Skip to main content

Click "Archive" or "Labels" in the sidebar to browse reviews, or use the search bar to look for a specific title.


Review: Paper Girls, Vol. 1

Paper Girls, Vol. 1 Paper Girls, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I ordered this because it was only 7 dollars online (as opposed to the 17-19 that comic bind-ups usually run for), it has a cool cover, and because it’s by the author of Saga: Brian K. Vaughan. Honestly, I couldn’t really ask for much more in order for you to sell me a book. Sigh. I am bad with money.

Going into this I had literally zero idea of what this was going to be about. After reading it, and then reading the synopsis, I can’t help but feel it’s slightly… Misleading? “Four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time.” Like what does that even mean? That’s so vague. Later in the synopsis it says that this series is about nostalgia, and I could definitely tell that that’s what they were going for without having to read of that being their intent. I feel like that might be a bit of a sneaky tactic to try and reel in the 80’s folks by manipulating their nostalgia heartstrings, but that could just be me because it failed to affect me (and most of the references were lost on me) because I’m not part of that generation.

Anyway, this sure was interesting. I really don’t know if I should say anything specific about it because I’m sure they meant to be vague in the synopsis for a reason. So I’m not going to tell you anything about the story, I’ll just comment on it.

It has definitely got some mystery to it. Some other reviewers have even found it to be confusing, but I never personally found myself feeling confused. Just a bit annoyed because there are characters who speak another language that I do not understand and I want to know what they are saying, damnit!

Overall it was pretty… Mediocre, I guess. I dunno. It had its ups and downs, and parts that had me more intrigued and what not. (view spoiler) It didn’t strike me as amazing or anything, you know? But the story that it is setting up is for sure interesting. I just kinda… Don’t caaaare, you know? This book failed to make me care. I would very much just rather read Saga, to be honest.

The art is fine. It is what you see on the cover. The colouring is great. I felt like the more I read it, the more the art style started to feel really appropriate for the setting, though. It felt like it really meshed well with the 80’s vibes.

As to whether or not I want to pick up the next volume… Eh… Who knows? It ended on a cliffhanger so right when I read that I was like “WHEN IS THE NEXT VOLUME COMING OUT,” (it’s out right now as you’re reading this, by the way) but now, the more I think about it, I’m just like “meh.” I’ve got other stuff that I would rather read instead. Very pretty book though. Nice addition to the shelves. Except for I currently have piles of books just stacked on the shelves because I’ve run out of room. Whoops.

View all my reviews

Comments

Popular Posts

Review: 寄宿学校のジュリエット(3)

寄宿学校のジュリエット(3) by 金田陽介 My rating: 5 of 5 stars Brb, crying. Not actually, though. Like, I didn’t shed any actual tears or even get close to it, it’s just that this series… is so good . The romance between Romeo and Juliet is still weirdly innocent, but the actual story is so engrossing and entertaining. It also seems like almost literally every single character is complex and interesting and multi-layered. (Only the background characters like Maru’s lackeys are undeveloped, but honestly they really don’t need any development anyway.) The relationships between characters keep getting more and more complex, and the situations that the characters have to deal with are also super juicy. This is such an addicting series. My initial problem with Romeo and Juliet’s relationship was that it seemed pretty unhealthy and one-sided to me. Later, I found it very weird how sexually immature they both are, and how un-intimate their relationship is. What is interest...

Review: Lulu Is a Rhinoceros

Lulu Is a Rhinoceros by Jason Flom My rating: 3 of 5 stars The second I saw the cover of this book and read the synopsis I immediately thought that this was going to be a book that uses animals to create an allegory about transsexuality, as another installment in the growing genre of kid’s LGBTQA+ books. The whole "that's what she sees when she looks in the mirror" business felt really on the nose, and I feel like the authors purposefully used this wording in order to generate buzz around this book. In actuality, this felt like any other normal kids book. You have a character who feels misunderstood by their peers, and so they go on a "journey" to find and/or prove themselves and eventually end up finding peace with who they are and/or a group who accepts them. To me, the story was told in a way that presented Lulu like any other silly character in a children's book that had a silly problem stemming from their silly misco...

Review: Bossypants

Bossypants by Tina Fey My rating: 3 of 5 stars Let me set the scene: Last week I was in Phys Ed class playing the ol' badminton. Our school only has one gym, and my class 60 kids. So you can imagine how cramped it was. Each team had 3 people on the court at a time, and yes, it was a mess. And then one of my partners slammed me in the right eyeball with their racquet. My glasses broke into three pieces as they tumbled to the hardwood gym floor. This was the second time my face had been assaulted resulting in broken frames, so you could say I was a broken-glasses veteran. With my experience I didn't freak out, just was slightly annoyed. Nothin' some good old super glue can't fix, right? So I tried to continue playing but I quickly realized that I could no longer keep my eye open. It felt extremely irritated and even if I shut just the one and kept the other open, it still hurt. When I closed both of them, then it was a little better. Re...