[BOOK REVIEW] Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Title:  Illuminae

Authors:  Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Genre:  Science Fiction

Year Published: 2015

Number of Pages: 599 pages 

Date Read: 7/23/2019 

Series: The Illuminae Files #1 

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Gory Violence and Deaths)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“You have me. Until the last star in the galaxy dies, you have me.”

Oh, my goodness! How could I wait so long to finally tackle this book?  I have been hearing nothing but awesome things about this book! And yet, because there were so many other books that I wanted to read, I did not have the time to read this book (until now)!  “Illuminae” which was written by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff was certainly an absolute blast to read!

Kady Grant thought that breaking up with her ex-boyfriend Ezra Mason was the worst thing to happen to her.  Then, her planet ends up getting invaded by a mega corporation called BeiTech and she and Ezra are forced to flee from their planet and go on the spaceship Hypatia to escape from the enemy spaceship Lincoln.  But things start to get worse for the crew of Hypatia when it turns out that there is a deadly virus that is spreading across the ship that is turning the people into hideous monsters.  Not to mention, the fleet’s AI AIDAN has gone berserk and has started killing people on board in order to protect them from Lincoln’s forces.  Now, it is up to Kady and Ezra to save the ship Hypatia from the virus, AIDAN and Lincoln itself.

Wow!  I never would have expected to enjoy this book as much as I did!  Both Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff did a fantastic job at writing this book!  The narrative was highly creative as the story is mostly told through various documents that the commanders of the Hypatia have collected and also through diagrams of the ship and email messages from each of the characters.  I have never read a book where the narrative was mostly comprised of documents and diagrams and it made this book so intriguing to read! I also loved the way that both Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff put in so much intensity into the story as I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat when almost everyone was getting affected by the virus and when AIDAN started going berserk.  It seemed like almost everyone was going to die in this book due to all the deaths that occurred and that just made this book so exciting to read.  I also really loved all of the characters in this book, especially Kady and Ezra as they were extremely well-written.  I loved the fact that Kady Grant was such a strong female protagonist who was able to use her hacking skills to do everything in her power to save the people of Hypatia.  Ezra Mason was another character that I really liked as his sarcastic personality was hilarious to read and I really loved his relationship with Kady as they seem to have a love / hate relationship with each other, but still care about each other deep down.  I especially loved the way that Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff wrote the dialogues in this book, as most of the characters have snarky personalities.  And yet, they all sounded so relatable to me, especially when they are trying to figure out how they will survive this all-out war that they are forcefully thrown into.

For anyone who does not like strong violence and death, there is quite a bit of violent moments in this book, especially during the scenes where the virus breaks out and the infected started attacking people in increasingly brutal ways.  There is also a lot of deaths in this book due to said virus that might upset some people.

Overall, “Illuminae” is easily one of the most creative and exciting books that I have ever read and if you love science fiction books with a bit of romance thrown in, then I would definitely recommend this book!  Now, I am off to read the second book in the series, “Gemina!”

* 2015 Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) for Older Children (ages 8-14)

* 2015 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

* 2015 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

* 2016 Audie Award for Multi-Voiced Performance

* 2016 The Inky Awards Nominee for Gold Inky

* 2016 The Inky Awards Shortlist for Gold Inky

* 2016 Premio El Templo de las Mil Puertas Nominee for Mejor novela extranjera perteneciente a saga

* 2017 Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee

* 2018 Evergreen Teen Book Award Nominee

* 2019 Lincoln Award Nominee

You might also like: 

• The Martian by Andy Weir

• Red Rising by Pierce Brown

• Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Book Depository

[BOOK REVIEW] Spider-Man/Deadpool Volume 0: Don’t Call it a Team-Up by Joe Kelly

Title:  Spider-Man/Deadpool Volume 0: Don't Call it a Team-Up

Author:  Joe Kelly, Fabian Nicieza, Daniel Way, Kevin Shinick, Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan, and Christopher Hastings

Artist:  Pete Woods, Patrick Zircher, Eric Canete, Carlo Barberi, Aaron Kuder, Mike Hawthorne and Jacopo Camagni

