Review: FROM BLOOD AND ASH by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

Rating: 4/5 stars

I stayed up LATE to read this book multiple nights in a row because it was addicting and I didn’t want to put it down, even though I had some major problems with it, namely with the romance.

Poppy is the Maiden, but she is also very much a maiden in her innocence and naivety. She is not allowed to be looked at and must wear a veil at all times. She is not allowed to speak or be spoken to by certain people. Her life is not her own. But she’s human too, and she’s unhappy with all the rules and restrictions placed on her. 

One day when she’s trying to live a normal life, she sneaks out to a club called the Red Pearl, where she ends up meeting Hawke, a handsome guard. And that is the start of the adventure and romance of this story. 

I don’t want to say too much more about the plot because I went in with almost no idea what this book was about other than that it’s a fantasy romance, and I enjoyed it that way. I will say it’s more of a paranormal high fantasy than it is a romance though, at least in the beginning. I expected this book to be on the level of Sarah J. Maas as far as having X-rated romance scenes, but the first 60% was pretty tame with actually almost no romance scenes at all. Of course, those scenes did come, and while the scenes were explicit, the whole book was a lot more mellow than I was expecting. 

I surprisingly really enjoyed From Blood and Ash. Even though I felt like not much was happening for the vast majority of the book, I still was quite invested in it. Most of the story is about court politics and Poppy’s day-to-day life as the Maiden. I love reading about fantasy politics and worldbuilding so I actually really enjoyed that, and I’m becoming more of a character-driven reader the more I realize I don’t care about action/fight scenes (and this book had very little of those but the ones it did have were GOOD). 

I did have some questions about the plot that never got answered, and I’m hoping they will be discussed in further installments. My main question is why is Poppy the Maiden? Like how did she get chosen at birth and why her versus someone else? I’m also still not really sure what the Maiden even does, like the synopsis says she’s supposed to Ascend and then “usher in a new era,” but what does that mean? I’m not sure why her position requires her to be isolated so much either.

I had some problems with the writing as well, such as the fact that this book clearly was self-published because it desperately needs an editor. And a proofreader. And a layout designer. I’m surprised that for how popular of an author Jennifer L. Armentrout is that she didn’t put more work into having this story properly edited because it’s egregiously bad. SO bad, throughout the entire book no less. As an editor myself I was especially bothered by this because there were lots of minor issues—such as misused punctuation, unnecessary repetition, or incorrect word usage—that could easily have been fixed with even one pass by a proficient editor. I’m trying to not let that affect my rating or enjoyment of the story because the story itself was still really fun for me; there were just so many moments where blatant errors pulled me out of the story to the point that I was constantly turning to my husband on the couch and showing him the book and being all affronted like, “Can you believe no one caught this???” 

Now I want to talk about Hawke and the romance in this book, which was my biggest issue (although the lack of editing comes in a close second) and my least favorite part of the novel. There will be some spoilers below about the intimate scenes between Hawke and Poppy and about some scenes at the end.  

I do appreciate that they had a slow-burn romance and they didn’t have sex in the first chapter when they met. I mean it was close, but I’m really glad they didn’t go all the way that early on. 

I was wary of Hawke from the beginning. That first scene at the start of the book when he put his hands on her without her permission completely rubbed me the wrong way. I was hoping that was a one-off, and for a large portion of the book I thought I was right and I hesitantly started to like Hawke, but I should have known to trust my gut. The readers are led to believe that Hawke thinks Poppy is someone else when they first meet and that is why he touched her, but we learn later on that he knew who she was the whole time, which makes him touching her like that all the worse. We see from the beginning that Hawke only cares about what he wants and not about what Poppy wants or what’s best for her. 

I really cannot justify or stand behind how Hawke treats Poppy. He’s honestly horrible to her. He puts up the pretense that he cares about her and protects her, but later on we see who the true Hawke is and he’s not sexy, not at all. Twice in the book he sexually touches her without her permission, both times while knowing she’s the Maiden, and it just made me really uncomfortable. Because if you have no sexual experience or even romantic experience, you’re not going to be so open and willing the first time someone touches you like that. She’s supposed to be sheltered, so I just couldn’t believe she would allow that. Wanting to escape her rooms and live a little and kiss him, I understand. That’s fun but innocent. But the sexual stuff, even if just touching, is not innocent, and I personally don’t feel like she should have or would have been that open and willing to do it after eighteen years of being told she’s not supposed to. Lifelong conditioning doesn’t just go away at the snap of a finger. 

