Gord’s Comments (group member since Sep 03, 2018)

Gord’s comments from the Readers Unbound group.

If you were to look at my bookshelves at home you would be confused. I had a moment of weakness a few years back and took in several boxes of books that were heading for the trash. Many of them are not to my taste but I couldn't see them end up in the trash. If you were to look at my digital shelves they are mostly freebies and light novels. Now if you were to look at my library history that would give you a better picture. Not sure what it would say but it would probably be the most accurate.

That's impressive!

Time for that weekly update and be forewarned. If you don't like comics or manga then turn away now because that is mostly what I read this week.

-3 Stars
This was a challenge book, curse you dreaded Z, and it looked like a book that was going to be an easy read for me. On one hand this book does do some interesting things that I enjoyed but on the other hand this book was beyond frustrating. It was dancing right on that line and nearly got kicked down to two stars. If this book went on for much longer it would have.

Lets start with the good. I loved the idea of possession by Emperor's that gives them mystical powers. I love the idea of shifting legends that give and take powers from these Emperor's including modern things like video games, movies, and comics. There were several fight scenes in this book that were pretty cool that tapped into this unique powers.

Now for the not so good and all I'll promise is that I'll try not to rant to much here. That's the best you're getting out of me at this point. The earliest thing that started to turn me off of this book was the MC himself. It just felt like it was a constant stream of "I miss my mommy", "I miss my daddy", "I don't know what is going on", and "I want to go home". Listen, I get that the MC is in over his head in a lot of ways but just this constant whining about everything gets draining. I also felt like the MC was less a person and more a check box and mouth piece for the author. The MC is Muslim Chinese who also happens to be gay. Nothing wrong about that but it felt like he was those things more for diversity reasons then because he was an actual person. The story would get to those quiet movements between things and the author would have to remind you that the character was gay or that he was Muslim. It just didn't feel like it was there for natural reasons. Speaking of natural reasons there were times where the MC would say things about the Chinese government that just felt less like a 12 year old speaking an more like an adult speaking through a 12 year old. Again I have no issue with what is being said but it just didn't feel natural. It didn't feel like it was the character speaking to me.

This ties into the second thing that started to turn me against this book and that was just the flow of things. After a while it got into this flow that was just draining. Something cool would happen and then the story would stop for the MC to whine a bit. About how he misses his mommy or something, then there would be a history lesson, then you would get teased about something cool to then get another history lesson. There were so many times in this book where it just felt like the story was put on hold for book to tell you stuff. Even the fights that happened started to feel like they only happened so that the author could give you a history lesson on something. That is backed up by the fact that the big bad doesn't show up until the 85% mark. We are told who he is early on but he just has no presence in the book until basically the end. Of course he shows up after a big twist that has our MC not trusting his friends anymore. The big bad appears, the MC trusts him completely for some reason, and then the conclusion happens. Speaking of the conclusion, what a let down. Instead of being this epic show case of all the cool things that we have seen that have been teased at for the entire book its basically two characters working our their daddy issues in this big conversation. Then some kind of cool things happen but by that point I was done and just waiting for the book to end. It ends with that movie trope where it hints and teases at a sequel. If it happens, fine, but I won't be there for it. I'm not upset that I read this book but I am glad that it's done.

Now for the comics and manga

-3 Stars
A kind of generic space story where all the parents are killed off and the ships AI is forced to take care of all the children on the ship. Not a bad concept but I just felt like I wanted more.

-3 Stars
This is the sequel to Garlic and the Vampire and the weirdness continues. Like the first book if you take it at surface value it's a cute story with some important life lessons. If your like me though you disappear down this rabbit hole of trying to figure out this world and just the weird, and kind of messed up, implications that the story hints at. So in this story Garlic is facing a big change in her life. She is turning human. Apparently, this is normal in this world and everyone does this. So is this how this world reproduces? You plant some seeds in your garden, get some sentient veggie helpers for a while, then they turn into humans and you kick them out into the world. Do other humans reproduce how we do? If so are there genetic differences between these two kind of humans? What happens if you mate a normal human and a veggie human? There are just so many questions.

-3 Stars
This is an odd one. This was a translation of a Spanish comic that was loosely based upon real events. From what I remember looking up earlier this week an exploration crew found a sunken galleon and claimed it, and the treasure on board, through international law. Spain then contested this and it ended up going through the courts. In real life it took something like five years and then there were all the additional cases that were tied to the main one. The comic did an alright job of taking these events and making essentially a thriller of things. The head of the American exploration company was much more of a villain who somehow had connections to all level of government both domestic and foreign. The court case seemed to only last a year with what seems like a cartoonish deadline at the end for extra tension. There was a bit of romance sprinkled in as well for some spice. It wasn't bad overall.

