REVIEW: The Awakening (book) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti

The Awakening is the first book in the Zodiac Academy series. It's marketed as fantasy romance, part of the "bully romance" subgenre. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Darcy and Tory are twin orphans who were raised in various awful foster homes. They were promptly kicked out of their final foster home when they turned 18. The only problem? Their secret savings stash is still in the house. They're able to get their hands on it, but their lives are almost immediately upended by the arrival of Professor Orion, a hot-looking guy who claims they're both Fae, Changelings who were swapped with human twins when they were babies. They have powers linked to the elements and their Zodiac sign, Gemini.

It's a lot to take in, but there's some appeal to going with Professor Orion (plus, he doesn't really give them much of a choice) - if they can graduate from Zodiac Academy, they'll inherit a sizeable inheritance and finally have the freedom and security they've always wanted. They'll also have the chance to reclaim their parents' throne - this, unfortunately, makes them a target of the Celestial Heirs, the young Fae men who've been raised on the understanding that they'll share the task of ruling over Solaria, the land of the Fae, together.

Right from the start, the twins are separated, required to be in different Houses. Although they still share a lot of classes, they're generally surrounded by potential enemies. It's tough to tell who they can trust, and it doesn't help that at least one of the Heirs may be keeping secrets from the others. 

REVIEW: Character Design Quarterly, 23 (magazine issue)

Character Design Quarterly is a magazine, although each issue has its own ISBN and it's possible to purchase individual issues, which is how I ended up with this one.

Review:

I enjoyed the other issue of this publication that I read, so I decided to pick up a few more. This issue features:

- An interview with Kenneth Anderson about his art and career
- A step-by-step look at Kenneth Anderson's process for creating the cover art
- A step-by-step look at Angel Ren's process for creating a white lion rock guitarist
- An interview with Dave Guertin
- A step-by-step tutorial on Kaining Wang's process for creating a pair of characters meant to work together as a team in an ongoing narrative
- A tutorial from Nathanna Érica focused on color schemes
- A gallery of artwork by Raahat Kaduji, Paige McMorrow, and Maxine Vee
- A character design tutorial from Michaela Nienaber, focused on the creation of a stylized anthropomorphic character using the keywords "engineer, plant, excite."
- An interview with Jackie Droujko
- A tutorial from Eléonore Pelluau on the creation of an anthropomorphic vegetable character intended for a younger audience
- A step-by-step look at Marjolaine Roller's process for creating a reimagining of the Bluebeard character for a younger audience
- Insider the cover flap, there's a tutorial from Lorenzo Etherington on creating flip-shape characters

I don't have anything new to say about this. As usual, it's got great artwork and a nice look at several different artists' process for creating various kinds of characters.

REVIEW: Here (graphic novel) by Richard McGuire

Here is an experimental graphic novel. It doesn't really fit into any genres, although it has elements of historical fiction, domestic fiction, and science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is a very experimental graphic novel. Apparently it started off as just a six-page work and was later expanded. The story, such as it is, is presently nonlinearly, through glimpses of a single room (or location, since the room doesn't always exist) over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. Several time periods are shown simultaneously, via little slices of the overall picture. We see how things are in the room's location before people exist. We see history happen in that location (I think the one character is Ben Franklin?), we see the house get built in 1907, and we see people grow, live, and die there. The house itself is destroyed in 2111, but things continue to happen in that same location.

REVIEW: Unicorn Vs. Goblins: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson

Unicorn Vs. Goblins is the third Phoebe and Her Unicorn comics collection. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Phoebe goes to music camp for a week during the summer. Dakota has some issues with her magical hair gaining a mind of its own - this eventually results in problems with goblins. We meet Marigold's sister, Florence Unfortunate Nostrils. Then it's time to go back to school. Phoebe accidentally becomes briefly famous for being Marigold's friend. She worries about PE and really looks up to Sam, an older student she thinks is cool.

I don't really have anything new to say about this series. It's just a nice, fun, low-stress read with enjoyable, slightly flawed characters. I love the character designs - the new little goblins are cute.

Extras:

An introduction by Cory Doctorow (with Poesy Taylor Doctorow, age 7, his daughter). Also, instructions for drawing various supporting characters, a recipe for "Questing Mix" (trail mix), and a page on the appearance of a unicorn in the original Alice in Wonderland.

REVIEW: Multiverse: The Art of Aleksi Briclot (nonfiction book)

Multiverse: The Art of Aleksi Briclot is an art book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This was an impulse purchase inspired by the little sliver with Deadpool on the cover. I didn't recognize Aleksi Briclot's name, although I'm sure I've seen his art a bunch of times - he's done concept art for several Marvel movies, Magic: The Gathering (he apparently designed the five planeswalkers of Lorwyn), a game called Remember Me (which I've never played, although I recognized the related artwork in this book immediately), and more.