Then there’s the scene at the end when Poppy finds out that he betrayed her and she tries to kill him and then they end up having sex?? Excuse me? The whole time Hawke was with her, he knew he was going to betray her, he knew he had a hand in killing her family members, yet he still screws her (and screws her over). That is not the action of someone who’s caring and protective—that’s manipulative and vile. She was emotionally unstable because he was the first guy she even remotely had feelings for, and he completely took advantage of her. The only reason he protects her is to serve his own agenda. I honestly don’t know if he actually likes her or if he’s only turned on by the fact that she’s the “enemy.” 

Once again we have a story where a centuries-old man is seducing a young girl. Hawke is not sexy! Not whatsoever. He’s controlling of her and too forceful during intimate moments. His scenes with Poppy made me cringe because of how much he took advantage of her. He lied to Poppy, deceived her, betrayed her, physically and emotionally and mentally hurt her, controlled her, gaslit her, sexually touched her without her permission, used her in so many wrong ways—so tell me why anyone thinks he’s sexy? Absolutely not. If a guy pulled any of that on me we’d be done immediately and he’d be suffering permanent brain damage after I finished with him; I don’t care how many abs he has. 

I just like good guys, okay? But the general populace likes the bad boys, the players, the sex gods, so that’s always who ends up in the books. . . . I also don’t like how in romance books the girl is always the virgin and the guy is always the most experienced sexual partner ever. Someone please tell me about an adult romance where the guy is also a virgin, because that’s much more preferable to me. 

And then there’s the whole part at the ending where Hawke tells Poppy he understands her desire to be free, that she’s been caged her whole life under the restraints of being the Maiden, that he also wants her to be free, but then he takes her prisoner and tells her she’s going to marry him, which she had no say in, and he tells her multiple times he’s only using her to get his brother back. So she’s no freer now than she has been her whole life! But it’s okay because he’s hot, right?? I just couldn’t believe that whole scene. I can’t believe Hawke. He became a completely different person at the end, really asserting his maniacal overlordliness. (But I’m still going to read book two because it’s addicting. . . .) 

I didn’t realize I had so much pent-up anger about Hawke but apparently I really had a problem with him. Let’s end on a happy note. I loooved the scene toward the end when Poppy fistfights Hawke! That was so good, one of the few fight scenes I’ve actually enjoyed reading. I love seeing a strong female protagonist actually be badass and actually stab people and punch people, especially the hot guy because he was being a jerk. I feel like in books we are always told she’s strong but she never does anything to show that. But in this book she actually shows us she can fight and she doesn’t hold back! I loved it. Poppy is great. 

Overall, even though From Blood and Ash has a highly problematic love interest and an obvious lack of editing, it was still so compelling and addictive. I flew through this book and couldn’t wait to get off of work every day so I could go home and read it. I really enjoyed Poppy as a character and I’m glad she actually showed us she’s a strong female protagonist rather than just saying she’s one without any evidence. I liked the fantasy politics and storyline as well. I’m pretty conflicted in my rating because some aspects I loved and some aspects I hated. But overall I’m still looking forward to continuing on with the series. This isn’t quality literature but it sure is fun. 

This book needs a map. It’s a high fantasy—every high fantasy book needs a map. I believe the second and third books have a map, but I wish it were included in the first book as well. It also desperately needs a glossary to define all the new terminology the author used, so much so that I created one myself below because I couldn’t find one anywhere online. It contains minor spoilers. 

~GLOSSARY~

Ascended: Mortals go through the Ascension to become Ascended. They are basically immortal and live for a long time but can still be killed. Ascended is another name for vampry. They were originally created by the Atlantians by accident; consuming large quantities of Atlantian blood turns one into a Vampry/Ascended. The Ascended use the Craven to control the people through fear. 

Atlantian: Beings of an ancient race. Basically they’re sophisticated vampires. They have fangs and are pretty much immortal but can still be killed. They age very slowly. Their blood has healing properties.

