Reviews Week 2

  Reviews Week 2

January 9th-15th

Book 7: Juniper Harvey and the Vanishing Kingdom

By Nina Varela

Read January 7th-9th

Pages Read: 320

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It took me a while to get into this book, but I fell in love with Juniper and Galatea's story once I did. This book was an excellent middle-grade fantasy novel with great characters and a fascinating fantasy world. I enjoyed the friendship between Juniper, Galatea, Ollie, and Sam and seeing that grow throughout the book. 

Juniper and Galatea do not start off well when Galatea comes from her world to Juniper's, but as the story progresses, they become friends. I enjoyed seeing Galatea try to blend in at Juniper's school and try not to talk about her magical world. This was not an easy thing for her to do and many of those scenes were quite funny. Juniper is also dealing with her crush on Galatea and the feelings that come along with that. 

One of my favorite aspects of the story was the importance of Juniper's art throughout the novel. Seeing this aspect of her character and how she uses it in the story was great. I loved the anxiety representation that Nina had in her book and how Juniper used art to cope with her anxiety. Wonderful rep. 

The goddesses from Galatea's magical world are my other favorite aspect of the novel. I won't go into too many details about that because that would spoil the book, but I loved the mythology in this story. I loved that Nina created her own gods and goddesses for this fantasy world, and how we learn about them as the story progressed.  

I cannot wait to see where Nina takes this story, especially with the cliffhanger at the end. My hope is that we will spend more time in Galatea's fantasy world. This is an excellent middle-grade fantasy novel with great anxiety and LGBT rep. I highly recommend it.

*Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

Book 8: Norse Mythology: Volume 3

By Neil Gaiman

Read January 10th

Pages Read: 144

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Last year, I read both Volume 2 of Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology graphic novels and his book named Norse Mythology. Mythology is one of my favorite things, and I enjoyed learning more about Norse Mythology in these books. This time around, I knew the stories but enjoyed seeing how they were adapted in graphic novel form. 

P. Craig Russell does a great job adapting these stories from Neil's original book into this new format. It keeps the overall message and adds beautiful illustrations by Galen Showman, David Rubín, and Colleen Doran. My two favorite stories to see adapted were "The Death of Balder" and "The Last Days of Loki." 

After reading Neil's collection of Norse Mythology stories last year, I eagerly awaited to see "The Last Days of Loki" adapted in this format. It definitely lived up to my expectations for it. This is one of my favorite stories from Norse Mythology.  This is one of the most known stories from Norse Mythology, and I loved seeing Neil's take on it in the original book. "The Death of Balder" is another favorite for me. I love the story, and seeing it adapted here was great. 

This volume comprises the last four stories of Neil's collection, and all lead up to the events of Ragnarok. The last story, "Ragnarok: The Final Destiny of the Gods, " is the culmination of it all. Norse Mythology: Volume 3 is one of my favorite graphic novel adaptations of Neil's work. It did a great job adapting the stories into the visual medium and keeping their overall messages. This is a beautiful book that I highly recommend to fans of Norse Mythology, Neil Gaiman, and the original text. 

*Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for my ARC of this graphic novel. All opinions are my own.*

Book 9: Dear Medusa

By Olivia A. Cole

Read January 10th-12th

Pages Read: 384

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This was a difficult story to read. Olivia A. Cole’s writing was absolutely stunning and was so authentic. If you read the book's description, you will know some of the content. Many important issues are discussed throughout this novel, including sexual abuse, racism, homophobia, divorce, and friendship. 

The main character Alicia is a sixteen-year-old dealing with being sexually assaulted by one of the most popular teachers at her school. Shortly after, her best friend deserts her because of how she has changed personally. She is also growing further away from her family, acting out at school, causing her to get ISAP (in-school suspension), and feeling lonely. 

Alicia is known around her school for having sex with many different guys and is being called so many other names because of this. What they do not know is why she started acting this way. She also details the many different men, who she calls wolves, and how they have treated her.  

