Book Review: Gotham Academy vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy

Title: Gotham Academy, Vol. 1: Welcome to Gotham Academy

Authors: Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, and Karl Kerschl

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ (3)

First off, the art is great. The background art is fantastic and the color pallet is perfect; it really makes Gotham Academy look and feel like a creepy Gothic castle. However, I just wasn’t feeling it. The story felt like the Batman version of Scooby Doo, only without the dog (although there is a killer Croc). The series takes place within Gotham Academy, a boarding school that is funded by the Wayne Foundation. The main character is Olive Silverlock (who, incidentally, has silver hair), due to a mysterious incident over the summer she has become withdrawn, breaks up with her boyfriend, and avoids her once close friends. She also has a grudge against Batman, and to be honest, he’s not doing much to try to win her over. While all this is happening, there are reports of a ghost haunting the school. Olive is skeptical but is eventually roped in to the investigation by her ex’s little sister Maps.

If the intended audience was children, then I think the writers hit the mark. It’s a good series to get kids into the Batman universe without all the gratuitous violence and adult drama. I’m interested to see where the story goes because there is potential there, but I’m worried it’s going to become a story about a bunch of meddling kids unmasking fake monsters.  

Book Review: Illusionarium

Title: Illusionarium

Author: Heather Dixon

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

I have a little confession to make regarding Illusionarium. Actually, I have two confessions. First, although I like the steam punk aesthetic, I’ve never really read a book that had the steam punk classification. Second, I didn’t choose this book because of the theme, blurb, or even the author. To be honest, I chose it because I love the work of cover artist Nathalia Suellen. I’ve been following her on Tumblr ever since I saw the cover for Splintered by A.G. Howard. 

In Dixon’s Illusionarium, we meet Jonathan Gouden; in his own words he considers himself to be “sort of.” He’s “sort of” tall, and “sort of” smart.  He loves learning about medicine and science and takes pride in his job as his father’s apprentice, but he also looks forward to leaving his frozen home for the capital and the academy, where he will study to become a surgeon. But, before he can leave, a deadly disease takes hold of the entire country, including his beloved mother and sister. Jonathan decides to risk everything to find a cure and save his family, even if it means betraying his father and his country.

Jonathan is a great character: he’s impulsive, naïve, and doesn’t always see the big picture. Basically, he’s a 16-year-old boy. He’s so desperate to find a cure to save his mother and sister that he puts his trust in a strange chemical called fantillium that causes shared illusions –illusions that can be manipulated by those with the skill to do so. Throughout the story, Jonathan waffles between trying to do the right thing and becoming like the people he’s fighting against. I love that Jonathan doesn’t always choose to do the right thing, that’s human nature, humans make mistakes, and Jonathan makes quite a few, but he learns from them and tries to do better. 

To help him (albeit reluctantly) on his journey is a one-eyed soldier named Lockwood. In the beginning, he and Jonathan detest each other. Lockwood sees the world in black and white – he doesn’t understand why Jonathan is willing to go to any lengths to secure a cure for the disease ravaging the country. If it can’t be obtained through honorable (read: legal) means, then it can’t be done. At first I really disliked Lockwood. I couldn’t understand how someone could turn a blind eye (no pun intended) to the suffering of the citizens around him. Throughout the second half of the book we learn a little bit about Lockwood’s past, and how it has influenced his view of the world. He still ticked me off a bit, but as the story went on I started to like him more and more. If the author wants to write a prequel or sequel with Lockwood as the main character I will almost definitely read it because I feel there is more beneath the eye patch (and I would really like to know the rest of the story on how he got that eye patch…). 

I really enjoyed this book. The world building was great and I really loved how the author described Jonathan’s process for creating illusions. They didn’t just appear with a thought, there was a fairly complicated method involved in their creation. Dixon spent a lot of time on the illusions and the parts where Jonathan was on the run, which caused some parts to be rushed or underdeveloped. There are sections that I wished were fleshed out a bit more, especially those with Jonathan and Lockwood. I’m giving this book a 4 because it kept my attention (which is in short supply these days) and I really did love the story.

Book Review: I Am Princess X

Title: I Am Princess X

Author: Cherie Priest

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

In addition to my graphic novel/comic book kick, I seem to be reading quite a bit of YA recently. So it’s no surprise that I picked up I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest. What makes this book so interesting (or irresistible to me) is the combination of the story of friends Libby and May, and the comic that started it all. 