Craven: Dangerous beings that are a mix of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. If bitten by one, humans will turn into one. When a Vampry drains a mortal of blood, it turns into a Craven. The Ascended tell the people that the Dark One controls the Craven but this is not true as they are not even created by him.

Culling: The process when people change into Atlantians, growing fangs.

Dark One: Heir to the Atlantian throne. AKA Prince Casteel. Has a brother named Prince Malik, who is the true heir to the throne. 

Descenters: The group that follows the Dark One. They believe the gods are false and the Dark One, AKA Prince Casteel, is the true Prince. They are followers but are not directly led by him and sometimes act on their own.

Vampry: Basically vampires. Another name for the Ascended. They feed on mortals.

Wolven: Basically werewolves. Some Wolven can bond with certain Atlantians. 

Review: THE WITCH'S HEART by Genevieve Gornichec

 

Rating: 1/5 stars

I initially wanted to read this book after it started getting a lot of hype at the bookstore where I work, and then I found out the author is a local author and came by to sign copies. I didn’t get to meet her but I thought that was pretty cool, so I hesitantly decided to give her book a chance. I say “hesitantly” because I have a history of not liking mythology-based stories. There has yet to be a book about mythology that I’ve really enjoyed, so I thought either this book would be the one, or I would dislike it with all the others. 

Well, I’m sad to report that after only an hour and a half of listening to the audiobook, I had to put it down. I was so unbelievably bored with the story that I just couldn’t keep reading.

The bit that I did read is about Loki and his wife, Angrboda. Basically, they are just sitting around and eating and hanging out, and it felt very weird to me, like the characterization of Loki was not what I expected or wanted it to be. I also found the dialogue to be very stilted and unnatural, which hindered my experience as well. 

Another thing to add is the audiobook narrator is awful, so I would not recommend listening to the story if you do choose to read it. 

I’m sad The Witch’s Heart wasn’t for me. I really do hope to find a book based on mythology that I end up loving, but this book wasn’t it. It has been getting a lot of praise though, so if it sounds like something you’d enjoy then I encourage you to still check it out. 

Review: SKIN & EARTH, VOL. 1 by Lights

Rating: 5/5 stars

This was incredible!

Lights is one of my favorite musical artists. I’ve listened to her for many years, and her 2017 album of the same name, Skin & Earth, has been her best one yet. Somehow, though, I never managed to read the comic that goes along with the album until now.

Skin & Earth, Vol. 1 was way cooler than I expected it to be. It’s set in an apocalyptic world a few hundred years in the future where there is only a small area of inhabited land left and all the people are slowly being poisoned by the toxic waste being produced by a mining corporation that’s taking over the city. I’m already sold on the premise alone, but then add in the fact that we have a gritty but awesome female protagonist (Enaia) who wants to help save the environment, a bad boy who’s not what he seems, a mystical goddess, ritualistic tattoos, and the fact that Lights wrote, drew, colored, lettered, and made the entire comic all by herself?? Yes, please.

I devoted four hours to reading this comic, way longer than it should have taken me, but I was immersed in the world and was very invested in everything Skin & Earth. I had a really great time though so it was all totally worth it.

Each chapter in the graphic novel is named after a song on the album, and each chapter has a snippet of lyrics from that song. Or vice versa; I don’t actually know if the song lyrics were written first or if the comic was written first. But either way, they shared a few lines here and there, and I loved trying to find the hidden lyrics throughout the book. What’s more, each song perfectly aligns with the atmosphere of its matching chapter. I listened to each song on repeat while I was reading that song’s chapter, and that is absolutely how I would recommend reading this book. 

The album is amazing on its own, and the graphic novel has a story that would be amazing on its own as well. But mix them together and you have a whole new kind of experience. I’ve never seen a song match a story so well as this entire album matched this entire book on every page. Each lyric felt like it was perfectly chosen to be about this scene or that character, and I was honestly floored at how well it all went together. 

The reason it took me so long to read the book though is that I didn’t spend that whole time reading. I took breaks to investigate the map, and I watched all the music videos for the Skin & Earth album, which perfectly go along with the scenes from each corresponding chapter. Especially the “We Were Here” video—I love how well it shows exactly what Enaia and Mitsuki were doing at that point in the story.

