[BOOK REVIEW] The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Title:  The Goose Girl

Authors:  Shannon Hale

Genre:  Fantasy

Year Published: 2003

Number of Pages: 400 pages 

Date Read: 6/30/2010 

Series: The Books of Bayern #1  

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's   

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 12+ (Some Intense Moments)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“The Goose Girl” is another brilliant story created by Shannon Hale, who is well known for her first graphic novel book “Rapunzel’s Revenge” and it is a much more extended retelling of the classic Brothers Grimm tale “The Goose Girl” (same title!) that tells the story of how Ani, the true crown princess of Kildenree, is betrayed by her lady-in-waiting and Ani must figure out a way to regain her true name while posing as a goose girl.  “The Goose Girl” is a truly an inspiring story that anyone who is a huge Shannon Hale fan will love for centuries.

Wow!!! When I first started reading this book, I thought that it was going to be boring because I must admit that the beginning of this book did have a slow start with little action going on with the main characters.  However, when I started reading more into the story, I just started to love this book immensely as the story got more exciting and more emotional as I read through this book.  Shannon Hale has done an excellent job at making the characters extremely memorable, especially the main character Ani, who was at first a very passive character who would do anything that anybody told her to do, especially as she easily tries to accept the responsibilities of royalty in Kildenree without thinking about the secrets of her kingdom.  However, when Ani’s life is threatened by Selia and Ungolad, Ani becomes a stronger character as the book goes on as she realizes that she is on her own and she must figure out a way to convince the king that she is the real Crown Princess without the aid of her mother.  Now, many people may think that Ani is a bit too passive as she easily will do anything that anyone tells her to do, even during her moments of bravery and I do agree to some extent that Ani can be too passive towards other characters.  However, when Ani realizes the possibility of having a manipulative person like Selia as princess, Ani goes out of her way to protect the people she love while revealing her own identity about herself that she has never known existed inside of her.  I find this revelation that Ani makes about herself extremely reassuring as many people in real life sometimes have problems trying to discover who they truly are and Ani’s character has done a great job at explaining the trials that many people would face whenever they are trying to pluck up the courage to say what is really on their minds.  What I loved the most about this book was how Shannon Hale made this book extremely dramatic and exciting at the same time as the audience can feel tension for Ani’s safety and how she is nearly captured by Selia and Ungolad many times in this book.  I must admit that there were times that I actually thought that Ungolad, Selia’s guard, would be very close in capturing Ani, even though Shannon Hale makes sure that the audience knows that Ani does everything in her power to escape her captors.

“The Goose Girl” is truly a fantastic book about the power of courage and discovering who you truly are on the inside that many people who also want to discover the courage to stand up for what they believe in, can easily enjoy for many years.

* 2003 Utah Book Award for Children / Young Adults 
* 2004 Josette Frank Award
* 2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Nominee for Children's Literature

You might also like: 

• Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale

• Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer

[BOOK REVIEW] All-Star Superman Volume 1 by Grant Morrison

Title:  All-Star Superman Volume 1

Author:  Grant Morrison

Artist:  Frank Quitely

Genre:  Superhero / Drama / Humor / Romance / Family / Action / Adventure

Year Published: 2007

Year Read:  7/15/2017

Publisher: DC Comics 

Series: All-Star Superman #1

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 12+ (Some Fighting Scenes, Some Kissing and Intense Scenes)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

Introduction:

Now, I have a little confession to make (I seem to be making so many book confessions lately, right)?  I had only read a few “Superman” comics over the years, which included “Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow” and “Superman: Secret Identity.” The reason why I have not read that many “Superman” comics was not because I hate Superman (I actually really like his character), but it was hard for me to look for some recommendations for good “Superman” stories while recommendations for good “Batman” stories came much more readily.  One of the “Superman” stories that was always highly recommended to me was Grant Morrison’s run on “Superman” called “All-Star Superman.” At first, I was a bit hesitant about checking this series out because from what I had heard from some comic book fans, Grant Morrison’s works tend to jump off the deep end at a certain point in his stories and I had experienced that with his work on “Batman R.I.P.”  However, after I finally decided to dive into this graphic novel, I now see why this particular graphic novel was so highly recommended to me and I have to say that “All-Star Superman Volume One” is one of the best “Superman” stories I had ever read!

What is this story about?

