Chad’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2019)

Chad’s comments from the Edelweiss & Netgalley Reviewers group.

Leonardo 2 ★★
A weird sci-fi story about the last humans in the far future cloning Leonardo da Vinci so that he could save them from an alien race out to exterminate mankind.

Backtrack, Vol. 1 ★★★★
The Fast and the Furious and Time Travel.

The Electric Black ★★★
A horror anthology series set in a cursed antique shop that appears in different times and places.

Long Lost, Book One ★★★★
Two sisters are pulled back to the town of Hazel Patch when this creature kidnaps Piper's dog and tells her they must go to their estranged mother's birthday party to get it back. Some f'd up witchy things happen, but it looks like I'll need to read volume 2 to see exactly what's going on.

Long Lost, Book Two ★★★
The second half of Long Lost unfortunately doesn't completely deliver on the promise of the first half. More and more weird things are introduced without explaining most of it.

It Eats What Feeds It ★★★★
A short, gothic romance about a young man who goes to work for an older woman with some large skeletons in the closet at a southern mansion and enjoys some unsaid benefits.

The Jewish Brigade ★★★★
In the waning days of World War II, the Jewish Infantry Brigade was formed as part of the British army. While in their downtime, they'd hunt down Nazis in hiding and help Jews make it to Palestine.

The Witcher, Vol. 5: Fading Memories ★★
Geralt investigates a town plagued by foglets, but these foglets don't act like foglets. This volume is light on action and heavy on confusion.

Campaigns & Companions: The Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets ★★★★★
A quick and funny read of scenarios with pets playing Dungeons and Dragons. If you're a tabletop gamer and pet owner, this book is a must get.

Geoff wrote: "Chad - your EC review links to the Victory Machine review!

Doh! All fixed now. Thanks!

The Victory Machine: The Making and Unmaking of the Warriors Dynasty ★★
A rambling diatribe about how mercurial Kevin Durant is.

The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror, Vol. 1 ★★★
Some horror stories and morality plays from some of the greats of the Golden Age.

Ray wrote: "I have seen some other comments on threads about sharing NG ebooks, so I reacted to quickly here."

ebooks are much more difficult to share. Most are bound to your account so it's not even an issue.

The Little World of Humongo Bongo ★★★
A childrens book by George A. Romero. Yes, that George Romero, creator of Night of the Living Dead.

Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet: D.B. Cooper and the Missing Money ★★★★★
This kids book is perfect for the story of DB Cooper. It's a fascinating story.

The Enchanted Chest ★★★
The full page illustrations remind me of Gustave Klimt.

Operation Dragon ★★★
The kind of wacky idea that works best in comics. Imagine Jurassic Park set during World War II.

Target: Kree: A Marvel: Crisis Protocol Novel ★★★
A prose novel featuring the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers.

PamG wrote: "Can you set up the What's on Your September 2021 TBR List Thread? Thanks!"

Done.

What do you plan on reading for September 2021?

Kelly wrote: "Does anyone else use something other than Kindle to read their books? Do most people highlight and take notes?"

I have a nook glowlight. I've had it for years. My wife has a newer version of it after her original one finally died. I know mine has highlighting but I've never used it. I get most of my ebooks as arcs or from the library.

I do think if you read a lot of ebooks it's worth it to get a device that's strictly an ereader. The glare from tablet and phone screens kill my eyes after awhile. Plus they are a lot easier to read in direct sunlight and I read outside a lot.

Donna wrote: "What about our shelves, Chad? I have viewed the new page twice, then switched back both times. I noticed that they refer to "tags," but not shelves. Do you know whether we will be able to keep all of our own shelves? This is huge for me; I have a separate shelf for each pub date, all of my galleys that are pending, and a host of other useful information. Thanks in advance for anything you can shed light on. (On which you can shed light?"

I haven't seen anything to do with shelves or the My Books page changing. The only other changes I've seen recently are changes to behind the scenes librarian functions like editing books and combining books. Those changes have been for the better, to decrease overhead on the site by putting DB changes into a queue instead of refreshing a page endlessly until the DB updates complete. These changes are a relief to me, as it seems like GR is starting to pay some attention to making the site more useable for the first time since Amazon bought it years ago.

Kelly wrote: "I wasn’t aware of pending updates!."

The updates are to GR. They have been beta testing a new book page for awhile. (Warning, if you switch to it, it's a pain to switch back to the OG page. You have to go in and delete your GR cookies.) While it is cleaner looking, I hate it. All of the useful buttons are hidden and hard to find. What used to take one click, now takes multiple clicks, especially for things like correcting book information or combining editions. All of your friends' reviews are hidden as well.

Pin-Up Vol. 1: Remember Pearl Harbor ★★★
Set during World War II, Pin-Up is the story of two star-crossed lovers separated by the war.

The Shadows ★★
A refugee in a stark Alice in Wonderland meets Kafka type world sits before a bureaucrat telling his story of hardship.

Perihan The Girl without a Mouth ★★★
A strange Turkish comic about a girl born without a mouth.

Chunky ★★★★
Hudi is an overweight kid with one lung, an overactive imagination and a crackling wit. His parents want him to lose weight and sign him up for sports, switching to a new one after each colossal failure. This was really funny for kids and adults.

Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1952-1954 ★★★★
A new focus on showcasing Hellboy's early cases with the BPRD.

Grimm Tales from the Cave ★★★★
The stories are modern takes on fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm.

The Visitor ★★
Paul Levitz has written a lot of great comics over the last few decades. This is not one of them. It does tie in with the beginnings of the 4001 AD Valiant universe.

Geoff wrote: "Great advice Chad. I also have times (Thursday night and Sunday afternoon) where I try to write a batch of reviews and post them here and NG."

I try and space out the reviews I post on GR. I find I get more likes than when a bunch of reviews show up in people's feeds at once.

Kelly wrote: "I’m feeling overwhelmed! Let’s say I have way more books than reviews. Okay. I’ve been reading so many but have put off the review writing. Any advice as to how to tackle it all?
Fortunately, my s..."

I try and write a review immediately after finishing a book for this very reason. I'm a procrastinator by nature. If I give myself a chance to slack, I will.

My suggestion would be to write one review a day until you are caught up and then just stay on top of it in the future.

The Mythics, #1: Heroes Reborn ★★★
a formulaic kids' comic about some children getting powers and fighting evil.

Invisible Differences: A Story of Asperger's, Adulting, and Living a Life in Full Color ★★★★★
The story of a young French woman who finally realizes she has Asperger's and learns how to cope with it, readjusting her life to meet her needs.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Suki, Alone ★★
A shorter Avatar story about Suki's time in prison that doesn't bring anything new to the canon.

Nightmare in Savannah ★★
The Craft with fairies. Bad art. Ham-fisted writing.

Witch For Hire ★★★
Faye Faulkner is a teenage witch who hangs out at the loser table. When an internet spirit targets the students at the school, Faye gets involved.

Needle and Thread ★★
The story of a middle class boy who wants to be a costume designer and a rich girl who wants to be an actress. Neither of their parents will listen and leave their career choices up to them. So they band together to do cosplay.

The Down River People ★★
Starts off as a slice of life story that veers into supernatural cult territory halfway through. It feels like someone took two different books, cut them in half and then glued them together into one story.

Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Vol. 2 ★★★★★
This is actually a very good starting point for Usagi Yojimbo that showcases the different kinds of stories Sakai is known for.

Raptor: A Sokol Graphic Novel ★★★
As with most of Dave McKean's comics, it's all about the art. The story itself never really comes together.

Bandette Volume 4: The Six Finger Secret ★★★★
Bandette is a delight. She is an irreverent French thief seemingly more obsessed with sweets and drawing pictures of animals than thieving. Yet, she's a renown thief who things always seem to work out for.

Cyberpunk 2077: Your Voice ★★
There was probably a pretty cool story here. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow it due to the art and coloring.