Plus, the best part of all is the insane amount of bonus content that Lights has created to go along with her story. If you go to @skinandearthworld on Instagram, there is an interactive map that tells you about all the different sectors and areas in their world. If you click around on it and follow links to all the pages Lights has created, you will learn so much about the world of Madison City. I’m truly stunned at how much work she has put into creating Skin & Earth for us. The best part is that there is a pop star in the world named Lūn, and she even has her own Instagram and her own music that you can listen to! (I mean it’s all by Lights anyway but it’s still cool that she has this new persona now.)

Lights is truly a one-of-a-kind artist, combining art and music and more in a way that’s never been done to this extent before, and I love it so so much. Skin & Earth was only one album and one volume of the comic. I can’t wait to see where Enaia’s story takes us in volume two, especially since the story took a direction I did not expect at all, and I can’t wait to see if Lights’s next album is also a concept album that’s a continuation of this story.

Even without all the cool connections to the album and all the bonus content, I still loved the first volume in the Skin & Earth graphic novel series. The story was right up my alley and genuinely surprised me at times, and the art was pretty neat and matched the mood of the story well. I’m very much looking forward to the future of this comic series and all it has to offer. 

Review: THE SPRITE AND THE GARDENER by Rii Abrego & Joe Whitt

Rating: 2/5 stars

I initially wanted to read this graphic novel because it reminded me of The Tea Dragon Society, which I love. Both are published by Oni Press and both are soft fantasies for younger audiences about protecting our planet. But unfortunately, I didn't like this story as much as I hoped to. 

The Sprite and the Gardener is about a sprite named Wisteria who helps a gardener grow her garden. Sprites used to take care of flowers and plants in the past, but now humans take care of everything and the sprites just exist, hanging out in the plants and staying hidden from humans. But Wisteria wants to take care of plants again, so she goes out and does it. 

I thought the story was very wholesome and cute, but it just felt lacking. It needed to be a little bit longer and have more depth, in my opinion. I don't feel like this is going to leave a lasting impression on me like The Tea Dragon Society did, which is sad. 

I also didn't really care for the coloring in this book. The drawings and outlines are nice, and the colors are soft and cheerful, but the coloring looks like someone used Paint fill to color the whole thing, every object being exactly one color without any shading or depth. It makes the art feel very . . . incomplete. 

Overall, I thought The Sprite and the Gardener was just okay. It is a wholesome soft fantasy about how coming together can make the biggest difference as we can all support each other and accomplish something greater together than we can alone. I think this graphic novel would be enjoyed best by younger children as that is a good moral to teach them, but it leaves older audiences wanting more from the story, both in terms of the plot and the artwork. 

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LaRUE by V. E. Schwab

 

Rating: 3.75/5 stars

Back in 2019, I attended a signing for Victoria Schwab where she did a Q&A panel beforehand, and I remember her mentioning that her current work-in-progress and the next book to be released from her would be called The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. She talked a bit about the story and said she’s been working on this book for many years and has put her whole heart into it. For some reason, I thought it was a middle-grade book, so I was very excited to learn later on that this is instead an adult fantasy!

You’ve probably heard the premise by now: Addie makes a deal with the devil to live forever but is cursed to be forgotten by everyone the moment she leaves their sight, putting a more literal twist on the old adage, “out of sight, out of mind.” That is until one day a boy remembers her.

I was completely sold by that short synopsis alone. I didn’t know anything more than that going into the story, and I recommend it that way.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is a much more sweeping literary tale than Schwab’s previous works, containing only a dash of the fantastical rather than full-on magic. The beautiful, lyrical writing contributed to this too as it had a different feel than I’m used to from her. Addie always compares time to language and sentence structure: “That kiss, like a piece of long-awaited punctuation. Not the em dash of an interrupted line, or the ellipsis of a quiet escape, but a period, a closed parenthesis, an end. That is the thing about living in the present, and only the present, it is a run-on sentence.” (The fact that the sentence about life being a run-on sentence is itself a run-on sentence had me swooning because of how much I love words and the English language.) Passages like that give the book a very literary feeling, which was very fitting for this story. 

