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katharine_opal's reviews
492 reviews
チェンソーマン 12 by Tatsuki Fujimoto, Tatsuki Fujimoto
3.0
The start of arc two puts me right back to how I felt reading the start of arc one. What the hell is happening and why should I care? The new girl, Asa, is pretty cliche. She's the quiet and studious high school girl that gets bullied and ostracized in her class. She has an "event" that ends with her "teaming up" with a new devil. Again, I'm in the same spot as before, plot wise. The characters aren't likable and are pretty cliche. The gore is gory, and the action is not as good this time. We finally get to see Denji again and he's right back to being a stupid horny teenager. After all that good character development, and we're right back at square one. Sigh. Hopefully, Asa has better character tropes than Denji but I'm not holding out much hope. Her devil is very similar to Power, except that she's more subdued. Asa's devil's character design is also kind of lazy in my opinion. I understand why they look like that, but geez you couldn't be a bit more creative. Hopefully, this arc picks up and get's better.
The Ojja-Wojja by Magdalene Visaggio
5.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
I am absolutely in love with this story! Our two leads are Val, an autistic girl, and Lanie, a transgender girl. Val gets assigned to do a report for their history teacher on the town's supernatural past, and it ends up leading them to the Ojja-Wojja. During their hunt for the Ojja-Wojja, they end up summoning it and almost doom the entire town to being eternally brainwashed. I love this story, and the characters are written so well! Val being autistic isn't made out to be a joke or something that is merely stated but not shown in her actions. Her autism is intertwined with who she is as a person and it shows how it affects how she views and processes the world around her. I also like that the school bully isn't some one-dimensional straw doll of a character, but is shown to be a person with her own struggles. The story is well done, and at times, very frightening! It does not shy away from the fact that it is a HORROR story. Whilst reading, I turned the page to reveal a terrifying full-page illustration and felt like I had just been jump-scared by the book. It freaked me out, and I'm the kind of person who watches horror games on the regular! The art style is also to die for. I love how the characters are drawn, and the use of color, and sometimes lack of it, really entranced me. Also, I'm very impressed with how they explained magic and rituals! When Lanie talks about certain famous spellbooks and how to protect oneself during rituals, everything she said was one hundred percent correct. It's so nice to see someone did their research when it comes to real-life historical magical practices. The ending of this volume was so good as well, I love it! I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil it. I also like how with the last page, they made it so that this can either be a stand-alone book or easily continue into a series. I hope it does continue because I like it so much!
Honestly, I feel like if you like the vibes of Stranger Things, The Craft, or Over the Garden Wall, you'll like The Ojja-Wojja!
I am absolutely in love with this story! Our two leads are Val, an autistic girl, and Lanie, a transgender girl. Val gets assigned to do a report for their history teacher on the town's supernatural past, and it ends up leading them to the Ojja-Wojja. During their hunt for the Ojja-Wojja, they end up summoning it and almost doom the entire town to being eternally brainwashed. I love this story, and the characters are written so well! Val being autistic isn't made out to be a joke or something that is merely stated but not shown in her actions. Her autism is intertwined with who she is as a person and it shows how it affects how she views and processes the world around her. I also like that the school bully isn't some one-dimensional straw doll of a character, but is shown to be a person with her own struggles. The story is well done, and at times, very frightening! It does not shy away from the fact that it is a HORROR story. Whilst reading, I turned the page to reveal a terrifying full-page illustration and felt like I had just been jump-scared by the book. It freaked me out, and I'm the kind of person who watches horror games on the regular! The art style is also to die for. I love how the characters are drawn, and the use of color, and sometimes lack of it, really entranced me. Also, I'm very impressed with how they explained magic and rituals! When Lanie talks about certain famous spellbooks and how to protect oneself during rituals, everything she said was one hundred percent correct. It's so nice to see someone did their research when it comes to real-life historical magical practices. The ending of this volume was so good as well, I love it! I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil it. I also like how with the last page, they made it so that this can either be a stand-alone book or easily continue into a series. I hope it does continue because I like it so much!
