Tag: NetGalley

Kingdom of Souls – Rena Barron

I don’t really know where to begin with this review. There was so much about Kingdom of Souls that I loved. I adored the world building, the rich mythology and learning how magic works in Arrah’s world, yet at the same time I was introduced to so many characters, tribes and gods that I found it difficult to keep track of them.

Enter my cheat guide. I had no idea who or what was going to be important later on and I was so overwhelmed in the beginning (up to about 20%) that I found myself frantically making notes about practically everyone. I’ve included these notes in this review mostly for my benefit in case I need a refresher course prior to embarking upon the second book but if they help you in any way, you’re welcome.

I’ve marked them as spoilers because I mention some characters that don’t even appear in this story until near the end. I’ve tried to avoid spoilery type info dumps here but please still be aware that you may read something in there you don’t want to know yet.

Arrah’s Family

  • Arti – mother, from the Mulani tribe, “Ka-Priestess of the Kingdom”
  • Oshe – father, from the Aatiri tribe, has a store in the West Market
  • Efia – sister

Arrah’s Family’s Staff

  • Nezi – porter, has burnt hands and a limp
  • Ty – matron, does the cooking, doesn’t speak to anyone, has “episodes”
  • Terra – has only been on staff for 2 years, does the rest of the chores, Arrah’s age, gossips

Arrah’s Friends

  • Hassana – female, beautiful, Aatiri
  • Rudjek – male, smells of lilac and woodsmoke
  • Sukar – male, tattoos on his forearms and shaved head glow when the magic is there or he’s near someone with the gift, Zu

Rudjek’s Family

  • Serre – mother, daughter of the North, her country is Delene
  • Suran Omari – father, Vizier
  • Uran – older brother, whose mind was broken during the Rite of Passage
  • Jemi – older brother, whose mind was broken during the Rite of Passage, killed a merchant
  • Crown Prince Kelechi – brother, two years older than Rudjek
  • Second Son Narmer – brother, Arrah’s age (16)

Rudjek’s Attendants

  • Majka – best friend, gendar, parents are commanders under the Master of Arms, 17
  • Kira – 17, father is the Master of Scribes

Kingdom Hierarchy

  • Almighty One – the most powerful position, held by Dereje, who was best friends with Suran before he rose to the throne
  • Vizier – second most powerful position, held by Suran Omari, “governs the Kingdom”
  • Ka-Priestess – the third most powerful position, held by Arti, “the voice of the orishas”

The Vizier’s Guildmasters

  • Master of Arms – Rudjek’s aunt and the Vizier’s twin sister, General Solar, “leads the military forces of the Kingdom: the gendars, the guardsmen, and the shotani.”
  • Master of Scribes – Ny (Kira’s father)
  • Master of Scholars
  • Master of Laborers
  • Artisan’s guild – Guildmaster Ohakim

Shotani – elite assassins, have some magic, live in the Kingdom

Crests – show rank or position

  • Omari – lion’s head
  • Sukkara (the royal family) – ram, “symbol of their blood connection to the sun orisha, Re’Mec”

Some of the Locations

  • Tamar – where Arrah, Rudjek and their families live
  • East Market – in Tamar, Kofi (Arrah’s friend) works there, charlatans are also there
  • West Market – in Tamar, Oshe’s store is there
  • Kefu – time works differently there

Tribes of Heka – Heka gives magic to the tribes

  • Aatiri – “do not walk or leap, for clouds of magic carry them. Grandmother’s silver locs coil on top of her head like a crown, and she wears a half dozen necklaces of teeth. The Aatiri are tall and lean with prominent cheekbones and wiry hair braided like mine.” Arrah’s grandmother, Malikah, is the Aatiri chieftain. Malikah’s grandmother was Yaaba. Other ancestors are Machie and Ara.
  • Kes – the smallest tribe. Their lands “border the valley to the northwest. Their diaphanous skin and near-colorless eyes remind me of the Northern people.” “lightning cuts across the sky and sparks dance on their skin”
  • Litho – “lies southwest of the Temple of Heka in the woodlands. White dust covers their bodies and vests of rawhide.” “The ground shifts beneath their feet, moving as gentle as ocean waves”
  • Mulani – “live the closest to the Temple of Heka.” “It was a Mulani woman Heka revealed his presence to when he first descended from the stars a thousand years ago. Now the Mulani chieftain serves as his voice. The position would belong to my mother had she not left and never looked back.” – their witchdoctors are all women. “They have broad shoulders, curvy bodies, and skin ranging from deep brown to alabaster.” The Mulani Chieftain is Arti’s first cousin
  • Zu – “from the mountains south of the Temple” “leap above our heads, their feet supported by air. Tattoos cover their bodies and they wear crowns of antlers”, the Zu seer is Barasa

Orishas – worshipped in the Kingdom, they have human and animal aspects

  • Esi – the sky god
  • Fayouma – the mother of beast and fowl
  • Fram – the balancer of life and death
  • Kekiyé – orisha of gratitude
  • Kiva – protector of children and innocence
  • Koré – moon orisha – female, twin god
  • Mouran – master of the sea
  • Nana – god that shaped the earth
  • Oma – orisha of dreams
  • Re’Mec – sun orisha – male, twin god
  • Sisi – guardian of fire
  • Ugeniou – the harvester
  • Unnamed – cobras around each of her arms
  • Yookulu – weaver of seasons

Cravens

  • Fadi – the group’s leader, male, excels at shifting
  • Juhanah – female – group’s best tracker
  • Lumo – Mensah’s twin, group’s best healer
  • Mensah – Lumo’s twin, group’s best fighter
  • Riham – female, shortest of the group, “can bend space and manipulate her environment”

Demons

  • Dayo – Demon King
  • Merka – possesses a cat before they possess a fisherman

Familiars – shadowy, shapeless and ever changing. They can only be seen by people with tribal blood. They’re believed to be relics of people destroyed by demons. “Wherever the Familiars go, death soon follows.”

I think it was because I was so bogged down in my note taking that I managed to entirely bypass the whole ‘connecting with any of the characters’ experience. One character that I thought I would form a connection with early on died soon thereafter and the villain I was hoping to cheer on didn’t make much of an impact on me.

Had I found the guide on the book’s website before I read this book instead of after, my reading experience may have been vastly different. I learned things from this guide that I missed entirely when I read the book. However, considering a couple of the characters illustrated on the cast page don’t exist in the first book, perhaps some of the guide also relates to later books in the series.

Impacts of trauma play out in various ways with multiple characters, which I found very interesting. Although it’s not mentioned by name it’s almost certain a few characters could be diagnosed with PTSD. The violation involved in the mind manipulation wasn’t that dissimilar to survivors’ experiences of sexual assault.

Some of Arrah’s thought patterns were quite repetitive. Hearing about how much of a disappointment she was to her mother and how she had longed to have magic her entire life provided me with sufficient underdog fuel to want her to succeed initially, but the amount of times she lamented both began to annoy me as the story progressed.

Although I witnessed plenty of action, with fight scenes, destruction and all round mayhem, it also felt like I spent a good portion of this book waiting around with Arrah for the next sequence of events to begin to unfold.

The ending was quite abrupt and left a ton of unanswered questions, which will hopefully be addressed in the next two books (yep, I found out after I started reading that this is the first book of a trilogy). However, I’m not entirely sure if I’ll still be as eager to know some of the answers, like what two of the characters were whispering about, by the time the second book is released.

If I reread this book I would spend less time focusing on the minutiae and try instead to form meaningful connections with the main characters. It felt like Arrah’s world was real and this is why I’ve given this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ instead of ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Had I been emotionally invested in Arrah’s journey this could have been a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and HarperVoyager, an imprint of HarperCollins UK, for granting my wish to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Magic has a price – if you’re willing to pay.

Born into a family of powerful witchdoctors, Arrah yearns for magic of her own. But each year she fails to call forth her ancestral powers, while her ambitious mother watches with growing disapproval.

There’s only one thing Arrah hasn’t tried, a deadly last resort: trading years of her own life for scraps of magic. Until the Kingdom’s children begin to disappear, and Arrah is desperate to find the culprit.

She uncovers something worse. The long-imprisoned Demon King is stirring. And if he rises, his hunger for souls will bring the world to its knees … unless Arrah pays the price for the magic to stop him.

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Moth & Whisper Volume 1 – Ted Anderson

Illustrations – Jen Hickman

The Moth and the Whisper were the two great thieves in the city but they haven’t been seen by anyone in almost six months, not even their child, Niki.

Niki’s parents didn’t want them to search for them or put themselves in any danger if they ever disappeared. Naturally Niki, who is a teenager, does the exact opposite, utilising the tools the Moth and the Whisper left behind to try to track them down.

Along the way Niki meets a couple of unlikely allies: Walter

and Moira.

Niki is non-binary (them/they/their). I really liked that this was part of the story and loved that everyone used the correct pronouns, even the villains!

There are some fun action scenes and plenty of handy gadgets that I expect even Q would appreciate. My favourite invention was the Weaver suit, which is “a combination shapeshifting outfit and instant makeup kit.” I would like to place my order for one of these please!

A lot of background information is included in this Volume. I found this useful but would expect less info dumps in future Volumes. The narrative touches on human trafficking and organ dealing. I enjoyed the story and loved Jen Hickman’s illustrations, particularly their use of colour.

Thank you to NetGalley, AfterShock Comics and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel. I’m looking forward to reading the next Volume.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Everyone knows that the two greatest thieves in the city are the Moth and the Whisper. Very few know that the Moth and the Whisper disappeared six months ago. And what nobody knows is that the new Moth and Whisper are actually one person pretending to be both of them. One supremely skilled but uncertain young genderfluid thief: Niki, the child of the Moth and the Whisper.

Niki has been trained by their parents in the arts of stealth and infiltration, but they’re still just a teenager, and now they’re alone, searching for their parents in a hostile cyberpunk dystopia. Corporations run the streets while crime lords like Ambrose Wolfe run the alleys-identity is a commodity and privacy is impossible. The truth about Niki’s parents and their disappearance is out there, but can Niki survive long enough to find it?

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Beyonders Volume 1 – Paul Jenkins

Illustrations – Wesley St. Claire

Spoilers Ahead!

Jake lives with his Uncle Paul and Aunt Karen in Alaska. He has a flatulent Welsh Corgi with one eye called Shadwell. After spending most of his time breaking codes and researching conspiracy theories, Jake learns that all of the conspiracies are true.

Right around the same time, he learns that everything he thought was true about his life is actually a lie. Enter Nadine from the Beyonders, his soon to be insta love with the blue lips.

Nadine tells him about the Beyonders and the Order, an “ancient society bent on preserving a power structure that keeps us subservient”, otherwise known as the Illuminati.

It turns out that Jake is the only one in the world who can crack a super important, super old code and does so overnight, despite it having thwarted people for centuries before him.

He also learns how high the stakes are. Sort of.

“The stakes are too high.”

“What are the stakes, exactly?”

“Higher than you can imagine.”

Jake spends a fair amount of time talking about how confusing and complicated the situation is.

Between all of the complicated stuff and the miraculous way everything comes together, including a very specific prophecy (so specific that Nadine’s blue lips are mentioned), there’s also an abundance of sandwiches, references to the dog’s flatulence and Leonardo da Vinci.

Personally, I had trouble taking Nadine seriously. I couldn’t see past her collagen overdosed lips.

I also had some unanswered questions, which I don’t expect to be answered in future Volumes. For example, if Shadwell was specifically placed in the animal shelter for Jake, how did the Beyonders know he’d choose that particular dog?

I was initially intrigued by the mystery within the mystery component of this graphic novel. There’s symbols to decipher as you make your way through the story in the form of a treasure hunt.

Before I’d even begun reading the story I spent at least half an hour diligently copying the various letters and symbols onto a piece of paper so I could decipher the code. I applaud anyone who actually follows through with this though. I gave up transcribing the symbols on page 33. There’s a symbol on every panel and some of them aren’t overly clear (is that supposed to be an O or a zero?).

Had I fallen in love with the story I probably would have persevered in the hopes of winning something related to the Beyonders but it turns out I couldn’t even cheat properly! After I decided I wasn’t playing to win I figured I’d at least go to the AfterShock website to see what the answer was, but I couldn’t find it. Maybe the specific website address is included in the code. Maybe I couldn’t see it for looking. Maybe someone at AfterShock forgot to include the answer on the graphic novel’s page. Who knows?!

I loved Indiana Jones and have been obsessed with The X-Files for more than half of my life so this should have been the graphic novel for me. Unfortunately it just didn’t work for me. All of the pieces fit together too easily for the main character and, although my ‘I’ll believe pretty much anything if it makes the story more fun’ threshold is fairly high (or low, depending on how you look at it), I didn’t believe.

Thank you to NetGalley, AfterShock Comics and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

A young boy obsessed with crop circles and cryptography finds his boring life turned upside-down when he discovers that all of his conspiracy theories are true, sending him on the ultimate treasure hunt for an ancient secret spanning thousands of years.

What is the connection between a lost mountaineer, an indecipherable manuscript, and the lost library of Alexandria?

How is this connected to a one-eyed, flatulent Welsh Corgi and endless plates of corned beef sandwiches?

Find out in … Beyonders! And uncover the secret of the actual treasure hunt woven into its pages!

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The Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E. Harrow

Perhaps one cannot walk through a door and back out again without changing the world.

This was a book within a book, worlds within a world, dream come true. I was enchanted and mesmerised from the very beginning. My heart is full of hope and possibilities, and my imagination is so happy and fulfilled, yet because you can never have enough magical portals in your life, I’m left yearning for more.

I want to tell you everything about this book but don’t want to ruin it for you so I’ll only tell you this:

January Scaller finds a Door when she’s seven but, because she’s so eager to please, she focuses her attention on becoming the “good girl” she’s expected to be.

I spent the years after the blue Door doing what most willful, temerarious girls must do: becoming less so.

Years later, the memory of that Door resurfaces when she finds a life changing book.

It smelled like adventure itself had been harvested in the wild, distilled to a fine wine, and splashed across each page.

I believed in the worlds behind these Doors without hesitation. Perhaps some of my belief can be explained away by the fact that I’ve casually sought my own door since first reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and more fervently since Every Heart a Doorway but it’s really because this book was just that good!

Whenever I read a book that mentions another book I always investigate further. Does that book exist in my world? Do I need to add it to my ever expanding to be read list? If it doesn’t exist in my world, will the author ever write it? I was thrilled that the primary book January reads in this book actually exists and its chapters are included within this book! This is one of my dreams come true! Of course, the book within the book had references to other books, which don’t exist (yet – I checked), but I was so excited to be reading an actual book within a book and it was perfect!

The Ten Thousand Doors of January explores the power of words, the nature of power and the price of freedom. January experiences abandonment and loss, and I ached for her as she longed for acceptance and belonging. I empathised with the feeling of being pressured to conform to others’ expectations of you even when they diminish you and the courage it takes to live beyond your labels, learning to follow your own truth.

January’s Doors take her to places, physically and internally, that compelled me to want to follow in her footsteps. This book took a lot longer than I had planned to read due to illness, but each time I picked it up I was immersed in January’s story again within a paragraph.

I learned of Alix E. Harrow’s brilliance when I read A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies during my (ongoing) 2019 Hugo Awards readathon. I reviewed it here. My love of this short story resulted in my unceremoniously moving The Ten Thousand Doors of January to the top of my reading queue.

I highlighted so many passages as I read this book; there were so many beautiful sentences I know I’ll need to revisit. January is a bookworm, so a kindred spirit of mine, and often spoke of books and reading in ways that felt like she was reaching into my own soul:

There’s only one way to run away from your own story, and that’s to sneak into someone else’s.

Some of the sentences I highlighted tell you nothing of the story but said plenty to me about the talent of its author. This is someone who can transform the ordinary into something memorable.

His hair clung to his skull in a white scimitar, as if the heat of his working mind had burned it away from the top of his head.

She shrugged again; I began to see them as practical gestures, designed to shed the weight of resentment threatening to settle on her shoulders.

While I greedily want a sequel I mostly hope there isn’t one. This book ends so perfectly that I want the exquisite agony of needing more to linger. I knew there was something special about this author when I read and reread A Witch’s Guide to Escape but after going through the Doors with January I’m certain of it. I don’t care what Alix writes about next; I’ll be reading it no matter what.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Orbit, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group (UK), for the opportunity to fall in love with this book early. I want everyone to read it!

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

In the early 1900’s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As the ward of the wealthy Mr. Locke, she feels little different from the artifacts that decorate the halls: carefully maintained, largely ignored, and utterly out of place.

Then she finds a strange book. A book that carries the scent of other worlds, and tells a tale of secret doors, of love, adventure and danger. Each page turn reveals impossible truths about the world and January discovers a story increasingly entwined with her own.

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Lollipop Kids Volume 1: Things That Go Bump in the Night – Adam Glass & Aidan Glass

Illustrations – Diego Yapur

Colours – D.C. Alonso

Nick is 14 and has dyslexia. His older sister Mia, who is almost 18, didn’t come home last night and she wasn’t at school today.

Concerned, Nick looks for her in Central Park where she usually hangs out with her friends but she’s not there either.

He does find the Big Bad Wolf though. Or perhaps I should say the Big Bad Wolf finds him.

Fortunately for Nick, the Lollipop Kids are there too. They’re a group of kids who have inherited a massive responsibility: to protect the city from the monsters that have been imprisoned within Central Park. It turns out that Nick is also a Lollipop Kid.

I loved the concept and I adored that the story was co-created by a father and son. Unfortunately, while this graphic novel had potential, it ultimately fell flat for me.

I didn’t connect with any of the characters and even though I’ve just finished reading, I only remember a couple of their names. Because the artwork was so dark most of the time I didn’t get much of a sense of anyone’s emotions.

During this Volume you learn some of the history of the Lollipop Kids, including how they managed to get that name, in a series of info dumps. There are some twists along the way, including a cliffhanger ending, but I don’t think I’ll be reading Volume 2.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Aftershock Comics and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When immigrants came to the new world they didn’t only bring their hopes and dreams, they also brought their monsters.

Years ago, early setters locked these monsters away in a secret prison deep in the woods of New Amsterdam so that they never would return to the Old World. Those woods have become Central Park and now the monsters have escaped! Nick, 14, finds out that he’s a “legacy” to a secret society that for the last 400 years has kept these monsters in check – he and a ragtag group of kids just like him have to put the monsters back before they get out of the park and destroy the city. 

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The Avant-Guards Volume 1 – Carly Usdin

Illustrations – Noah Hayes

I’ve been hovering between ‘will I or won’t I?’ since I first saw this graphic novel listed on NetGalley. I loved the blurb but sports and I don’t mix so well, unless movie marathons or TV series hurdles somehow became Olympic events while I was busy binge watching.

I saw some early reviews of this Volume that told me I didn’t have to adore basketball to fall in love with this story so I finally decided to give it a go and, great news! Those reviewers were right! You don’t need to know anything about basketball to appreciate this graphic novel.

This is Charlie.

She has recently transferred to Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics and is not interested in playing basketball, not even after meeting the rest of the potential team: Liv,

Ashley, Tiffany,

Nicole, and Jay.

Liv is persistent though. She and the rest of the Avant-Guards wear Charlie down and she finally agrees to join the team, just in time for their first game.

This story has great diversity, with POC, LGBTQIAP+ and mental health all represented, which I appreciated. Although basketball brings the characters together, the focus is on friendship and having fun.

I loved Noah Hayes’ illustrations. They brought the personalities of each of the characters to life and drew me into the story. I don’t usually mention the colours used in graphic novels separately but I wanted to acknowledge Rebecca Nalty, who coloured this graphic novel, as it was the colours on this cover that initially caught my eye and made me want to read the blurb.

I really like the entire team and want to get to know them all better. While it was Liv’s enthusiasm that hooked me initially, the positivity, diversity and snippets of banter between the friends were what made me want to join their team. I’ll definitely be continuing to read this series. I’m even looking forward to the potential romance, despite being a fairly staunch romantiphobe.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and BOOM! Box, an imprint of BOOM! Studios, for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

When Charlie transfers to the Georgia O’Keeffe College of Arts and Subtle Dramatics, she struggles to find her feet, but winds up exactly where she belongs … in the school’s (terrible) basketball team.

