Book Reviews

The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen

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Title: The Faust Act
Series Title: The Wicked + The Divine
Author: Kieron Gillen
Illustrators: Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson & Clayton Cowles
Date Added: June 6, 2017
Date Started: August 2, 2018
Date Finished: August 7, 2018
Reading Duration: 5 days
Genre: Graphic Novel/Comic, Fantasy, Mythology

Cover of The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust ActPages: 176
Publication Date: November 12, 2014
Publisher: Image Comics
Media: Hardback (Library)

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critical tongue-attractors like Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM reunite to create a world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever. 

The story is fast paced and glamorous in this “gods incarnated into the bodies of youths” metaphor of celebrity culture.  It starts off with Lucifer

standing trial for murder, and the trial itself ending in an unexpected way (yes, even more unexpected than Phoenix Wright, though there is an explosion of sorts…).   It’s clever how once again Lucifer is being thrown under the bus for something he (in shtis case she) didn’t do (as in some interpretations/translations “Lucifer” was erroneously conflated with Satan, but this is something I need to do more research on).

The majority of the characters in this are POC including the main Laura who desperately wants into this world.

Laura Wilson, main character from The Wicked + The DivineThe cycle, or at least who’s chosen, seems perpetuated by Ananke who appears as an old woman.  She infuses people (usually teenagers from what I can tell) with the incarnation per what Luci explains, and this is the main reason Laura was at the Amaterasu concert.  Everyone wants to be a god, but no one wants to deal with the consequences.

The artwork in this graphic novel is absolutely gorgeous; McKelvie, Wilson, and Cowles definitely deserve all the props, but the story is vapid AF.  Before you castigate me and insist “That’s the point!” let me elaborate.  My assumption is that later volumes delve deeper into the reasons for the recurrence, but if this first one is meant as an introduction, it does a poor job at showing them as anything more than one-dimensional caricatures.

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The State of the Writer: 2/23/20

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<–The State of the Writer: 2/9/20         The State of the Writer: 3/8/20–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 3

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 252,492
Prior Word Count: 252,713
Word Difference: -221
Status: Editing
Progress: First edit of Chapter 22

This chapter has some interesting challenges, and I may end up with two versions of it.  I saw someone do that once on Fanfic.net.  I was talking with The Ink Garden about my wacky timelines/AU scenarios, but it was only scratching the surface.  There are more branches than a tree, which is…kinda fitting when I think about it.  I’m trying to add any additional text in my first edit instead of after, because it just doesn’t make sense to do any kind of editing prior to including additions.

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A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes #3)

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An Ember in the Ashes

<–A Torch Against the Night

Title: A Reaper at the Gates
Series: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Date Added: August 23, 2017
Date Started: July 2, 2018
Date Finished: August 4, 2018
Reading Duration: 33 days
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian, Young Adult (YA), Romance

A Reaper at the Gates coverPages: 464
Publication Date: June 12, 2018
Publisher: Razorbill
Media: Paperback

Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister’s life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But while hunting for a way to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would aid her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she’d have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias’s devotion–even at the cost of his humanity.

***Spoilers for all previous books in the series***

Tahir has the gift of making characters on both sides of the conflict sympathetic, even casting some compassion on Keris Veturia.  Though a tortured past doesn’t excuse the horrible things one does, it often provides an explanation.  It is no easy feat to do something like this, and it is one of the better attributes of ASOIAF, as well.  Like Martin, Tahir not only titles her chapters by the character whose viewpoint we follow, but she adds additional ones with each volume.  This is merely logistical, though; what’s more interesting is how Tahir, like GRRM, seems to subscribe (whether consciously or no) to William Faulkner’s philosophy:

The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.

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The Books of 2019

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Goodreads Challenge: 20
Books Finished: 20
Books DNF: 5

I lowered my challenge from 50 books to 20 in 2019, and I think this was a good idea.  I’m keeping that same energy in 2020, plus it goes with the number.  I still have book reviews from 2018 to write, so the lower number theoretically helps bring that down, too (not…really).

Because I only read 20 books, I’m going to list them all here in no particular order at first then the Top 10 after.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Classic)

You really have to keep your present sensibilities in check in order to garner what Fitzgerald was after.  It’s not a bad message about how we treat the very young vs. the very old, but it comes with a whole bunch of yikes.

Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (Classic)

The question of Cleopatra’s betrayal is still up in the air, and the ruminations on the concept are far more fascinating than the answer.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (Classic)

Oh my fucking god, this was almost laughably bad in so many ways.  I’m glad I read it, but it was dry and plodding for so many chapters.  The most interesting parts involved the Persian who doesn’t even get a name.  Raoul’s character as well as Eric’s were greatly improved by Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, which greatly improved upon many aspects of Leroux’s work.

