as a Chrysalis she is big and free and no longer in pain - and so she has no choice but to rely on the help of men who have more power than her. Though at least the men who legitimately help her, Shimin and Yizhi, do love and care for her as a person, not an object or a tool, and there is no shame in needing assistance and support.

Zetian doesn't technically, in full-framed context, make any female friends and companions, but that might change at the very end of the book. Not all women are made invisible and small in 'Iron Widow', so...

And I must add: Zetian, uncharacteristically, is ridiculously trusting in the existence of gods who nobody has ever seen - gods who apparently require offerings of Hundun carcasses and shells in exchange for spirit energy, among other indulgences. Including girls. Poor, innocent girls who like concubine-pilots and wives, are lambs to the slaughter. This sure isn't suspicious! Why, for someone who sees right though her society's systematic misogyny and the bullshit reasonings for it, does Zetian never question anything about this aspect in her way of life?

Despite her shortcomings, I would be remiss not to notice, appreciate, admire and find refreshing Zetian's ruthlessness and drive to be on top no matter what. She is not above killing, and even torturing, people to achieve her goals, not just for her own sake but for the sake of every girl doomed to a horrible, inhumane life - to be stepped on and kicked like dirt, thrown out like used bath water, and treated like cattle and batteries - because they were assigned female at birth. And for the sake of the boys she loves. A huge fuck-you to slut shaming and the concept of "pure, virginal girls" is another thing she embodies.

Zetian uses brute force in revenge, and when it's necessary to attaining a fair, peaceful, good society. In her own words, she doesn't need a redemption arc; it's the rest of the world that's broken and needs redeeming. As a consequence, some men are too dangerous to be kept alive.

Never underestimate her. She is deadly. She is glorious.

Wu Zetian is an empress.

Except no, she isn't. Not yet. Her story is not over. There is a sequel coming out next year, following up on that whammy of a cliffhanger. It is practically impossible not to desperately want to know what will happen next, so yes, I can't wait for the second book.

I adore the Zetian-Shimin-Yizhi bisexual polygamous triangle, individually and as a team, and the book can be funny, as well. The tiny little part where Yizhi yells out, "You can't shoot me, I'm rich!" to get past guards, and it works - absolutely fucking priceless. Social commentary at its finest.

I think I've written enough. Go read 'Iron Widow' right this second. It is a revolution. Starting now.

Also a massive thanks to the author for getting me out of my reading slump this year.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Zatanna and the House of Secrets' by Matthew Cody (Writer), Yoshi Yoshitani (Artist)

Before 'House of Secrets', I never liked any comic with Zatanna in it (and not much else with her in it, I realise).

She's been around since 1964, and my knowledge of and exposure to her stories, plus stories that include her as a side character (or even less, which I find happens too often with her), is admittedly limited. However, practically all that I have found has either failed to impress me, or has just made me feel uncomfortable, creeped out, or thoroughly disgusted. I mean seriously, how many people's memories and minds has Zatanna violated and effed up over the years? And what about her own memories? How much of her mind is her own? How much of any DC character's mind is their own, thanks to her? No wonder she's the top subject of others' trust issues in the DCU! She's barely a hero, not only because of her incompetence (or plain underutilisation) but the frankly monstrous acts she pulls on her own friends and colleagues.

Zatanna gets sidelined far too frequently in the DC universe, to boot. She is constantly being controlled, manipulated, fridged and saved by men, most notably her father, Zatara, an abusive arse she inexplicable idolises so deeply. Her whole existence revolves around Zatara and Batman, it seems.

Which is a shame, because I adore witches and magical girls, and Zatanna is a female stage magician whose magic is legit and is extremely powerful - powerful enough to control the elements, fly, teleport, heal, manipulate minds, manipulate time, defeat demonic forces, detain and contain dimensions and multiverses, and beat anything in the cosmos. Really, she can do literally anything, by just saying it backwards as a spell. She should be a superheroine on the level of Wonder Woman. She should be as popular and as recognisable as Wonder Woman.

Too bad men keep being hired to write her.

Well, thanks to DC's recent line of graphic novels for juniors and teens, made to refresh and reintroduce many of their superheroes and antiheroes to contemporary times, Zatanna receives another chance in the spotlight in 'Zatanna and the House of Secrets'. Yes, again it is authored by a man, Matthew Cody, but it's a good story about her, where she's a real character who's given real development, culminating in her shining as her own independent hero. Surrounding that is a very cute, funny and magical kids' comic, straight out of something from Cartoon Network.

