#this is making me want to read some scholarship on the use of cliffhangers in the episodic publication model of the 19th century

[coquelicoq]

i think of all the books i've ever read, le père goriot takes the prize for taking the longest to get interesting, as it doesn't happen until the very last sentence. i'm just bopping along for over 400 pages of whatever and then he slaps me in the face with the last sentence and immediately peaces out. okay you got my attention, just in time to throw it away. respect.

[fallindomino]

how i would have changed s2 of hsmtmts

obvious disclaimer but im not a screenwriter or anyth so im not claiming what i want is best, this is just for fun lololol

okay so first of all nini would still have dropped out of yac but she wouldn’t have gone back to east, she would have transferred to north bc she was too ashamed to tell anyone she left at first and maybe she still wants to explore who she is away from ricky and the others

nini could join north’s batb and this way maybe we could have some playful rivalry with lily and nini and more scenes with antoine shdhdjdj also it could have been a great opportunity to flesh out lily’s character so those scenes where she reaches out to ricky and her confession at the end of the season actually make sense lol

speaking of ricky ,,, i think he should have left the play at some point hear me out. he only joined in the first place because of nini and barely wanted to do it at all once he realized he wasn’t gonna be able to perform with her. he could have joined crew and been a manager with natalie or smth considering he rlly does see the theater gang as a second family. also this would leave so much room for ej and ricky development and bants since ej joined the av club and began to pursue film. they could have some convos where idk ricky asks ej how he figured out what he wanted to do after duke didn’t work out and ricky could actually develop some interests that arent the play or nini ,,, maybe fucking art club i mean he did p good on that centerpiece for carlos’ quinceañera.

with ricky not being the beast anymore i think seb should take his place that would be soooo good. and since seb isn’t chip anymore carlos won’t make those snide comments about chip being a small unimportant role and we can just cut that whole fight bc it was dumb and bad. we could still have seb being insecure that carlos is only dating him bc there aren’t really any other gay guys at school. in a heartbeat is great and i did like ricky being supportive in the background it was kinda funny too idk dhdjdjfj

ooh i almost forgot abt rini ahshdj okay so i still think they should break up. but in my version there’s no ricky pulling an ej 1.0 and deleting comments off of nini’s insta, cause with ricky in art club and nini at north trying to figure out what she wants i think one of them would realize that they’re going in different directions and only got back tgt because they made each other feel safe cause what they had was familiar. this could be triggered by ricky mentioning smth abt nini at yac and then nini breaks down and tells him that she dropped out and is at north and doesn’t know where she’s going. and then they can both realize they aren’t good for each other rn and have a less tragic mutual break up.

honestly i really liked the scene of nini taking charge after miss jenn freaked out cause with the character detail of nini giving every person in the cast of productions she’s in a thank you note she just seems really like someone who is suited to lifting others up. this could still be explored at north, maybe she could help lily through her issues that were briefly implied in ep 11 and nini realizes she wants to be a drama teacher and encourage kids to go off book and put themselves into their acting, something she couldn’t have at yac.

okay now ej ,,, so like i said in ricky’s section, more bants between them cause i feel like friendships kinda fell by the wayside due to all the relationships so more friendship !!!! also the scene where ej tells his dad he’s not going to duke shouldn’t have been an ending scene, it should have been fleshed out with his dad pushing back saying how he pulled all these strings to get him in and ej saying he doesn’t wanna go if his own hard work couldn’t get him there. and also more scenes of ej doing av club things !!! and realizing he rlly likes film and wants to do it OMG IT WOULD BE SO COOL IF HE BROKE THE FOURTH WALL AND ASKED THE DOCUMENTARY CREW ABT THE FILM INDUSTRY god i would love that. the only scene we rlly got of ej doing film things was at the quinceañera which made me kinda sad. uhhh also i just wanted to specifically mention how ej got mr mazzara that job at cal tech bc it really showed how he wanted to be there for people not just for gina, who he had a crush on, but for mr mazzara who supported him outside of romance, so i wanna keep that for sure.

gina !!! okay so i mostly liked her arc in this season, the only changes i would make would be to flesh it out a teeny bit (god this hypothetical s2 would have to be like 22 eps at least shdjdjdjfj) anyways besides ashlyn singing home to get gina to stay i think there should be a scene where they actually talk in her room abt how gina feels safer when shes on the run (second chance reference ilysm) hhhh and also a scene of her and carlos actually working out compromises for their choreo cause i liked that bit of development too and fleshing that out would make gina an even better foil for lily, who felt a need to hog the spotlight like gina used to. with gina’s own arc fleshed out her character would feel more whole independently from romance and portwell would be even more rewarding than it is in the current s2. the only thing i would really change abt portwell is that they would kiss !!! in the finale but thats bc im biased.

ashlyn should have gotten a more fleshed out storyline about being insecure about not being a good enough belle or the typical belle. there were some throwaway lines when north did their typical dramatics but the only two real scenes that showed it were when ash talked to big red about it and when she was telling nini she wanted to do a run in “home” bc lily did it. ashlyn should get more screen time where she has to grapple with the reasons she doesn’t feel good enough and big red can still support her but also gina too bc i would like more roommate besties interaction.

kourtney could still date howie, that harry potter shit was cute but there needs to be smth else for kourtney’s arc. idk she’s still into fashion so maybe she could be out here trying to create her own line or smth? this doesn’t have to be resolved in s2 like making a wholeass line takes time and she could work on it into a potential s3. kourtney just didnt get much outside of howie and the stuff at the beginning of the season where she said nini inspired her to be independent and that's why she got a job was just dropped?? so i think that fashion could fill that for her if she’s still dating howie cause like having her whole arc just be the pizza place kinda overlaps w big red’s mini arc abt how he wasn’t settling for hospitality, its what he wants to do with his life.

ik what ur thinking. anna, even if you added more episodes, where would u find the room to add all these plotlines?? well first we cut (most of) the seblos fight, so thats some time saved. honestly most of the time that we r going to gain is going to be from cutting ms jenn’s time. things like ms jenn’s and nini’s car ride would get cut, but mostly all of ms jenn’s romances would get cut down. considering she’s the teacher and isn’t actually a character with an arc how does she have THREE love interests this season?? like all of the weird tension between her and zack can be cut, like just some short scenes of them being competitive can stay. all of the stuff with ricky’s dad can go bye bye we don’t need it. i did like her w mr mazzara so most of that can stay i just didn’t like how he said he would give up cal tech for her, ew no that would be gone.

