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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
I found another gem in this graphic novel. In this story, the main character finds herself overseas at a new school still grieving the tragic loss of her father to cancer four years earlier. Then she happens to find a dragon egg ... which hatches for her and launches her and her new friends into a fantasy quest that connects all the way back to her father. I will definitely continue with the series and put this book and the sequels onto my classroom shelves.
This was a surprise for me and how much I enjoyed it. It's not that I don't enjoy graphic novels, but they're not my go to. I picked this one up as the artwork was fabulous and the blurb on the back was interesting as well as anything with a historical connection, I'm game for. I didn't put this down! Read it in one sitting!
Grace is the main character and she has lost her father to cancer and about 3 years later, she and her mom and step dad move to Hong Kong. There some fitting in and adjustment to school and new friendships before she meets a woman in a market that gives her an egg... and then the adventure truly begins when the egg cracks open! Grace is reminded of stories her dad used to tell and her and her friends help her to see what's going on.
I'm not saying more as I don't want to give anything away, but I'm very glad this is a series and look forward to Book 2!
Grace is the main character and she has lost her father to cancer and about 3 years later, she and her mom and step dad move to Hong Kong. There some fitting in and adjustment to school and new friendships before she meets a woman in a market that gives her an egg... and then the adventure truly begins when the egg cracks open! Grace is reminded of stories her dad used to tell and her and her friends help her to see what's going on.
I'm not saying more as I don't want to give anything away, but I'm very glad this is a series and look forward to Book 2!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
Only read a few pages, a character has cancer which is a trigger for me
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I started off really liking it, but I felt things went off the rails around the climax.
I really like the world that's set up here, based on some kind of Chinese mythology (see the aforementioned dragons), and it's the kind of world that I'd love to see a rich series spring out from.
The main character's introduction and her backstory were very well done, including the transition from prologue to primary setting.
I _mostly_ enjoyed the interplay between all the main protagonists, although I couldn't really suspend my disbelief at how these high schoolers; privately educated and amazingly talented they may be, could so easily hack into random things, but in general I liked their interplay as high schook kids acting as high school kids in exceptional circumstances.
I really enjoyed the art style and pacing of the urban scenes, the highlight for me were the main characters wandering through the city as the main plot gets set up, because it really immersed me in both the characters and the setting.
Where the story really starts to fall down is at the climax and revelation; the main character up to this point has been forced into a destiny, has a MacGuffin manifesting that destiny which the baddies want, and is now in the big bad's lair (without really knowing who the big bad is) to rescue said macguffin.
At this point two derailments happen:
1. there is a whole exposition, by multiple characters, which comes out of nowhere and introduces way too much backstory; while the larger tension of conflicting groups is fine, there's a whole backstory in various antagonists that sets up backstories and relationships and intentions in an overwhelming way; and even worse, it's multiple people, _multiple unreliable narrators_, infodumping all of this background information on the viewer and protagonist who are already gobsmacked from the small little bits that are actually relevant to them. There was the core of a great protagonist/villian relationship, possibly multiples of them, which wind up being squandered because everything is front-loaded and the story possibly lets them fizzle out instead of giving any sense of long-term tension.
2. At least two climax scenes feature a lot of action, with characters needing to escape from villians or the environment, and yet while this urgency is expressed centrally in sequence panels, the protagonists are just ... chilling, doing things they need to do in stationary ways, while some of them are even highlighting the urgency. The pacing just doesn't work, and characters who were responding with no sense of urgency to impending dangers wind up then very clearly trying to evade said dangers in really whiplash panel transitions, and reverting back to non-urgency again. It's very disorienting.
For me, 2. is something I could live with, but 1. really drops my enthusiasm (in relation to all the other books that need reading) for seeing how this story unfolds because I'm not motivated to see how the protagonists deal with the antagonists. Which is a shame, because there's a lot of good material to work with here. This being said, I really hope that sequels to strengthen this adventure and world, because there really is potential in this series.
I really like the world that's set up here, based on some kind of Chinese mythology (see the aforementioned dragons), and it's the kind of world that I'd love to see a rich series spring out from.
The main character's introduction and her backstory were very well done, including the transition from prologue to primary setting.
I _mostly_ enjoyed the interplay between all the main protagonists, although I couldn't really suspend my disbelief at how these high schoolers; privately educated and amazingly talented they may be, could so easily hack into random things, but in general I liked their interplay as high schook kids acting as high school kids in exceptional circumstances.
I really enjoyed the art style and pacing of the urban scenes, the highlight for me were the main characters wandering through the city as the main plot gets set up, because it really immersed me in both the characters and the setting.
Where the story really starts to fall down is at the climax and revelation; the main character up to this point has been forced into a destiny, has a MacGuffin manifesting that destiny which the baddies want, and is now in the big bad's lair (without really knowing who the big bad is) to rescue said macguffin.
At this point two derailments happen:
1. there is a whole exposition, by multiple characters, which comes out of nowhere and introduces way too much backstory; while the larger tension of conflicting groups is fine, there's a whole backstory in various antagonists that sets up backstories and relationships and intentions in an overwhelming way; and even worse, it's multiple people, _multiple unreliable narrators_, infodumping all of this background information on the viewer and protagonist who are already gobsmacked from the small little bits that are actually relevant to them. There was the core of a great protagonist/villian relationship, possibly multiples of them, which wind up being squandered because everything is front-loaded and the story possibly lets them fizzle out instead of giving any sense of long-term tension.
2. At least two climax scenes feature a lot of action, with characters needing to escape from villians or the environment, and yet while this urgency is expressed centrally in sequence panels, the protagonists are just ... chilling, doing things they need to do in stationary ways, while some of them are even highlighting the urgency. The pacing just doesn't work, and characters who were responding with no sense of urgency to impending dangers wind up then very clearly trying to evade said dangers in really whiplash panel transitions, and reverting back to non-urgency again. It's very disorienting.
For me, 2. is something I could live with, but 1. really drops my enthusiasm (in relation to all the other books that need reading) for seeing how this story unfolds because I'm not motivated to see how the protagonists deal with the antagonists. Which is a shame, because there's a lot of good material to work with here. This being said, I really hope that sequels to strengthen this adventure and world, because there really is potential in this series.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced