The Stranger is an excellent book, the main character shares a portion of his life. I'm not sure exactly how to word this review so I'll share what I liked. I understand the character, his actions, why he does the things he does, more-so, the things he just goes with the decisions others choose. Not because he doesn't have opinions, he does, he expresses what he feels. They're not strong enough or worth it to him to act upon those decisions. His life is more so moved by the actions of others. Whether those are fine, or immoral, or just criminal. They're not his actions, more of his body. How else do I say it?

He's very indifferent at times. He shows his emotions in other ways. He's not strongly moved emotionally by things other's might perceive as the right reaction. Like the death of a close family member. A romantic interest that is more one sided, but he still appreciates her. Acquainted with certain people that he shouldn't be but simply is because that's the people the world put next to him. I somewhat relate to his lack of emotional expressiveness, behaviors (not actions), and motions through life. He's not happy, at first I thought it was going to be a story about "Oh, he's just depressed" or something bland. However no, he's more so just... fine, with the way things are, but also not. Conformed?

He's not a good person. I believe even the actions you don't take are actions at times. I don't want to portray the protagonist as a good person. He's not a monster in my eyes either. I simply understand his emotions and thoughts. That's what I liked about this book. I understood him. I was less interested in the world around him, and more just interested in him. That's what I favored. There's my review. 5/5✶

MAGE is reallyyyyy gooood! Amazing art, cute little characters and big ol freaks of nature. Body horror done very well. Magic, landscapes, grrrrauurhrhruhhrhrhghghh also itched my Dark Souls spot with the life cycle aspect. Little episodic parts share the story of MAGE tasked with travering an old fantasy world, whether the creature that tasked them with this is good or not is up to you. I find it cruel, but hey what god isn't? Again the cycle aspect like Dark Souls has.

It's also a very quick "read", bonus points if you create the foley in your head and animations. Literally read it now!!! It's free too (I read the physical version that I got from the library but the creator put it up online) https://magecomic.com/ 5/5✶

Gender Queer is a very beautifully written memoir of the author's struggle with eir assigned gender, and finding eir identity. I love it very much! A lot of the issues and confusion I connected with, however of course on my side it was with being assigned male at birth and Maia's being female. Of course like every person, I did not go through the exact issues, but a lot of internal and external conflicts were shared. More specifically clothing, our assigned gonads, whether the other sex felt more like us, but not really since being in the middle felt more at home. Again, this book spoke to me from the cover alone when I saw it at the library, and reading the first few pages I knew I had to pick it up. I do not regret it a single bit, I loved every word and drawing, and every experience and struggled shared and not shared. I understood, and so did E.

I recommend this if you struggle or are confused about your feelings with your identity and/or body. If you don't, well I still recommend it as a way to see the way someone else may struggle with life and find peace through it as well. It's beautiful. 5/5✶

There’s not an awful lot to say about this. Not in a bad way but more so in regards to the substantial content. It is a harmless fun adventure about a boy who gets powers from their horn, and wishes to be normal but must use their powers for good. I’m sure you’ve seen media with a similar premise.

The humor is mildly entertaining, the art style is good, the writing is also just good. It was a pleasure to read but again that’s all there really is to say. I do appreciate the nonbinary representation, that was nice. The Cat Angel thing was cute too, really liked that design choice. I probably won’t seek out further content from this author/artist, but I can recommend it as an easy read. 3/5✶

As mentioned in some of my blog posts and reviews I’ve recently gotten back into reading and writing. I’m actually currently finishing writing my own D&D related fiction about the backstory of my character.

Anyways the books that I have been getting back into are purely text novels. Which I am fine with, but I completely forgot that graphic novels existed. I still knew of manga, and was considering picking up a manga series, but when I went to Barnes & Noble and into the kids/youth section I was amazed. I haven’t been into the youth section in YEARS, and I was shocked to see how much more there was to read in there. What immediately caught my eyes was this book. Again, I’m a huge medieval fantasy nerd and have been interested in D&D (Yet I’ve never played, apart from Baldur's Gate III). Anyways I saw the D&D logo in the youth section and my immediate thought was “No way.” because usually these games entail violence, mature themes, and well I guess at minimum I’d expect D&D media would be in the young adult/teen section. So I ran up and yuppers there it was. Anyways I got it.