The story starts off with Superman going to the sun to rescue a space crew who were on a mission to take fire from the sun and it turns out that because Superman went too near the sun, he contracted apoptosis, death of the body cells, which means that he will soon die.  When Superman finds this out, he decides that he must do some things on Earth before he dies, such as temporarily giving his love interest Lois Lane superpowers for her birthday and trying to confess his secret identity to her, getting in a fight with Jimmy Olsen due to being affected by Black Kryptonite, meeting up with his nemesis Lex Luthor, and saying his goodbyes to his father Jonathan Kent.

Will Superman have time to do all of these things before he dies?

Read this graphic novel to find out!

What I loved about this story:

Grant Morrison’s writing: I really enjoyed Grant Morrison’s writing in this graphic novel as the story has a nice mixture of drama and humor thrown in and I often found myself laughing at some of the situations in this volume, such as Superman and Lois’ encounter with the comical superhero duo Samson and Atlas.  I also like the fact that this story tackles the subject about what would happen if Superman is about to die and how he would spend his last days on Earth (although, the concept about Superman dying is nothing new at this point).  This gives Grant Morrison a chance to explore Superman’s life from his arrival to Earth and being adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent to working in the Daily Planet and meeting Lois Lane and there is a great love to the character as not only do older readers get to see Superman’s life be presented again in this volume, but new readers will be able to understand more about Superman’s origins through a modern interpretation.  I also enjoyed the way that Grant Morrison portrayed Superman in this volume as Superman is not shown as being a flat character, but has many dimensions to his personality as we get to see Superman become sad, happy, angry and humorous all at once in this volume; it was fantastic seeing the various emotions that Superman displays in this volume contribute to the story at hand.

Frank Quitely’s artwork:  While there are some parts of Frank Quitely’s artwork that annoyed me a bit, which I will discuss more about in the cons section, overall, the artwork is extremely detailed and gorgeous to look at.  Probably my most favorite image in this graphic novel was the image of Superman and Lois Lane kissing each other on the moon and you can see the gorgeous detail being done to Lois’ wavy hair as it is waving around in space.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The only problem I have with this graphic novel is that there are so many things happening in the story that it would make it pretty confusing for anyone who is not used to reading “Superman” comics.  Even though I found this graphic novel to be pretty entertaining, the narrative can get overcrowded at times because there are so many events going on and you have to read each issue a bit carefully to get the full details of each of the stories.  Also, some of the artwork can be a bit off at times, especially with the way that Superman’s face seems to look like dough in some panels and I felt that he was drawn a bit too bulky in this volume, despite the fact that Superman is naturally muscular.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “All-Star Superman Volume One” is seriously one fantastic and hilarious volume that I would love to read over and over again if I get the chance to and I cannot wait to read the second volume of this series!

* 2007 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best Continuing Series

You might also like:

• Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore

• Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek
• Lex Luthor: Man of Steel by Brian Azzarello

[BOOK REVIEW] Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Title:  Throne of Glass

Author:  Sarah J. Maas

Genre: Paranormal Romance / Fantasy

Year Published: 2012

Number of Pages: 404 pages

Date Read: 5/30/2017

Publisher:  Bloomsbury

Series: Throne of Glass #1

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Gory Violence)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

“You could rattle the stars," she whispered. "You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.” 

Now, I have a shameful confession to make: even though I had heard nothing but good things about Sarah J. Maas’ “Throne of Glass” series, I have never actually read the first book in the series “Throne of Glass” (although I had read “The Assassin’s Blade” first) until just recently and this book has been on my TBR shelf for many years now!  Now that I finally got the chance to read “Throne of Glass,” I am seriously awed by the highly creative and intense world that I was thrown into!

The story starts off with a young assassin named Celaena Sardothien who was toiling away in the slave mines of Endovier and just as it seemed that all hope of was lost for Celaena to ever break out of Endovier, the young crown prince of Adarlan named Prince Dorian Havilliard came in and said that he will set Celaena free if she becomes the King of Adarlan’s Champion.  However, Celaena must first go toe to toe with other assassins, thieves and warriors in a competition that will determine who will be strong enough to be the King’s Champion.  Although Celaena hates the King of Adarlan for destroying her hometown, she does want to be set free from her hardships and agrees to the terms.  However, once Celaena appears in the kingdom of Adarlan, she finds out that some kind of monster is brutally killing each Champion contestant and she will have to figure out a way to save the kingdom from this mysterious evil force!  Meanwhile, Celaena starts having relationship problems with both Chaol Westfall, the stern and loyal Captain of the Guards who believes that Celaena is a threat to the Crown Prince and Prince Dorian Havilliard, the intelligent and optimistic son of the King of Adarlan who has fallen in love with the assassin.  Who will Celaena choose?