the MENKIES !!!! this is the last thing im gonna address cause in a perfect world every character would get a long fleshed out arc but then the season would be waaay too long and also im mostly trying to work within material the show gave so this is mostly made up of “realistic” deviations from what actually happened. lol idk what that even means it just makes sense to me. but anyways!! uhhh bro idk i thought them dropping the menkies was funny but it also made the finale really BAD lmao. in this finale, seb is the beast, east still had to deal w the fact that they’re underfunded compared to north but no one is injured, lily is less of a poorly written character and maybe ppl are even rooting for her, and wow i just realized i never actually said what role i think nini should have in north’s show. OOH she could be student director instead of lily cause lily both being in the play while also directing was weird considering omg i just checked and according to her wiki page shes a FRESHMAN?? and they let her be student director? lol hell nah. okay so with all that in mind ,,, the menkies should have been the season cliffhanger instead of portwell. east and north should both be nominated, both schools perform at the menkies, and then the award winner is about to be announced and THATS when it cuts to natalie and the end of the season.

one, this actually gives more tension for a summer s3 as we would be waiting to see the consequences of whichever school won. also i bet people would be wondering if nini’s gonna be transferring back to east or staying at north. people would also prob wonder if ej would be getting the scholarship if east won and what that would mean for his interest in film.

lmao that got longggg and idk if anyone’s even gonna read this but it was fun to do :D

[gershwintheatre]

For remember-me-with-smiles

I broke down your summary (italics) into sections so I could target my comments, and then left a few more questions and thoughts at the end. I know that I don’t have the full story and may have misunderstood parts as this is just an outline, so please let me know if there’s anything I did not interpret correctly. This is all in the tone of constructive criticism! Some questions are ones that I’m sure would be answered in the full story, but I’m including them to let you know what points jump out to me as a reader that I would want answered.

Shortly after Jess arrived at Mt.Horizon Shelby was taken from her bed one night and brought into the wood.

How this happens needs to be very convincing. For some readers this may not be a big deal, but for myself it is something I would have a hard time suspending disbelief over. It doesn’t seem plausible that a student could be easily taken from their bed without their dorm mates or the individuals surely assigned to watch over the students being alerted.

Blindfolded so she doesn’t know who has her she manages to break away and realizes she is not the only girl there. Shelby runs back to Horizon and tells Sophie and Peter what happened. She gets word that the girl who she saw in the woods had died but they couldn’t identify her.

Again, needs to be convincing. How far was she taken? How quickly was she able to get back to the school? Had anyone noticed she was gone/was anyone searching for her at that point? How long did it take for them to find the body of the dead girl/site where they were held? Did they find any useful evidence? Was Shelby questioned by the police?

After reading the whole summary, I know that David and Shelby’s step-dad were the kidnappers. What was the relevance of this other girl being taken if Shelby is the most apparent target? Why was she not identifiable? Was this other girl a student from Horizon? If not, where did she come from? Victims being used for shock-value and later being irrelevant and forgotten is dissatisfying. 

Keep in mind that if the kidnapping and escape is not portrayed/explained in a convincing and realistic way then it will come across as lazy writing in terms of creating a convenient storyline. Personally, I stop reading when the opening of a story is too convenient. 

Shelby decided to runaway. If they could claim it was her she could escape and start a new life. Shelby (now going under the name JJ) contacts Peter to tell him she is okay. He offers to get her a soccer scholarship and she goes into the FBI training program after seeing one of Rossi’s meetings.

How soon does Shelby decide to run away? Before the police open an investigation? That night? How does she run away and how does she survive?

How old is Shelby when she runs away? How soon does she take up a new identity? These are two huge plot-relevant questions. If she were to run away from Horizon while still being under 18 (she is roughly 16 when Jess arrives to Horizon, and thus roughly 16 if this storyline happened in the canon), Peter would be legally mandated to report her missing. How would she evade the police? What connections does she make to take up a new identity?

Realistically, Peter would not be able to know anything about Shelby’s whereabouts or her new life, as he would surely be fired and arrested if it were discovered he was with-holding information about a minor’s disappearance from his own care.

In terms of sticking with the current plot, it seems that Shelby would either 1) Voluntarily drop out of Horizon if she were under the age of 18 and cut off all contact with Peter until she is at least 18 or 2) This entire situation happens when Shelby is 18, and she assumes her new identity after graduation. Maybe this event happens close to graduation time to avoid dealing with the messiness of running away?

Additionally, how does Peter get her a soccer scholarship if she is under a new identity? What ties would “JJ” have to Peter that does not automatically link her to Horizon but could realistically get her a college soccer scholarship? If Shelby ran away from Horizon while 16, Peter would not be able to have any contact with her in the first place. A lesser question: How does a girl who did not play high school varsity soccer get a college soccer scholarship? 

Flash forward 10 years, JJ is in the BAU with a family of her own (Will and a son). One day Peter shows up at her office and brings her an invitation to the 10 year reunion of their class. She tries to get out of it, but he tells her it’s time to come out of the shadows.

Again, very plot-convenient. How does Peter know where she is? Is it very realistic that he would show up to her place of work knowing that it would put her entire identity and life at risk? Maybe a mailed letter would be more realistic. From an anonymous source if there is still the plot-hole of how she left Horizon? Maybe she sees something on Horizon’s website when the BAU takes on this case?

She claims Shelby died in the woods that night. (One of her teammates overheard her say this) He tells her this secret is going to eat her up inside. She tells him she would think about it.

This is a huge plot hole, as her teammate now knows she is Shelby, or is at least tied to the case they are going to be assigned to. Very unlikely they would keep this a secret.

Later that week Ezra (not knowing who she is) brings her a case about missing girls not too far from Mt.Horizon. JJ is starting to lose it, she’s just waiting for it all to come out.

Really love the idea of Ezra being the one to bring a case forward! I haven’t seen this yet, and think the idea of him being a sheriff or police officer that brings this case to the BAU is interesting.

As the investigation unfolds JJ runs into some people she knew from the school (specifically Daisy, Kat, and Juliette).

Again, very convenient. How does she run into them all? Are they all living in the same town 10+ years later? Are they all there for the Horizon reunion? Do they know who she is? What is the plot-relevancy of their crossing paths?

Garcia the technologist looks up the history nearby of the town and realizes there was a case similar 10 years before (the one where they thought it was Shelby). JJ, afraid of what would happen next runs to Mt. Horizon. She faces Scott and her sister Jess.

Why does she run to Horizon? Is it plot-convenient so that she can gather information from these characters, or is it because she’s trying to convince the Horizon staff to keep her secret from the FBI when they inevitably arrive?

Similar to Daisy, Kat, and Juliette - why are Scott and Jess both at this location?

Meanwhile, JJ’s team is putting pieces together. The fact that JJ knew Shelby’s name and the timeline of her disappearance profiles with two other people (Scott and Peter).

