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A review by carroq
Hockey Karma by Howard Shapiro
4.0
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the third book in the Forever Friends trilogy (The Stereotypical Freaks and The Hockey Saint are the other two books). The book is a progression from the previous stories and is set about 10 years after The Hockey Saint. It follows two friends, Tom Leonard and hockey player Jake Jacobson.
Jake is near the end of his career and battling with replacement and drug addiction. The creators did a great job of showing how these affected other aspects of his life. While Jake's life is deconstructing, Tom is working on building things up. He starts a relationship with his high school crush and develops plans to improve the community where the book is set. These events unfold over the course of the hockey season, which works nicely to pace the story.
The art is markedly different from the previous books. Mostly this is in the characters, which makes sense because they are a bit older now. I enjoyed it in general. There were a couple panels where the angle of the illustration combined with the character design made it look a little odd. The action shots on the ice are well done.
I think this is an excellent conclusion to the series. Although the characters are older now, it should appeal to teens that might have read the first two books or anyone that enjoys hockey stories.
This is the third book in the Forever Friends trilogy (The Stereotypical Freaks and The Hockey Saint are the other two books). The book is a progression from the previous stories and is set about 10 years after The Hockey Saint. It follows two friends, Tom Leonard and hockey player Jake Jacobson.
Jake is near the end of his career and battling with replacement and drug addiction. The creators did a great job of showing how these affected other aspects of his life. While Jake's life is deconstructing, Tom is working on building things up. He starts a relationship with his high school crush and develops plans to improve the community where the book is set. These events unfold over the course of the hockey season, which works nicely to pace the story.
The art is markedly different from the previous books. Mostly this is in the characters, which makes sense because they are a bit older now. I enjoyed it in general. There were a couple panels where the angle of the illustration combined with the character design made it look a little odd. The action shots on the ice are well done.
I think this is an excellent conclusion to the series. Although the characters are older now, it should appeal to teens that might have read the first two books or anyone that enjoys hockey stories.