On a boring day at school, Libby and May created a rock’n princess in red Chuck Taylor’s they dubbed Princess X. Over the years the girls spent hours drawing and writing stories about their Princess X. But it all ended one rainy night when the car Libby was in drove off a bridge and into the water below. Years pass, but May still mourns the loss of her first best friend. She still feels there was something strange about how Libby died but she can’t figure out why. While she’s visiting her dad in Seattle, her past comes back to her in the form of a sticker, and the further she digs the more questions she has about the appearance of Princess X. Who put it there and why? Could it be that Libby is still alive and trying to send May a message? After a little sleuthing, May discovers that it’s not just stickers and patches; someone is writing new comics staring Princess X. It is the inclusion of the Princess X comics that really make the story unique. The story was more interesting because the reader was able to see what May was seeing. These new comics drive May to dig deeper until she runs into a dead end (read: a broken laptop).  Calling a tech support flyer she finds in her building introduces her to neighbor “Trick,” who not only tells her how to fix her laptop, he also decides to use his hacking skills to help her discover the identity of Princess X and find out what really happened to Libby. 

I love May; she’s shy and has a hard time opening up to people, even her parents. When Libby dies, she loses the person who understands her the most and brings out the best in her. Then things get worse when her parents decide to divorce and May moves back to Atlanta with her mother, while her father stays in Seattle. She loves her parents but she keeps them at a distance. I really love the friendship she cultivates with Trick. She knows that she needs his help, but she also values their growing friendship.

Although the friendship between May and Libby is the driving force behind the story, I must admit that my favorite character is Trick. He’s so smart but he’s also an impulsive teenager who has made some bad decisions, but he doesn’t let that stop him from acting like the computer genius he thinks he is. I think even he was surprised at how quickly he bonded with May and I believe he really cherishes their growing friendship.

The pacing is good, in fact I was able to finish it in a day, but because the pacing is so fast – especially toward the end, there are scenes that stick out because they are a bit too unbelievable. I also wish the author had fleshed out her descriptions of the places May and Trick visit in Seattle. Since I’ve never been to Seattle, it was hard for me to picture the places she talks about, although someone who has been there probably wouldn’t have an issue with it. I gave this book a 4 because I loved the unique plot and the mixing of the story and the Princess X comics. 

Book Review: The Walls Around Us

Title: The Walls Around Us

By: Nova Ren Suma

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕ (4)

I was in the middle of a book slump when a friend suggested I read Nova Ren Suma’s new book, The Walls Around Us. In it she tells the stories of two girls who have never met but they share a common link; Violet, the prima ballerina and Amber, an inmate at the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center along with the girl that ties them together, the deceased Orianna. The story is told in alternating viewpoints and through Violet’s and Amber’s voices we learn about Orianna and how she went from celebrated ballerina to an inmate at Aurora Hills.

Aside from the ending, which I’ll get to later, my one major complaint is that Orianna gets lost in the story. For someone who plays a pivotal role in the stories of both girls, I felt like I didn't know who she was, maybe that was the intention of the author, but it left me feeling unsatisfied and made the ending all the more puzzling. 

The one character that really grabbed me was Violet. I hated her. It was great. She has very few redeeming qualities, and you can feel it as you read her narrative. What is so great about her is that she knows she is an unpleasant person and that her outside demeanor is a mask holding back her true self. 

The book itself is not very long and I was able to finish it in a day. However it took about three days for me to wrap my head around what I had read. I’m not even exaggerating here. When I finished, I sat back in my chair and thought “What the hell did I just read?” A few hours later, I went back and reread the last 2-3 chapters to see if I’d missed anything. I had. But instead of clearing things up, I felt as if I were looking at a ball of yarn to be untangled, but every time I pulled the string there was another knot or broken thread. Over the next two days I tried to convince everyone I know to read this book so I would have someone to talk to about it. Even though I've had some time to reflect and untangle the ending, I’m still not sure if I like or dislike it. 

Initially I was going to give The Walls Around Us a 3 star rating, mostly because Orianna’s character lacked dimension. But I changed my mind when I realized I spent the better part of a week thinking about this story. It wasn't a spectacular or life changing book, but it stuck with me long after I finished it.

