Reviews

Super Boba Café by Nidhi Chanani

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awebberly's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

5.0

lawbooks600's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Representation: Asian characters
Score: Six out of ten.

I wanted to read this for a while when I saw it in a library, but someone else got it before I could. I had to go to another library to get this one. I glanced at the blurb, making Super Boba Cafe seem intriguing, and soon enough I picked it up. However, when I closed the final page, it was a unique reading experience.

It starts with the first person I see, Aria, moving to San Francisco from another town for undisclosed reasons. She soon helps her grandmother, Jing, run a bubble tea store, but something felt off the moment I kept reading the pages. It felt like the decisions Jing made hid something of negative implications, but I didn't know yet until the latter half of Super Boba Cafe. I headed in expecting a light-hearted read but instead I got a suspenseful one. It turns out that Jing has to feed a monster living in San Francisco no one knows of except her, and the only way to feed it is to cook a giant boba ball taking nine hours, or else the monster eats Jing instead. The last 100 pages or so revolve around Aria stumbling upon said monster and surviving the encounter, with her and Jing feeding it more boba. When you think about the plot, it sounds repetitive, and the world-building wasn't explained clearly enough. The characters are also only okay, and perhaps a second instalment in the series should clarify everything. At least there's a high note in the end.

taylormadespines's review

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.75

vyvy22's review

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adventurous

3.0

madden_b's review

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3.0

This graphic novel was cute, quirky and entertaining. But it was odd, very odd.

Aria takes a trip to her Grandma’s house across the country, because of a secret we find out later in the story. Her grandma owns a boba shop and the Grandma is hiding something.

There’s boba, monsters, possessed prairie dogs and a grandma that speaks prairie dog.

I am curious to see what the sequel brings, because I don’t know how they could build off of it.

Overall, an interesting read. But pretty unforgettable. It’s a very kiddie graphic novel so I was taking a chance reading it. It did make me feel fuzzy inside so that’s worth something.

3 stars.

ellenkyo's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

destdest's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Of all Chanani's graphic novels, this one is my favorite. A little magical realism, cute animals, and conflict.

Aria's been badly burned with a friend exposing her private pictures to social media (spoiler:

judging by aria's reaction I'm guessing the pictures were suggestive in nature at best or sexting at the worst

. and just wants to unwind with her paternal grandmother, Nainai in San Francisco to get her mind off of things. But Nainai's not at peace either. She's chained to her Boba shop and is forced to cook it daily. Something's not right, and it's going to take the boba of them to find out why!

No, you cannot arrest me for a pun. Moving on ...

Although the book was mostly lighthearted, there are still some minor stakes. Also, the animals friends are very cute here - prairie dogs and kittens.