-3 Stars
This was read to help with a challenge and I think I will continue on reading. I went into this with expectation of this being a historical Samurai drama and I got that and more. It was indeed a historical drama but the art made it into something else. The art would bounce between what one would expect for a historical manga and art from either a horror manga or a gag manga. I'll be honest some of these faces made me think of Junji Ito. The heavy line work, the eerie distortion of the human faces, etc. I also like that this wasn't just a book full of duels and politics. Our MC specializes in running away and it's about this young kid learning how to utilize this ability to regain his home land from the bad guys. It's an interesting start and I want to see where things go.

-4 Stars
This was a random snag from the library and a pleasant surprise. The way this comic started had me concerned that it was supposed to be some sort of allegory for the mental stress of a young kid having to move to a new school or something. Instead we get something alien with hints of a greater mystery going on that has me intrigued. Of course I want more and this is currently the only book that is out.

-3 Stars
A random snag from the library and an interesting take on the superhero genre. In this world superheroes don't exist but things like vampires and what not do. One of these vampires that is laying low doing all the human things to not get noticed happens to like superhero movies. One day he notices some people getting mugged and in a spur of the moment action dons a masks and saves them. This inspires him to make a superhero costume and take to the streets. It allows him to use his vampire powers out in the open. This of course gains the attention of others in the supernatural community and the less savory elements want to join in. That gives birth to the super villain. It's an interesting premise and some nice twists at the end that makes me want more but like the above comic this is the only material currently out.

-4 Stars
This was a cool book that caught my eye early last year and I've been waiting for the library to get a copy. This is a throw back to books I remember from a kid that had anatomy of various animals. The pages would give you a glimpse inside the animal and would be sprinkled with facts about the animal. It's like that but for heroes and villains of the Marvel universe. It's framed as case files done by the Black Panther who is preparing for a Skrull invasion. Talking about the powers of the individual, how that works in a scientific sense, what role they could play in the invasion, and whether they could be trusted. This book was massive (dimensionally) with a ton of full color images and I think most Marvel fans would enjoy it. In my opinion it's more of a coffee table kind of book that you pick up and read a couple pages or flip through looking at the images instead of a read from cover to cover kind of book. I read it cover to cover and the science babble got a bit much by the end. On a side note, this book is stupid expensive. I keep track of how much money I save by using the library and this book is $115 Canadian. Not even manga omnibus editions are that expensive. That price is getting into out of print rare book territory.

Now, what am I read next. Well my self control at the library has not been good and I currently have 25 books out.

I have four audiobooks currently on the go and I think I'm going to tackle the hardest one first. That will be and then I'll go from there. If I need some fluff I have or if I want another challenge book I have or . All of them needs to be finished this month.

For regular books I'm still trying to get caught up on all my manga and comics from the library. I have two big stacks on my table that need to be read.

I just need a few seconds to unload/unpack some things about Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor. I'm about half way into the book currently and I think the best way to describe how I'm feeling is frustrated. I like the idea behind the book and certain elements of the book but there is just a lot of things getting in my way of those things. Mainly I am not a fan of the main character. I understand that he is in way over his head on so many levels but he just feels, I want to say whiny but that's not quite right. He is just annoyingly frustrating at times. Then there is my second issue. The book just feels like it will stop for the main character to go on and on about their life problems, about his family, about how cruel China is, etc, etc, etc for pages and pages and pages at a time. When it's not doing that it's giving us a pages long history of yet another cultural or historically important Chinese figure. Even the fights lately have felt like they are only there to introduce such and such person.

Tied in with this is what I feel are the intrusive opinions of the author. Maybe this is a very mature 12 year old kid but there a lot of times where it feels more like the author speaking to us then the character themselves. A lot of that is in criticism of China and I don't disagree with those opinion but it just feels weird in a middle grade book.

Maybe my expectations are not in line with what the book is or I'm just a dummy who is only interested in big flashy martial art fights.

Uhm, I'm middle of the road really. It took some getting used to in the beginning but I've settled into the groove now. The big thing I'm liking is having someone pronounce the Chinese parts for me.

Another slower week of reading for me. Work is still crazy busy and my hobbies are really keeping me busy right now. Missing most of a Saturday kind of threw off my schedule to say the least.

-3 Stars
I begrudgingly gave this book a three stars only because I didn't hate it enough to give it a two stars. The book did give it the old college try though. The book started out innocently enough and I was on board. She was an innocent women who loves food and cooking. He was a weird geeky kind of guy who had social anxiety. There was a spark and they became friends. Even the idea for the story line wasn't a bad one. What really started to kill it for me was the characters and their massive inconsistencies. I went from liking the female lead to actively being annoyed. Her character would swing from this borderline mousey and meek woman scared of her own shadow to a sultry seductress. I didn't like the clearly stupid decisions she made through out the book. Then we get to the male lead. Oh boy do I have a lot to say here. I realize that romance novels are escapists fantasies. The bad boy, the billionaire, etc. The guy that most people would not meet or not want to meet in real life. This male lead felt like the author was trying to cram as many archetypes into one character as possible. He was naive, geeky, a gentleman, stupid rich, ripped, a god in bed, etc, etc, etc. This caused so many wild swings in his character it was jarring. It opens up with him having social anxiety and hating to go out shopping/to eat/etc. One shopping trip later and that he is all cured. Social anxiety is all gone and all thanks to our brave female lead. Our main man hates parties and doesn't know how to interact with people. Cut to a few scenes later at a nightclub where he is able to smooth talk his way past the bouncers, smooth talk management, spend the night dancing with multiple women, and having a great time. Where the hell did the social anxiety go? The guy scared to interact with others? Then we get to the sex. Oh boy this scene. So our main male lead has had sex once in his life and that was when he was taken advantage of by a call girl in Vegas. Not exactly a great history with sex. From that one traumatic experience he was able to become the god of sex able to give his partner the greatest sex ever and go multiple times in one night. This gave him the confidence to not only openly talk dirty in a later scene but to then do the nasty outside on a golf course. You starting to see this weird disconnect between what we are told and what we are presented? Another one that bugged me from an early moment. Our male lead is presented as this person who never leaves his apartment unless he absolutely has to. The one exception is going to the golf course because he loves golfing. We are also told that he is lean and shredded. Lean, maybe, but I just don't see someone getting shredded from playing golf. It might be some exercise if you are walking and not taking a cart. That being said I don't see many golf players ripping their shirts off revealing heavily greased muscles because they play 18 holes a day. One final character moment I want to touch on. The female lead irked me pretty early on when she referred to the male lead as a "project" to her sister. I loathe this kind of statement. If you are viewing someone as a fixer upper that might not be the greatest start to the relationship. You might not actually like the person if you got to change who they are before you are happy with them.

Outside of the character issues the book just felt generic. A romance novel needs this trope here, so here you go. Oh a misunderstanding needs to happen here, well here you go. It just felt like it was going through the motions and trying to cram as much generic and expected stuff into one book as possible. For a challenge book this was an easy enough read but not something I would highly recommend to others.

-4 Stars
Once again I return to the emotional damage series with it's cast of broken and messed up characters. I'm so glad I picked this series up because of a buddy read as this has been a great experience. A little traumatizing at times but a great read. This book revolves around a case of a young girl who was discovered buried near town. It's quickly determined that she was buried alive and so the case begins. This book is also about our broken and flawed main characters. To the point where it feels more like the book is more about them then the mystery at times. Not that I'm complaining about that. The story between Jeff and Sarah is getting a little frustrating though as it feels like it's just a lot of back and forth with nothing really going forward. There was a plot line introduced in this book early on that felt like it was simply introduced to create more drama and tension between these characters. Especially considering how quickly it got dropped once the book needed to focus on the case itself. Then there is Lena. The human train wreck. The dumpster fire behind the shady store in the seedy part of town. Book after book in this series has this character making the worst decisions possible. Taking any situation and finding the absolute worst outcome for herself and flinging herself into it with no hesitation. This is normally not a character that I would care about but for some weird reason I find myself rooting for her. I know she won't make the right decision but I keep hoping that she will. I keep this little flame going that she will pick herself up, dust herself off, and get her life sorted out. She never does but I keep rooting for her and I'm not really sure why.