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Black Butler, Vol. 1 by Yana Toboso (Kuroshitsuji #1)

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Title: Black Butler, Vol. 1
Series Title: Kuroshitsuji
Author: Yana Toboso
Translator: Tomo Kimura
Date Added: January 8, 2018
Date Started: July 26, 2018
Date Finished: August 2, 2018
Reading Duration: 7 days
Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel, Young Adult (YA), Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror

Black Butler, Vol. 1 coverPages: 192
Publisher: Yen Press
Publication Date: February 27, 2007
Media: Paperback (Library)

In the Victorian ages of London The Earl of the Phantomhive house, Ciel Phantomhive, needs to get his revenge on those who had humiliated him and destroyed what he loved. Not being able to do it alone he sells his soul to a demon he names Sebastian Michaelis. Now working as his butler, Sebastian must help the Earl Phantomhive in this suspenseful, exciting, thriller manga.

This is one of those books where the blurb tells you more than the initial chapters.  I didn’t realize Sebastian was a demon Ciel sold his soul to until I neared the end, though I did peak at the chapter titles and the last one is called “The Butler Most Evil.”  I spent the entire book wondering about the Earl of Phantomhive’s eye patch and wondering if that had anything to do with his dark deal.  Sadly, I doubt I’ll even find out unless I watch the anime or look up the wiki.

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Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson (Lumberjanes #1) (DNF)

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Title: Beware the Kitten Holy
Series Title: Lumberjanes
Author: Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, & Faith Hicks
Artists: Brooke A. Allen, Shannon Waters, Kay Leyh, Carolyn Nowak, & Carey Pietsch
Date Added: January 13, 2017
Date Started: July 19, 2018
Date DNF: July 25, 2018
Reading Duration: 6 days
Genre: Graphic Novel, Young Adult (YA), Fantasy

Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten HolyPages: 128
Publisher: BOOM! Box
Publication Date: April 7, 2015
Media: Paperback (Library)

At Miss Qiunzilla Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s camp for hard-core lady-types, things are not what they seem. Three-eyed foxes. Secret caves. Anagrams. Luckily, Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley are five rad, butt-kicking best pals determined to have an awesome summer together… And they’re not gonna let a magical quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! The mystery keeps getting bigger, and it all begins here.

I feel like this was definitely geared towards a different demographic than yours truly’s, which is why I ended up DNFing it.  So much wacky stuff was going on that I never got much of a sense of the characters, but to be fair I didn’t get much past Chapter 1.  There was a pattern of the girls finding and/or running from three-eyed creatures .  They start off facing three-eyed foxes, run into a three-eyed river monster, and then Ripley tries to get her candy bar back from a three-eyed eagle (believe it or not).  From what I read, the characters seemed pretty interchangeable, except for the one girl who could recite the Lumberjanes pledge by memory.  I’m hoping they became more distinct as the story went on.  There was decent representation, at least in terms of racial diversity, and I can see the appeal; it just wasn’t appealing to me.  Kinda like Mamma Mia lol.

Wytches, Volume 1 by Scott Snyder (Wytches #1-6)

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Title: Wytches, Volume 1
Series Title: Wytches
Author: Scott Snyder
Artists: Jock, Matt Hollingsworth, & Clem Robins
Date Added: October 9, 2017
Date Started: July 8, 2018
Date Finished: July 15, 2018
Reading Duration: 7 days
Genre: Graphic Novel, Horror, Fantasy

Wytches, Volume 1 CoverPages: 192
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: October 8, 2014
Media: Paperback (Library)

Everything you thought you knew about witches is wrong. They are much darker, and they are much more horrifying. Wytches takes the mythology of witches to a far creepier, bone-chilling place than readers have dared venture before. When the Rooks family moves to the remote town of Litchfield, NH to escape a haunting trauma, they’re hopeful about starting over. But something evil is waiting for them in the woods just beyond town. Watching from the trees. Ancient…and hungry.

This was…okay.  I liked how the novel was cleverly bookended with everything occurring tying in with an incident in the beginning.  There was also an in-story comic that cleverly connected with the book’s plot, and the artwork is decent.

I liked the relationship Sailor had with Charlie, her father, but her character is not well developed.  She had a cool, quirky look, which may have been Snyder’s way of hinting why she’d been bullied, but no personality to fill that role.

Sailor from Wytches. She has reddish and is wearing a yellow hat and yellow tinted, rectangular glasses. Her expression is troubled. Her speech bubble says, "I don't know. What if they all know about me?" where the "know" is in bold.

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