Honestly, I feel like if you like the vibes of Stranger Things, The Craft, or Over the Garden Wall, you'll like The Ojja-Wojja!
The Kármán Line by Brad Simpson, Dennis Hopeless
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
3.5 stars! The Kármán Line follows a space station crew, who has their life on the station recorded as part of a reality show. All goes well, until one day, each member of the crew gets a private message from their governments that read "ABORT MISSION, RETURN ASAP" The rest of the story focuses on the crew and how they plan to survive the trip from the station back to Earth. The novel was too short! The fact that it's so short hinders the story a bit, making it feel a bit more rushed than it should be. The characters were mildly interesting, but two of the men looked so similar, I had to go back and reread a few pages to figure out who exactly was the one to go out of an airlock. I also greatly disliked the ending and that it was so abrupt. It felt like the story was meant to be longer, but got cut off instead? I did like the concept for this novel, it's a pretty fascinating concept. A reality show that basically treats a space station like a hype house? Fascinating! But it fell a bit short for me. The intrigue was well crafted, and the mystery is what compelled me to read this novel so quickly. The art style was completely fine, very traditional American comics. I was distracted by the one female astronaut looking just like Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica, but I think that was a coincidence. Also, minor heads up, this novel has a few spicy scenes in it. I got blasted in the eyes, only a few pages in, with a spice scene. The spicy parts were fine, they made full sense within the plot, but man it still was a whole jumpscare.
3.5 stars! The Kármán Line follows a space station crew, who has their life on the station recorded as part of a reality show. All goes well, until one day, each member of the crew gets a private message from their governments that read "ABORT MISSION, RETURN ASAP" The rest of the story focuses on the crew and how they plan to survive the trip from the station back to Earth. The novel was too short! The fact that it's so short hinders the story a bit, making it feel a bit more rushed than it should be. The characters were mildly interesting, but two of the men looked so similar, I had to go back and reread a few pages to figure out who exactly was the one to go out of an airlock. I also greatly disliked the ending and that it was so abrupt. It felt like the story was meant to be longer, but got cut off instead? I did like the concept for this novel, it's a pretty fascinating concept. A reality show that basically treats a space station like a hype house? Fascinating! But it fell a bit short for me. The intrigue was well crafted, and the mystery is what compelled me to read this novel so quickly. The art style was completely fine, very traditional American comics. I was distracted by the one female astronaut looking just like Kara Thrace from Battlestar Galactica, but I think that was a coincidence. Also, minor heads up, this novel has a few spicy scenes in it. I got blasted in the eyes, only a few pages in, with a spice scene. The spicy parts were fine, they made full sense within the plot, but man it still was a whole jumpscare.
Queen in the Shadows by Hayul
4.0
A pity this got canceled, even though it was slower-paced, it did have a lot of potential within it. I also enjoy manwha with a strong female protagonist, and this was no exception. With her knowledge of the "future", Elena plans to ruin everyone who wronged her in her previous timeline. Her plans were crafted with precision, and a refreshing ruthlessness. Several involve her playing the fool for a handful of key people; it was a joy to watch her successfully play them like a fiddle. The beginning pace was steady and didn't stagger at all, but unfortunately slowed down a bit near the back half. I think it's because it was meant to quicken up again, but since the series was cut short, it never got the chance. One minor thing is that this story keeps using the names of real-life people. The art style is gorgeous and so pretty. Something about the art style is very different from every other manwha I've read, and the change was happily welcomed. It's a sin this series got cut off how it did, but hopefully, the artist will make another work in the future.
Spoiler
The fact that there is a character named Raphael who is destined to be a famous painter kept tripping me up. I know a little bit about the history of the real-life Raphael, and this character didn't match at all so I kept getting confused. It did not help that Elena talks about the upcoming Renaissance age, and how she'll bring it about herself. It made me think that this is supposed to be an Italian-based ahistorical manwha, but no. NOTHING asides from Raphael and the term "Renaissance Age" are even remotely Italian. Kind of annoying, but other stories have a habit of randomly taking real-life persons' names, so it can be overlooked.