As a transfer student to the Georgia O’Keeffe College for Arts and Subtle Dramatics, former sports star Charlie is struggling to find her classes, her dorm, and her place amongst a student body full of artists who seem to know exactly where they’re going. When the school’s barely-a-basketball-team unexpectedly attempts to recruit her, Charlie’s adamant that she’s left that life behind … until she’s won over by the charming team captain, Liv, and the ragtag crew she’s managed to assemble. And while Charlie may have left cut-throat competition in in the dust, sinking these hoops may be exactly what she needs to see the person she truly wants to be.

From Carly Usdin (Heavy Vinyl) and artist Noah Hayes (Wet Hot American Summer, Goldie Vance) comes an ensemble comedy series that understands that it’s the person you are off the court that matters most.

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Unplugged and Unpopular – Mat Heagerty

Illustrations – Tintin Pantoja & Mike Amante

Spoilers Ahead!

Erin Song lives in Culver City, California, with her parents. She hasn’t managed to crack the popularity code yet.

While her best friend Cody doesn’t care about popularity, Erin does. This results in her going against her better judgement and helping the most popular girl in school cheat off her during an exam.

When they get caught Erin’s parents ground her. Her punishment? No access to anything with a screen, so basically her entire existence.

When she’s no longer attached to her phone Erin begins to notice things she never has before, like aliens!

It quickly becomes clear that the aliens haven’t come in peace and it’s up to Erin, her grandmother and twin librarians, Joe and Charlie, to save the world.

I enjoyed the illustrations and use of colour in this graphic novel. I particularly liked it when a noise was mentioned and words to describe it lined up with what was happening, for example, “breaking glass” was spelled with shards of broken glass.

This story takes place in the near future; Erin’s grandmother is pictured as a young woman in the 1980’s and her parents grew up sans internet. While I love that the majority of the heroes live in retirement homes, this story also perpetuates the myth that older people and technology don’t mix. Besides Erin, who’s not using technology because she’s grounded, the only other people in the story who aren’t glued to their devices are elderly.

I don’t think librarians will particularly like the comment about how the internet has resulted in libraries no longer being used. This is certainly not my experience as a frequent library user. All of the librarians I know are very tech savvy and I see people of all ages in my local library.

There are clues early on in the story about what’s really happening if you pay attention to what’s being said and details in the pictures. I loved that the president in this near future version of America is female and I had fun picking up on the background details, like the movie poster advertising Jaws 26. This naturally reminded me of when Doc’s Delorean arrived in 2015 and Marty McFly encountered the hologram shark from Jaws 19.

I really liked the points this story makes about popularity and how invaluable grandparents are in kids’ lives. This graphic novel also includes not so subtle commentary about the overuse of technology, with people so focused on the screen in front of them that they miss out on the reality that’s happening all around them. Considering that this story’s target audience are growing up surrounded by the glow of screens, it makes a good point.

My childhood would have been vastly different if I’d had access to the technology kids have on hand today and while I know I would have loved the internet as a kid I’m consistently grateful that social media didn’t exist back in the Dark Ages of my childhood.

While the majority of the story flowed well for me, I couldn’t figure out how Erin’s grandmother’s retirement home suddenly became an electronics store. Was this somehow part of the mind control? I reread this story to try to make sense of this but I’m still not clear about it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Oni Press for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

After Erin Song’s parents ban her from using her phone, TV, Internet, and all her screens, she soon discovers mysterious, strange creatures and must foil their plot to take over Earth in this hilarious sci-fi graphic novel for tweens.

Erin Song lives in a digital world. Everyone has a phone, a tablet, a computer – more screens than you can count. Even with a world of information at her fingertips, Erin can’t figure out the secret to popularity at her clique-y junior high school. So when uber-popular Wendy asks for help cheating on a test, Erin jumps at the opportunity. This could be her big break! Unfortunately, she gets caught, and her parents ban her from all her devices. Suddenly, Erin Song is the only girl in the world who’s not allowed to look at a screen.