Long story short: Zatanna is the thirteen-year-old daughter of a magician, Zatara. She's an outcast at school, of course, and she wonders if hanging out with other misfits is worth the scorn and teasing of the popular kids (mostly boys); if being true to herself and her friends is worth "missing out" on the cool things in school and life, like parties.

Unbeknownst to her, Zatanna's home is a dormant house full of magic and secrets, allegedly dating back to the beginning of time, and is the First house; and her dad's magic is real, no tricks. When he disappears with a villainous intruder, the Witch Queen, Zatanna must discover her own innate magical abilities in order to find him, and save her house and her family.

Dealing with goblins is the very least of it as she explores the topsy-turvy, labyrinthine puzzle that is the House of Secrets, containing ancient, magical creatures and traps. And doors.

There's a little more to it than that, but that's the hocus-pocus, abracadabra gist of it. There's also a talking rabbit, a witch's cat (who, bizarrely, doesn't talk), a sphinx made entirely of book pages in a library, and Klarion the Witch Boy (who may or may not be a romantic interest for Zatanna in the long run - what? What is that about? Why put that possibility here? Why?).

In 'House of Secrets', Zatanna is a temperamental, dynamic and determined young girl. She's funny, too. Her whole arc and development is ultimately about teaching girls that they are special, that they are stronger, braver, and more powerful than they think. That they are meant for greatness - meant to achieve it - even if they don't know it or believe it yet.

Zatanna has both a male friend and a female friend in her ordinary life, and while she looks up to and relies on her father initially, he is the damsel in distress in this story, and she is the one to rescue him, with the help of her not-so-deceased mother towards the end...

There is a lot of diverse representation in the comic. However, it is not perfect. Zatanna's dead mother is typically blonde, blue-eyed, saintly and angelic (in fact, she looks a lot like the Blue Fairy from Disney's 'Pinocchio'). The villain, the Witch Queen, on the other side of the mum coin (she's Klarion's mother), is a demonic, black-eyed, black-haired, greedy and just-too-ambitious woman with power. She's already a magic queen and is powerful enough, yet she wants the House of Secrets because... I don't know, she simply wants everything? Power corrupts? But at least she can be viewed as cool and OTT entertaining. Zatanna's companions on her quest are male, apart from the nontalking cat.

STILL. 'Zatanna and the House of Secrets' is fun, joyful, touching, inspiring, and (mostly) wholesome. I adore the colourful and cartoony art. It is what a kids' comic about magic, spells and conjuring should be. It is how Zatanna, and her origins and early magician days, should be. As the Mistress of Magic, the Sorceress Supreme, and an otherwise normal girl.

Once again a modern comic revamps and redeems a heroine who's been underused, underrepresented, underestimated, ignored, fridged, badly treated by men both in and out of her fictional universe, and whose potential has been wasted for the majority of her history.

TNECSERC SIMETRA, TUO GNINGIS.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'Wonderful Women of the World' by Laurie Halse Anderson (Editor), Various

Utterly fantastic.

Thank you, Laurie Halse Anderson, for your own great backstory; as well as those of Serena and Venus Williams, Danielle Paige, Teara Fraser, Malala Yousafzai, Leiomy Maldonado, Brené Brown, Beyoncé Knowles, Mari Copeny, Mariana Costa Checa, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Greta Thunberg, Edith Windsor, Khatijah Mohamad Yusoff, Francisca Nneka Okeke, Judith Heumann, Márcia Barbosa, Ellen Ochoa, Naomi Watanabe, Marsha P. Johnson, and Keiko Agena (as well as Sarah Kuhn!). All their stories are told in comic book form. There is also Alice Marble, Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King, Sally Ride, Jenette Kahn, Mary Seacole, Wilma Mankiller, Ada Lovelace, Kathryn Sullivan, Mae Jemison, Eileen Collins, Kalpana Chawla, Peggy Whitson, Christina Koch, and Jessica Meir (plus Brittney Williams! Seriously, read more about her she's amazing!).