The Golden Forest by Yoon So-Rie
4.0
Season 01 - Chapters 01 to 32
This was a fascinating read so far. Reniae, is a runaway slave girl, who was blessed by a goddess with the innate ability to charm men. But this blessing feels more of a curse since Reniae can't choose who she charms or when. Trying to flee her curse and her prison which is the Golden Forest, she escapes to the Northlands. It is there, that she finds Kun, dying in the snow. This series does not hold back with how much of a curse this "blessing" can be for Reniae. It is interesting to see how Reniae's entire worldview is changed by how her "blessing" has affected her entire life. The pacing of this story is a little odd, but it's not too terrible. It drags some scenarios on forever, and then the later half of this season has the longest "flashback that is technically exposition" plot point that I've ever seen. The world-building and magic systems in this story are so good! The politics between the North and South lands are interesting as well. Both sides are stuck in an internal religious conflict, where neither side is right in their actions nor is either side wrong. Hopefully, season 02 brings us back to the present, and finally gives us more info on Kun.
This was a fascinating read so far. Reniae, is a runaway slave girl, who was blessed by a goddess with the innate ability to charm men. But this blessing feels more of a curse since Reniae can't choose who she charms or when. Trying to flee her curse and her prison which is the Golden Forest, she escapes to the Northlands. It is there, that she finds Kun, dying in the snow. This series does not hold back with how much of a curse this "blessing" can be for Reniae. It is interesting to see how Reniae's entire worldview is changed by how her "blessing" has affected her entire life. The pacing of this story is a little odd, but it's not too terrible. It drags some scenarios on forever, and then the later half of this season has the longest "flashback that is technically exposition" plot point that I've ever seen. The world-building and magic systems in this story are so good! The politics between the North and South lands are interesting as well. Both sides are stuck in an internal religious conflict, where neither side is right in their actions nor is either side wrong. Hopefully, season 02 brings us back to the present, and finally gives us more info on Kun.
The Golden Forest, Season 2 by Gyeonji, Yoon So-Rie, Ryuhwa
5.0
Season 02 - Chapters 33 to 84
The second season really picked up after the very long back story arc in season one. This series is so good. The in-universe politics are easily on the same level as Game of Thrones! Seeing how Renaie uses her wits and intuition to survive is so interesting. Having clever female protagonists are always refreshing. There is also clearly a lot of truths that are hidden within this world, and I'm so curious to see what they are. Seeing how the relationship between Kun and Renaie and the relationship between Gizzia and Renaie evolve was a sight to see. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling this fantastic story! Also, there is no spice shown but is it clearly implied. The most spice you get is a passionate kiss or two. I cannot wait to see how this all ends!
The second season really picked up after the very long back story arc in season one. This series is so good. The in-universe politics are easily on the same level as Game of Thrones! Seeing how Renaie uses her wits and intuition to survive is so interesting. Having clever female protagonists are always refreshing. There is also clearly a lot of truths that are hidden within this world, and I'm so curious to see what they are. Seeing how the relationship between Kun and Renaie and the relationship between Gizzia and Renaie evolve was a sight to see. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling this fantastic story! Also, there is no spice shown but is it clearly implied. The most spice you get is a passionate kiss or two. I cannot wait to see how this all ends!
Blink by Christopher Sebela
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
Wren is a woman who is haunted by a past she can't remember until she comes across a mysterious site. Snatches of memory of her past come flooding back, so she sets out to find out the truth about her childhood and her past. This entire story was wild. I love the intermingling of sci-fi elements and analog horror elements. (By the way, I really don't know why this book has been described as "found footage horror" It's not "found footage" if you're following the main character in real time. It's pretty much an analog horror story.) Watching Wren try to make sense of her past and the truth behind Blink was interesting. The concept of what Blink is and was is both horrifying and fascinating. Honestly, the idea behind Blink reminded me a LOT of the idea behind the experiment "Quiet: We Live In Public". This story was trippy as hell, and at times even I had to wonder if what I was seeing was real, or if Wren had a hallucination. I feel like the end of this story was trying to convey a deeper message about the real world, but I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling it. The art style was pretty fantastic in this one; I loved the sequence where I keep having to slowly turn the entire page more and more in order to read the words correctly. An interesting way to show the perspective is changing by LITERALLY forcing the reader to change the perceptive of how they are reading the page. I had a thought while reading, that if you like Jordan Peele's horror, you would likely like the horror of Blink.
