Review: Haphaven

Haphaven by Norm Harper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know what it is, but I have really been enjoying stories like this. It takes fairy tale elements and puts it into a modern setting. There is a mixture of the real world and a fantasy world that complement each other nicely. In this story, Alex is a young lady that is turning thirteen and her world revolves around superstitions. When one of them threatens her mother's life, she sets out on a journey to find a cure.

The fairy tale elements and the superstitions are great. The real winner for me is the characters. The book takes a decent amount of time establishing Alex's history and her motivation. That could give it a slow start for some, but it pays off. The supporting characters are wonderful too. I found them to be funny and they worked well within Alex's story. I loved the art. It is perfect for the story without being too cartoony.

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Review: Livewire Volume 1: Fugitive

Livewire Volume 1: Fugitive by Vita Ayala
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is book is a solid follow-up to Harbinger Wars 2. As such, it spends a lot of time dealing with Livewire's actions in that book. And I love it for actually dealing with those events and doing so in a way that fits the character. There is some new stuff in this book that deals with Livewire's past as well. I think this is actually a good place for new readers to jump into the character because it addresses both of those aspects without assuming that you know everything about the character.

I really dug the art too. For those that have read Secret Weapons, this is an extension of that miniseries. It brings in many of the same characters and makes good use of them. As much as I enjoyed certain aspects of this book, as a whole it didn't wow me. It spends a lot of time cleaning up a previous story, so it didn't really feel like it's own thing. I'm definitely interested in reading more of Livewire's story though.

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Review: Daisy Jones & The Six

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just fantastic. This book worked for me in all the right ways. First off, the format was interesting. Rather than telling the story in a straight prose narrative, it unfolds through a series of pseudo interviews. It's kind of like reading an episode of VH-1 Behind the Music (for those that remember it, I don't even know if it's still a thing). Each of the character voices comes through in the answers they share. And that leads into the second thing I loved about this book: the characters. It is mostly focused on the two singers of the band, which makes a lot sense. I liked seeing how their relationship with each other and the other members of the band (plus a few other key characters) unfolded from the beginning of the band until they decide to call it quits. The lyrics at the end for the band's hit album are a nice addition. Having these fully realized as part of the book helps make it feel complete.

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Review: Deep Roots

Deep Roots by Dan Watters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Sentient plants? Sign me up. I think the idea of a world where plants have become sentient and lash out at humans for the damage they are doing to the Earth is kind of cool, if a bit heavy handed. The art is fantastic. There are some wonderful scenes that made me stop to just take them in. It also has some moments where I just couldn't tell what was supposed to be happening.

The plot doesn't hold up real well though. There are a group of scientists investigating what is happening with the plants. None of the characters stood out to me, so the story just plodded along. The story gets caught in the labyrinthine environment as much as the characters that head into it. Not a bad book by any means, but the elements that didn't work for me held me back from enjoying the rest of it too much.

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Review: Early Riser

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read a couple other books by Jasper Fforde and I picked this one up almost entirely on the fact that I enjoyed his other work. Within the first couple chapters I was thinking to myself "did I make a mistake picking this up?" The pacing is pretty slow to start out with. Add on top that this is set in an alternate history where some things don't quite work the way we are familiar with and it can be a bit jarring. Once it gets going though, the story is fantastic.

This is a world where winters are blisteringly cold. It is so inhospitable that humans for the most part have developed the ability to hibernate. We get to follow Charlie Worthing on his first year as a member of what is essentially a police force for the winter months. Part of what I liked about this book so much is that it reminds me of hard boiled detective stories. Charlie is a bit of an outsider and acts as a decent guide into this world. One of the things that helped keep the story moving for me is the humor. If that doesn't click for you, I think this book would be much harder to get through. As it is, I found it silly and fun to dig into.

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Review: Tetris: The Games People Play

Tetris: The Games People Play by Box Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tetris might be what brings you to read this book. It is about so much more though. The subtitle hints at the underlying subject of the book. Sure, the title game is sort of what launched video games as we know them. There are a lot of things that led up to the moment when it was developed and took a hold in our imaginations. Not surprisingly, Box Brown does a wonderful job digging into the history of the video game industry. The only real knock I have against this book is that it can drag a little bit at times. Getting through those moments is worth it though.

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Review: Noble, Vol. 1: God Shots

Noble, Vol. 1: God Shots by Brandon Thomas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was an interesting take on a one-off superhero story. It has some tropey moments. Overall, I enjoyed it though. The art is really good. While the story isn't really clear at times, the book as a whole progresses at a decent pace. I never felt like it got bogged down too long to get to a point where I wasn't interested to see what would happen next. As a diversion from Marvel and DC, it wasn't bad. I'd read more about this character.

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