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A review by sabesaw
Cooking with Monsters: The Beginner's Guide to Culinary Combat by Jordan Alsaqa, Vivian Truong
3.5
This was a pretty decent read for me. I love most things cooking related, especially in graphic novel or manga form. So the element of cooking and fighting monsters really appealed to me. I think the artwork went well with the story, I enjoyed her art style and thought the vibrant colors made everything beautiful and the food appetizing. I did have an issue with Chef Graham's present day self not matching is past self at all. I know that you can get smaller as you become elderly, but he was a foot shorter. It just seemed too stark, unrealistic and took me out of the story. Other than that issue I did enjoy the art style.
The writing was nice for the most part. I think the plot and character development were well thought out. The conflict was well written and seemed fitting for the teen age group. I do wish the sections were broken up my explicit and clear cut chapters, but that is a personal preference
With the writing I did have issue with some of the dialogue being clunky and unnatural. The way characters would sometimes talk was hard to read or even think of anyone saying it in that manner, this also took me out of the story. It was one of those "no one would say that" kind of things, and it happened frequently enough that it became a tad annoying.
Even with all of that I did enjoy the book and I could see others enjoying it, especially the target audience. It would be easy to identify with Hana, Bobby, and Olivia.
I do wish..they had actually fully fleshed out the story behind Olivia and her grandfather. I get that Olivia wanted to keep it to herself, but I feel that they audience should have been clued in on what actually happened. It felt like an incomplete part of the story.
The writing was nice for the most part. I think the plot and character development were well thought out. The conflict was well written and seemed fitting for the teen age group. I do wish the sections were broken up my explicit and clear cut chapters, but that is a personal preference
With the writing I did have issue with some of the dialogue being clunky and unnatural. The way characters would sometimes talk was hard to read or even think of anyone saying it in that manner, this also took me out of the story. It was one of those "no one would say that" kind of things, and it happened frequently enough that it became a tad annoying.
Even with all of that I did enjoy the book and I could see others enjoying it, especially the target audience. It would be easy to identify with Hana, Bobby, and Olivia.
I do wish..