Genre:  Action / Superheroes / Humor

Year Published: 2016

Year Read:  2018

Publisher:  Marvel Comics

Source:   Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 13+ (Some Language and Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Introduction:

Now, I personally had never picked up a “Deadpool” comic book before since at the time, I was not that interested in reading anything about “Deadpool” despite his huge popularity.  It wasn’t until I watched the “Deadpool” movie starring Ryan Reynolds that I started getting (a bit) interested in the character and I have been trying to figure out where I needed to start reading about “Deadpool” in the comics. So, yeah thanks “Deadpool” movie for getting me into the comics (a bit)!  I had gotten several different recommendations from fellow readers and some have said that I should read either Joe Kelly’s run or Daniel Way’s run.  Since neither run was really available to me at the moment, I had decided to read this collection of stories where Deadpool teams up with Spider-Man called “Spider-Man/Deadpool Volume 0: Don’t Call it a Team-Up” since I had been reading lots of “Spider-Man” comics before this and I must say that this collection was quite good!

What is this story about?

This is basically a collection of issues collected where Spider-Man and Deadpool teamed up with each other.  So, here are the issues featured in this collection and my ratings for each one:

Deadpool (1997): Issue #11:  ★★★★★

Written by: Joe Kelly

Artwork by: Pete Woods

When Deadpool and his prisoner Blind Al ended up going through time, they ended up in a timeline that takes place in the 47^th issue of the 1960s “Amazing Spider-Man” series. In order to not to change the timeline, Deadpool and Blind Al have to masquerade as Peter Parker and Aunt May respectively.  They also found out that the only way to get out of this timeline is to find a younger Weasel and convince him to build a time machine for them to go back into.

Cable and Deadpool: Issue #24: ★★1/2

Written by: Fabian Nicieza

Artwork by: Patrick Zircher

Cable and Deadpool are working together to obtain a secret project called “Cone of Silence” and Deadpool is sent out to provide a distraction towards Spider-Man so that the plan can go by smoothly.

Amazing Spider-Man: Issue #611: ★★ 1/2

Written by: Joe Kelly

Artwork by: Eric Canete

Deadpool and Spider-Man ended up getting into an insult match when they meet up with each other again, while a more sinister plan involving Madame Web is brewing in the background.

Deadpool (2008): Issues #19-21: ★★★★★

Written by: Daniel Way

Artwork by: Carlo Barberi

When a mysterious hit man (I am sorry, hit monkey) ends up killing various people in the city who have committed crimes, Spider-Man and Deadpool are forced to work together in order to take down this hit monkey once and for all!

Avenging Spider-Man: Issues #12-13:  ★★★ 1/2

Written by: Kevin Shinick

Artwork by: Aaron Kuder

When Spider-Man ended up being trapped in his own dreams, it turns out that Deadpool had set him up by making him free his client the Hypno-Hustler from jail.  The Hypno-Hustler then ends up making Spider-Man hallucinate in fighting his foes and it is not long before the Hypno-Hustler hypnotizes Deadpool too!

Deadpool (2012): Issue #10:  ★★★

Written by: Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan

Artwork by: Mike Hawthorne

Deadpool ends up working with Spider-Man in order to take down Daniel Gump.  But little does Deadpool know, Spider-Man’s body is currently being taken over by Doc Ock, after Peter Parker had “died” in the previous issues.

Deadpool Annual: Issue #2: ★★★★ 1/2

Written by: Christopher Hastings

Artwork by: Jacopo Camagni

When the Chameleon caused Spider-Man to hallucinate various innocent people into being the Chameleon, Deadpool ends up taking over Spider-man’s mantle in order to locate the Chameleon and save Peter from these hallucinations.