I was hooked right from the beginning. I’ve heard from others that the book starts out slow, but I didn’t find that to be the case whatsoever. I was drawn into Addie’s story in the early 1700s leading up to when she met the devil, interspersed with chapters of the present day in 2014 as you discover what her life is like now that she’s had so many years to figure it out.

I naturally preferred the present-day chapters more as I have found recently that I’m falling out of love with historical fiction, but both timelines still captivated me nonetheless . . . that is, until around page 80. From then on, I became uninterested in the chapters from 1700s France and other times and places in the past, looking forward to reading about Addie in present-day New York instead. The historical chapters at this point turned downright depressing and I simply didn’t want to read them: I really didn’t like seeing Addie sell her body for money when she doesn’t even need food to stay alive. Her promiscuity continues throughout the years, which I also didn’t enjoy reading about, but that first moment when she brands herself as a prostitute was horrible. 

I enjoyed Addie as a character other than that. She’s often motivated entirely by selfish reasons but I still managed to like her despite that. If I ever reread this book though, I will probably read only the present-day chapters and skip all of the chapters set in the past because I honestly just didn’t enjoy or care about them. 

I liked Henry well enough also. The typical quiet good guy. Addie is much more dynamic than him, but I think that’s the point. After the halfway point of the book, we start getting flashback chapters from Henry’s past of just six months ago. Although this wasn’t historical by any means, I started to feel about Henry’s past chapters that I felt about Addie’s chapters set in the 1700s. I really was only interested in the present-day chapters about Addie, or Addie with Henry. Everything else kind of dragged in my opinion. I’ve seen a lot of criticism that this book has very uneven pacing and I can really feel that.

I kind of guessed the twist. Back in the middle of part two when Henry first tells Addie that he remembers her I had an inkling of a thought, a reason why that might be, but I brushed it aside. But then Henry’s short chapter at the very end of part two, the way he smiled at the end, I returned to my earlier hypothesis about Henry, all the while begging the book to take a different route, that I would be wrong, because I knew if I was right then I would be ruined. While I wasn’t exactly right, I did guess some part of the truth. (Read the spoiler section at the end to hear my theories.) 

This book did not turn out quite how I expected it to. I can’t say for sure what, but it feels like something is missing from the narrative. Addie makes a big impact on and has commentary about art throughout history, but she doesn’t say anything about all the other historical events taking place. I know it’s hard to know in the moment that history is taking place, but I guess I still expected to hear more about it. She briefly mentions a war, the advent of color television, airplanes, but again, I just wanted more. 

I really did like the art aspect of the book though. There’s a heavy focus on the idea that there is always something to live for, so much beauty in the world yet to be seen and experiences yet to be lived. I thought that was a nice underlying tone to an otherwise darker narrative. 

Addie LaRue was one of my must-read books of 2021, and I’m so glad I got to it early on in the year. Overall, I quite enjoyed it and I ultimately recommend it, even though it’s not quite what I expected. I love Victoria Schwab and I will read anything she writes. This wasn’t my favorite book of hers, but I still think it tells an important story worth reading. I can’t wait to see what story she comes out with next.

I have a lot of thoughts related to the plot and reveals of the story, so I have separated them out in a SPOILERS section below:

I had two possible theories about why Henry could remember Addie: 1) Henry was actually the devil in disguise. Both Henry and Luc have curly black hair and green eyes. Only the devil could remember Addie, so that would still be the case if Henry is actually the devil, and only the devil can say Addie’s name until she meets Henry. Plus at one of Luc’s visits to Addie soon after she made the deal with him, he tells her that of course he made it a hard life for her, because if she’s going to give her soul to him when she doesn’t want it anymore, then he’s going to make her want to give it up sooner. So I thought that Luc had been planning for hundreds of years for a way to get Addie’s soul at last and decided to pretend to be Henry to make Addie fall in love with him so when he finally revealed himself she’d be devastated enough to finally either give up her soul or follow him into the afterlife. Or, 2) Henry also made a deal with the devil. I thought maybe it was a deal to remember everything and therefore he was able to remember Addie.