This is a huge issue with the plot-hole of her team-member overhearing her saying “Shelby died in the woods that night”. Wouldn’t they have already known Shelby is JJ, or that JJ is at least with-holding info? Additionally, how did JJ slip away from an active case entirely on her own?

The team heads to Mt.Horizon where they find JJ, bringing in Scott and Peter for questioning. Somehow memories get pulled up about other Cliffhangers and JJ realizes it wasn’t Scott but another Cliffhanger...David.

It seems at this point JJ would also be questioned by the BAU, as her actions are suspicious. How was she able to slip away from an active case to go to Horizon on her own? Maybe her memories come up during her questioning.

If Shelby’s kidnapping were perpetrated by someone she knew, there should be some indication from the beginning of the story where readers look back and have an “ah ha!” moment where it makes sense that David, or at least another student, was the suspect. Revealing all at once that David was the kidnapper with no prior indication would be confusing. Frankly, I forgot that David was a Higher Ground character at all, and if he were only revealed by name at this point I wouldn’t know who he is. 

While Peter and Scott are being interviewed, back at Horizon Jess and a student are taken from their beds similar to how Shelby was years before. Only this time, Jess left JJ a clue (a necklace given to her by their stepfather).

If Jess arrived at Horizon shortly before the original incident with Shelby, how would she still be a student here 10+ years later? She would be in her early to mid-20s by now.

Does Jess know who JJ is?

Knowing where they were going, JJ runs off to the woods and confronts the two people involved (her stepdad Walt and her step brother David). The team find JJ just as everything unfolds.

JJ suddenly knowing what’s going on and exactly where to go is again plot-convenient.

How is her step-father suddenly involved with this? How does he have ties to David? Is there a secret/unexplained history where David is somehow Shelby’s step-brother?

Overall thoughts and questions: I always love a Shelby/JJ crossover and think this idea has a lot of potential. I really enjoy the idea of the BAU being involved with a case that is connected to Shelby’s Pre-JJ life. Ezra being brought in as the individual to share the case was also a neat spin on things.

However, much of this outline seems very plot-convenient and/or unrealistic. It’s likely I’m misunderstanding some points or don’t have all of the info since this is just a short summary, but there are some key plot-holes that don’t make sense from my point of view, such as :

How Shelby is able to entirely leave her life behind if she is a minor in this story. Similarly, how Peter would be able to have any involvement with her life if she disappeared at 16. Expanded above.

How her BAU teammate could learn that she has any connection to the case they’re working on but not bring this up. Also expanded above.

The convenience of Shelby running into everyone from her past (Daisy, Kat, Juliette, Scott). I really love seeing the Cliffhangers as adults, but they should only cross paths if it is relevant and realistic. From this outline, it seems these characters are making appearances just for the novelty of it. If you can’t work in a point as to why and how Shelby and her old classmates meet, such as how Ezra is involved through a sheriff/police position, it may just be best to leave them out.

Why was David the perpetrator in the first place? How does he have any ties to Shelby’s step-father? Are both of them tied to the kidnapping that Ezra brings to the BAU? What ends up happening with that case? David and Shelby’s step-dad’s connection and motivation needs to be solid, or else it comes across as lazy and plot-convenient.

Overall, it’s an interesting story idea with a lot of potential! Make sure that plot holes are reviewed and that things don’t just happen for the convenience of the story. A mystery is difficult to write and can’t leave too many unanswered questions or you risk losing your readers’ attention.

[cromulentbookreview]

Say, Terwilliger's a Yalie

Ladies and Gentlemen: Life for the Yale Grad at Springfield’s Minimum Security Prison.

Anyway: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo!

...the trouble had begun on a night in the full dark of Winter, when Tara Hutchins died and Alex still thought she might get away with everything.

Mors vincet/irrumat omnia.

Galaxy “Alex” Stern (ich sehe was du da getan hast, Leigh Bardugo. Galaxy Star indeed) has had it rough - by the age of twenty, she’s a high school dropout with a drug-dealing loser of a boyfriend and zero prospects. She’s definitely not someone you’d look at and say “you know, I bet that girl will get into Yale.”

Everything changes when Alex is left the sole survivor of a horrific triple homicide. While she and her best friend Hellie were passed out on fentanyl someone (or something) murdered Alex’s scumbag boyfriend, his friend and an asshole with whom they were partying. Hellie overdosed on the fentanyl; Alex didn’t. When she wakes up in the hospital, Yale’s own Dean Sandow is at her bedside with an interesting proposition: attend Yale on a full ride scholarship, never mind that she has no high school diploma or has taken any college entrance exams or anything like that (yes, I’m still bitter that I had to sit through SATs and ACTs while rich kids’ parents bought their way into the Ivy League). 

So what’s the catch? Well, Dean Sandow wants Alex to join Lethe, a society tasked with monitoring the activities of Yale’s various secret societies, like Skill and Bones, Manuscript, Scroll and Key, St. Elmo’s, etc. 

The societies at Yale are more than just rich douchebags power-brokering and patting themselves on the back for the accident of being born rich. They do that plenty, but they also dabble in the occult. Magic. Fortune telling. Portals. Necromancy. All sorts of creepy shit. Lethe House is supposed to keep them all in line. 

But why recruit Alex for this? Well, Alex has a particular talent that Dean Sandow managed to figure out: she can see ghosts. Not everyone can see the “grays” as they’re often referred to, not without taking some intense/poisonous drug first. That Alex can just see them is a rare thing, and Yale wants her for Lethe. Grays are drawn to the magic conducted during society rituals, and without someone who can see them and keep them out, they could disrupt the rituals and create havoc. Hence, why Dean Sandow is so eager to recruit Alex. 

Unfortunately, Alex isn’t exactly the college type. As she struggles through her freshman-year classes, she must also be trained in all the ways of the societies and Lethe House. Her mentor, Daniel Tabor Arlington III (he mostly goes by Darlington) is definitely golden-boy Yale material: he’s smart, he’s classy, and is basically Alex’s exact opposite. At first Darlington is frustrated by Alex’s rough edges, but after working together, they begin to respect one another. 

Until Darlington disappears under mysterious circumstances. Then a townie called Tara Hutchins is murdered on campus. Alex is certain that the societies are involved in Tara’s murder somehow, and that it’s also linked to Darlington’s disappearance, but without Darlington’s expertise, Alex is on her own. And now whoever went after Darlington and Tara is after her, too.