Wren is a woman who is haunted by a past she can't remember until she comes across a mysterious site. Snatches of memory of her past come flooding back, so she sets out to find out the truth about her childhood and her past. This entire story was wild. I love the intermingling of sci-fi elements and analog horror elements. (By the way, I really don't know why this book has been described as "found footage horror" It's not "found footage" if you're following the main character in real time. It's pretty much an analog horror story.) Watching Wren try to make sense of her past and the truth behind Blink was interesting. The concept of what Blink is and was is both horrifying and fascinating. Honestly, the idea behind Blink reminded me a LOT of the idea behind the experiment "Quiet: We Live In Public". This story was trippy as hell, and at times even I had to wonder if what I was seeing was real, or if Wren had a hallucination. I feel like the end of this story was trying to convey a deeper message about the real world, but I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling it. The art style was pretty fantastic in this one; I loved the sequence where I keep having to slowly turn the entire page more and more in order to read the words correctly. An interesting way to show the perspective is changing by LITERALLY forcing the reader to change the perceptive of how they are reading the page. I had a thought while reading, that if you like Jordan Peele's horror, you would likely like the horror of Blink.
Knee Deep: Book One by Joe Flood
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! 3.5 stars technically!
Knee Deep is an interesting post apocalypse story. It follows Cricket, a young girl trying to find out what happened to her parents after their "disappearance". Her entire family works for PERCH, a militarized mining company, tasked with mining a mineral needed to assure the continuation of human life after the apocalypse. One weird thing is that I noticed the plot description describes the sewer people living in "the bowels of a utopian city that was never completed". The story itself never mentions this, so some of the locations confused me since I thought they were living in the sewers of the PERCH facility, not an entire city. The characters are interesting, and the designs of characters in the sewer can flip-flop wildly between terrifying and goofy. Some things are a bit too much on the nose, however. In the background of the office for the head of PERCH, there's a Nazi Eagle statue, and the owner of Kamikaze Corral is a Japanese man. I winced a bit seeing that Eagle. Sure, maybe the intended audience of middle schoolers won't realize what it is, but as the adult looking over it for them...yikes. Also, cute nod to Gravity Falls with the Dipper hat. The art style was interesting. Not really to my taste, but it was good in its technical aspects. The story just felt very fast and they rushed you through the world-building a bit quicker than I would have liked. It is the first volume so I can excuse it a little bit, since most series like to info dump in the first volume, so they can focus solely on the plot in the next volumes.
Knee Deep is an interesting post apocalypse story. It follows Cricket, a young girl trying to find out what happened to her parents after their "disappearance". Her entire family works for PERCH, a militarized mining company, tasked with mining a mineral needed to assure the continuation of human life after the apocalypse. One weird thing is that I noticed the plot description describes the sewer people living in "the bowels of a utopian city that was never completed". The story itself never mentions this, so some of the locations confused me since I thought they were living in the sewers of the PERCH facility, not an entire city. The characters are interesting, and the designs of characters in the sewer can flip-flop wildly between terrifying and goofy. Some things are a bit too much on the nose, however. In the background of the office for the head of PERCH, there's a Nazi Eagle statue, and the owner of Kamikaze Corral is a Japanese man. I winced a bit seeing that Eagle. Sure, maybe the intended audience of middle schoolers won't realize what it is, but as the adult looking over it for them...yikes. Also, cute nod to Gravity Falls with the Dipper hat. The art style was interesting. Not really to my taste, but it was good in its technical aspects. The story just felt very fast and they rushed you through the world-building a bit quicker than I would have liked. It is the first volume so I can excuse it a little bit, since most series like to info dump in the first volume, so they can focus solely on the plot in the next volumes.