The first guess was my primary thought, but the second guess turned out to be the truth, in part. Interestingly enough though, when I explained the story’s synopsis and my theories to my husband, he had two theories of his own: 1) Henry was the devil’s child and is therefore exempt from the effects of any deals he makes with others, thus making him able to remember Addie. Or, 2) Henry also made a deal with the devil, but his deal was that everyone will see what they want when they look at him. I am not kidding here, my husband guessed the correct answer without even having read the book!

I do think it is very interesting that both Henry and Addie suffered very similar curses. No one is able to see the true Henry, while no one is able to remember the true Addie. The whole time, they both just want to be seen. It’s also worth noting that when Luc showed up to offer the deal to each of them, both Addie and Henry were in a vulnerable and emotionally charged state, not allowing either of them to make the most rational decision at that moment. Leave it to the devil to take advantage of the situation and come out with the better bargain while the people he made the deal with were left with dissatisfaction and regret.

I ended up being surprised by and really loving the ending. I think the first 80 pages of the book and the last 60 pages of the book are the most interesting, while the middle section is slower and not as engaging. The ending had me genuinely excited though! Some friends have told me that they cried during the ending, but I was only smiling. When Addie gets Luc to agree to the new deal, and how she’s making him play her game on her terms now, I loved that. And how Henry publishes Addie’s story as a book called The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, so now everyone can remember her after all, I loved that so much. I had a suspicion when he first started writing down her story that it was going to turn into a book-within-the-book of the same title, and I was right. The whole ending was my favorite part of the entire story. 

Review: DARK ONE Vol. 1 by Brandon Sanderson

 

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

As a massive Brandon Sanderson fan, I knew I had to get my hands on whatever new book he comes out with next. Dark One, his latest release, is about Paul who lives on Earth but can see visions of another world called Mirandus, including seeing Nikka, a ghost girl who befriends him. He thinks he's going crazy, but in reality, he's prophesied to become the Dark One in Mirandus. 

I have to admit that I was pretty confused during the whole story. I've always struggled with fantastical graphic novels because there's never enough worldbuilding for the story to make sense, and magic and character motivations are shallow as well. I didn't understand the connection Paul had to Mirandus, or what exactly his dad's role was either. I'm also not sure about his mom's client's role, and that seemed to be pretty important, yet it went right over my head. Paul was from New York yet took so quickly to his role as the Dark One that I just didn't find it believable. I personally feel like we needed a lot more page time getting to know the background of the world and getting to understand Paul's thoughts, which is why I think this story would have been better as a prose novel instead of as a graphic novel. 

I also struggled with this story because I expected this to be very different from what it was. I've seen Brandon mention this story in the past, a spin on "What if Harry Potter was prophesied to be Voldemort instead of the one who defeats Voldemort?" That would be a very different story, he explained, if the boy was prophesied to be the Dark One instead of the Chosen One. So somehow I imagined the story would be set in a more classical fantasy setting, something similar to Mistborn, and we would follow a good young boy as he learns he is to grow up to be an evil ruler and how he comes to grips with that. I thought we'd watch him grow up and slowly give over to the evil even though he didn't want to, something along those lines. But that is not at all what Dark One is about. The modern-day Earth setting threw me off, as did Paul being an adult when he learned about the prophecy and his willingness to accept the prophecy. Plus I'm not sure we even saw a real prophecy, it was more like someone just told him that was his role, and he was like, "Oh, okay." 

This graphic novel isn't actually written by Brandon Sanderson though. As far as I'm aware, he came up with the idea and wrote an outline for it, and then someone else wrote the graphic novel based on his idea. But anything that has Sanderson's name on it I will read, and this is no exception. I just wish it had more of a Sanderson feel to it because his prose novels are so good about fleshing out the world and filling the plot holes. 

The art style in this book reminds me of a classic grungy superhero story. It's set partially in downtown New York City and partially in Mirandus, and each panel has a mostly monochromatic color scheme with thick lines and gruff drawings. It's not my favorite art style—in fact, I really didn't like it—but I do think it matches the tone of the story. 

