Review: Lost and Wanted

Lost and Wanted by Nell Freudenberger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ultimately, I did enjoy this book. It starts out kind of slow and spends a lot of time reflecting on the past of Helen, the protagonist/narrator, and her friend Charlie, who recently died. Their relationship as undergrads and later as adults shape the way the story plays out. There is a closeness between them that is evident despite the fact that we never get to see them together in the present. Instead, other characters sort of fill those roles for each other and reflect the relationship they would have had.

The science portion of the novel is actually pretty interesting, but it's importance seems to shift throughout the story. It was presented in a way that made it easy to understand, even when some of the concepts got complex. I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book exactly. It took me a while to get on board with the way it was presented though.

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Review: The Oracle Year

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up almost entirely based on the fact that I've enjoyed the few comic books that I've read by Soule previously. The idea that someone could wake up knowing 108 things that would happen in the future was pretty interesting too. I like the approach of seeing what someone might do with that sort of information and how the world would react to them. Everything from Will Dando's approach to how he uses the information he has been gifted with to the way the other people in the book react to his predictions is handled really well. This is a living, breathing world that we get a chance to visit. It might be a little dry at times, but I found it to be a lot of fun with some intriguing ideas.


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Review: The Oracle Year

The Oracle Year by Charles Soule
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this book up almost entirely based on the fact that I've enjoyed the few comic books that I've read by Soule previously. The idea that someone could wake up knowing 108 things that would happen in the future was pretty interesting too. I like the approach of seeing what someone might do with that sort of information and how the world would react to them. Everything from Will Dando's approach to how he uses the information he has been gifted with to the way the other people in the book react to his predictions is handled really well. This is a living, breathing world that we get a chance to visit. It might be a little dry at times, but I found it to be a lot of fun with some intriguing ideas.


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Review: The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story

The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondō
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book takes Kondo's method and wraps it in a manga story, which works quite well. The story follows a young woman who finds her home cluttered with stuff and she contacts Kondo for help. The visual medium does a good job of showing how her method works. Plus, this story makes applying the method more relatable. There is a little bit of a romance and character history as they go through all the stuff that has accumulated.

The art was pretty nice. Many of the elements that turn me off to manga art were missing in this book. Everything was clean and easy to read. The method is applied to the life of a single woman, so it would be interesting to see how it would work in the context of a couple or a large family where things might not be so cut and dry. Overall, this was a fun read and a bit different from the books I normally pick up.

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Review: Sunstone, Vol. 1

Sunstone, Vol. 1 by Stjepan Šejić
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sunstone is a fantastic book. I got this as part of a Humble Bundle a while back and procrastinated reading it. It wasn't anything that jumped to the top of the list of books that I wanted to read. That might be in part because of the sexual overtones. This book is definitely intended for mature readers, but I feel like it was done tastefully.

This is the story of two women. They meet online and quickly become friends. Their shared interest in certain sexual activities eventually leads to them meeting, which screws with their heads and their hearts a little bit. I like the way their relationship develops. It felt natural. I think the thing that brought them together could have been any sort of hobby, but Sejic's approach pushes them into the deep end to dig into some interesting themes. There are elements of this story that can make people pretty uncomfortable. That is part of what makes it great.

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Review: Invisible Republic, Vol. 1

Invisible Republic, Vol. 1 by Gabriel Hardman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The thing that hooked me about this book is the worldbuilding. We are introduced to a backwater colonial moon where people have a pretty tough life. I like that the setting feels like it could be a real place. The issues that the characters are struggling with and the way the events build together is pretty well done.

The story follows a reporter as he tries to rebuild the history of a failed dictator. He happens upon a windfall in the diary of a woman that claims to be the dictator's sister. There are a bunch of different characters that are shown in this arc. I like how the writing and the art work together to create tension between them. I would definitely recommend for anyone that looks gritty sci-fi stories.

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Review: Imperium Vol. 1: Collecting Monsters

Imperium Vol. 1: Collecting Monsters by Joshua Dysart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For a book about Toyo Harada, he really isn't in it that much. Instead, it focuses on the group of characters that he is bringing together to help achieve his dream of creating a post-scarcity world. That isn't a bad thing at all because these characters are really interesting. This arc kind of reminds me of the second arc of Dysart's Harbinger run. They both center around the individual characters that make up their respective groups. This feels like it adds a lot of depth to the story. Dysart is very capable of giving these characters their spotlight without losing sight of the rest of the story.

There are moments that highlight what Harada is trying to achieve starting with the very first pages of the series and others that showcase the conflict between Harada's group and the rest of the world. As someone who has read a lot of the other Valiant books that preceded this series, I felt right at home with this book. I think someone that is new to these characters could pick up with no problem. It just won't have the same impact as it will for someone that is already invested in the world.

Doug Braithwaite might just be one of my favorite artists thanks to Valiant. His artwork is always fantastic. Pairing with a good colorist helps a lot. I compared some of Braithwaite's uncolored drawings that were included in the back of this trade to the finished pages. The color adds a noticeable layer to the art, but his drawings are still great even without the color. Needless to say, there are some really cool visual moments in this book.

I was hesitant to read this book in part because I had heard a lot of good things about it and I didn't want to be disappointed with it. That was not a problem at all. I am excited to dig into the next volume to see what Harada is going to do now that he has his team of monsters.

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Review: The Parade

The Parade by Dave Eggers
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy from Penguin First to Read in exchange for an honest review.

I've heard some good things about Eggers' other books, so when I had an opportunity to read The Parade I figured I would give it a shot. It did not work for me one bit. This is a story about a couple of men that are employed by an unspecified company to go to an unnamed country to build a road using some advanced technology. The point is to connect two cities that have been ravaged by war in an attempt to foster peace and prosperity.

I am drawn to books with really well written characters. These guys are pretty bland. They don't even have names, instead going by numbers of their own choosing. That aspect didn't bother me too much until a couple instances late in the story. But they lack personality. It seemed like Eggers took the Odd Couple trope and transplanted them into a post military conflict zone with no oversight. Four is a veteran of this sort of thing. He is focused on the job at hand and tunes out everything else. Nine is extremely flighty, indulging every whim he has along the way. The way the story is set up I could buy that these two guys would be in this particular place to do this job without a larger group. However, the interactions between the characters felt ridiculous without any humor.

Personally, the whole thing felt pretty vague. I think most of this comes down to the writing style. We see all of the events from Four's perspective, so his thoughts and opinions color a lot of what we are shown. I wouldn't recommend this as a place to start reading Eggers' works.

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