I absolutely loved this book. It’s the perfect Fall read - you’ve got New England, a prestigious college campus with all sorts of old buildings and such, magic, ghosts, demons, hot cocoa with fancy marshmallows...it’s definitely the sort of book you want to curl up with on a comfy couch with a cat on your lap while it’s all rainy and dark and depressing outside. If you’re looking to get into the Spooooky Halloween mood, then this is your book. The plot is twisty-turny, the writing is lush without feeling clunky, and the plot moves so quickly that you can go from page 20 to page 320 without noticing. 

If you’re a fan of Leigh Bardugo’s YA Grishaverse works, then you will be at home here - though be warned, Ninth House, like the Nevernight trilogy, is not YA. It’s not. It’s an adult book. For adults. Well, teens will enjoy it, too, so long as they’re OK with violence, the word “fuck,” and a pretty graphic depiction of a violent sexual assault. No matter your age, though, if you can’t handle that, then you might not want to read this book, because I was not kidding when I said “graphic depiction of a violent sexual assault.” There is also talk of on-campus sexual assaults because, well, Yale, like many other college campuses in the United States, has a massive problem. 

So yes, this book covers some pretty heavy topics, but Bardugo handles it beautifully. I mean, she handled similarly heavy topics in the Six of Crows series. The physical and sexual violence the characters experience in Ninth House never feels gratuitous, and at no point is trauma or pain dismissed or glossed over. This book is deeply, deeply feminist, and spends as much time reflecting on power dynamics, class and race as it does on ghosts, magic and haruspex. 

Though, once again, I’ve found myself addicted to the first book in a series. It ends with a cliffhanger. You will want more. You will get to the ending and you’ll be all

My last complaint is mostly just me and my upper-lower-middle-class-type rage, but just reading about Yale, or really, any of the Ivy League schools makes me irrationally angry. I guess my main problem isn’t with any of the schools specifically, or with anyone who has attended or worked for one, it’s just...what the Ivy League represents that makes me boil with rage. Namely, privilege. Specifically: upper-class white male privilege. Yale is the school of Brett Kavanaugh, after all. The whole Ivy League is so representative of what’s wrong with America - and the whole world, quite frankly - today. A world in which the rich get richer and the rest of us get nothing.

Plus, we’ve all known that asshole who was all “I went to [insert fancy-schmancy school here]. It's like, oh, you went to [fancy school]? Cool. I went to an overpriced private school here on the west coast that nobody's ever heard of (maybe your optometrist) whose one claim to fame was a viral video of a shrimp on a treadmill. 

That’s still a great video, though. Go, Shrimpy, go!

RECOMMENDED FOR: Adults and older teens in the mood for a real-world set fantasy with magic, secret societies, Ivy League schools, and a kickass heroine.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone who immediately assumes that the book is YA because it’s written by an author who has written YA before, men’s rights activists, anyone who got into Yale because they’re a legacy, anyone demanding time-traveling trigger warnings. 

RATING: 5/5

TOTALLY UNBIASED FANGIRL RATING: 500,000,000,000/5

RELEASE DATE: October 8, 2019

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SEQUEL: Olympus Mons

MORE SIMPSONS GIFS POKING FUN AT YALE:

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Flatiron Books, who sent me an ARC of Ninth House literally out of nowhere because I marked it as “highly anticipating” on Edelweiss. The noise I made when I opened the mysterious package and saw it was a copy of Ninth House probably broke the sound barrier. Thank you! 

[densiland]

Run, don’t walk to read this amazing speculation by our wikiDeeks team member Karen @anonkp. Join the conversation in the numerous comments at the bottom of the article. 

My contribution includes the following:

First, Karen @anonkp I basically did a standing slow slap after reading this. Incredible job covering so many aspects. This reminded me why you are such a great member of our team.

Second, like most all the rest of you much of this season and this growing speculation is leaving me resigned and depressed! I recall listening to the 10,000 Nos podcast on a flight and feeling my eyes bug-out, as this sounded like some big changes prompted by ECO.

I’m maybe a little more confident (& naively idealistic) that ECO isn’t leaving NCISLA. He knows and has commented about how rare it is to have a steady gig, especially one this considerable, in their line of work. He’s a financially smart guy and knows his family is relying on him. He started the show as a single man and now has a wife and two kids, who as he recently mentioned, will need college tuition!

Yet, he’s always struck me being filled with wanderlust. He’s obviously not afraid to put himself out there to try new things. (Remember he left a college scholarship to trek out to California in the first place.) He seems to need some more creative outlets in which he has a greater level of input & control. In Hollywood, producing makes perfect sense. He can pick and choose what he wants to work on and can even contribute his own ideas.

It sounds like where we all are uncomfortable is the apparent conflict between the show and his other endeavors. Where is the split? It seems to be more than 90% NCISLA and 10% producing. As the portion of NCISLA decreases, the more upset we are as fans. There’s really no way to know, at least right now, as ECO is as good as the Avengers cast at keeping things under wraps for two reasons – 1) you never know what might fall through and 2) to crank up the fans – something he’s quite skills at #MasterTroll

On a previous Surf Log someone comments about how the show overall is hardly recognizable as what it once was. While I’m all for evolution and growth, the comment really took root with me. When I catch a random scene from a season past, they are right; it feels completely different and not in a good way. They’ve endured a lot of changes in the past couple of years with Brennan stepping away, a number of writers leaving, and cast changes. While I love Gemmill (particularly his writing for Densi), it feels like maybe the show has started to lose a defined direction?

My biggest issues are the missing interplay and lacking character development both individually and in the partnerships (except for maybe Sam & Callen). It feels like this was the sacrifice made in having to handle the absences of Granger & Hetty along with the introduction of Mosley (who has GOT to go) and Hidoko. I appreciated all the comments about how there was still good quality writing/arc/storyline during DR’s absence and the same definitely can’t be said for ECO. I do however suspect his absences were not planned as far in advance and seemed more sporadic. In this case I don’t know how you can keep strong writing, plot, and character development on a front burner.

One thing I wanted to note is how many people are directly tying Kensi’s future with Deeks. Yes, they have unquestionably become Densi and how ECO challenges everyone with his improv, which has likely made DR even stronger. However, I want to remind everyone how strong and great Kensi/DR was before and with Deeks. While he brings out great qualities in her, she is not diminished without him. DR was and can be an amazing Kensi without Deeks/ECO. (Kensi’s Season 1 smashing an SUV with a battering ram is still among my favorite DR scenes.)

Thanks to whoever is still reading my rambling at this point. So as usual all we can do is wait and see. I’d like to think ECO will tell us something after the finale, but that’s also dependent upon whatever cliffhanger might keep us on the line through the summer. With that maybe he’ll have a better idea after some summer conversation. (This makes me curious how the show contract is written for such considerable absences…?)