-4 Stars
I feel like the author had a blast writing this volume. This felt kind of like a bridge between two story arcs and it was a lot of what one would expect from this series while also having some peak comedy. Rin and Nadeshiko have returned from their Ooi outing and are catching up with their friends while the ground work is being laid for their next trip. Nadeshiko learns what the other members of the outdoor club were up to while she was in Ooi. This is told through a series of flashbacks where the author just cuts loose. You have Nadeshiko watching the events from a little box in the corner of the panel. She tries to crawl out of the box to interact with the characters and the characters try crawling into the box with her when something bad happens. Random characters just pop in and out for gags. It was just a humorous and relaxed read.

-3 Stars
This was a random snag from the library and I feel super dumb that I never made the connection to Peter Pan from that title. It starts out in our world with a group of homeless children who are living in a junkyard. They bring in a new kid who has a secret. He is the last of the Lost Boys and is there looking for help. They are taken back to Neverland and they are at war with evil adult pirates, not Hook though. Overall I thought it was alright and had some interesting ideas but I kind of wished it was a bit more fleshed out. It was really flirting with more mature and adult themes. For instance Tinkerbell was this warrior fairy wearing face paint and body armor who swore constantly. None of her swearing was ever printed though and was censored with the comic default of skulls, mushroom clouds, #, !, and so on. It might have been interesting to see it take a route like I Hate Fairyland and really into the crude and mature.

Now for what is next.

On audiobook I'm listening to to help with some challenge stuff.

As for what else, I have stacks of manga and comics beside my computer that I need to finish and get back to the library soon. I think this week will be focused on trying to knock down that pile a little.

Small update so I can start the new week fresh.

-3 Stars
Like I said yesterday if you like the rest of the series then you will also like this book. For myself I had basically the same issues I had with the rest of the series. I don't think this series can properly end a story line. There were a few times where it felt like the story could end nicely and then I would realize that there is still X amount left in the book. We then get to the end and there are story lines left unfinished, cliff hanger revelations for future books, and I'm left thinking "what the hell was that?" The humor was rather hit or miss for me. Sure there were moments I would chuckle at something but a lot of it just wasn't for me. The big "twist" wasn't much of a twist in my opinion as I guessed it pretty much from the get go. So to have to go through the entire book with everyone stumbling around the super obvious answer was a bit annoying. It's not a bad book but I wasn't very impressed either.

-4 Stars
I need some comfy vibes after the last couple of days of work and this was perfect for me. I also needed to get it back to the library as well. This was the perfect manga to relax with as it's about cute kitties. Not a lot to say and it did its job.

-4 Stars
Much like Cat Massage Therapy these were some perfect manga to just unwind with. I enjoy reading Komi and it was fun to read. Now I want to talk about the ending of volume 16. Spoilers ahead
(view spoiler)[
I'm fully on board with the Tadano/Komi relationship but the ending of 16, plus the cover of 17, has me concerned for my favorite character. I can't explain it but I like Manbagi and the last panel with her crying because she knows what is going on just hurts. I don't want to see this innocent cinnamon roll hurt and the cover to 17 shows that there is a lot of pain to come. Don't get me wrong I know that things will work out. Her and Komi will still be friends and what not but still. (hide spoiler)]

As for for my next audiobook I decided to clean up some challenges. I'm going to listen to . Hopefully it's a decent book.

Like I predicted I didn't get a lot of reading done in the last week. Work has been hectic and things aren't looking much better for some time.

-3 Stars
This was some fluffy comfortable reading with more comfy vibes from this world. If you ignore that one little section where it turned into a body horror at random. Yeah, that was a random moment of oddly horrifying and yet it wasn't gory at all. There are more hints at bigger things and future reveals to come. Just a fun little read.

-4 Stars
I've been meaning to reread the Dresden series for a long time now but I just never got around to it. I've also heard that James Marsters narration of the series was pretty solid. Combine that with this helping for a challenge I needed to get done this month and I essentially had a perfect reason to start this. I originally read this probably a decade or more ago when I was just getting back into the reading scene. It's not a five star like I originally ranked it but it's still a pretty solid entry as a book. Knowing how the series progresses, other reading experiences, etc just kind of highlight how basic this story is. It still works and it's a great introduction to the world of Dresden but at the same time it's kind of basic. There is also the talk of misogyny in the book and yeah, I can kind of see it. I'm not one to decide what is right or wrong for someone but for me it doesn't feel malicious and feels more like a vibe. Kind of that old school noir mystery kind of vibe that I felt throughout the novel. I'm eager to continue reading this series and maybe get to some of those new books that came out.

-4 Stars
Maybe it was just the mood I was in but these books just clicked with this time and I had a great time reading through them. Seeing Gon training to overcome a massive obstacle, the relationship between characters, etc. It was just all working for me.

