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acedimski's reviews
373 reviews
The Heartstopper Yearbook by Alice Oseman
4.0
Oh finally it's here: <i>The Heartstopper Yearbook</i>
My love for the <i>Heartstopper</i> books is endless, and I can't wait for the next volume as well as the next season on Netflix. The sugar rush and the serotonin I got reading these books (and watching and rewatching the show) is incomparable! Every type of content revolving around these characters just makes me happy - as did this companion book.
In general, <i>The Heartstopper Yearbook</i> offers character profiles, a couple mini comics, lots of artworks and a nice story of the development of the comics (from when Alice first drew them to where we are now). It's a nice book to flip-through, read some background information on characters, or just simply to admire the art. To me personally, it didn't offer much new aside from the Tara/Darcy mini-comic. I loved the quiz (according to which I'm a Charlie), the insights and the chapters such as "How to Draw Heartstopper" or the ones dedicated to seasons. However, my favorite aspects of this book is probably the Alice sharing the creative process of developing these characters over the course of seven years. Seeing Alice's intital sketches, and how their art changed during all this time (as well as the edited comic-book-pages) with the little notes was so fascinating and interesting, I wouldn't have minded to see more of it.
Overall, this book is a nice addition to the collection. I love the colored illustrations and artworks, and it's a fun book to read, and then to return to it to flip-through. However, if you don't find yourself too obsessed with the gang or were expecting a bit more details or more new content, then maybe flip through the book at the bookstore first, and decide for yourself if you want it.
My love for the <i>Heartstopper</i> books is endless, and I can't wait for the next volume as well as the next season on Netflix. The sugar rush and the serotonin I got reading these books (and watching and rewatching the show) is incomparable! Every type of content revolving around these characters just makes me happy - as did this companion book.
In general, <i>The Heartstopper Yearbook</i> offers character profiles, a couple mini comics, lots of artworks and a nice story of the development of the comics (from when Alice first drew them to where we are now). It's a nice book to flip-through, read some background information on characters, or just simply to admire the art. To me personally, it didn't offer much new aside from the Tara/Darcy mini-comic. I loved the quiz (according to which I'm a Charlie), the insights and the chapters such as "How to Draw Heartstopper" or the ones dedicated to seasons. However, my favorite aspects of this book is probably the Alice sharing the creative process of developing these characters over the course of seven years. Seeing Alice's intital sketches, and how their art changed during all this time (as well as the edited comic-book-pages) with the little notes was so fascinating and interesting, I wouldn't have minded to see more of it.
Overall, this book is a nice addition to the collection. I love the colored illustrations and artworks, and it's a fun book to read, and then to return to it to flip-through. However, if you don't find yourself too obsessed with the gang or were expecting a bit more details or more new content, then maybe flip through the book at the bookstore first, and decide for yourself if you want it.
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5
Is this book everything it promises? Yes. Should this book immediately go on your nightstand? Absolutely. Will you devour it, and impatiently wait for the sequel? There‘s no doubt in it.
<i>Belladonna</i> by Adalyn Grace is the perfect book for anyone who wants a moody read for this season, involving a murder mystery, a haunted house, poison and Death himself! Wrap yourself up in a blanket, and enjoy a cup of tea while you join Signa as she is trying to solve the mystery, save her cousin from Death while she herself is becoming <i>very</i> attracted to Death. And yes, <i>phantom hands</i> are involved.
To say I was surprised about how much I enjoyed this book would have been a lie. In fact, I‘m relieved this story offered me just what I was looking for. Recently, it had been rather a battle to find a good YA fantasy that kept me up all night. Even more so I‘m delighted that <i>Belladonna</i> kept its promises and delivered everything my soul was seeking. The gothic setting was perfect for this season. The cast of characters was intriguing and very well developed. And the romance was just <i>incredible</i>. This story definitely belongs to those that you want to binge after a certain plotpoint, and that will keep you up all night guessing and all.