Dark One is not my favorite thing I've read from Brandon Sanderson. I enjoyed his epic fantasy novels and young adult sci-fi stories more, and I even liked his other graphic novel series, White Sand, better. In fact, I hate to admit this, but this book might be my least favorite story I've read from Sanderson, and I've read almost everything he's written. Ultimately, my expectations were way off so I was left disappointed and confused. I think the concept is cooler than the execution. If you, too, liked the concept but didn't like the execution, check out Brandon's full-length novels, which do a much better job of fleshing out the world and explaining the plot. I will be continuing on with this series, but only because it's Brandon Sanderson; if any other author wrote this book, I wouldn't be reading any future installments. 

I'm really sad I didn't end up loving Dark One, but you can't love every book an author writes, even if it's your favorite author. I think if you like the gritty art style, know what the story is actually about beforehand, and don't set your expectations too high for the plot, you would enjoy this graphic novel. Like I said, it still is a cool idea, just not done at all in the way I thought it would be. 

Review: ASCENDANCE OF A BOOKWORM, PART 1 VOL. 1 (manga) by Miya Kazuki

 

Rating: 2/5 stars

A month ago I read the light novel of this first volume in Ascendance of a Bookworm and was disappointed with it to the point of quitting a third of the way through, but I liked the concept behind the story enough that I wanted to check out the manga instead and see if this medium was more to my liking. 

I did end up enjoying the manga more than the light novel as the story moves along faster and thus is more interesting, but ultimately, I still didn't love this story. I think this series just isn't going to be for me. I expected it to be a bit different than it actually is, and a hyped-up expectation versus reality is always a setup for disappointment. 

The art style is adorable here though, I will give it that. And I think eventually once the story gets going, it will get more interesting, but if I'm not hooked enough by the first volume then I'm not going to continue. 

I think I still want to give the Ascendance of a Bookworm anime a chance since I will be able to move through the story faster that way, but I'm not going to give it more than a few episodes before I decide if I'll be continuing or not. 

Even though this series sadly wasn't for me, I encourage you to give it a shot if you think it sounds interesting because I desperately wanted to like this series and I think it's a fun concept. 

Review: FRUITS BASKET ANOTHER, VOL. 1 by Natsuki Takaya

Rating: 3/5 stars

The original Fruits Basket manga is very beloved to me. It was the first manga I ever read and the first manga series I completed, and it’s the only manga I own, and I own every volume in the original editions. I love the series so much, so I was intrigued and excited but also nervous to see a spin-off of the series one day when I was browsing the bookstore. 

Fruits Basket Another follows Sawa Mitoma as she meets a bunch of Sohmas at school and eventually gets invited over to their house for dinner. That’s pretty much the whole book, and I hate to admit this, but I didn’t really see the point? I was pretty confused the whole time. 

First of all, this felt and looked so similar to the original series that it bothered me. Sawa looks almost identical to Tohru. Hajime looks just like his father, Kyo, and Mutsuki looks just like his father, Yuki, to the point that if I didn’t know better, that’s who I’d assume they were. Even the Prince Yuki Fan Club president’s daughter was the Sohma Family Fan Club president in this book and looked just like her as well. It just seemed a bit . . . unrealistic and borderline humorous, almost like Furuba fan fiction because of how uncannily similar this story was to the original storyline and art. Kids do not always look like their parents or follow in their footsteps, so the fact that the entire cast looks exactly like their parents and are all the same age at the same time and are in the same school and even have the same personalities as their parents felt like deja vu, and that really prevented me from fully loving and embracing this story like I did with the original series. 

I am so happy that we got to see Kyo and Yuki’s children, but I would have liked to see more originality with their personalities. I also really want to see Tohru and Kyo and Yuki as adults so I hope they at least make a cameo sometime in the next two installments. 

I felt like this story was largely unnecessary, but I love Fruits Basket with my whole heart so I will read any stories or spin-offs set in this world even if they have no plot. Fruits Basket Another is only three volumes long so I intend to finish it pretty soon, and hopefully the story will make more sense and come together more in the next book. It also probably doesn’t help that I read this book during my breaks at work spread across a week. I feel like if I had read the whole book in one sitting then I might have got more out of it? I don’t know for sure though. 

Overall I was a bit disappointed with this book, but I have hopes the next two books will be better. Fruits Basket pretty much owns my heart and nothing can hold a candle to it, even a spin-off of itself, apparently.