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anneklein 's review for:
Verona Comics
by Jennifer Dugan
3.5 stars
As I said in previous updates that I made while reading, the romantic relationship between Ridley and Jubilee happened much too quickly to be believable, and we weren’t shown much of their evolving bond. We were told that they had fallen for each other “behind the scenes” but never shown why they liked each other too specifically. That is why I feel like this story could have worked much better without the romance, as throughout I felt like the two main characters were very very close friends but not much more. If I’m not mistaken, we are only shown one or two moments when they kiss. The rest of romantic stuff happens offstage, and while I get that the Romeo & Juliet retelling would have been less true to its source if there was no romance, I think Verona Comics departs from the original enough to make a platonic friendship between its main characters plausible.
Other than that I really liked the book. It portrayed co-dependent relationships very accurately, and the characters were well-developed. Ridley was a particularly interesting character to read, more so because his mistakes made him a less-than-likable person at times. But he felt very real in doing so, and that was good enough for me. Some of the side characters were not developed enough for me to care. Frankie, Gray and Nikki all felt promising but the book simply had no space for the subplots they hinted at. I would have liked to see a bit more of Vera and Lillian, just like we saw Ridley’s dad.
I think this book could have done with a few more pages. It felt like the author didn’t want the reader to get bored with anything that wasn’t the main plot, which I appreciate - the pace was fast and the writing engaging. However, she showed me characters and plotlines that I wished had appeared again, characters that were so well-sketched they deserved more scenes. You got us hooked, Jennifer, don’t worry, we won’t DNF!
I think this is the direction I would like to see YA take. This is the kind of book we need, one that’s raw and real without sugarcoating or underplaying any of the very painful realities teenagers often go through. Verona Comics is lovely and geeky, but rooted in reality - and this is a very, very good thing.
As I said in previous updates that I made while reading, the romantic relationship between Ridley and Jubilee happened much too quickly to be believable, and we weren’t shown much of their evolving bond. We were told that they had fallen for each other “behind the scenes” but never shown why they liked each other too specifically. That is why I feel like this story could have worked much better without the romance, as throughout I felt like the two main characters were very very close friends but not much more. If I’m not mistaken, we are only shown one or two moments when they kiss. The rest of romantic stuff happens offstage, and while I get that the Romeo & Juliet retelling would have been less true to its source if there was no romance, I think Verona Comics departs from the original enough to make a platonic friendship between its main characters plausible.
Other than that I really liked the book. It portrayed co-dependent relationships very accurately, and the characters were well-developed. Ridley was a particularly interesting character to read, more so because his mistakes made him a less-than-likable person at times. But he felt very real in doing so, and that was good enough for me. Some of the side characters were not developed enough for me to care. Frankie, Gray and Nikki all felt promising but the book simply had no space for the subplots they hinted at. I would have liked to see a bit more of Vera and Lillian, just like we saw Ridley’s dad.
I think this book could have done with a few more pages. It felt like the author didn’t want the reader to get bored with anything that wasn’t the main plot, which I appreciate - the pace was fast and the writing engaging. However, she showed me characters and plotlines that I wished had appeared again, characters that were so well-sketched they deserved more scenes. You got us hooked, Jennifer, don’t worry, we won’t DNF!
I think this is the direction I would like to see YA take. This is the kind of book we need, one that’s raw and real without sugarcoating or underplaying any of the very painful realities teenagers often go through. Verona Comics is lovely and geeky, but rooted in reality - and this is a very, very good thing.