Great article from The Daily Dot

Your Guide to the Greatest Heroines of 

Young Adult Fiction

by Aja Romano

Book Review: Since You've Been Gone

Title: Since You've Been Gone

Author: Mary Jennifer Payne

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ (3)

Publish Date: February 17, 2015

It seems like forever since I was given a YA novel to review, and a contemporary one at that. It was nice to have a little break from the non-fiction and fantasy I've been reading lately. Like many of the contemporary YA novels that have been published in the last five years, this one deals with sensitive subjects that real teenagers may be dealing with. Since You've Been Gone begins with 15 year old Edie and her mother fleeing into the night – again. Being on the run is something Edie knows all too well since she and her mother have been fleeing from her abusive father for the last five years. But this time it’s different, they’re not only trying to start over in a new city but a new country.

This story had a lot of potential but it fell flat. The pace of the writing was good, it kept me interested enough to finish the book, but I felt like the story was too rushed. Some of the problems with the storytelling may be because this is the author’s first novel and prior to this she was writing for graphic novels. Storytelling in graphic novels tends to have a quick pace and things can be left out in the dialogue because they can be shown in the art. Since You've Been Gone suffered because it was too short, things that should have been explored in more detail were cut short, and things that weren't necessary to the plot were overdone. The last quarter of the book was particularly rushed to the point where the narrative became unrealistic.

 I also had a hard time sympathizing with Edie, I understand that her circumstances were terrible, but her character was inconsistent at critical points and it made it hard for me to like her since I wasn't sure which Edie the author meant to portray. I would have also liked it if the supporting characters were fleshed out more, especially Jermaine and possibly Precious (when you get to the end you’ll know why).

I’m giving it a 3 because the potential is there. The writing was, for the most part, good and it kept my interest. I just wish there was more.

Book Review: Storm Siren

Title: Storm Siren

Author: Mary Weber

Rating: ☕ ☕ ☕ ☕

My Thoughts:

Goodness I don’t know where to start. This book was such a surprise for me. For me, high fantasy books are hit or miss, and lately I’ve had quite a few misses. So I wasn’t expecting a lot when I picked this up. The first 5 pages didn’t really do much to encourage me, and then WHAM! I was sucked into Nym’s world and I haven’t quite left it yet (I’ll get to that later). She is a very powerful and flawed character and her struggle to gain acceptance from the people around her, including herself, endeared her to me. I loved the supporting characters – with the exception of Nym’s primary love interest and trainer, Eogan. He somewhat redeemed himself, but…well, I can’t say…spoilers you know.

What turned this into a 4 latte book was the sporadic world building. Some areas are well thought out and fit well into the story. Other parts have too many loose ends and little to no explanation, which was frustrating for me. For example, it is said that Elementals are exclusively male, but obviously Nym is female – an anomaly which is re-stated throughout the book but it seems like there is no intention to explain why she exists. There are other areas that bothered me, hopefully the problem areas will be addressed in the next book.
The ending seriously got to me. When I first read it I didn’t see it coming. I was pretty angry – in a good way, but seriously, who leaves a cliff hanger like that? After I stewed about it for a day I went back and reread the last few chapters and found a bit of foreshadowing and other hints that I missed the first time around. I have some theories, but now I am forced to wait until the summer of 2015 before I can find out if my theories (fingers crossed) holds water.

This is a good book if you enjoy YA and fantasy. I look forward to reading books 2 and 3 in the future and watching Mary Weber’s writing grow along with Nym.

**NetGalley provided me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Book Review: Beneath

Title: Beneath

Author: Gill Arbuthnott

Rating: ☕ ☕

My Thoughts:

Beneath is about young Jess, who seeking her kidnapped friend dives into the world beneath the water into the realm of shape shifters. She meets the mysterious kelpie Finn and finds someone who truly understands her. Caught between worlds will she abandon her friend Magnus and the life she has always known or will she leave Finn and the mysterious world below.   
 

To be honest I’m not sure where to begin with this. The simple truth is that I had a hard time getting into this book and it was a struggle for me to finish it. The premise was good, but the execution was not there. The beginning seemed to be going well. Jess was an interesting lead and Finn, despite his stalker tendencies, was a good romantic lead. And then it came to a grinding halt—the middle of the book had so much filler I had to skip pages in order to stave off boredom. I think the nail in the coffin for me was the awkward love triangle between Magnus, Jess, and Finn. 
 

I really wanted to like this book. I really wanted to read more about the kelpies and the world they live in. I wanted more emotion from the characters. Instead the only thing I got was the relief I felt when I was able to finish the book and delete it from my kindle. 
 

**NetGalley generously provided me with a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.**