However, there was something missing for me to be screaming out loud „PERFECTION“, and I‘m very sure that it is a case of „It‘s not you, it‘s me“. For one, due to me reading this book quickly, I barely allowed myself to join the whodunit mystery and make up my own theories which led to me becoming slightly less interested in the mystery itself. And second, I would have wished to be tortured a bit more with the tension between Signa and Death. (As painful it might be, it is also wonderful to be screaming „Just kiss already“ every second chapter) Those things, though, I only view as minor issues that could entirely be blamed on my quick reading pace, and therefore, nothing stops me from telling you that you should pick up this book.
<i>Belladonna</i> by Adalyn Grace is the perfect book for anyone who wants a moody read for this season, involving a murder mystery, a haunted house, poison and Death himself! Wrap yourself up in a blanket, and enjoy a cup of tea while you join Signa as she is trying to solve the mystery, save her cousin from Death while she herself is becoming <i>very</i> attracted to Death. And yes, <i>phantom hands</i> are involved.
To say I was surprised about how much I enjoyed this book would have been a lie. In fact, I‘m relieved this story offered me just what I was looking for. Recently, it had been rather a battle to find a good YA fantasy that kept me up all night. Even more so I‘m delighted that <i>Belladonna</i> kept its promises and delivered everything my soul was seeking. The gothic setting was perfect for this season. The cast of characters was intriguing and very well developed. And the romance was just <i>incredible</i>. This story definitely belongs to those that you want to binge after a certain plotpoint, and that will keep you up all night guessing and all.
However, there was something missing for me to be screaming out loud „PERFECTION“, and I‘m very sure that it is a case of „It‘s not you, it‘s me“. For one, due to me reading this book quickly, I barely allowed myself to join the whodunit mystery and make up my own theories which led to me becoming slightly less interested in the mystery itself. And second, I would have wished to be tortured a bit more with the tension between Signa and Death. (As painful it might be, it is also wonderful to be screaming „Just kiss already“ every second chapter) Those things, though, I only view as minor issues that could entirely be blamed on my quick reading pace, and therefore, nothing stops me from telling you that you should pick up this book.
Kingdom of the Feared by Kerri Maniscalco
2.5
<i>Since this is the third book of a series, don‘t read this review before reading the previous two books. While it remains spoiler-free for book three, I am adressing plot points of the previous books.</i>
Ever since I devoured <i>Kingdom of the Cursed</i>, the second book of the trilogy, I've been impatiently waiting for this installement and all the wickedness it promised. I mean after <i>that</i> ending of the previous book? It‘s a mystery how I stayed alive this long. So once I had the third book in my hand, I felt like the world could stop because I had everything I needed right there. It also couldn't have come out at a better timing, because I was feeling a reading slump creeping up on me, and I knew <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> would prevent that. Or so I thought.
Because the truth is, <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> turned out to be a massive disappointment, and became the reason of me getting into a reading slump.
The story picks up right where the last book left off, and the tension between Wrath and Emilia was carefully built further - to my delight. I was screaming, spamming friends with texts, and enjoying every bit of the first third of the book. In fact, I was devouring every scene that occured between Wrath and Emilia just as much as I was enjoying all the interactions between her and the other characters. After the reveal of the second book, I was also very curious to see the development of the relationship between Emilia and Vittoria, and eager to find out all the truth behind her faked murder. However, this is where the story started to lose me.
Every reveal and explanation revolving the major plot points in the previous books such as Vittoria‘s death, the truth about Emilia‘s powers, the curse of Wrath, and the whole history of the Wicked and Feared felt like they were pulled out of nowhere. Now, this could partially be blamed on me not remembering every single detail from the previous books (after all, it‘s been a year since I‘ve read KotC and two since I‘ve read KotW), but I don‘t really believe I was expected to do a reread before going in this installement. In fact, I don‘t even believe it would‘ve changed anything about it because I simply didn‘t like any of the reveals and explanations. After all that investigating, after all that talk about how the demons are prevented of speaking, too many reveals just seemed to be dropped in Emilia‘s lap in a matter of „Hey, this is what you are. This is what this is. And this is our problem.“ I didn‘t feel like Emilia was really doing lots of work in figuring out everything. She just found out, and moved to the next problem. Most of the issues were resolved pretty quickly, and the solutions came in pretty easily. I stopped really caring about Emilia‘s journey, and the fact that her whole character development was more told than shown, made me tire of her as a character pretty quickly. If you play around with the memory loss trope, then I expect some work to go into retrieving those. But we didn‘t get any of that. One second, nothing made sense, the next we were to trust that Emilia knew of everything. There was no conflict the characters saved which made me root for them, nor was there any moment where I was able to reflect on their struggles and feel for them.