What I loved about this story:

The writing: I hit the jackpot in actually getting a collection of stories that features both Deadpool and Spider-Man.  I have been trying to find a way to get into the “Deadpool” comics, whether it would be through one run or through a collection of issues that would help me determine which run I should spend my time reading. Well, I must say that I found some of the issues in this collection to be pretty entertaining!  Some of my favorite issues in this volume (judging by the ratings that I gave for each issue) are “Deadpool (1997) Issue #11,” “Deadpool (2008) Issues #19-21,” and “Deadpool Annual Issue #2.” In “Deadpool (1997),” I loved the way that Joe Kelly wrote the time traveling story arc with Deadpool going back in time to the original 1960s “Amazing Spider-Man” run as I was laughing my head off with Deadpool acting like his crude self while dressing up as Peter Parker while insulting Peter’s friends (especially with him making fun of the Osborns’ hairstyles)!  In “Deadpool (2008),” I loved the way that Daniel Way wrote both Deadpool and Spider-Man as it was entertaining seeing them work together to take down a hitman who happens to be a monkey!  In “Deadpool Annual,” I loved the way that Christopher Hastings wrote this story as it was quite entertaining seeing Deadpool act like Spider-Man and seeing his enthusiasm at taking over the mantle while Spider-Man is knocked out.  I was happy to see Deadpool and Spider-Man interact with each other since I always wanted to see how Spider-Man and Deadpool would act around each other.  It was interesting seeing Spider-Man be the sane, straight man to Deadpool’s wacky wise guy as it made their relationship with each other much more entertaining!

The artwork:  The artwork in this volume was quite creative and gorgeous to look at, especially the artwork done by Pete Woods, Carlo Barberi and Jacopo Camagni.  I especially love the artwork in “Deadpool (1997)” as I loved the mixture of the modern artwork with the 1960’s artwork and it just made the story even funnier whenever we hear Deadpool’s crude comments clash with the family friendly 1960s artwork.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I gave this volume a four-star rating was because even though there were a couple of issues that I did enjoy in this collection, there were other issues that I did not enjoy as much and that brings the rating down a bit.  I did not enjoy the “Cable and Deadpool” and the “Amazing Spider-Man” issues that much since they were pretty bland to me and there were some issues like “Deadpool (2012)” that were just okay.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Spider-Man / Deadpool Volume 0: Don’t Call It a Team-Up” is a great volume for anyone who is a huge fan of both Spider-Man and Deadpool and I would definitely give this volume a try!

You might also like:

• Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon Volume 1 by Matt Fraction

• X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont
• Astonishing X-Men: Gifted by Joss Whedon

[BOOK REVIEW] I Hate Fairyland Volume 3: Good Girl by Skottie Young

Title:  I Hate Fairyland Volume 3:  Good Girl

Author:  Skottie Young

Genre:  Thriller / Comedy / Fairy Tale / Action

Year Published:  2017

Year Read: 7/15/2018

Series: I Hate Fairyland #3

Publisher: Image Comics

Source: Purchased

Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Introduction:

So, after I finished reading “I Hate Fairyland Volume Two: Fluff My Life,” I just had to read the third volume of Skottie Young’s hilarious “I Hate Fairyland” series called “Good Girl” and I was curious about why the cover was showing a HAPPY, CUTE EYED Gertrude and what that was all about!  Well, I must say that “I Hate Fairyland Volume Three: Good Girl” was definitely an unexpected step up from the second volume!

What is this story about?

It seems like after the events of the last volume (her future self comes and tells her that if she does not change her ways, she could possibly doom Fairyland), Gertrude still has not learned her lesson that if she continues to kill people left and right, she could be heading for some big trouble.  That is until she meets up with a girl named Maddie, who is Gertrude’s biggest fan and Gertrude decides to teach Maddie everything about killing people to get what she wants.  But, when Maddie proved to be even worse than Gertrude, Gertrude then realizes what a terrible person she has been and she decides to try to become a better person in the long run.  However, knowing Gertrude, that is not going to be easy!

What I loved about this story:

Skottie Young’s writing:  As usual, Skottie Young has done a fantastic job at writing this story as the story is both hilarious and shocking at the same time (especially, with that twist of an ending)!  I really loved the scenes where is Gertrude trying to become a better person by helping people, but since she is violent by nature, she cannot help but destroy the many things she comes across to.  It was a nice change of pace for the series as we finally get to see Gertrude actually act (a little) nicer towards the people she comes across to and it was also hilarious still seeing Gertrude destroy things, even though she tries really hard not to!  I also loved the way that Skottie Young further developed Larry the Fly’s character as we get to see that Larry actually does care about Gertrude, despite constantly snarking at her. We also get to see what his life would have been like without Gertrude and it was both sad and hilarious seeing his alternative life from his perspective.

