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harrietj's reviews
426 reviews
Batman: Man-Bat by John Bolton, Jamie Delano
3.0
Elseworlds stories are fun because they let artists and writers explore very familiar characters and settings without being constrained by the 'real' versions. I understand that, and often I really enjoy them. This tale specifically was a little fantastic for me, a Batfan and a fanbat who much prefers stories about the two characters to be rooted in reality and ideally to take place in Gotham, or at least in urban settings, but it was still very much a decent read. I'll probably return to it at some point and refine my feelings on it. I liked the ecological angle that Delano so often includes in his writing to such great effect.
Manor Black by Cullen Bunn
2.5
I liked this gothic horror story, but not as much as I expected to, given how much I've loved quite literally everything Cullen Bunn has written, and everything that Tyler Crook has illustrated. It just wasn't very scary? I absolutely did not hate this but overall it was just really forgettable, unfortunately.
Open Bar by Eduardo Medeiros
3.5
I really enjoyed this slice-of-life buddy dramedy about two good pals running a dive bar together. For maybe 75% of it I was totally on board. It was funny and sweet and I liked the peachy colour palette (although I wasn't keen on the way Medeiros drew the strange pawlike hands on some of his characters).
I understand why the story took the turn it took towards the end. I even think it did it well. I'm just not sure I like it that it did it at all. It was jarring and veered the story off into being something totally different. While that may well have been the author's intent, I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it. Take that for what it's worth, which may not be much.
I understand why the story took the turn it took towards the end. I even think it did it well. I'm just not sure I like it that it did it at all. It was jarring and veered the story off into being something totally different. While that may well have been the author's intent, I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it. Take that for what it's worth, which may not be much.
Ghost Stadium by Tom Palmer
2.5
This was a simple enough story about a group of young boys who break into an abandoned football stadium and spend the night camping there. It gets points for concept alone - how anyone could turn a story like that down is beyond me. However, while I appreciate that this book is aimed at reluctant readers, and because of that the language and story must be kept simple, I did feel like it was all a bit too easy. Reluctant readers are not necessarily the very young, and I felt like this concept would have been well received by readers who might have appreciated the easier reading but enjoyed a story pitched slightly higher in terms of age. I couldn't quite tell who it was aimed at.
Hydra by Robert Swindells
3.0
This was a cool science fiction/horror novel in the vein of Stephen King's Tommyknockers, or maybe Dreamcatcher, but aimed squarely at the young end of YA or the older end of kid's fiction. Robert Swindells is always a good bet for this kind of fiction - he doesn't talk down you younger readers and, critically, he doesn't shy away from the scares.
Here, intrigue and a mystery take slightly more focus than horror, and it was good to read what is essentially a story about aliens with such a base in reality. The story had stakes, and I don't think that happens enough in children's fiction.
It's not my favourite Swindells book, and like all of his that I've reread as an adult, it does show its age a little, but I think it holds up.
Here, intrigue and a mystery take slightly more focus than horror, and it was good to read what is essentially a story about aliens with such a base in reality. The story had stakes, and I don't think that happens enough in children's fiction.
It's not my favourite Swindells book, and like all of his that I've reread as an adult, it does show its age a little, but I think it holds up.