All these wonderful women, from the past and the present, are sorely needed, for they each represent strength, compassion, justice, truth, and equality. They must be heard of and recognised for their achievements, their positive impact on the world. In them, and thousands and thousands of other women, we see what women are truly capable of - they can and will make the world a better, smarter, cleverer, more unified and fair and loving and empathic and beautiful place. They fight for what is right; progress is inevitable, nothing can stop them, and it is futile and stupid to try.

They are each Wonder Woman, in their own way.

They are the Wonder Women of the world. And we can be Wonder Women, too.


'A girl with a hero can do anything'

'LEARN

BUILD

DREAM'


An inspiring showstopper of a comic anthology.

Final Score: 5/5

Book Review - 'When Marnie Was There' by Joan G. Robinson

2023 REREAD: I was surprised by the shocking number of typos in this classic novel. But 'When Marnie Was There' is such a lovely and emotional story, that will touch and resonate with so many people throughout generations, that I can't care about those details. It's original, heartwarming, haunting, and sweet. It is a great holiday read, too.

Final Score: 3.5/5





Original Review:



I love the Studio Ghibli film (and I'd recently been binging Ghibli films), so I had to look into the original source material - a British children's classic.

I think I might love 'When Marnie Was There' with all my heart. I'm surprised I'd never heard of the book before the anime film adaptation. It is a criminally underrated gem from the sixties. It is about childhood and memories; isolation and how often loneliness is misunderstood (especially in children); being on the "inside" and the "outside" of society, and how "outsiders", or "misfits", can feel like they were born defective somehow; depression and the need for loving support from friends and family (found families - blood relations don't matter so much - another important message for the youth!); and finding belonging in the most unexpected places.

I love the English countryside setting, as well. I want to visit Little Overton, in Norfolk; and this staithe, this creek, this marsh, this beach, and these sand dunes, reeds, grasses, and tide pools. And The Marsh House, which is a character in its own right. It is like an old, old, mysterious friend.

The big, ancient house is beautiful and enticing. It's like a ghost.

It's like Marnie. Little, pretty, playful, rich Marnie; she in the white nightie, and with a deeply troubled home life.

The girl and the house, lost and lonely souls like our protagonist Anna, are connected. Less in spirit and more in memory...

On noting the setting, I don't think I've ever even seen sea lavender!

I'd even like to visit the creepy windmill!

The lovely story portrays childhood alienation and depression so well. I think many children, and many adults, including myself, can relate to the turmoil - and imagination emerged out of loneliness - of young Anna.

Anna isn't made to feel like she is normal, or is doing things right, or that she even matters to the people around her that much. This concern about being unwanted stems from her being an adopted foster child, as well as her perceived apathy, gloominess, and "ordinary face". Often, adults and children on the "inside" do not understand Anna, and why she is the way she is, which could have more to do with external reasons than internal ones. They may not want to try hard enough to recognise her suffering, let alone genuinely help her. It's a testament to how the majority of people living in a climate of capitalism, and forced happiness, contentment, complicity and denial, don't know how depression - example: emptiness, thinking about and doing nothing - actually works.

With the right people - real people, not just mysterious figments and phantoms - around Anna, who will love her for who she is, care for her, and understand what will make her happy, she can shake out of her sullen, moody shell, and embrace that love, that sunshine, that acceptance.

As with everything in life, friendships are not permanent. They can be as fleeting and retreating as the tides. But there is always a brightness, a warmth, at the end of every dark, sobbing, uncertain and vague tunnel.

Sorry for this haphazard review that cannot possibly do this novel justice. It's only me and my own stream-of-consciousness thoughts, meant to reflect the dreamlike, ethereal, whimsical and introspective content in 'Marnie'.

'When Marnie Was There' is just a beautiful, sweet, haunting story, all around. Almost magical, yet so personal. Sad yet hopeful. Fateful and faithful. It's original and transcendent in its storytelling, that can be enjoyed, appreciated and understood by readers of all ages.

The characters are also unforgettable.

What an experience.

Final Score: 4/5

Graphic Novel Review - 'The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow (The Okay Witch, #2)' by Emma Steinkellner

"I don't bother you, why do you bother me?"

The sequel to the far-transcending-okay 'The Okay Witch' graphic novel does not disappoint. It does not underwhelm. It is just as brilliant as the first instalment, if not more so.