In conclusion like all of you, I’d hate to see Deeks leave or even have more considerable absences. Yet, as someone who has been in my current job for 13 years, I get it. There can be new staff, projects, and goals, but sometimes it’s not enough. Life is short and we know ECO doesn’t seem to be one to just sit back and coast through things. So no matter what happens, I try to just appreciate what we’ve been given. As I wrote in my wikiDeeks “Goodbye” post, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Let’s just hope this “keeps happening”!

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 7/22/21

A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Vol. 12 | By Kazuma Kamachi and Arata Yamaji | Seven Seas – I was surprised that this is the final volume. It wraps things up pretty well, tying things off as well as tying into the eighth Index novel, showing us Accelerator’s side of his walking up to Awaki and punching her suitcase full of badness into tiny bits. It works well as a capper for the whole series, which is filled with what Accelerator does best: saving the day while thinking to himself Touma could have done it better. We also get to see Yomikawa once again show she is the only sensible goddamn person in the entire City, and also the only one trying to help the kids grow up to not be monsters. Good luck with that; Railgun shows it’s not going well. – Sean Gaffney

Fist of the North Star, Vol. 1 | By Buronson and Tetsuo Hara | Viz Media – It’s hard to get a good read on this series, because it’s become so influential and referenced that you feel like you’ve already read it before you have. The author’s name could also be “Bronson,” as in Charles, and that tells you about the sort of story we get here. Kenshiro walks across an apocalyptic waste, finds injustice being done and innocents being killed, and starts exploding folks and saying things like “You Are Already Dead.” The humor is almost zero, it’s tremendously violent, and yet it’s also really compelling and readable. You can see why it became an ’80s classic. Don’t read this unless you know what you’re getting, but if you do, it’s essential. – Sean Gaffney

Kageki Shojo!!, Vol. 1 | By Kumiko Saiki | Seven Seas – The series had moved from Shueisha’s Jump Kai to Hakusensha’s Melody with this volume, so, despite the renumbering, I was expecting a bit of a reintroduction to everyone. Nope. You’d better have read the omnibus or you’ll be wondering what the heck happened. This seems to be several months after the omnibus, and shows that Ai in particular has mellowed out a lot. Fans of the anime running this summer will note that several scenes from this volume were folded in with the adaptation of the omnibus, but they work well here too. Especially the cliffhanger ending, where Sarasa does an absolutely brilliant acting job in class… and the teacher explains if she continues to do it that way, she’ll never be a star. Fantastic. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 13 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Last time we were introduced to a young girl who’s staying with Komi’s family who has communication issues herself, though not the same as Komi’s. The majority of this book is her fighting with and bonding with Komi, who not only proves to be a sweetie pie but can also rally the entire town, Hinamizawa-style, when there’s a crisis. Meanwhile, she’s been improving so much lately that she hasn’t been needing Tadano… which upsets both of them. Then we get some of the class teaming up for a night out… which includes a test of courage, where Tadano is paired with first Komi and then Manbagi. Who is trying hard to push Tadano away, and it’s just not working. We’re headed for a crisis soon. – Sean Gaffney

New Game!, Vol. 11 | By Shotaro Tokuno | Seven Seas – After a fanservice-laden start that reminds you that, while the series may not have any men in it, the reader is definitely meant to be a man, we’re back to business as usual in New Game!. Hotarui returns to France, finding that it’s the best place for her art to grow. We see how difficult it can be to communicate the issue when something is just slightly off in the game designs and you’re not sure why. The big development, though, is that the team decides to make every NPC more playable than usual, meaning they all need unique designs and attention. The designs end up looking very much like our New Game! cast… with the exception of Rin, who wants to avoid her yuri crush becoming canon elsewhere. Cute as always. – Sean Gaffney

Sword Art Online: Girls’ Ops, Vol. 7 | By Neko Nekobyou and Reki Kawahara | Yen Press I’m not entirely certain how horrified the reader is supposed to be here, but certainly “the souls of those who died in Sword Art Online are being used to inhabit NPCs in the new game” is creepy as hell to me. And to Luz, who of course has someone dear to her that has now shown up again. There’s also a lot of clever fights here, and we get to see Luz use her Kirito-copy mod in order to fight as well. I also laughed at Argo trying her best to help everyone out… but nothing worked, so she ran off. And of course this whole arc ties in to one of Kawahara’s biggest themes, “what defines an NPC.” This ends with the next volume, and I hope the girls all get something cool to do. Even Leafa, the Zoidberg of SAO. – Sean Gaffney

Takane & Hana, Vol. 17 | By Yuki Shiwasu | Viz Media – OK, that turned out to be far less dramatic than I expected, and indeed less dramatic than Hana and her family expected as well. Turns out everything is fine… well, at least once Takane actually confronts his grandfather and admits what’s been obvious all along. There’s even time for a ski trip with a dramatic death-defying cliffhanger… well, it would be death defying if it were not the world’s tiniest cliff. Takane & Hana, despite the occasional dramatic turn, knows what its readers are here for, and that’s laughs and sentimentality. We get plenty of both here, and we even end with a wedding… well, with a marriage license, I assume the wedding will come in volume eighteen, which is the final one. Recommended for fans of snarky girls mocking jerky guys. – Sean Gaffney

Tales of Wedding Rings, Vol. 9 | By Maybe | Yen Press – Thankfully, after a break of over a year, this volume of the series has precisely zero “are they going to bone?” scenes in it, mostly as the hero and heroine are separated for most of the book. Satou is still trying to gain a few advantages in fighting, and seeing that legendary swords are not all they’re cracked up to be, while Hime struggles in trying to learn magic that seems to come easily to everyone else. Luckily, she’s helped out by what, to her, seems like a kindly woman who is very similar to her late mother. Unfortunately, to everyone else, it appears she’s talking to a black cloud of pure evil, and it’s no great surprise that everyone else is correct here. This was a stronger volume than previous ones, mostly due to the lack of “will they get it on?” to the plot. – Sean Gaffney

Those Not-So-Sweet Boys, Vol. 3 | By Yoko Nogiri | Kodansha Comics – Although Midori Nanami originally only became involved with a trio of truant boys to preserve her own scholarship, they’ve genuinely become friends. The more Midori has gotten to know Rei Ichijo, the thoughtful and lonely son of a rich, negligent father, the more she has fallen for him. By the end of this volume, it would appear her feelings are reciprocated. On paper, this series looks like pretty formulaic shoujo romance, but Yoko Nogiri has a way of imbuing her stories with realism and intriguing complications. Here, the main obstacle is Rei’s friend Yuki, who objects to Midori and Rei getting closer, but encourages his other bestie, Chihiro, to go after her. Does Yuki have feelings for Rei, or is he just deeply dependent on him? I’m really enjoying this series so far and am especially looking forward to further exploration of Yuki’s motivations. – Michelle Smith