Actual Review time! The art style is excellent, I love the fantasy and regular character designs. The fashion and clothes are drawn very well and I appreciate every fit. The background art is very clear and simple, not in a bad way of course. The artist does a great job of getting the environment across with only the basic details, and the colors are so soft. I will say some of the backgrounds obviously have more detail and that is done so well too! Actually all the backgrounds are so good, I just sifted through the pages again, love em! The D&D portions are so good too, love the stat sheets that are shown whenever a new character is introduced. And I enjoyed the little plot twist to it and quest throughout. Obviously I will not go into specifics so you can go and read it, but yes the D&D parts are GREAT.

As for the IRL sections, it is also a good story! A great cast of characters and I almost teared up at one of the end points where two of the characters make up after a fight. The conflicts are realistic with middle schoolers, a little oomphed of course for the sake of literature but I promise this story moves along great. Yearp! Gonna get back into reading more graphic novels, and I believe there is a sequel to this so Imma read that too! GO READ IT! 5/5✶

Captive Prince was definitely an interesting return to literature after not having read any books for 4+ years. Not just because the topics involved, but also the complexities of its story plots, characters, actions, and wording. I admit I'm not the smartest, nor will I ever try to act it, as any attempt to fake it will reveal itself with any word that has more than four syllables. C.S. Pacat definetely had thesarous.com pulled up, the amount of complex words I had to double take and look up was a little irritating, as it took me out of the book and forced my imagination to stop, and to turn it into a quick homework assignment, or risk losing vital information that the author wanted me to know. That's just a personal thing though, it doesn't take any value from the book itself. It's just annoying for me to deal with.

Anyways what I thought of the plot and characters. Most of the names were hard to memorize up until the middle/end of the book. The only names I could remember quickly were the introductory characters who were referenced again and again, those being The Regent, Damon, Laurent, Nikeaos, Ancel, Torvil. As for locations the amount of times I forgot how to properly pronounce the names of any cities that wasn't Achillos, such as Laurent's home town of Vier (Viera?). It probably doesn't help that this book was read to me rather than I myself reading it. That's not the fault of the reader however, it's just my brain and the way it processes things and anytime something sounded "off" my brain would freeze for a second, causing words to crash like a line of kids pushing each other rushing to go to recess. Again not a fault of the reader, just my lack of literacy skills and my brain being the way it is.

It's always hard dealing with names in fiction or the real world, it's super difficult for me to remember the names of new people. Once you introduce fantasy elements and names you'd normally never hear, it's a recipe for forgetting. Which did slightly taint my experience since it drew away focus I could have spent imagining the scenarios in my head, and instead playing a game of catch up. Being like okay X did Y in the last part, and having to replay everything up to that point like a recap episode. All the while it's being read to me, again my brain clearly has difficulties processing things. I wish it didn't because I really wish I could have loved this more than I did enjoy it, I might have to re-read it.

THE PLOT! Very... very interesting. If it wasn't for my friend reading this to me I would have quit, not because it's poorly written. In fact the complete opposite, every word in this book is essential and provided me what I needed to create a full movie in my head, and that was wonderful! I'm more so talking about the heavy topics, specifically some form of implied rape. With the protagonist Damon being traded as a slave in exchange for peace between his homeland and where he is imprisoned. He is quickly within the first chapters thrown into what I call a "Rape Battle" where by the societal standards of the land he must fight his enemy and "take him" or risk himself being "taken." You can see why most, including myself would immediately be offput and might just label this as some weird fetish fiction.