-5 Stars
More glorious Berserk. It's a heavy read for sure but I just love the story and the world.

As for what is next.

On audio I am listening to . I might finish this off tomorrow just to be done with it. It's not a horrible book but I'm not exactly loving it either. If you enjoyed the other three books in the series you will likely enjoy this one as well as it's more of the same. After that I'm really not sure at this point. I need to go and find something.

For physical books I'm currently reading through the next couple of volumes of Komi just to relax a bit. I then need to get to so I can get it back to the library this week. I also have and a large stack of comics/manga to get through.

Earl grey with citrus sounds like a Lady grey tea which is super tasty. I'm not sure about the green tea addition but it definitely sounds like it would have potential as an iced tea.

That sounds tasty

Time for that weekly update and I don't know about anyone else but this week has felt really long. Monday felt like an eon ago.

-3 Stars
Alright, I might, just might, be warming up, slightly, to contemporary romance novels, maybe. This was a simple romance about opposites attracting. She is a socialite from LA who has been sent to a small fishing town after making a fool of herself and getting her father into trouble. He is a salty sea captain who owns his own fishing boat and never deviates from his routine. I'll be honest, overall this wasn't bad. One thing I did not like about this book was the sex scene. Not because I'm a prude who doesn't like sex in his books or anything. It just felt boring and cookie cutter. The guys is hung, the sex was the greatest she ever had ever, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. Honestly I felt like I've read this exact same sex scene a million times. It's just the same thing from book to book to book to book. I just want someone to change things up a bit. I don't know, have someone let go a giant fart the first time they have sex. Just something different that doesn't make the sex this thing of ultimate perfection that just works perfectly for these perfect people the first time they drop their pants. Anyway, rant over, I'll go back to my cave.

-5 Stars
Or not, I guess I still have books to talk about. Part of my goals this year was start listening to longer audiobooks. Originally I set my limit at 15 hours because I was limiting my listening time to my walks. Since I was only walking to work 15 hours was the max length I felt comfortable committing to with a three week borrow time from the library. First up on the longer list was a reread of this fabulous series. I've gushed about this book and this series plenty already. The audiobook was a good listening experience. Not the greatest thing ever and far from the worst. What is a good way to describe this? It's like that little extra seasoning on top of an already great dish.

-3 Stars
There isn't a lot to say about this manga. This is not a manga for the story or the characters. This is a manga that is a love letter to ramen in all of it's various forms. If you love ramen then this is a book that will make you very hungry.

-4 Stars
I finally got my next volume of One Punch Man so I can continue my journey with this series. I'm liking the change of direction that this story is starting to take. For a while now it felt like it was about introducing bigger and badder villains to set up just how strong Saitama is. Now we are getting hints at other things going on in the world and I am very curious.

-4 Stars
This is a weird one guys. Normally I don't think l would like Princess Jellyfish. It's just not a story that I would normally be interested in but there is just something here that's just clicking with me. There are various story elements going on, the story has its funny moments and yet still feels mature as well. There are just a lot of moving pieces and I'm enjoying the experience.

-4 Stars
This is the setup for the arc known as Battle City and the series is finally getting into one of my biggest questions. The Egyptian magic aspect of the series. Up to this point there have been hints and teases to this stuff but nothing concrete. This arc really starts to dive into the Egyptian side of things and I am interested. I'm curious to see where this arc will go with all this stuff.

As for what is next...

On audio I'm listening to . I've been thinking about rereading Dresden for some time now and listening to them on audio seems like a good fit. I'm a little over 30% into the book and Marsters is a good voice for Dresden in my opinion.

On the physical books side of things I am chasing the library due date again. I need to get and done this week so I can return them next weekend. I don't know how much reading I am going to get done this week as things are busy at work and I'm working a 6 day week due to inventory counts.

So I figured I'd weigh in on some of these discussions as I drink a smattering of tea.

Best tea is mint tea. Yes I know it's a simple answer but it's my favorite tea. After that I love black teas. Your breakfast teas, your Earl Gray's, your Lady Gray's, etc. My other favorite tea is peach tea. It's just a relaxing tea and I wish it was easier to find. Green tea is also good.

