shidoburrito's reviews
1535 reviews

Bluebird by Bob Staake

3.0

A simple story without words. At least I couldn't find any deeper meaning in the basic-shape-created characters. A boy without friends. A friendly bluebird that follows him. They have fun together. They encounter a bully who hurts the bird. The acid kicks in as rainbow birds fly the kid into the sky so the little boy can release his feathered friend into... home? Heaven? I have no idea but you never get to see if the kid is put down safely. If he's ever put down at all by those birds...

17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

2.0

Alright, I give up. I really wanted to like this book but every time I try to read it becomes too trippy. I'm sure it's a great book but the way the author writes, and I can't tell where the real world ends and Lauren's strange hallucinations of the missing teens starts and blarghl! Too much!

The Mystery Boxes by Kazu Kibuishi

4.0

Hooray! I love comic anthologies with some of my favorite comic artists!

The Lost Islands by Kazu Kibuishi

4.0

Hooray! I love these comic anthologies, all these having the theme of islands. These are like the Flight comic anthologies, but much shorter. Can't wait for volume 3!

Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay

3.0

This book was a roller coaster of likes and dislikes. If I could give it 3.5 stars, I would do that. I really super enjoyed it for most of the beginning of the book! Dexter was witty and at his best. Then towards the last half of the book he became NotDexter. His decisions and feelings were totally against his character so far. He seemed way too human and vulnerable and made some pretty stupid decisions. That's okay, then at the end of this book there are some great plot twists that brought my rating back up again. Phew, that was a close one Dexter!

Scorched by Mari Mancusi

3.0

Hm, how do I feel about this book. I'm not quite sure. It wasn't BAD, the characters were okay, no one really bothered me too much. And they developed well enough through the story. But I still feel like this book had so many ideas and wanted to be so much, but only had time to scrape the surface of each tidbit: time travel, dragons, cults, love triangles, twin brothers set against one another, gamer girl main character trying to support her and her grandpa since her mother and father are dead, conspiracies... see what I mean? It was too much. The time travel bits had some holes in it too, I'm not quite sure how it works, and I don't think the time travelers know either, because I think stuff was just made up on the spot. The main element that had me intrigued were the dragons. I guess Emmy is cool. I dunno, I just wasn't feeling this book. It has its moments of older-teen gore, but the writing style is perhaps 11+. I'll read book two, but hopefully it picks a direction and sticks with it.

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

4.0

A cute little story for kids about a dad's time traveling adventure while out one day to pick up some milk. One thing that stood out to me: in the beginning of the story Prof. Steg is a "he" but near the end of the book it starts referring to the dinosaur as a "she". Anyone else catch that?

King City by Brandon Graham

3.0

What a strange book.

Break My Heart 1,000 Times by Daniel Waters

4.0

So take a look at this cover and judge what the book will be about, like I did. I set this book aside because my judgement was: "Oh the girl on this cover looks pissed, and judging by the title, she must have gone through a tough breakup and is out for revenge." It looks like that, right? WRONG! I could never be more wrong! This book is amazing and creepy! No, this girl, Veronica, is haunted by ghosts, like everyone else in the world, because after the Event, images of people that had departed the world come back for brief moments to play out a snippet of their life, to be played over and over again. And no wonder she looks haunted, her dead father appears at the kitchen table at the same time every morning to read the same newspaper and take the same sip of coffee before disappearing. Everyone is haunted by these images, and while many have learned to live with it, some can't. Like Veronica's friend. Or her history teacher August Bittner, who is haunted by the girls he has killed, and he will kill again, because Veronica may be the one whom he can kill to bring his daughter back to life.

Yeah, Mr. Bittner may have been one of the creepiest characters I have ever read. Even though this book's events of the Event and ghosts/images are unrealistic, the character of Mr. Bittner was realistically insane.

The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde

4.0

Again, a cute book in what I guess will be a series. Always quirky (or should I say, "quarky"?) and funny, the world of Kazam is a mishmash of technology and magic, and magic is making a comeback.