We’re New at This, Vol. 7 | By Ren Kawahara | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Having achieved stability in their relationship, our favorite cute and sexy couple decide to get a bigger place. There’s some nice discussion about finances and give-and-take, and I like that it shows that constant communication is what makes this couple work so well, and when they don’t communicate well things tend to go badly. This ends up leading to the next major problem, which is that Ikuma’s client he was working for goes under, meaning money he had assumed was coming in is now most definitely NOT coming in. He manages to find a quick solution, but doesn’t talk to Sumika about it first, which does not go over well. Can the marriage survive salaryman Ikuma over contracter Ikuma? Dunno, but I bet it’ll be cute and sweet. – Sean Gaffney

By: Sean Gaffney

[itsjayyyy]

June 26th, 2019 11:50 am

holy hell it’s been a long time since my last update. First of all: that last update ended at a really climactic moment and I’m mad that I don’t remember what happened next, or even that it ever happened. It’s like reading a book that ends on a cliffhanger and has no sequel.

So I did end up getting everything from the last update resolved. Rose took a week but finally responded with “you’ve made a lot of valid points, I want to work harder to repair our friendship.” Regardless of whether I believe her, at least I had this exchange to hold her accountable. I got my tire changed a week after I said I would. My mechanic looked at it and was like “what the fuck is wrong with you” because the strip became a continuous 2.5-inch wide belt of smoothness. We passed the apartment inspection, but they did charge me the $250 for the pet fee. No big deal tho.

Recently mom has been wanting to move back to michigan. She’s tired of florida and the market is perfect for selling the house now. But dad says he won’t move until he can see for sure that rose gets her degree and can move out on her own terms, financially stable. Mom wants to give rose a hard deadline to move out. I agree with mom, rose is getting far too old to be living at her parent’s home rent free considering she makes almost double what I do, and I’m entirely independent. Like seriously, where is her money going? An ounce of weed a week? Buying her boyfriend a new xbox and games? Fixing her piece of shit car which broke down again a week later? (she wants to buy a stick shift this time. I’m not gonna tell her it’s a bad idea, bc she’ll prob sell it to me for cheap after she gives up learning to drive). Now iris and I are trying to apply gentle pressure on her to get her life together, and by that I mean I lashed out pretty strongly over text and now iris is gonna come by and comfort rose while also subtly agreeing with me.

I just barely passed my classes and kept my scholarship with a 3.008 gpa. tell me that ain’t god’s work. I failed calculus with a whole F again, but I’m gonna really give it a better shot next semester. I *will* at least get a C. 

My comp 2 professor nominated me for the stylus award. I don’t think I’ll win because personally I think my essay was a rushed mess, but it’s nice to know that he thought it was that good. I picked up my portfolio from him, but haven’t reread it yet. Also, I stopped browing r/braincels like I used to. Even after the semester ended, I would still read every post for a long time, but I finally stopped when I felt like my mental health was declining. I mean, I don’t need to keep reading it anyways, the project is over. Sometimes I’ll go back on it and read a few posts, but not often.

This update is just pure procrastination btw. Not only am I procrastinating studying for my two midterms tomorrow, but also because I got back on Tinder last night and got three messages. I’m really an all-or-nothing kinda guy, I don’t like the idea of dating multiple people at once. which apparently isn’t how tinder is supposed to work; some online articles say “it’s best to have 10 conversations going at once” which I hate because it makes people seem so disposable. I swear, straight people treat dating as a business transaction, they’re always trying to shop around and discard what they have for a better thing. Anyways I don’t know how to respond to the messages, especially since I really only want to talk to one person at a time.

So anyways. Last semester ended, the summer semester began. Do you remember the first semester of college, how that one guy at a club meeting was a total creep and followed me (us?) onto the city bus and couldn’t take a hint to leave? Well I’m pretty sure he’s in my comp sci class, and he sits three seats to the left of me and looks over at me like once every 5 minutes. Also, two weeks into the semester, savon figured out I’m in discrete structures and has since then come to sit in on the lectures. And last thursday he loitered around the bookshelves near my seat in the library for an hour. I mean really, is he SO interested in plant diseases that he stared at the spines of the books for a whole hour?? I hate men.

Because of that, I had to study in HPA instead. It brought back memories, from when I thought I wanted to major in social work. Still love that vending machine they have that can make a latte for $1.50, I wish they had more of them on campus. Anyways as I was sitting there, this guy walked past me, then turned around and was like “oh I think you’re in my comp sci class.” He asked what we did in class and tbh it took me a hot minute to remember because my attention span has been shot recently. Dude didn’t even know we have an exam on thursday. He seemed kind of friendly, he’s majoring in computational physics. He asked me what my discord username and I hesitated before telling him bc like 2 hours prior, I said “man, that’s the first time anyone has said they love me in years” (in regards to the professor telling us he loves us).

I’m doing pretty decent in my classes. Definitely gonna get A’s or B’s in them. I’ve become more cordial with my parents too, I visit them once a week/every two weeks-ish. Rose and I had an argument on memorial day. She was basically delegating me to permanent third wheel, because she says she “never gets to act like a couple with peter in front of other people.” Apparently I’m a second-class citizen to “other people” since I’m the one that gets excluded. And it’s even worse considering the fact that rose is pretty much the only person that I talk to these days, like I have no other friends, so the few moments we do hang she wants to ignore me. I told her about this and all of a sudden she started saying “oh well you don’t even care about me anyways” like wow that’s not gaslighting or anything. 

That was about a month ago, and I’ve been in virtually complete isolation since then. I’ve hung out with heather for about two hours total in the last month, and other than that it’s just utter loneliness. Honestly I’m pretty sure my vocal cords are gonna grow weak from disuse; I mean I’ve rarely spoken my entire life and now it’s just getting worse. Severe isolation like this really feels like it’s deteriorating my brain; my memory is getting weaker, I can’t focus, all I think about is how I’m completely ugly and unloveable and nobody wants to be my friend because I’m such a horrible person. 

This lasted for all of gemini season, and at the start of cancer season I just started crying at everything. On sunday before I went to work I started watching she ra on netflix. By the second episode I had already cried twice; once because I thought it was so great that adora had friends who cared about her, once because I felt bad for catra for feeling abandoned. Then I cried at work because this family came in, dumped off their son in a wheelchair with a laptop, and then never came back for him the rest of the night. Then I cried the next morning because I felt lonely. Then I opened r/sad, read the most upvoted story, and cried again at that. I hate cancer season.