Cosmoknights: Book One by Hannah Templer
5.0
Cosmoknights is everything I could ever want in a graphic novel. Gorgeous art, an interesting fast-paced story, and some fantastic world-building. The blend of futuristic sci-fi with elements of classic fantasy is so refreshing and so fun to read! I've never heard of Neo-Medieval as a sub-genre, but I would love to read more like it! I really adore Pan, and I'm rooting for her on her journey to find Tara. It's clear her quest to find Tara will be the over-arching storyline, and likely will follow the classic "Hero's Journey" plotline, but I'm still very curious how it will play out. The world-building was also very enjoyable to me, even though some of the intricacies on how the royal families work within society eluded me. Like, I understand each planet has its own royal family, but are the planets like their fiefdom? Is there a main royal family that all of these other families answer to? I assume it will be answered at some other point. The illustrations are gorgeous! I'm in love with how pretty this novel makes space look, and I love how colorful they make space seem. Also, the artist is excellent at drawing things like mecha suits and spaceships, it all looks so good. The pacing of this first volume is also done very well. Normally, the first volume of most graphic novels or manga series likes to cram a bunch of information about the world and characters in the first volume. It usually leaves the first volume feeling rushed, and like you've been sped through a bit too fast. But not with this series! The first volume is evenly paced, and never felt like it was just shoving exposition at my face. The character writing for all of the characters is great so far as well. I'm equally interested in all of their stories and how each of their characters will evolve as the story goes on. Excited to read volume two!
Cosmoknights: Book Two by Hannah Templer
5.0
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!
Volume keeps up the quick pace of volume one, and it's so good. This volume delves a bit more into the world, and the questions I had during volume one about the functions of the royalty have been answered! I also like that the characters have conflicting ideologies about how to do direct action. One of them wants to make change while staying within the current system, but the other wants to completely dismantle the system from the outside in. Both of them have the same end goal, but wildly different ideas on methods of how to get there. It's a very real reflection of real life, where you could all agree on what needs to be done, but not on HOW it should be done. I also love how the relationships between several of the characters, both romantic and platonic, are developing in a way that feels so real. It was also great getting to see how Bee and Cass work together in their relationship. They are very different people, who think in very different ways, but they also have such a healthy relationship. I'm always fond of books that have their characters actually talk it out so they can better understand how the other one feels, instead of having them get stuck in a misunderstanding rut. Also, I love the princess character! She's a great example of there's more than meets the eye. The diversity of body types is also something that I loved seeing. It's just casually there, but I love it so much. The plot twist with the one character, I sort of guessed, but I didn't guess how amazing she would look! The rag-tag crew is slowly expanding and feels like it's going to fall squarely into the Found Family trope, which is one of my absolute favorite tropes. The action scenes were fantastic, the artist made them feel so dynamic and intense! So excited for the future third volume!
Volume keeps up the quick pace of volume one, and it's so good. This volume delves a bit more into the world, and the questions I had during volume one about the functions of the royalty have been answered! I also like that the characters have conflicting ideologies about how to do direct action. One of them wants to make change while staying within the current system, but the other wants to completely dismantle the system from the outside in. Both of them have the same end goal, but wildly different ideas on methods of how to get there. It's a very real reflection of real life, where you could all agree on what needs to be done, but not on HOW it should be done. I also love how the relationships between several of the characters, both romantic and platonic, are developing in a way that feels so real. It was also great getting to see how Bee and Cass work together in their relationship. They are very different people, who think in very different ways, but they also have such a healthy relationship. I'm always fond of books that have their characters actually talk it out so they can better understand how the other one feels, instead of having them get stuck in a misunderstanding rut. Also, I love the princess character! She's a great example of there's more than meets the eye. The diversity of body types is also something that I loved seeing. It's just casually there, but I love it so much. The plot twist with the one character, I sort of guessed, but I didn't guess how amazing she would look! The rag-tag crew is slowly expanding and feels like it's going to fall squarely into the Found Family trope, which is one of my absolute favorite tropes. The action scenes were fantastic, the artist made them feel so dynamic and intense! So excited for the future third volume!