Skottie Young and Dean Rankine’s artwork:  Skottie Young’s artwork is as usual hilarious to look at as all the characters look exaggerated and I especially loved the appearance of Gertrude herself as she looks like an evil version of “Shirley Temple!”  I also loved the artwork done by Dean Rankine in the issue where Larry the Fly starts dreaming about how his life would have turned out if he did not meet Gertrude as the artwork is even more cartoonish than most of the artwork in this volume and the art style actually reminds me of the art style from “Rocko’s Modern Life!”

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

For anyone who does not like gory violence, there is some gory violence in this volume, mainly during the scenes where characters are ripped apart and blown up in extremely bloody ways (all courtesy of Gertrude herself, of course)!  Also, this is a bit of a nitpick for me, but the narrative is a bit all over the place in this volume as Gertrude and Larry go on many different adventures in this volume and the narrative tends to jump from one situation to the next.  This would often confuse me as I was trying to figure out what the main plot of this volume was, although I will admit that the narrative is a bit more straightforward here than in the second volume.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “I Hate Fairyland Volume Three: Good Girl” is a truly fantastic volume that is full of hilarious (and violent) adventure along with a shocking twist of an ending that fans of the “I Hate Fairyland” series will definitely enjoy!

You might also like:

• I Hate Fairyland Volume 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young

• I Hate Fairyland Volume 2: Fluff My Life by Skottie Young
• The Little Red Wolf by Amélie Fléchais

[BOOK REVIEW] I Hate Fairyland Volume 2: Fluff My Life by Skottie Young

Title:  I Hate Fairyland Volume 2:  Fluff My Life

Author:  Skottie Young

Genre:  Thriller / Comedy / Fairy Tale / Action

Year Published:  2016

Year Read: 6/23/2018

Series: I Hate Fairyland #2

Publisher: Image Comics

Source: Purchased

Content Rating: Ages 16+ (Gory Violence and Brief Strong Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Introduction:

So, years ago, I had read the first volume of “I Hate Fairyland” on Netgalley and I loved the graphic novel so much that I just had to pick up the rest of this series and put it in my ever-growing bookshelf!  So, I finally got around to reading the second volume of the series called “I Hate Fairyland: Fluff My Life Volume Two” and it was just as entertaining as the first volume!

What is this story about?

After Gertrude kills Queen Cloudia in the last volume, she is then forced to become Fairyland’s next Queen since the law stated that if something were to happen to the Queen of Fairyland, then another person must become Queen in their place.  This upsets Gertrude since she spent most of the first volume trying to get out of Fairyland and once she becomes Queen, she is doing such a horrible job at ruling Fairyland that she ends up getting fired from the position.  This then allows Gertrude to continue her journey to escape Fairyland and along the way, she gets into lots of crazy situations such as meeting Duncan Dragon, who is actually a young boy in a dragon suit, fighting with a princess who is actually more than she seems and possibly changing the fate of Fairyland for the worse!

What I loved about this story:

Skottie Young’s writing:  Skottie Young’s writing is just as witty and hilarious as it was in the first volume and I really enjoyed the chaotic adventures that Gertrude goes on!  I like the way that Skottie Young continues to make Gertrude into the same rambunctious and violent character that she was in the first volume as it made the story quite entertaining! I also liked the fact that Skottie Young started to gradually give Gertrude some character development in this volume as we start seeing some repercussions of Gertrude’s actions in Fairyland and I hope to see where Gertrude’s character arc goes to in the next volume!  Also, this may sound a bit sadistic of me, but I did enjoy the way that Skottie Young incorporated the over the top violence in this volume as it made the volume so hilarious and entertaining to read through!

Skottie Young and Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz’s artwork:  Skottie Young’s artwork is just as hilarious here as it was in the previous volume as Gertrude continues to look like a young girl with a crazy expression on her face and having messy green locks for her hair. I also enjoyed seeing the carnage that Gertrude wrecks on Fairyland as it looks so exaggerated and comical at the same time!  Jeffrey “Chamba” Cruz’s artwork for issue eight was so hilarious and creative to look at!  I loved the scene when Gertrude ends up going inside an arcade game and the art style is done in an anime style that really fits well with the video game setting of that story and it made me really enjoy that issue!