This is a very thought-provoking novel that is both heartbreaking and impactful. Dear Medusa is written in verse and is in Alicia’s voice. We get an authentic look into her story and thoughts as everything is happening. One of the most intriguing parts of the story is the allusion to Medusa throughout. As the story continues, Alicia learns more about Medusa and adds more to this inclusion to the story. By the end of the novel, Alicia has gained more friends. 

I’m glad that it ended with a hopeful message. 

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

Book 10: Twistwood Tales

By A.C. MacDonald

Read January 13th-14th

Pages Read: 160

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I loved this strange little book of comics so much. Many different little stories take place in Twistwood and show the different characters that live there. The illustrations of the woodland creatures were absolutely adorable, and I loved seeing the adventures that each of the characters got into throughout. 

Many lessons are shown in the book, along with wonderfully witty jokes. The snarky jokes and characters stood out quite a bit, making this an even more enjoyable read. Also, there are overall arcs focusing on characters, such as Bucket Boy's journey to find his usefulness and value in his friendships. I had so much fun reading this and hope there will be more from Twistwood. 

*Thank you to Edelweiss for my ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

Book 11: Galatea

By Madeline Miller

Read January 15th

Pages Read: 56

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Wow! 

Madeline Miller's novels The Song of Achilles and Circe are two of my favorite pieces of literature. I love how she uses Greek Mythology stories and creates her own takes on these tales. Galatea is an excellent example of how impactful she can make a story, even one so small. This short story focuses on the aftermath of Pygmalion and Galatea's relationship. It's packed full of emotions and gives Galatea more of an active role in her story. 

In the original myth of Pygmalion, the story focuses on the love that Pygmalion feels for a statue he created. Before this, he is disgusted by the other women around him and wants to make a love for himself that would be pure. So, he created Galatea out of marble and prayed to Aphrodite (Venus) to give life to her. Aphrodite gives life to the statue, and Pygmalion gets his happily ever after with who he believes to be the perfect woman. Galatea never speaks during the original myth; her only purpose is to be what her husband wants her to be. 

In Galatea, Madeline Miller takes the elements from this story and goes past them. We are seeing what happens after Galatea is not the perfect wife for Pygmalion. I will not go into details, but it is a brutal and haunting read. It is a short story that was not only impactful but also powerful. What an ending. Madeline Miller has such a way with words that makes them all count in incredible ways. I cannot wait to see what she comes out with next! I hope she will eventually do a short story collection with stories similar to this.

Book 12: Sorcery of Thorns

By Margaret Rogerson

Read January 14th-15th

Pages Read: 456

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2023 reread: 

I had an incredible time returning to this book again in preparation for the sequel novella that is coming out tomorrow. Margaret Rogerson has such an excellent way of writing that draws you in from the first word until the end. It was wonderful immersing myself back into this world, and I am highly looking forward to continuing where this left off in the novella. 

Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas are characters I love following throughout the novel, and I loved seeing their found family form again. Their bond is powerful and one of my favorites in literature. It was great starting the book this time, knowing what would happen with them. 

Also, I love the elements of the magical grimoires throughout the book. They stood out a lot for me, especially with my own love of books. It was great how they all had personalities of their own and their purpose in the novel.

2019 review: 

I fell in love with Sorcery of Thorns from the first page and was sucked into this beautiful story. In the novel, we follow a young librarian who grew up in Summerhall, one of Austermeer's Great magical Libraries. Magical grimoires fill the shelves that she has a connection to. Elisabeth becomes unlikely allies with a sorcerer named Nathaniel and his demonic servant Silas. They team up to fight a force that could destroy everything they hold dear. 

Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas are some of my favorite characters in all literature. I loved the bond between them all and the element of found family. Their witty banter throughout the book had me laughing out loud countless times. They had me crying a couple of times, also. 

This was a powerful book that I connected to on so many levels. Being a child of the library and books in general, I felt a genuine bond with Elisabeth. Books have always been and always will be an essential part of my life. The world created in this book was creative and very interesting to read. When reading, I felt like I was a part of their world. It felt like this book was created for me because it had everything I love in a book. 

I hope there will be a sequel to this book because I loved this world so much, and man, that ending.