And that’s when Erin notices something funny: small, furry aliens making humans disappear with a weird device Erin’s never seen before. No one else notices them, though – except Erin’s grandmother and two old men who run the local library. They’ve discovered that the aliens are using screens to control the human race, tricking them into thinking they aren’t really there – and that anyone who’s been abducted never existed. 

Now it’s up to Erin and her grandmother to save the day! But without technology on their side, do they stand a chance?

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Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book! – Julie Berry

Illustrations – April Lee

Godfrey, the son of peasant farmers, is distracted from his chores by the Book of Beasts, which an artist is working on for the lady of the castle. As he pages through the book he imagines the adventures of a “mighty hero, a bold knight … why, Sir Godfrey the Glorious, of course!”

While Godfrey goes about his chores he tells the animals about Sir Godfrey’s adventures, unaware of the chaos that begins to unfold as he names each of the beasties in the book.

I knew I needed to read this book solely because of April Lee’s incredible illustration of the dragon on the front cover. Over the past couple of months I’ve read this book at least four times but each time I finished reading I couldn’t decide what I wanted to say about it. While I am in awe of the detailed drawings of all of the beasties and know I would have been drawn to the colours of the griffin, bonnacon and dragon as a child, I don’t think child me would have really enjoyed this book.

I found the details at the end of the story about life in an English castle and the different beasts interesting but am certain I would have bypassed this information if I’d read this book as a child as my interest in history and mythology didn’t make themselves known until I was an adult. I was distracted by the text within the scrolls, which didn’t seem necessary as the illustrations clearly told those components of the story.

This book was inspired by Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World, an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Getty Publications for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Godfrey, a peasant boy who works for the lord and lady of the castle, finds a bestiary, or illustrated book of beasts, on the way to do his chores one morning. He begins inventing his own story, placing “Sir Godfrey” at the center of numerous heroic deeds.

Sir Godfrey battles a lion, tames a unicorn, defeats a griffin, conquers a bonnacon, and triumphs over a dragon. Godfrey does not realise that each time he says the name of an animal, it magically emerges from the book, causing mayhem and inadvertently accomplishing his chores. The laughs pile up and the tension mounts: When will Godfrey realise that all this outrageous stuff is going on?

This book also contains engaging backmatter with information on life in the Middle Ages and a mini-bestiary drawn from original 13th-century manuscripts. Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book! is a humorous introduction to the medieval world.

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The Animal Awards – Martin Jenkins

Illustrations – Tor Freeman

I just can’t go past a kid’s book that tells me fun facts about animals. This fascination has led to me knowing the most random and strange little tidbits about all sorts of animals, and I can’t stop. So, here’s another one! Unlike others I’ve read, this one presents awards to the winners in each category.

Each award is granted two pages, incorporating information and illustrations. Beside learning the name of the animal that has won each of these prestigious awards, I also learned the type of animal they were (insect, bird, mammal, reptile, etc), where they live and for how long, and what their diet consists of. Then there’s information specific to the award they’ve won and other interesting facts.

Relevant information about other animals was also included. For example, while the chimpanzee won the coveted Nifty Tool-User Award, other animals that also use tools are mentioned, including sea otters.

A couple of times there was no overall winner for the category but instead several winners for its subcategories, such as the Family Awards, where winners were selected for the cool dad award, mom-of-the-year award, loyal couple award and great-grandmother award.

My favourite awards were the:

  • Enlightenment Award, which was won by the Deep-Sea Anglerfish. I am fascinated by bioluminescence and I have a soft spot for strange animals that are unlikely to win any beauty pageants.
  • Deep Sea Diver Award, which was awarded to the Cuvier’s beaked whale, who was also awarded my Favourite New Fact Award for this marvel: “Its longest and deepest dive recorded so far lasted for an amazing 2 hours and 17 minutes, with a descent of nearly 10,000 feet below the surface of the sea.” The runners up in this category were also given medals.

I usually prefer fact books to include photographs of the animals but I had fun looking at Tor Freeman’s illustrations. The animals were expressive and had character, and I loved the winners pictured with their award on display. Their poses often reflected the attribute that won them their award and the backgrounds were effective, simple enough to place the animals in their native environment but not so detailed that they took away the focus from the stars themselves. I particularly loved the chameleon, who looks very proud to have won its award.

