Review: Shade The Changing Girl, Volume One

Shade The Changing Girl: Volume One: Earth Girl Made Easy | Cecil Castellucci, Marley Zarcone

Published by: Young Animal, July 4th 2017

Genre: YA, Comics, Fantasy/Sci-Fi

Pages: 144

Format: Ebook

Source: Publisher, via Netgalley

Part of Gerard Way's new imprint, DC's Young Animal!

Far away on the planet Meta, Loma's going nowhere fast. She's dropped out of school, dumped her boyfriend and is bored out of her mind. She longs to feel things. That's where her idol, the lunatic poet Rac Shade, and his infamous madness coat come in. Loma steals the garment and makes a break across galaxies to take up residence in a new body: Earth girl Megan Boyer.

Surely everything will be better on this passionate, primitive planet with a dash of madness on her side and this human girl's easy life. Only now that she's here, Loma discovers being a teenaged Earth girl comes with its own challenges and Earth may not be everything she thought it'd be. Megan Boyer was a bully who everyone was glad was almost dead, and now Loma has to survive high school and navigate the consequences of the life she didn't live with the ever-growing and uncontrollable madness at her side. Not to mention that there are people back on her homeworld who might just want Shade's coat back.

Written by Cecil Castellucci (The Plain Janes), drawn by Marley Zarcone (Effigy) and overseen by Gerard Way, Shade, the Changing Girl starts a whole new chapter in the story of one of comics' most unique series.

Collecting: Shade, the Changing Girl 1-6

I liked this but it was weird as hell and I'm not a hundred percent sure what I just read. The story kinda lost me in parts but I like the main character and the friends she makes and it was interesting to see a possession from the intruders POV. But what even is this coat about? How was it in two places at once? How was she? None of this was explained. 

I did like it but ... I'm not sure if ill read the next volume.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

Review: You Were Here

You Were Here | Cori McCarthy

Published by: Sourcebooks Fire, March 1st 2016

Genre: YA, Contemporary (but with a horror tone in parts), Comics

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Sourcebooks Fire,, via Edelweiss

Grief turned Jaycee into a daredevil, but can she dare to deal with her past?

On the anniversary of her daredevil brother's death, Jaycee attempts to break into Jake's favorite hideout—the petrifying ruins of an insane asylum. Joined by four classmates, each with their own brand of dysfunction, Jaycee discovers a map detailing her brother's exploration and the unfinished dares he left behind.

As a tribute to Jake, Jaycee vows to complete the dares, no matter how terrifying or dangerous. What she doesn't bargain on is her eccentric band of friends who challenge her to do the unthinkable: reveal the parts of herself that she buried with her brother.

Stunning and strange and nothing like I expected. I treasured every page of this, and to be honest I wasn't sure I'd even like it in the beginning. I LOVED it, from tortured, grieving Jaycee, to serious Bishop, sad Zach, and seriously messed up Natalie. And my absolute favourite, precious Mik with his dramatic trench coat and his full-of-words silences.

The format of this book really made it stand out - there's prose, art, and comic pages (which were my favourite.) It did such a good job of telling the story that when I finished it, I immediately wanted to reread it. I fell in love with their idiotic daredevil stunts, their shared grief, and their messy friendships, and I loved every creepy setting from the crumbling mall to the abandoned theme park. This book is perfect. I miss it already.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★

Review: Eliza & Her Monsters

Eliza & Her Monsters | Francesca Zappia

Published by: Greenwillow Books, May 30th 2017

Genre: YA, Contemporary, Comics

Pages: 400

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow, via Edelweiss

Eighteen-year-old Eliza Mirk is the anonymous creator of Monstrous Sea, a wildly popular webcomic, but when a new boy at school tempts her to live a life offline, everything she’s worked for begins to crumble.

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, smart, and friendless. Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community. Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school, and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile. But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart. With pages from Eliza’s webcomic, as well as screenshots from Eliza’s online forums, this uniquely formatted book will appeal to fans of Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl.

My favourite contemporary ever. And to think I never used to like the genre. This dumb book stole my heart.

I can't even begin to explain how hard I connected with this, with the characters and the story, as both a member of many fandoms and  as a creator. Everything, from the characterisation, to the online friendships, to the fandoms, to the romance, to the family life just meant SO MUCH. And the art was PERFECT, I badly want to read Monstrous Sea. I have nothing but emotions for this book - no comments or issues or whatever I usually say in reviews. I just honestly loved this so much, and it HURT me so much, but I love it more for it. That ending was unfair for a long while and, not gonna lie, I cried for the whole last 30% non-stop, at first because it broke my heart and then because it mended it. I want to read this all over again.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★★★

Review: Graveyard Shift

Graveyard Shift | Michael F. Haspil

Published by: Tor Books, July 18th 2017

Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal

Pages: 352

Format: Hardback

Source: Tor Books

Police procedurals go supernatural in this gritty urban fantasy debut 

Alex Menkaure, former pharaoh and mummy, and his vampire partner, Marcus, who was born in ancient Rome, once hunted evil vampires for UMBRA, a super-secret unit of the NSA. That was before the discovery of a blood substitute and a Supreme Court ruling allowed thousands of vampires to integrate into society.

Now, Alex and Marcus are vice cops in a special police unit. They fight to keep the streets safe from criminal vampires, shape-shifters, blood-dealers, and anti-vampire vigilantes.

When someone starts poisoning the artificial blood, race relations between vampires and humans deteriorate to the brink of anarchy. While the city threatens to tear itself apart, Alex and Marcus must form an unnatural alliance with a vigilante gang and a shape-shifter woman in a desperate battle against an ancient vampire conspiracy.

If they succeed, they'll be pariahs, hunted by everyone. If they fail, the result will be a race-war bloodierthan any the world has ever seen.

Gritty urban fantasy and hard-boiled noir packed into a hand grenade of awesome! Mario Acevedo, author of Werewolf Smackdown 

I wanted to like this book SO MUCH. A guy who used to be a mummy but who's now part of a special vampire branch of the police? Sign me the heck up. But I just could not get into the writing style. It's very detail-packed, down to the specific type of gun used, and I just could not connect with the voice. But that's a 100% personal thing, and I know a tonne of people will love this book.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★☆☆☆

Review: Young Avengers, Volume Two

Young Avengers: Volume Two: Alternative Culture | Kieron Gillen, Kate Brown, Jamie McKelvie

Published by: Marvel, January 2nnd 2014

Genre: YA, Comics, Science Fiction, Superheroes

Pages: 112

Format: Ebook

Source: Purchased

Collects Young Avengers (2013) #6-10. Ever wonder what the super hero equivalent of a terrible soul-sucking, talent-wasting temp job is? Wonder what Tommy (aka Speed) has been up to? Wonder why mutant David Alleyne (aka Prodigy) hasn't been even in the background in any one of the eight thousand X-books? Discover answers herein! Then: existential horror turns cosmic horror as something emerges from the shadows of the past...and it seems that the Young Avengers have one more thing to worry about. The team races desperately across the multi verse in pursuit of their missing friend, but their road trip goes crazy as it reaches its desti nati on. Because its desti nati on is mainly excitement and heartbreak. Several Young Avengers decide what to do next. The question is, whether they stay Young Avengers! Plus: Are you ready for Mother's Day?

I swear I blinked and it was over. This is too good and too easy to read - I want more in each volume!!!! The characters, the storylines, the snark and bickering, EVERYTHING is perfect but these volumes are never anywhere near long enough. I love this whole gang and I want 1000x the amount of adventures we get.

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★