The Raven Boys

 

by Maggie Stiefvater, adapted by Stephanie Williams, illustrated by Sas Milledge

In the town of Henrietta, a private school for boys is known for the wealth and privilege of its students, who are called the Raven Boys.

Blue Sargent is a local teen girl who knows all about the reputation of the boys who attend the school, Aglionby. She doesn't set out to defy her mother's strictures about those boys, but meets a small group of them when they stop in for some food at the diner where Blue works part-time. They get off on the wrong foot with Blue but she finds one of the boys' journal that they accidentally left behind. Snooping, she discovers that the boys are trying to locate in or near the town of Henrietta, something called ley lines which are supposed to be conduits of magical energy. One of the boys, Gansey, is trying to track down the final resting place of a Welsh rebel, Owain Glendower, who lead an uprising against the British in Wales back in the 1400s. The journal left behind in the diner belongs to Gansey and contains writings about his search which has led him to Henrietta where he expects to find the grave of the rebel near a powerful ancient ley line.

As Blue delves deeper into Gansey's journal, she realizes she knows where this ley line is. It's known locally as Corpse Road and it runs past an old abandoned church. She also realizes that she had a vision while on Corpse Road one night of the boy, Gansey, and that some strange fate awaits him. Blue, who is not psychic, is told by a psychic that the only reason she could see a vision of Gansey was because he was either her 'true love' or because Blue will kill him. Which fits completely because Blue has been warned by various psychics, including her own mother, that if Blue kissed her true love, he would die. 

When Blue gets the journal back to Gansey and his friends Adam, Noah and Ronan, she joins them in their quest to find Glendower.  Mainly because they are interesting teen boys and because, as a non-psychic in a family of psychics, she has always felt left out of the magic. And being with Gansey and his friends enables her to be an active participant in something mystical, instead of just an observer. 

But Gansey is not the only one who wants to track down the ley lines in Henrietta. Two others are trying to find the lines and both of them are dangerous and willing to kill to get what they want.

I enjoyed this graphic novel which is based on a fantasy series by Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Cycle, of which The Raven Boys is the first book in the series. I have not read the book from which this graphic novel is crafted. 

At times, I was a bit lost though, which is typical of my experience with graphic novels. They lack the details which I need to understand what is going when reading a graphic novel.  But that's just me, I think. Another problem I have with graphic novels is sometimes the artist draws the characters to look too similar to each other and I have trouble telling them apart. But again that's probably just my problem.

One thing that I really appreciated about this book, other than the actual story, is that it is in full color. Very nice!

Spy x Family 1

 

By Tatsuya Endo

This graphic manga novel is the first in a series starring Loid Forger aka Twilight, Yor Forger nee Bond, and Anya Forger, an orphan girl that Loid adopted.

Loid is a spy who works for the fictional country of Westalis. Neighboring country Ostania is the main enemy of Westalis. Loid has a new spy assignment, find a wife and a child of school age and enroll the child in the prestigious Eden academy in order to get close to the son of an important man in Ostanian politics. This where Yor and Anya come in.

Yor Bond is an assassin. Her day job is working for City Hall. The people she works with don't know she is an assassin. She became an assassin as a way to earn money to support herself and her brother when they were younger. 

Westalis is a rather traditional country and Yor has been getting some flack at work about not being married. Unmarried women are viewed suspiciously so Yor realizes she needs to find a husband or at least a boyfriend in order to smooth things over at her day job.

Anya is a telepath and this ability gives her a rather uncanny air and has resulted in several foster families returning her to the orphanage. So when Loid shows up at the orphanage looking for a child to adopt in order to fulfil his mission, Anya has all the answers for his requirements. She is small and claims to be six years old, but possibly she is younger. 

Loid finds out he needs a wife because Eden Academy doesn't accept children of single parents. He encounters Yor while shopping for clothes for newly adopted Anya. They get to chatting and Yor learns he is a single parent and she asks him to attend an office party with her, posing as her boyfriend. In his turn, Loid asks Yor to pose as his wife and Anya's mother for an interview with the Eden Academy admissions committee. 

The office party is first on the list and Loid is late at arriving, leaving Yor subject to the teasing of her coworkers. He shows up late and rather beat up and bruised from a spy operation and tells everyone he is Yor's husband and that he is a psychiatrist and that one of his patients got violent. 

After the party is over, Loid is driving Yor home and the gang from the spy operation attacks Loid. He tells Yor the gangsters are all his patients. When Loid has to bash one of the gang on the head, he tells Yor it's a new, cutting edge treatment called concussive therapy.  While fleeing from the gangsters, Yor asks Loid to marry her. Since this is what he wants too, he quickly agrees and uses the pin from a grenade as an engagement ring and they make quick promises to each other and declare themselves married. And Yor soon moves into Loid and Anya's apartment, much to Anya's delight. Because her fondest desire is to have a loving mother and father. And she will do everything possible to make that happen.

Next step in Loid's mission is getting Anya enrolled at Eden. Which will require jumping through a lot of hoops to get her accepted into the school.