However, art is meant to provide comfort and discomfort based upon the artist's vision. I can't call something not art because I don't like it's themes. I wanted to finish it and then judge based on the entire work, rather than a small portion of it. Depending on the media of course my patience may vary.

Continuing on, this event is only part of the extreme moral grey line this society does. The author does a great job of describing the depravities of this civilization, while not glorifying it. The intent is to dislike this society the protagonist finds themselves slaved in. It is a very brutal way to incline the reader into the "The good guy has to find a way out" kind of thing you find in a lot of media. It's far more unique in this book however compared to other media. Even in SAW series where the outcome of every situation is a horribly grusome bloody death, I didn't feel as inclined to root for the characters. Not because I hated them, but because I didn't feel for them as much, due to the writing. C.S. Pacat does a great job of not directly telling you to hate, or root for the bad guy, but obviously heavily pushes you with how these events occur.

Again I will say the writing is effective, and the character dynamics work great. As I progressed through the chapters I was interested in how they would next interact based upon what I had knowledge of as a reader, and what the character knew based on their in story situation. It was fun guessing what would occur. I was always trying to figure out how the protagonist would get themselves out of their seemingly hopeless situation. Every character in this book is capable and intelligent, so you can never hope on a mistake to carry the plot forward, and I enjoyed that. Everything here is planned, and thought out by someone.

My only complaint would be the garden scene. I understand its purpose in regards to further enforcing the hopelessness of characters. And who's bad for doing X, and why this society is bad, and the protagonist has to escape. Which the rest of the book does perfectly without what happens in the garden. Again, just like the battle from the beginning of the book I felt like this could have been written any other way.

I do recommend this book, but it is absolutely not for everyone. I myself question the author. I think I'll stick to young adult titles. However, Dark Rise (from the same author) so far seems to be more to my taste, so expect a review on that when I finish it. 4/5✶

I always enjoyed reading graphic novels as a kid. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Re-Zero Manga. It was more up my alley since reading text-only books was awful for my miserable attention span. Anyways my friend recommended I read this, and I accepted as it was a graphic novel, and as I am getting back into reading again this seemed perfect!

Lore Olympus is a romance story between Hades and Persephone, accompanied by other Greek gods, all shown seemingly as young adults in a modern life with the Greek fantasy twists. I did enjoy that, it is a very easy read, and does delve into some heavier topics such as morally grey consent, but it's not pushed upon heavily until later, nor is it very intensely descriptive, I don't want it to seem like this takes up a huge chunk of the story. I don't find it tasteless myself, these topics always push me off a bit however due to personal reasons. Again, art can provide comfort and discomfort based upon the creators intentions, so I always try to keep an open mind.

The art style is beautiful, with it being made to look like water colors, the characters being very distinguishable by their colors is nice for myself, as I struggle to remember names. The backgrounds are gorgeous, with many appearing to be wet canvases splattered purposefully with paint. I don't know how else to describe it but the art style alone in this is beautiful. I'm a huge fan of gradients and oh boy does this book's art style have them in abundance.

As for the writing/story itself I found myself comparing it to some kind of slice of life episodic story about Persephone finding a romance with Hades after she finds herself in a very unfortunate situation, planted in his car to seem as he kidnapped her. Interesting plot device for sure. Anyways drama grows between what her group and his, as her group only knows Hades as a dislikable awful person, and Hades' group figuring out why he would take interest in her. Not a very complex story, I'm also being vague to avoid spoilers. It was an easy casual read, and that's fine for me, however if this were to be translated to a text only book I don't think it would have held my attention. The art style definitely carried where the writing didn't. It's not that the writing is bad, it's cutesy, it's slice of life, again this was originally a webtoon converted to a physical release so I understand why the pacing is so rapid. I'm not sure if I'll continue reading this series, maybe another time. I'm not sure if I can recommend it too passionately myself. I did like the Greek themes and art, but if I was to read a slice of life drama romance novel, I might look somewhere else for something more to my tastes. 3/5✶