Even Wrath's and Emilia's relationship became less intriguing. After all that build up between them in the previous book, this book discarded that energy rather quickly. For the most part, Wrath didn't even play a significant role in the plot. And whenever we did get a scene or two between them, it was mostly reduced to sex. And let me tell you, I'm not opposed to that. Gimme all the smut you can. But if that's the only thing that connects a pairing, you'll find me quickly tiring of them.
In retrospective, the plot was never the strongest aspect of this series for me. In fact, it was the characters, their struggles, their scheming and the intrigues that made me obsess over these books. Wrath and Emilia had an excellent build-up, filled with so much tension, but aside of them, I just truly enjoyed every single character in this book for what they stood for. I guess which is why I loved <i>Kingdom of the Cursed</i> so much. All those interactions between the characters, the tension between Wrath and Emilia, the character-driven story pulled me into that book and left me aching for more. As <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> tried to focus more on the plot and answering all the questions that were posed in the previous two books, a lot of the character development was lost to favor telling the readers the truth about everything. If those reveals had any shocking or emotional impact, I wouldn‘t have minded that one bit. But alas, we got a messy and complicated plot that didn‘t make much sense, and a neglect of the characters.
To say I‘m sad <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> turned out to be a disappointment would be an understatement. I really wanted to love this book, to obsess over it, and to ache for a rereading. Instead, it put me in a slump, and I was happy once I reached the final page. However, I do want to add that depending on your own expectations, your experience could differ from mine. After all, the issues I had were very personal. Mostly coming from a place of disliking where the story was heading and how the conflicts were solved.
Ever since I devoured <i>Kingdom of the Cursed</i>, the second book of the trilogy, I've been impatiently waiting for this installement and all the wickedness it promised. I mean after <i>that</i> ending of the previous book? It‘s a mystery how I stayed alive this long. So once I had the third book in my hand, I felt like the world could stop because I had everything I needed right there. It also couldn't have come out at a better timing, because I was feeling a reading slump creeping up on me, and I knew <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> would prevent that. Or so I thought.
Because the truth is, <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> turned out to be a massive disappointment, and became the reason of me getting into a reading slump.
The story picks up right where the last book left off, and the tension between Wrath and Emilia was carefully built further - to my delight. I was screaming, spamming friends with texts, and enjoying every bit of the first third of the book. In fact, I was devouring every scene that occured between Wrath and Emilia just as much as I was enjoying all the interactions between her and the other characters. After the reveal of the second book, I was also very curious to see the development of the relationship between Emilia and Vittoria, and eager to find out all the truth behind her faked murder. However, this is where the story started to lose me.
Every reveal and explanation revolving the major plot points in the previous books such as Vittoria‘s death, the truth about Emilia‘s powers, the curse of Wrath, and the whole history of the Wicked and Feared felt like they were pulled out of nowhere. Now, this could partially be blamed on me not remembering every single detail from the previous books (after all, it‘s been a year since I‘ve read KotC and two since I‘ve read KotW), but I don‘t really believe I was expected to do a reread before going in this installement. In fact, I don‘t even believe it would‘ve changed anything about it because I simply didn‘t like any of the reveals and explanations. After all that investigating, after all that talk about how the demons are prevented of speaking, too many reveals just seemed to be dropped in Emilia‘s lap in a matter of „Hey, this is what you are. This is what this is. And this is our problem.“ I didn‘t feel like Emilia was really doing lots of work in figuring out everything. She just found out, and moved to the next problem. Most of the issues were resolved pretty quickly, and the solutions came in pretty easily. I stopped really caring about Emilia‘s journey, and the fact that her whole character development was more told than shown, made me tire of her as a character pretty quickly. If you play around with the memory loss trope, then I expect some work to go into retrieving those. But we didn‘t get any of that. One second, nothing made sense, the next we were to trust that Emilia knew of everything. There was no conflict the characters saved which made me root for them, nor was there any moment where I was able to reflect on their struggles and feel for them.