 Wow…. just wow!!!  I cannot believe I waited this long to actually read this book from one of the most acclaimed novels ever written!  Sarah J. Maas has done a spectacular job at creating this intriguing fantasy world where magic exists, but got banned by the kingdom and it forces the characters to rely on their wits and strengths to survive in this world.  I was also a bit surprised at how the story seems to be like a medieval version of “The Hunger Games” as the competitors have to risk their lives to become the King’s Champion, but the story never felt like an exact replica of “The Hunger Games” as it has the main character, Celaena, entering the competition to regain her freedom rather than have the competitions be a yearly thing for the kingdom. Sarah J. Maas also did a great job at writing these characters, especially Celaena, Chaol and Dorian themselves and I loved the fact that Celaena is portrayed as a strong female protagonist who is not afraid to stand up for what she believes in and is an awesome fighter to boot!  I also enjoyed the characters Prince Dorian and Chaol themselves, as they provided an interesting dynamic with not only themselves, but with Celaena also.  I loved the fact that Chaol is the stern and highly protective Captain of the Guards who is always looking out for both Celaena and Dorian, no matter how gruff he appears to both of them, while Dorian is the carefree and optimistic prince who wants to see the good in everyone, no matter how suspicious that person is.  As for the obligatory LOVE TRIANGLE that occurs between Celaena, Chaol and Dorian, I will discuss that in the CONS section down below.

For anyone who does not like gory violence, there is a good bit of gory violence going on in this book with various characters getting murdered in a graphic manner, such as having their organs ripped out of their bodies and having their faces being skinned off.

***Begin Rant***

Alright, so this is a small nitpick that I had with this book and that is the obligatory LOVE TRIANGLE that happens in the story.  Now, luckily, the LOVE TRIANGLE in this story is not played up too high, but there were times where I was a bit annoyed with the fact that Celaena had a hard time trying to choose between Chaol and Dorian throughout the book and I actually wished that Celaena actually chosen who she wanted to be with early on in the story rather than spend most of the book going back and forth on whether she wants to spend her time with Chaol or Dorian.

***End Rant***

Overall, “Throne of Glass” is a fantastic book that fans of strong female assassins and magical worlds will greatly enjoy and now I am off to read the second book in the “Throne of Glass” series, “Crown of Midnight!”

* 2015 Lincoln Award Nominee

* 2015 North Carolina Young Adult Book Award for High School

                    You might also like: 

• The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

• Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers

[ARC REVIEW] Monstress: Awakening Volume 1 (Part 1) by Marjorie Liu

Title:  Monstress: Awakening Volume 1 Part 1

Author:  Marjorie Liu

Artist:   Sana Takeda

Genre:  Adventure / Steampunk / Fantasy / Drama

Year Published: 2016

Year Read:  8/26/2016

Publisher: Image Comics

Series: Monstress Issue #1

Source: eARC (NetGalley)

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language)

I would like to thank NetGalley and Image Comics for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction:

 

Now I will admit that I had never read any of Marjorie Liu’s comic books before, even though most of them were highly praised.  So, when I heard that Marjorie Liu was creating a new comic book series called “Monstress” and I had heard a lot of good things about this series, I just had to check this series out!

What is this story about?

The story starts off with Maika being sold to a witch named Sophia and it turns out that this was a part of plan that Maika conjured up when she was at her homeland to get inside the witches’ strong hold in order to find out what happened to her mother.  It also turns out that Maika possesses a dangerous power where she is psychically linked to a monster of tremendous power and she is prone to have beastly urges whenever she is in danger.  Now, not only does Maika have to control her dangerous powers, but she must survive the horrors of the war between the humans and the supernatural forces!

What I loved about this story:

Marjorie Liu’s writing: Wow!  For a first time reader of Marjorie Liu’s works, I must say that I was quite impressed with Marjorie Liu’s beautiful writing of this issue!  I loved the way that Marjorie Liu wrote the world that the characters live in as it seems like Ancient China with some supernatural touches to the universe that really made this world so mesmerizing to read about.  I also loved the way that Marjorie Liu wrote Maika’s character as Maika is shown as being a strong female protagonist who suffers a horrific injury as she loses her arm in the war and yet is still determined enough to sneak into the witches’ strong hold to find out the truth about her mother.  I also think that the beastly aspect of Maika’s character really made her interesting and I would love to see where they take her character in the next issue!