I learned some new facts about some of my favourite animals and encountered a few animals that I previously knew very little about. If this book had been available when I was a kid I definitely would have borrowed it from the library for a school assignment. The information would have made me sound smarter than I was and I’m almost positive I would have traced some of the illustrations to spruce up my assignment as even drawing a legible stick figure has only ever had a 50/50 shot of success with me at best.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children’s Books for granting my wish to read this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Fifty fantastic creatures are awarded prizes to celebrate their most dazzling talents and some unusual skills. Roll up, roll up! The Animal Awards are about to begin. Who will win the Terrific Teeth Award? Who will claim the title of Most Smelly? Who will win the prize for Best at Pretending To Be A Plant? Celebrate with 50 brilliant animals from around the world who represent nature’s rich tapestry.

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Just Lucky – Melanie Florence

Lucky is 15 and lives with her grandparents. Her best friend, Ryan, is literally the boy next door. When her grandfather dies, Lucky does her best to take over the role of caring for her grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s. An accident brings the attention of the authorities to their home situation, resulting in Lucky being placed in foster care.

A series of foster placements take her away from the familiarity of what used to be her life. Some placements are weird, some are okay and some are downright creepy. None of them are home. All the while, Lucky holds out hope that soon she and her grandmother will be able to return to their own home.

Although the publisher’s website states the target audience for this book is 13 to 18 years, the writing style felt more suitable for younger readers, with the exception of some swearing. This made me think this was a Hi-Lo book, although I cannot find any information to support this assumption. This was a short book with over sixty very short chapters, and a quick read. I didn’t have any problems with the overall story but I wanted it to be fleshed out more.

While I was told what was happening I never got beyond the idea that I was reading a series of, ‘this happened, then that happened, this person said this, then that happened’. There weren’t many expressed emotions, other than some tears (after which I was consistently told that Lucky wasn’t a crier) and the fact that almost every time Lucky encountered confrontation she resorted to physical violence, even though there was no indication she had ever behaved that way before.

I stand by my previous reviews where I’ve said we need more books about foster care. While I loved that this book talked about foster care and did explore a few of the different types of homes foster kids are placed in, I felt there were some missed opportunities as well.

I’ve read a few books recently that have included so many young adult social issues that it began to feel like I was reading social issue soup and this book felt like that too. Although plenty of boxes have been checked (most are included in my content warnings) it felt like their existence was only acknowledged in Lucky’s story rather than adequately dealt with.

Lucky is Indigenous; her grandparents are Cree. While bannock is mentioned (which I definitely need to try for myself) and Lucky experiences racism based on her heritage, this was pretty much the extent of its inclusion in this book. The author also has Cree heritage and I would have loved to have learned more about this.

There were gaps in the story that I filled in myself. For example, Lucky’s best friend comes out to his conservative religious parents, his father beats him up because of it, Lucky’s grandmother confronts his parents and comes back to the house with some of his belongings, saying he’ll be staying with them for a few days. Then there’s no follow up, except a couple of years later he’s mentioning his aunt and uncle, yet we’re never told that he moved in with them. I made up scenarios of when and how that went down myself.

The descriptions were quite repetitive. While there were a few more that I’m not mentioning here, food smelt “heavenly” four times and something was “amazing” nineteen times. If this is a Hi-Lo book the repetition makes sense. If it’s not, I have a problem with it. Because I don’t know for sure, I’m currently sitting on the fence about it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Second Story Press for the opportunity to read this book.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Once Upon a Blurb

Fifteen-year-old Lucky loves her grandparents. True, her grandmother forgets things, like turning the stove off, or Lucky’s name, but her grandfather takes such good care of them that Lucky doesn’t realise how bad things are … until she loses her grandfather and is left caring for her grandmother on her own. When her grandma sets the kitchen on fire, Lucky can’t hide what’s happening any longer, and she is sent into foster care. She quickly learns that some families are okay, and some aren’t. And some really, really aren’t. None of them feel like home. And they’re certainly not family.

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