My life (financially and academically) is going fine, but the loneliness is what’s still making me feel like shit, which is why I got back on tinder. I mentioned that already, right? yeah, I still don’t know how to respond. There’s this one girl who also looks hapa like me, and by her bio I really want to talk to her but I’m nervous. Last night I was like “lemme smoke a little to relax then I’ll message her” but then after smoking I was like “lemme have some vodka and punch” and then I decided to do a hair mask, followed by a long shower, followed by taking nudes (it was a lot of vodka, man). And by then it was 10pm and I couldn’t respond without looking sleazy. So now, here I am, at 1:17 pm the next day, and I still haven’t responded. Or studied for my midterms tomorrow. I’m gonna die.

[thesffcorner]

February Wrap Up

Despite being the shortest month of the year, I read 7 books and 10 graphic novels, or 17 things in total. It was also another month where I read a lot of diverse genres: I read 10 contemporaries, 4 of which were thriller/mysteries, and 6 of which were romance; 4 sci-fi, 1 speculative historical romance, 1 fantasy romance and 1 historical fantasy. Instead of doing highest to lowest, since I have so many graphic novels and some are part of the same series, I decided to group them by the date read, so without further ado, let’s get into it.

Fence vol. 1-3 by C S Pacat and Joanna the Mad (3, 4, 3 stars)

I wanted to read this series for a while, and I finally binged it this February. Fence follows Nicholas, a young fencer with a complicated past and poor background who comes to Kings Row, a school with the fourth best fencing programs in the country. There, to his shock he finds Senji, a junior champion with Olympic aspirations; and the two can’t stand each-other.

This series is just a whole lot of fun. It’s written like a Western style sports anime/manga, and Joanna the Mad’s artstyle is very reminiscent of manga, with lots of action line, pretty boys and expressive, large eyes. The first volume is a fine set up of Nicholas’ first confrontation with Senj, and arriving at the school, while the second and third volume deal with the qualifications at the school for who will make the fencing team. As Nick is on an athletic scholarship, he has to qualify or he gets kicked out, but like many of these series go, he has some stiff competition, and develops friendships with said competition.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between all the characters, especially Senji and Nicholas, and if you’re a fan of sports anime, cute queer comics, or painfully slow-burn enemies to lovers stories, check this out.

Check, Please! Year 3 by Ngozi Ukazu (4 stars)

The first thing I read in February was the third volume of Check, Please! This was as cute as the previous 2 volumes, as it follows Bittie’s third year in college. What struck out to me upon rereading this specific year, is that it actually has way more angst and conflict than I remember it having; there’s a lot here about Bittie and Jack coming to terms with not just their long distance relationship, but also coming out and finding acceptance within the confines of a major sports league like the NHL. It also deals a lot with Bittie coming to terms with the hockey team changing as Ransom, Holster and Lardo graduate. Overall, a good continuation of the story.

Deadly Class vol 1-2 by Rick Remender and Wes Craig (3, 2, 2 stars)

Deadly Class is a series that if I had started reading when I was in late high school, early college, I know I would have loved. However now, as an adult, I find it grating, pretentious, and far too extreme for no real reason. The story aspects that I liked the most, I’ve also already seen or read in far better works; it doesn’t help that up to volume 3, there are only 2 characters left that I remotely care about, and one of them just got introduced in that volume.

The series follows a group of kids who go to an elite training school for assassins. We mostly follow Marcus, the son of a Nicaraguan expats, who ends up at the school after he meets Saya and a few of the other students during a stick up. Though the first volume started out promising, volumes 2 and 3 kept getting less and less good, and unless something drastically changes in my life, I can’t see myself continuing on with this series.

Contagion by Erin Bowman (3 stars)

This is a sci-fi book set in the near-distant future, and it follows the crew of Odyssey, a research vessel that is sent to Black Quarry to investigate a distress signal. Once there, the crew realizes that something bad has happened, as they find bodies and a potentially deadly thing haunting them; and the mysterious ‘young boy’ the engineer of Black Quarry warns them about is not making matters any easier.

This was a rather mediocre sci-fi, but I still enjoyed it. As it’s part of a duology I will definitely be finishing the story out, but as is it doesn’t do too much with this well-tread premise. Bowman does have a good grasp on action and suspense, but a lot of the character decisions in the novel were akin to ones characters in Blumhouse horrors make, and considering most of them are some form of scientists, that wasn’t an ideal route to take. Still if you enjoy stories about aliens, sentient viruses, isolated space incidents and horror, it’s worth checking out.

Prince Charming by Rachel Hawkins (4 stars)

This is the first book in a series of contemporary romances, all centering around the fiction crown family of Scotland. In this first novel we follow Daisy, the younger sister of Eli, who gets engaged to Andrew, the Crown Prince of Scotland. After an incident in a parking lot with her ex, Daisy gets blackmailed into spending the summer in Scotland with her sister and fiance, and get acquainted with the royal family; cue shenanigans, romance and lots of sisterly yelling.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book; it was very funny and entertaining, and I haven’t related to a characters quite like I did to Daisy, since Princess Mia Thermopolis. While there are some tropes these stories tend to have, Hawkins manages to avoid a lot of the cliches, and she actually has some really good commentary on the economy of the royal family, the outdated and outright sexist traditions, the close-mindedness, and the prejudice that both sides are steeped in at the start. I found the romance very cute, the shenanigans were funny and entertaining, and I will definitely be reading the sequel.

Heart of Gold Part 1 by Eli and Viv (4 stars)

This is an webcomic that I stumbled onto by complete accident, but it blew me away. It follows Ionel, a concert pianist who is slowly losing his sight, and Kasper a priest with the power to heal people. Ionel moves to the small town and starts attending mass, in hopes that Kasper will heal him, but every time it gets close to, or his turn, Kasper refuses to help him. Through his attendance, the two become close, with Kasper seeming to have a crisis of faith, all while people from the town start dying; and they might be connected to Kasper.

This comic drew me in almost immediately. The art is absolutely beautiful, and it’s hard to believe that this is a free web comic. The story too is very mature and interesting; it deals a lot with religion, faith, and sacrifice, and the slow build of Isonel and Kaspar’s relationship feels very natural. I can’t wait for Act 2, and I’m really hoping the answers to what is happening in the town deliver on the build up we’ve gotten so far.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson (3 stars)

I heard about this book a lot when it came out, and I decided to check it out, since it’s a mystery following a girl who wants to become an FBI agent, coming to Ellingham Academy, a Montessori type private school, to solve an old cold case; that of the founder, Albert Ellingham’s daughter’s kidnapping.