Sana Takeda’s artwork:  Sana Takeda’s artwork is just simply beautiful to look at!  I just loved the way that Sana Takeda made the characters’ hairs glow throughout the pages, especially with Maika’s long and raven hair glowing at various places of her head.  I also loved the way that Sana Takeda drew the steampunk aesthetics to the story as we see many machines and rusted pipes throughout the artwork and it really gives the story a dark and gritty futuristic feel.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

For anyone who does not like strong language, there were a couple of utterings of the “f” word throughout the story that might offend some people.  Some readers might want to skim through the curse words if they get offended by them. 

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Monstress Volume One: Awakening Part One” is a truly fantastic introduction to Marjorie Liu’s “Monstress” series and I definitely cannot wait to check out the next few issues of this series!

 * 2016 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Nominee for Best New Series & Best Writer (for Marjorie Liu)

[BOOK REVIEW] Batman: The Court of Owls Volume 1 by Scott Snyder

Title:  Batman: The Court of Owls Volume 1

Author:  Scott Snyder

Artist: Greg Capullo

Genre:  Action / Drama / Superhero / Reboot / Thriller / Horror / Family

Year Published:  2011

Year Read: 7/23/2016

Series:  Batman #1 (DC New 52)

Publisher:  DC Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Gory Violence)

“Beware the Court of Owls,

That watches all the time.

Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch,

Behind granite and lime.

They watch you at your hearth,

They watch you in your bed,

Speak not a whispered word of them,

Or they’ll send the Talon for your head!”

Introduction:

 

So, when I heard that DC Comics was doing a reboot on all of their comics, I will admit that I was pretty hesitant about trying out any of the rebooted comics, especially after I heard so many bad things about DC’s New 52 series (and it turns out that the backlash was understandable, especially with how some of the later titles in the New 52 turned out to be horrible, according to some of the fans).  But, there was one series in the New 52 that fans felt was always consistently good and that was Scott Snyder’s run on “Batman!”  So, when my fellow Batman comic buddies recommended me this title, I will admit that I was pretty interested with this volume and I ended up being quite impressed with how this volume turned out!

What is this story about?

Gotham is Batman’s city and he will not let any criminal ruin his town…until the Court of Owls came in.  The Court of Owls is a mysterious organization that has been around Gotham ever since it was first built and their plan is to retake Gotham City for their own.  The only obstacle in their way is none other than Bruce Wayne and they plan on killing Bruce Wayne to reclaim Gotham City. 

Is the Court of Owls connected to Bruce Wayne’s ancestors in some way and will they break Batman in order to obtain their goals of claiming Gotham City?

Read this volume to find out!

What I loved about this story:

Scott Snyder’s writing: I have read Scott Snyder’s previous works on “Batman: The Black Mirror” and the “American Vampire” series and I have always loved his unique and intense writing style.  His writing of this “Batman” story is no different and I just loved the way that Scott Snyder made this “Batman” story even more intense than the last! I really loved the fact that since this is a reboot of the “Batman” comics, we actually get to see new villains in the form of the Court of Owls and it was interesting trying to figure out what their true goals for Gotham are and how they knew about Bruce Wayne himself.  It really made the Court of Owls such interesting villains and the fact that they were one of the few villains to give Batman a hard time was really different and intriguing for me as a “Batman” fan.  But what really made me squeal with true fangirl anticipation was seeing Dick Grayson appear in this comic along with Damian Wayne and Tim Drake!  When I saw all the former Robins together on one page, I was seriously excited at this moment since I enjoy seeing all the Robins come together to be with Bruce Wayne, their mentor!  I also loved the way that Scott Snyder wrote Bruce Wayne’s relationship with Dick Grayson and Alfred as this reboot shows that Batman still has a close relationship with Dick Grayson and Alfred and I really enjoyed their moments together.

Greg Capullo’s artwork:  Greg Capullo’s artwork perfectly captures the dark and gritty nature of this series and I loved how scratchy the ink work is as it gives the story an intense feeling.  I also loved the fact that Greg Capullo’s artwork reminds me a bit of the artwork in Frank Miller’s “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” comic book, which slightly gave this volume a retro feel, especially if you are an old school “Batman” fan!

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I took off half a star from the rating was because the story tended to be a bit slow in some parts and there were times where I was wishing that the story would have moved at a faster pace to keep me interested all the way through.  Also, for anyone who does not like bloody violence in comics, there are some moments in this volume where the violence can get pretty bloody, especially whenever the characters get stabbed by knives.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Batman: The Court of Owls Volume One” was a pleasant surprise for me as it made me really enjoy what was being done with this reboot of “Batman” and I hope that the series continues to get better with each volume!