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

Even though I still enjoyed this book, one of my main problems with this volume was that there were too many things going on in the story that I found myself being confused about some of the arcs in this volume (even the ending of this volume was a bit odd due to it coming out of nowhere).  Also, for readers who do not like gory violence or strong language, there is lots of gory violence in this volume that might be uncomfortable for some readers to handle.  Also, even though it was only one instance of this, there is the mention of the “s” word in this volume that anyone who does not like strong language should watch out for.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “I Hate Fairyland: Fluff My Life Volume Two” is a great continuation of the first volume that anyone who is a huge fan of this series should definitely check out and I definitely cannot wait to check out the third volume to this series!

You might also like:

• I Hate Fairyland Volume 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young

• Jughead Volume 2 by Chip Zdarsky and Ryan North
• The Little Red Wolf by Amélie Fléchais

[BOOK REVIEW] Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

Title:  Tender Morsels

Author: Margo Lanagan

Genre: Fantasy

Year Published: 2007

Number of Pages: 436 pages

Date Read: 7/19/2010

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers   

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Sex Scenes and Rape Scenes)

Trigger Warning: Rape Scenes

Buy on:   Amazon  //  Book Depository 

After I read Margo Lanagan’s “Black Juice,” I thought that Margo Lanagan’s “Tender Morsels” was going to be a horrible read.  However, I was quite impressed with how improved the plot and characters are in this book are from “Black Juice.”  “Tender Morsels” is a Printz Honor Book by Margo Lanagan and it is about how a suffering woman named Liga is mysteriously sent to a world where everything is perfect and friendly and raises her two daughters, Branza and Urdda, in this heaven.  However, when wild bears and tiny men come to Liga’s heavenly world, Liga and her two daughters realized that there is another world different from the world they live in.  “Tender Morsels” might be too dark and upsetting for some readers to handle, but the fantasy elements of this book might enchant some readers.

I must admit that after I read “Black Juice,” I thought that this book was going to be no better. However, I was surprised at how much improved this book was in character development and plot development than in “Black Juice.”  Margo Lanagan has done an excellent job at making this story extremely dramatic and somewhat frightening as the characters, especially Liga, go through a series of horrifying events that will have many readers cringing at the description of these events and many readers will definitely feel sympathy for the main character Liga as she goes through so many horrendous situations during her life.  Also, readers who love dark fantasy elements will definitely enjoy this book as there is a good amount of fantasy elements dealing with other world barriers and has an extremely dark tone to the story that would intrigued many readers.

There are three main issues that I had with this book and they included strong violence, some rape scenes and confusing narration.  There are many violent scenes in this book that readers who are sensitive to violence might not be able to handle and these violent scenes include a brutal murder scene, which I will not go into too much detail since I do not want to spoil the book for people who want to read this book, but the violence is extremely graphic as Margo Lanagan goes into great detail about how one of the characters is murdered.  Also, there are two rape scenes in this book that many readers (including myself) who do not approve of rape scenes might not be able to handle.  The issue that really stood out the most in this book is the narration as the story switches from Liga’s perspective to the bear’s perspective on the story and that will confuse many readers.  Liga’s side of the story is pretty straightforward and the characters are well developed and the plot is more interesting, however whenever we get to the bear’s side of the story, there are several different characters speaking on their experiences as the bear character and it is extremely frustrating to read through since you do not know which character is speaking their tale.

“Tender Morsels” is an interesting tale about the dangers of reality versus fantasy worlds and many readers who are fans of dark fantasy books will definitely love this book.  I gave this book three and a half stars because the violence is extremely graphic and the narration is a bit too frustrating to read through as it constantly switches from Liga’s story to the bear’s story and I would have gladly just stick with Liga’s side of the story since her story is much more understanding and interesting than the bear’s side of the story.

* 2008 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee for Novel (Finalist)
* 2008 James Tiptree Jr. Award Honor List
* 2009 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
* 2009 Ditmar Award for Best Novel
* 2009 Michael L. Printz Award Nominee
* 2010 Sakura Medal Nominee for High School Book

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• The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

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