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sinleyvera's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
5.0
periwinkle_flora's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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? It's complicated
5.0
I loved this book! I enjoyed everything...
- The characters and their wonderful various identities.
- The pop culture/nerdy gamer references.
- The artwork and inner mini comics of the characters.
- The various forms of representation of black women + LGBTQ people/plus size folk (Black Girl Magic, basically!)
There's so much love poured into this book. There's a lot of wonderful representation. The main characters hold space for self-love and there's a lot good messages around acceptance, leaning on others for help, and being yourself. It all felt sweet and lighthearted. Reading this book made me happy + provided so much joy. I can't wait to check out the second book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming and Racism
Minor: Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
thistle_and_verse's review
5.0
I heard about this book online, and for some reason, I thought it was a graphic novel, but it's a book with illustrations and mini-comics inside. The format is almost like a collage or mixed-media piece but in written/ book form. I can tell that the authors and illustrators put a lot of heart into this book. In shows about girl groups, it's common for each girl to fill a trope, but all the characters felt fresh and real. My personal favorites were Marianna and Lonnie. Bree makes a lot of pop culture references, which I got, but I don't think it's too distracting if you didn't. I didn't realize how much I needed to see Black LBT+ women being happy and having friendships with each other. Even the side characters had fuzzy interactions. I loved Rodney and Raye's relationship and their gym. The author also did a great job of escalating the monsters and the conflicts throughout the book. The interpersonal issues she chose to address really resonated with me. I don't really watch much of the magical girl genre, but I still loved this book, and I hope to see more installments of magnifiqueNOIR.
illustrious_illusionist's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
vortacist's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
froggy's review
5.0
This book was August's Sapphic Book Club read hosted by http://sapphicbookclub.tumblr.com/.
I loved this book! The characters were all so fun and the conflicts between them felt very real. I really liked the different ways their families reacted to their powers. The fighting scenes were wonderful, I loved how unique their powers were (exploding cupcakes?? love that) and how they related to their personalities.
The art was very cute and it was nice to have a visual on what the girls looked like!
The one thing I wasn't a fan of (and I think it's more of a me thing then a problem with the book) was the geeky references? I love reading about nerds (Bree was very relatable to me) but reading about real youtubers in a magical girl book pulled me right out of the story.
All in all it was a very fun read! If you like magical girls (which I do. a lot) you should definitely read this, and even if you don't, give it a try!!
skjam's review
3.0
Review to follow.College life can be hard to balance. There’s classes, social life, maybe a part-time (or even full time) job, and of course fighting off monster attacks. Or at least that one applies to gamer girl Bree Williams and her friends in MagnifiqueNoir, a team of black, queer magical girls that defend the city. Now known as Cosmic Green, Bree’s pixelated powers are an essential part of the team’s tactics.
This series is heavily inspired by the “warrior magical girl” tradition started by the Sailor Moon series. Young women in brightly colored costumes, magical jewelry, awesome powers, and vile monsters. That framework has been clothed with the author’s own life experiences and those of the women around her to match their interests.
Bree isn’t the first member of the team. That’s Marianna Jacobs, aka Galactic Purple. A baker by avocation, this plus-size and very responsible young woman was recruited by the mysterious Gold Blaze to be the leader of a new iteration of MagnifiqueNoir when monsters began attacking the city again. She and Bree (who’s more of a “seat of pants” person) have some difficulty getting along when the latter is recruited.
Before the end of the book, the team’s also recruited kickboxer Lonnie Knox, aka Radical Rainbow, and met the enigmatic seamstress Prism Pink, who seems to be on their side.
Good: The girls (and Gold Blaze) have an interesting mix of personalities that keeps the dialogue and character development moving right along. The personality flaws are not too off-putting, and the protagonists try to work on them.
There are full-color illustrations, many in a comic book page format; they greatly enhanced my ability to visualize the characters and provide extra little jokes.
While racism,sexism, and the difficulties faced by black women in American society do come up (particularly with one specific monster), they’re not a primary focus within the text. This is a “black girls are magic” celebration.
Not as good: The geeky references are all “real world” things, despite the unnamed city being clearly fictional, and are going to date this book terribly in a decade or so.
While the book’s slow introduction of each new character certainly allows it time to breathe, I felt it dragging frequently. I also felt that too much of the background premises were left off for the next volume. Where do the monsters come from? Why are they attacking? (It seems random at first, but later attacks are clearly not random.) Why did monsters stop attacking for a couple of decades and then start again recently? Is there an actual enemy behind the monsters or are they spawning due to natural events? What was Gold Blaze doing during the fallow years? All these questions and more are met with shrugged shoulders.
I should note that the book is very well put together for a self-published volume, but the full color and special typography (MagnifiqueNoir is always in a specific font) have driven up the price. If you have a color e-book reader, you may want to purchase the downloadable version instead. The protagonists are in college, but the story feels more aimed at the older end of young adult and should be okay for senior high readers and up.
Recommended primarily to magical girl fans who are looking for something a little different.
This series is heavily inspired by the “warrior magical girl” tradition started by the Sailor Moon series. Young women in brightly colored costumes, magical jewelry, awesome powers, and vile monsters. That framework has been clothed with the author’s own life experiences and those of the women around her to match their interests.
Bree isn’t the first member of the team. That’s Marianna Jacobs, aka Galactic Purple. A baker by avocation, this plus-size and very responsible young woman was recruited by the mysterious Gold Blaze to be the leader of a new iteration of MagnifiqueNoir when monsters began attacking the city again. She and Bree (who’s more of a “seat of pants” person) have some difficulty getting along when the latter is recruited.
Before the end of the book, the team’s also recruited kickboxer Lonnie Knox, aka Radical Rainbow, and met the enigmatic seamstress Prism Pink, who seems to be on their side.
Good: The girls (and Gold Blaze) have an interesting mix of personalities that keeps the dialogue and character development moving right along. The personality flaws are not too off-putting, and the protagonists try to work on them.
There are full-color illustrations, many in a comic book page format; they greatly enhanced my ability to visualize the characters and provide extra little jokes.
While racism,sexism, and the difficulties faced by black women in American society do come up (particularly with one specific monster), they’re not a primary focus within the text. This is a “black girls are magic” celebration.
Not as good: The geeky references are all “real world” things, despite the unnamed city being clearly fictional, and are going to date this book terribly in a decade or so.
While the book’s slow introduction of each new character certainly allows it time to breathe, I felt it dragging frequently. I also felt that too much of the background premises were left off for the next volume. Where do the monsters come from? Why are they attacking? (It seems random at first, but later attacks are clearly not random.) Why did monsters stop attacking for a couple of decades and then start again recently? Is there an actual enemy behind the monsters or are they spawning due to natural events? What was Gold Blaze doing during the fallow years? All these questions and more are met with shrugged shoulders.
I should note that the book is very well put together for a self-published volume, but the full color and special typography (MagnifiqueNoir is always in a specific font) have driven up the price. If you have a color e-book reader, you may want to purchase the downloadable version instead. The protagonists are in college, but the story feels more aimed at the older end of young adult and should be okay for senior high readers and up.
Recommended primarily to magical girl fans who are looking for something a little different.
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