Even Wrath's and Emilia's relationship became less intriguing. After all that build up between them in the previous book, this book discarded that energy rather quickly. For the most part, Wrath didn't even play a significant role in the plot. And whenever we did get a scene or two between them, it was mostly reduced to sex. And let me tell you, I'm not opposed to that. Gimme all the smut you can. But if that's the only thing that connects a pairing, you'll find me quickly tiring of them.
In retrospective, the plot was never the strongest aspect of this series for me. In fact, it was the characters, their struggles, their scheming and the intrigues that made me obsess over these books. Wrath and Emilia had an excellent build-up, filled with so much tension, but aside of them, I just truly enjoyed every single character in this book for what they stood for. I guess which is why I loved <i>Kingdom of the Cursed</i> so much. All those interactions between the characters, the tension between Wrath and Emilia, the character-driven story pulled me into that book and left me aching for more. As <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> tried to focus more on the plot and answering all the questions that were posed in the previous two books, a lot of the character development was lost to favor telling the readers the truth about everything. If those reveals had any shocking or emotional impact, I wouldn‘t have minded that one bit. But alas, we got a messy and complicated plot that didn‘t make much sense, and a neglect of the characters.
To say I‘m sad <i>Kingdom of the Feared</i> turned out to be a disappointment would be an understatement. I really wanted to love this book, to obsess over it, and to ache for a rereading. Instead, it put me in a slump, and I was happy once I reached the final page. However, I do want to add that depending on your own expectations, your experience could differ from mine. After all, the issues I had were very personal. Mostly coming from a place of disliking where the story was heading and how the conflicts were solved.
Demon in the Wood Graphic Novel by Leigh Bardugo
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Not only is this a perfect adaptation of the short story <i>Demon In the Wood</i>, but it works so much better as a graphic novel.
For those of you who are familiar with the short story, this graphic novel offers pretty much the same story from what I can remember. However, this doesn‘t mean you shouldn‘t get it. In fact, the illustrations do a great job of visualizing the story, and I definitely would urge you to re-explore the Darkling‘s past through this graphic novel.
For those of you who haven‘t read the short story before, you can jump right into the graphic novel. (And maybe pick up the short story later if you‘re anything like me and want to compare. I, for my part, will definitely do a reread) Overall, <i>Demon in the Wood</i> shares a glimpse of the Darkling‘s past. Way before the Fold, way before Grisha were soldiers in Ravka. It‘a a beautiful and painful story of a young boy travelling with his mother, trying to find a safe place that doesn‘t seem to exist.
The Darkling - whether you hate him or love him as much as I do - is such a complex character. He might have been the villain in Alina‘s story in <i>Shadow and Bone</i>, but stories such as this one show you how one path leads to another, and that even the Darkling himself was just a boy who wanted a home for people like him.
<i>Demon in the Wood</i> is a must-have for every Grishaverse fan out there, and I can only highly recommend you picking it up and flipping through these pages!
For those of you who are familiar with the short story, this graphic novel offers pretty much the same story from what I can remember. However, this doesn‘t mean you shouldn‘t get it. In fact, the illustrations do a great job of visualizing the story, and I definitely would urge you to re-explore the Darkling‘s past through this graphic novel.
For those of you who haven‘t read the short story before, you can jump right into the graphic novel. (And maybe pick up the short story later if you‘re anything like me and want to compare. I, for my part, will definitely do a reread) Overall, <i>Demon in the Wood</i> shares a glimpse of the Darkling‘s past. Way before the Fold, way before Grisha were soldiers in Ravka. It‘a a beautiful and painful story of a young boy travelling with his mother, trying to find a safe place that doesn‘t seem to exist.
The Darkling - whether you hate him or love him as much as I do - is such a complex character. He might have been the villain in Alina‘s story in <i>Shadow and Bone</i>, but stories such as this one show you how one path leads to another, and that even the Darkling himself was just a boy who wanted a home for people like him.
<i>Demon in the Wood</i> is a must-have for every Grishaverse fan out there, and I can only highly recommend you picking it up and flipping through these pages!
Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
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