'The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow' is all about bullying at school, and all the feelings that come from such a hard and traumatising time in a kid's life. And it contains the genuine, understanding words of wisdom needed in order to help overcome it all; the pain, the suffering, the isolation, the aggravations, the frustrations. This is especially true for an outcast and "weird" kid (which applies to everyone, really, and this is normal and they should be proud of it!).

To any child who is perceived as "different" - due to race, ethnicity, background, gender, disability, health issues, sexuality, weight, height, clothes, hair colour, literally anything because bullies are sad human beings - going to school every day is a nightmare and a minefield. Because they are "different" and therefore bad, they are made to feel lesser by their peers; to feel like there is something wrong with them; that they don't belong; that they don't matter; that they're not enough; that they can be made invisible, and be ignored, laughed at, harassed, ostracised, and abused, with no consequences for the privileged bully, and every baggage put on the victim.

This is the message that society at large sends to the youth, unintentional or not, unconscious or not: If you are a victim, an outsider, and a misfit, you should hate yourself for being who you are. You need to change, because there is oh-so-definitely a "better" version of yourself that you can be, if you just try hard enough to achieve it. Conform, put on that mask, and suppress the real you, because no one likes the real you.

In school - in life - being liked by everyone, pleasing everyone, setting yourself up by whoever's standards, is the most important thing.

Except that no. This is a lie. A scam. "Weirdos" can't achieve in being a "better" and therefore popular person, no matter what they do. Because the system is rigged. Because the people who actually need to change for the better often refuse to, and will not give any "lesser" and "inferior" person a chance to reach their level. Either way, the weirdo loses, doomed from the start, and they are never happy.

Bullies live to put others down in order to make themselves feel superior, and achieve a false sense of high self-esteem. The responsibility should not be placed on their victims - that is complicity in abuse, and can be dangerous and even deadly. The sooner the perpetrators are made accountable for their actions, that's when the real "better" begins.

Also, many, many kids in middle school and high school are monstrous spawns of evil. It's best that they learn early on that the horrible things they get up to are not, in fact, okay. Otherwise, well, you know what will happen once they grow up and get involved in politics.

Bullying is a subject in life that I am all too familiar with. And I think that 'The Okay Witch and the Hungry Shadow' pulls it off very well. Emma Steinkellner clearly knows a lot about this topic, as well.

Basically, the plot is as follows: Eighth grader and secret witch Moth Hush is starting a new school year. Already an outcast for being a POC in a mostly white school, and for being "plain" and "unfashionable", things escalate terribly when she is mocked and made into a humiliating meme on the first day. Her only friend in this hellhole is Charlie, and not many kids are sympathetic towards her. The popular girls in her year pity her at best, and remain silent as she is being bullied. To make matters worse, her mother Calendula starts dating one of her dorky teachers, who is a target of constant ridicule by the students.

Moth can't ignore the incessant harassment and pretend that it doesn't bother her, and she shouldn't have to. To add further realism, the teachers are woefully useless at dealing with bullies.

Convinced that she should change so that her life will be easier and she will be cool and confident like every other kid in school appears to be, out of hurt and desperation, Moth steals an ancient magical pendant from her grandmother's altar of history in the witch realm, Hecate. She activates the charm, and uses it to turn into her "best" self. No longer awkward and shy, she becomes bold, daring, self-assured, loud, proud, spontaneous, and popular in school, turning the tables on her bullies.

But of course this is a Monkey's Paw situation, and darkness and danger lurk in that pendant. Will Moth end up losing herself, forever?

Charlie's three-hundred-year-old ancestor from Hecate, Peter, who is in a teenager's body, also tags along on this adventure.

Moth's fat, gay, talking black cat Lazlo remains an awesome cutie.

There is as much hope in this story as there is in the first graphic novel. It is life-affirming to anyone who is being bullied, with seemingly no end to the suffering in sight.

Moth, the witch in training, the poor schoolgirl, is a sweetheart. Moving aside the magic in her life, she is a realistic thirteen-year-old girl. She is so relatable. It is impossible for anyone with a soul to not feel for her in every moment of the story, negative or positive, unfantastic or magical, mundane or dangerous. She is a flawed young human, still learning, still growing, and that's more than okay. Moth is more confident than she thinks she is; she is a natural, no personality-changing spell required. She certainly does not need to change herself, as she's wonderful as she is. And who wouldn't want to be a witch?!