I won’t lie; this book did not live up to the hype for me, though it was entertaining. I have a much longer and more detailed review of why, but it mostly boiled down to a few things. First, I didn’t like that it ends of a cliffhanger, and we get no answers; this is a bit odd for a mystery, especially a series which has more than two books. Second, I thought the way the past and present mystery connected wasn’t very well done, and I kept losing interest in the past, because of the way the book was written. And finally, I found some of the writing dry and lacking in proper atmosphere.

However, I still enjoyed the story, and the main character of Steve, and I will probably read the sequel, since I still want to know what happens.

S.T.A.G.S. by M A Bennet (3 stars)

S.T.A.G.S. is a British thriller, set in Saint Aidan the Great’s School or STAGS, a private boarding school with a long tradition. When new student Greer gets invited to a weekend of huntin, shootin, fishin at the estate of the leader of the most popular clique in the school, Henry, she accepts, not knowing what waits for her; and what does is a nightmare that might turn deadly, where the hunting, shooting, and fishing, might be a little too real and dangerous.  

I really enjoyed this thriller; I thought it was entertaining, fast paced and had a plot that kept me invested to the end. I also weirdly enjoyed the subtle romance between two of the characters, which isn’t often the case.

However, this book isn’t without it’s problems. The ending is a bit predictable, and having seen the Riot Club, I knew what I was getting into, in terms of what the weekend actually entailed. I also found that the book lacked a lot of tension, because we found out early on who lives through it. However, it was still enjoyable, and if you like these types of thrillers set in boarding schools or private estates, I think you will enjoy this one.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson (4 stars)

Like Prince Charming before, I was genuinely surprised at how much I ended up enjoying this book, because when I started it, I was really caught off guard by the humor. However, once I got used to it, this became one of the funniest things I read this month.

Undead Girl Gang is a horror/comedy that follows Mila, a Mexican-American teenager who practices Wicca. After her best friend Riley supposedly commits suicide, just a week after a double suicide of two of her other classmates, Mila decides to perform a spell and bring Riley back; but instead she brings all three of the girls back. The problem? They can’t stand each-other, and if they don’t want to be walking zombies, they need to stay within a 100 steps of Mila.

This book was hilarious and very dark. I really enjoyed all the relationships between the girls, and I found the look at grief very well done and moving. The ending was climactic, and the conclusions Mila comes to worked well for me; if you enjoyed the Craft, Mean Girls or Heathers, check this out, you will probably like it.

Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi (5 stars)

This was by far my favorite thing I read this month. I struggled writing a review for it, because I just didn’t know how to talk about it without just relegating to spoilers and gushing about the characters and the puzzles. It’s a book that follows a group of thieves, who steal magical artifacts, each with their own motivations and goals. When they steal a magical Chinese compass, the discover that it leads them to a Horus Eye; an artifact so powerful it can show them the way to the fabled Fragment of Babel.

It’s the Mummy, mixed with National Treasure, mixed with Ocean’s 11. It’s fun heist story, set during the Exposition Universelle, and if you are like me at all and like any of these things, you will love this book.

Sleepless vol. 1 by Sarah Vaughan (4 stars)

This was probably my favorite of the graphic novels I read; it’s a fantasy that follows Poppy, the illegitimate daughter of a King, and a famous star reader. When her father the King dies, Poppy is forced to navigate court life, as his brother takes the throne, but things become increasingly hard as several assassination attempts are made, and her Sleepless protector Cyrenic starts drifting.

There’s just something about this series that ticks all my boxes. The art is absolutely gorgeous, the story is interesting and a bit different from the usual fantasy I read, and the Sleepless vow is a very unique type of magic. To top it off, I really like the two leads, Poppy and Cyrenic and I’m curious to see what turn the story will take after the ending we get in issue 6.

Motor Crush vol. 1 by Brenden Fletcher (3 stars)

I’ve been meaning to start this series for a while, and I finally did in February, and man was it a great time to do this, fresh after seeing Battle Angel Alita.

This follows Domino, a bike racer, who is trying to make it big and qualify for the world circuit. However, to survive she needs Crash, an illegal substance that is used to fuel the bikes in this universe, but she needs to inhale it. Through the first volume we find out a bit about her mysterious past, her ex-girlfriend Lola, and a man who seems to either want to help her or kill her; all while she races to win the qualifications and the Crash.

This series was a fun, fast paced ride, but it’s not without its problems. The art is beautiful, but the story needs some more polishing; there’s too many plot threads and not enough time to develop them. I can’t imagine how things will resolve in the next volume after that climax, but I will definitely be continuing it; the world was gripping enough to have me enjoy it, and Domino was a character I definitely rooted for.

Umbrella Academy vol. 1 by Gerard Way (3 stars)

Since the show is all anyone talks about, I decided to finally start this series and boy is it cooky. We follow the Umbrella Academy, a group of 7, who were adopted by a crazy millionaire savant Reginald Hargreeves, after being born in a spontaneous event all over the world where 48 mothers gave birth. Hargreeves trains the kids to stop the apocalypse, and now 10 years after his death brings 6 of the 7 back to his house, unaware that the apocalypse is here; and it’s a direct consequence of their reunification.

There is a lot of good and a lot of weird in this series. The characters have glimpses of interesting personalities and the idea of 7 kids being raised from birth to be superheroes by a man who is a British version of Ra’s al Ghul is interesting. But unfortunately the series doesn’t fully explore this, and the ending is really abrupt. The humor is quirky, and sometimes it works, but more often it makes the tone weirdly uneven, as we swing from graphic, albeit cartoon violence to slapstick. I think the show does a much better job with the tone, and while this first volume gets a lot right, it’s by no means perfect.

Sadie by Courtney Summers (4 stars) 

This was by far the hardest book I’ve read in a long time. It’s a mystery that follows Sadie, a girl who disappears after her younger sister is brutally assaulted and murdered; and West McCray, a podcast host who is retracing her steps, trying to find her. It’s a book about grief, assault, pedophilia, violence and the lies we tell ourselves so we don’t have to think about what happens to girls in this world, and it’s dower, dreary and oh so real. It made me feel things I don’t normally do when I read, and if you can stomach the content, I recommend it. If you can, get the audiobook; it’s a full cast and the podcast bits are done like a real podcast, which makes the story feel that much more immersive.   

The Disasters by M K England (5 stars)

I needed something light and fun after the last two things I read in February, and this was the perfect way to end my month. This was my favorite book I read so far, maybe even more than the Gilded Wolves. It’s a sci-fi that follows a group of 4 rejects from Space Academy who have to work together to survive a terrorist attack, and prevent another one from happening. It’s fast paced, incredibly entertaining, and I fell in love with all the characters.

I absolutely cannot wait for whatever else M K England publishes, and I loved this to pieces.