The book starts with a section on Briclot's movie-related artwork, then moves into graphic novels and book covers, then game art, and finally artwork Briclot has mostly done for himself or that is otherwise less conventional. The artwork is all accompanied by text written by Briclot (in parallel French and English).

One thing I wish had been given a little more attention was Briclot's mindmaps, sketchbook pages in which he worked through ideas for characters and projects. Several mindmaps were included in the book, but they were always small enough that it was difficult to really read through them. I did appreciate that Briclot discussed his mindmaps in part of the text, though.

Overall, this was a really nice art book.

REVIEW: The Wild Robot Protects (book) by Peter Brown

The Wild Robot Protects is the third book in Peter Brown's middle grade sci-fi series. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Roz is back on her beloved island, and life seems good until an injured seal washes ashore and warns everyone of something called the "poison tide." When the poison tide reaches the island, everyone realizes how horrible it truly is. Roz does her best to save any animals in immediate danger and comes up with a plan to provide everyone with fresh water, but those are only temporary solutions. When Roz discovers that she's immune to the poison tide, she decides to go on a journey to find the Ancient Shark, who many say is the only one who knows how to defeat the poison tide.

REVIEW: Marvel Meow (graphic novel) by Nao Fuji, text by Shunsuke Nakazawa

Marvel Meow is a short collection of comics, some previously posted on Marvel's official Instagram. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I saw the cover for this and thought it looked cute. Plus, I'm generally a fan of comics/stories focused on superheroes living their everyday lives.

Apparently some of this volume was previously posted on Marvel's official Instagram, with additional pages created specifically for this release. I don't follow Marvel on Instagram and couldn't say how much of this was new.

Captain Marvel's pet, Chewie, (who is not a cat but rather a flerken, an alien that looks like a cat) spends time with various Marvel superheroes. Every few pages, there's a brief breakdown of the superheroes Chewie has spent time with, along with some basic info about who they are/what their powers are.

This was sort of cute and occasionally mildly amusing, but not as good as I'd hoped it would be. The action/events depicted were sometimes a little hard to follow. I had also hoped that there would be more playing with the fact that Chewie is a flerken, but Chewie might as well have been an ordinary cat for all these pages showed.

REVIEW: Studio Ghibli: The Complete Works (nonfiction book) editorial work by Kodansha, editorial supervision by Studio Ghibli, translated by Shizuka Otake

Studio Ghibli: The Complete Works is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book covers every Studio Ghibli film from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind to Earwig and the Witch (with some mentions of The Boy and the Heron, which was still in production when this book was being written).

Every one of those movies, except Earwig and the Witch, gets approximately four full pages devoted to it, including information such as the year of release, a description, credits, plot summary, work on which the film was based (when applicable), main characters, a character relationship diagram, noteworthy scenes and trivia, posters and newspaper advertisements from the film's release (including international posters), and a few behind-the-scenes details.

Earwig and the Witch gets a whole 8-page section of its own at the beginning of the book, including an interview with director Goro Miyazaki. That's followed by a history and timeline of Studio Ghibli. The book wraps up with theatrical pamphlet or planning document text for each of the movies.

REVIEW: Episode Thirteen (book) by Craig DiLouie

Episode Thirteen is horror. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This book is set up as the written version of "found footage" horror - it's composed of journal entries, emails, text messages, and transcripts of video and audio footage left behind by the cast and crew of a ghost hunting show called Fade to Black. 

Episode 13 of the show is going to center around a place called Foundation House, which is famous for being a site of paranormal research in the 1970s. After working with several research subjects in order to find the top three most psychically sensitive, the research team planned to conduct several experiments to contact paranormal entities. One of the research subjects dropped out, but the other two stuck around long enough to be driven crazy by the experiments. The research team had planned further work when they all mysteriously disappeared.

Fade to Black's cast and crew consists of Matt Kirklin (true believer and lead investigator), his wife Claire Kirklin (scientist, skeptic, and co-lead investigator), Jessica Valenza (stage name for Rashida Brewer, the show's only professional actress), Kevin Linscott (true believer, former cop, and the show's tech manager), and Jake Wolfson (the show's cameraman). 

Matt's under some pressure - it's still up in the air whether the show will be renewed for a second season, so Episode 13 has to be really good. What he doesn't realize is that his scientist wife has become increasingly unhappy with being on the show and is planning on leaving. Jessica, meanwhile, is painfully aware that this is her biggest and most steady acting job ever, and that it could go up in smoke at any minute. Kevin is a bit sore because he originally wanted to be part of the primary investigation crew, and he'll take any chance he can get to talk about a supposed experience he had with a demon when he was a police officer. Jake prefers to stay in the background and has no interest in sharing personal details about himself.

Matt, Claire, and the others will only get 72 hours at Foundation House before it's demolished. By Day 2, things are already looking promising. They have no idea what kind of rabbit hole they've found for themselves.