It is never good to make someone who is obviously a victim feel like they should change. No, they are never to blame. They are never responsible for being bullied - the ones doing the bullying are responsible. Marginalised people should love and respect themselves, even if other people do not, especially if other people do not, since the worst people on the top of the privileged food chain of society count on the misery and self-loathing of their enemies. The ostracised should be made aware that there are people out there - their family and friends (it doesn't matter how many they have) - who love them for who they are, and who support them. It is society that needs to change, that needs to accept them.

Plus, for all that, the book is so charming and cute! The moral concerning bullying fits naturally into the story, and serves the characters and their development. It is a lovable joy for all ages.

I love, too, that there is no romance or love triangle happening with Moth. None whatsoever. She and Charlie (and Peter!) are platonic friends, and that's that. The story never feels cheap, clichéd, forced or contrived. It doesn't fall into any tropey traps, like a cliffhanger, or hints of foreshadowing contained in a cliffhanger, nor does it pull any predictable tricks and twists. It's too good for all that arbitrary rubbish.

The 'Bewitched' TV show parody that Lazlo watches is an extra nice, funny touch. He is freaking adorable and huggable.

Go read this important piece of witchy fiction now! 'The Okay Witch' is coming-of-age at its finest. It simply must be adapted into a cartoon series.

For more, click the link to my review of the first 'The Okay Witch' graphic novel here.

Final Score: 5/5

Book Review - 'Six Crimson Cranes' by Elizabeth Lim

DNF.

I think I've read enough. And skimmed enough.

I'm sorry, but I was very bored while reading 'Six Crimson Cranes'. It is exactly like most YA fantasy books (high fantasy or other) that I've ever read before, and tried to read before.

Practically all the clichés and tropes are here. The super special young heroine (who is also a spoiled princess who learns humility, hard work and responsibility by being banished and having her privileges stripped) with rare magical powers is the least of them. The characters are unlikeable and horrid; not to mention wildly inconsistent, like the writing is sometimes. Most of the females are either villainous or idiotic, while the males are heroic, smart, worldly, and who actually help move the plot along. Antagonism and distrust are present everywhere, but they are especially prominent between the women and girls, who are obstacles to be overcome. I just didn't care about any of these stock archetypes I've read about a thousand times before.

Despite this being a 2021 female-led YA novel, there is still a damn love triangle - between the heroine Shiori, an arranged-marriage-prince-who-turns-out-to-be-a-good-guy (arranged marriages are a good thing, kids!), and an incredibly dangerous, shady, scheming, manipulative, pretentious, smarmy, condescending, very-possibly-a-murderer, arsehole dragon boy. He's a dragon prince whom Shiori literally has no reason to trust, much less spend time with, but the moody, inconsistent, childish "strong female character" does so anyway because the plot needs her to.

'Six Crimson Cranes' is also far too long at 454 pages, in my opinion. The worldbuilding, full of gods and demons and forbidden magic and banishments and borders, could have been more fleshed out, as well. Occasionally, the way the story is structured and paced can come across as confused, erratic, irregular and careless.

There is no LBGTQ content, as far as I could spot.

To be fair, it might be that I've misunderstood a lot of the book through skimming. However, I know enough about its plot progressions, convolutions, clichés and twists to be annoyed at them. Besides, if the first hundred pages didn't impress me and keep me interested enough to read further, then it is likely I wouldn't have cared about the rest of the book if read more properly. I am not obliged to make myself finish something I'm not enjoying. No one is forcing me to, and I am not wasting my time and energy over it.

And while I praise the Asian-inspired setting and culture, I never cared for the Grimm's fairy tale that it is based on, so that might have been an extra factor in my indifference to 'Six Crimson Cranes'.

It's such a shame, too, because the UK cover is breathtakingly gorgeous - it's the main reason I wanted to buy it. I wish there had been something special within its pages; something as akin to treasure inside the book as its beautiful chest. I wish I'd trusted my instincts and didn't waste my money. It turned out to be yet another sloppy, been-there-done-that book. I should have known, and not be fooled by the cover.

In the interest of fairness, I won't rate 'Six Crimson Cranes'. But I'm done.