I enjoyed this graphic novel. The art style looks pretty typical of manga. Although I am no judge of that, having very little experience with manga. The story is quirky and amusing at times and I want to find out what happens to this odd little family. I am planning to get the second volume in the series.

The Book of Bill

 

By Alex Hirsch

So there was this TV cartoon show, Gravity Falls. Now I never watched this show. But I was shopping for gifts for a ten year old child who requested books for Christmas. So I decided to get three graphic novels because I wanted to get fun books. But before I got the books ready to gift, I decided to read them to make sure they were appropriate. Two of them were OK, if a bit boring for an adult to read. But looking through The Book of Bill, I decided it was too much for a ten year old. So I read it instead.

It was kind of confusing, since I was not familiar with the TV series. It is copiously illustrated, full color, very artful. There is this thing, Bill, it's shaped like a triangle and is supposed to have escaped from a dimension that only exists in two dimensions which it destroyed while escaping. This Bill thing set its sights on Earth for some reason which had to do with its quest to rule everything? I'm not sure about that. Bill is a confusing thing, often referred to as a demon.

The book recaps, I guess, the story of the series and of Bill's encounters and temptations of the people of Gravity Falls, mainly with the Pines family. Bill is a really negative being and clearly cares nothing about humankind and our little planet. It basically has nothing good to say about us or this planet. It really does have a wicked sense of humor. Although I don't care about the TV series or the characters eventual defeat of Bill, I did enjoy the humor that is one of the best parts of the book. For example:

"What Is a Human? A human is an organic machine made out of blood and anxiety, designed to deliver a random bundle of genetic material into the future and turn to dust."

"Bill, Have You Ever Been In Love? Sure—tell your mom hi for me! By the way, have you taken a DNA test recently? Not asking for any particular reason."

"Remember, pal, at the end of the day, love is just the pupa stage for hate."

"How You Will Die: 4. Shockingly assassinated while simply trying to ride in your motorcade through Dallas with the roof down in the year 1963"

"Life doesn't care about your meaning, so why should you care about its meaning?"

Parts of the book are quite funny but the part that recaps the war between Bill and the humans was not that interesting to me. Not surprising since I never saw the series. It's certainly going to be more interesting to those who enjoyed the series. 

 

The Last Kids on Earth

 

By Max Brallier, Art by Brian Churilla

It's an ordinary day and four kids are on their way to school when everything falls apart. Most humans suddenly become zombies and giant, vicious monsters appear everywhere. 

The four kids scatter and thirteen-year-old Jack ends up living in a tree house alone. After struggling to survive for several weeks, he manages to contact his good friend, Quint, the science nerd. Later on Jack and Quint bring the school bully into their gang. Dirk, the bully, is just trying to survive like Jack and Quint and he is strong and brave and a good man to have on your side in a brawl. 

Jack has a crush on a girl, June, and he is determined to see if she has survived the monster/zombie apocalypse and he and his pals head out into a monster plagued world to locate June. Or die trying?

A child, 10 to 13 years old, might enjoy this graphic novel. It's nicely illustrated in full color. Jack and his friends are intrepid and manage to take care of themselves all by themselves. 

I read the book to make sure it was OK to give as a Christmas present. And it is OK. But, wow, was it boring! Kids might not find it so, but I sure did.

FGTeeV Blasts Off

 

By the YouTube stars known as FGTeeV and FV Family; Illustrated by Miguel Díaz Rívas

The FV family, Duddy, Moomy, Lexi, Mike, Chase and Shawn visits the National Space Center and end up taking an unauthorized trip in an experimental space ship. They get tricked into going on an intergalactic trip to find several vital artifacts that are crucial to the survival of humankind, or so they are led to believe. Turns out that was a lie put forth by a conniving little troll known as Xyle, the game store owner with whom the family is very familiar.

Anyways, they have exciting and improbable adventures on exciting and improbable planets and end up bringing a disaster back to Earth where the truth is revealed about Xyle. But the family steps up and counters his evil plans through a variety of video game challenges. 

This was a fairly interesting story, even though meant to entertain kids, which I expect it does. I enjoyed it and was surprised by the Xyle plot.  

I must admit that I have no idea who these YouTubers are. The book claims they are very popular which I suppose is true. I don't watch YouTube for kids. I bought this book as a gift and read it to make sure it was appropriate for the person I am giving it to. Which it is. It's pretty good, really.

Trashed

By Derf Backderf

JB has dropped out of college and moved back in with his mom. But she has reminded him that he has to be either in school or working. The town where he lives doesn't have a lot of openings and the only job he can find is as a garbageman. And so begins his education in garbage, small town politics and the quirks of the trash-creating public.

If you have ever wondered what it is like being a garbageman, this book will give a really good glimpse of it. And it has lots of information about how garbage is handled (or not) in this country. It's pretty gross but very informative and amusing. And it is a quick read because it is a graphic novel.

Review from Publisher's Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4197-1454-2.