REVIEW: Unicorn on a Roll: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson

Unicorn on a Roll is the second collection of Phoebe and Her Unicorn comics. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Christmas is coming up, and, after much deliberation, Phoebe finally figures out the perfect present to give Marigold. Then we've got Valentine's Day - Phoebe has a bit of a crush on her spelling partner, Max, and she's surprised when she learns Marigold has a crush of her own, on a unicorn named Lord Splendid Humility. Phoebe meets even more unicorns when she's invited to Lord Splendid Humility's birthday party.

I really enjoyed the first volume, but I think this series truly clicked for me during the Christmas portion of this volume. It showed a lot of heart and demonstrated that Phoebe and Marigold have had an impact on each other.

I loved the introduction of Lord Splendid Humility and getting to see other unicorns.

All in all, this was a great second volume.

Extras:

An introduction by Lauren Faust, a guide to drawing facial expressions, instructions for making sparkly unicorn poop cookies, and instructions for making an origami horse face.

REVIEW: Phoebe and Her Unicorn (graphic novel) by Dana Simpson

Phoebe and Her Unicorn is a collection of fantasy comics. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In this volume, 9-year-old Phoebe is skipping rocks on a pond when she meets a unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. As a reward for rescuing her from the overwhelming beauty of her own reflection (Marigold is more than a little conceited), Marigold offers Phoebe a wish. Phoebe eventually settles on wishing for Marigold to be her best friend. They spend time together, doing friend things like having a sleepover. Phoebe's arch nemesis, Dakota, also learns about Marigold, but Marigold's Shield of Boringness prevents this from being much of a problem.

REVIEW: A Guest in the House (graphic novel) by Emily Carroll

A Guest in the House is a horror graphic novel. I bought my copy new.

Review:

Abby is a relatively new stepmom. She's quiet, biddable, and and does as her husband David asks. But as she hears things like her stepdaughter Crystal saying her mom lives in the water, and something about Sheila (Crystal's mom) having committed suicide when David said she'd died of cancer, Abby starts to develop suspicions about her new husband. Then she sees Sheila's ghost. The ghost tells Abby that David murdered her, and Abby has to decide what to believe and what she's going to do about it.

REVIEW: The Replacement Husband (book) by Eliot Grayson

The Replacement Husband is m/m fantasy romance with historicalish elements. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This is set in a Regency-ish fantasy world in which people known as "goddess-blessed" exist. As far as I could tell, the goddess-blessed were men who were 1) gay, 2) required to marry other men, and 3) would magically bring good fortune to whichever man they married.

Owen is one of the goddess-blessed. After hitting his head and being carried home by Arthur (although Arthur's brother Tom convinces Owen he was the one who did it), Owen meets his saviors and instantly falls for Tom's charm and nonthreatening good looks. Tom proposes, Owen accepts, and then Tom turns out to be a cad. Owen, facing the prospect of ridicule and damage to his reputation, reluctantly agrees to Arthur's offer to marry him instead, unaware that Arthur has been nursing a crush on him since they first met.

REVIEW: The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish: Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong, Vol.2 (book) by Xue Shan Fei Hu, illustrated by Ryoplica, translated by Mimi, Yuka

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish is danmei, Chinese m/m fantasy romance. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

The incident with the second prince's mother is resolved, effectively ending his chances of becoming the Crown Prince. Meanwhile, the third prince becomes more of a problem. Prince Jing becomes closer to Li Yu (named Xianyu as a fish) - Li Yu is unaware that Jing has figured out that his human and fish selves are one and the same. 

Prince Jing is the definition of infatuated. The guy turns his entire home into an elaborate pond for Li Yu. The whole bit about the message carved into the palace walls gave me secondhand embarrassment. The guy does not care one bit what anyone thinks about his feelings for, as far as others are aware, some random dude who just showed up at the palace one day.

REVIEW: Lavender Clouds: Comics About Neurodivergence and Mental Health (graphic novel) by Bex Ollerton

Lavender Clouds is a collection of comics about Ollerton's experiences with neurodivergence and mental health. I bought my copy new.

Review:

This wasn't exactly what I expected. I really liked Ollerton's part in Sensory: Life on the Spectrum and was therefore looking forward to reading this. I recognized one or two comics from that collection in this one.

Unfortunately, for some reason the flow in this was really bad, and reading the volume straight through felt like being pelted in the face with an almost insurmountable level of executive dysfunction, depression, burnout, and social anxiety. 

Things get a bit more positive and hopeful by the end, but I could have used a few more rays of sunshine woven throughout the whole work. Lavender Clouds presents very little in the way of strategies for dealing with all of these negative feelings - they're basically just something to endure. Lots of folks will likely find this relatable, but be sure you're in a decent enough headspace before diving in.