I do visit Starbucks from time to time. I'm actually planning on going later today after my library run. I like the London Fog there and there really isn't a great cafe option in my neighborhood. Honestly the food scene in my area of town is pretty dismal. I have Indian, Indian, Indian, fast food, Indian, Indian, pizza (usual Indian pizza), and more Indian. I can look at a map and find 3-5 Indian restaurants in the same small shopping complex. I can't wait until the city gets the LRT up and running properly. Once a month I plan on heading downtown to visit a cafe to have some tasty treats and then walk home from there. It's a 12km walk so it's a trip for sure.

What else, HteaO sounds tasty and I wish we had one here. Southern tea worries me though. The idea of 30 lbs of sugar in a half inch of water just doesn't sound tasty to me. I like sweets but that is a bit much.

I committed to my standard "100" books in a year.

That sounds cute! I'm tempted to see if I can find fan translations instead of waiting the 80 billion years for the library to get it.

I've read this one before, it's been a long while, and I thought it was alright. I never did carry on with the series though.

My goal this year is nothing that elaborate. I just want to walk 2,000 km/1,243 miles by the end of the year. I'm probably going to be going through a couple of pairs of shoes to make that happen. The other thing I want to do is tied into the first. I've been listening to more audiobooks because of the walking but I've limited myself to books under 15 hours. This year I want to start getting into the 20+ hour audiobooks.

It's back. We have set a reading goal of 3,500 books for this group for this year. It's super easy to join in and participate.

1. Create a shelf and name it what ever you want
2. Find the challenge at the top of the group page
3. Enter an amount of books you want to read and the name of the shelf you are tracking these books on.
4. Read!

Time for my first update of the year.

-2 Stars
This was my first book of the year and I just did not enjoy this one at all. It started out interesting enough by getting into the evolutionary reason for humans having butts. Then it skipped ahead from ancient man to late 1700's, early 1800's with the inevitable discussion of Sarah Baartman. It's things like this from history, amongst so many other things, that kind of makes me hate humankind in general. The stuff that was done to her was horrid but for me it's what happened after that really makes me hate people. She passed in 1815 and parts of her body remained on display in the Museum of Man in Paris until 1974. They didn't return her body to South Africa until 2002. Any way, angry Gord rant aside, lets get back to the book. The book then explored fashions, eugenics (another aspect of history I hate), and the changing idea of beauty. It even touched on 80's aerobic videos like "Buns of Steel". Then it got into modern day stuff like Beyonce, the Kardashians, Miley Cyrus, etc. I really struggled with some with this modern stuff because I just don't care about the escapades of the Kardashians or what not.

There is a lot of author bias in this book in my opinion that made it feel less like a study of the history of butts and more like an opinion piece on a few hundred years of history. Staying neutral here, there were also several opinions put forth in the latter half of this book that didn't sit right with me. Dismissing a persons opinion simply due to their gender for instance. By the end of the book I was simply pushing forward to complete the book so I could us it towards certain challenges.

-4 Stars
This has been that proverbial elephant in the room now for many years. I've had this recommended to me by Goodreads more times than I can count. I've had it recommended to me by other members on this site. I've seen it pop up sci-fi/fantasy stuff on YouTube. It's not like I was avoiding it for any particular reason I just never got around to reading it. The year started with one of my groups doing a buddy read of the series and it gave me an excuse to finally jump in. This book was good, no, great. It's one of those books that I regret not reading sooner. A lot of the appeal of this book is around the main character, Murderbot, who is extremely relatable even though he is a robot. I'm sure we have all had those days where we just didn't want to deal with people and wanted nothing more than to be left alone with our hobbies. Outside of a great MC the book has a solid enough story to keep the book moving along. It's a little lean on the other characters and the world building but it's only 150 pages. It sets up an interesting MC, tells a solid enough story, and then sets up future possibilities. I'm definitely coming back for more in this series.

-3 Stars
This book was so average that I've already started to forget it. Younger sister wants to protect her older sister from evil prince/king so she sets on a quest to find a way. This book was not a bad book but it also didn't do any thing for me. For instance one of the things mentioned on the Goodreads blurb page is that there is a chicken possessed by a demon in her party. My brain latches onto a concept like that and sees infinite possibilities. Maybe the chicken can use demonic magic, breathe fire, summon evil minions. Maybe the demon is misunderstood and secretly wants to live a quiet life as a farm animal. All sorts of possibilities. What does the book do? Nothing, nothing at all. It likes to remind you that the bird is possessed but outside of the chicken acting like a chicken it does nothing at all. I'm not actually sure it was even possessed. That there little example sums up this book in general. Lots of interesting possibilities and ideas that it does nothing with.

-4 Stars
I wasn't going to read this when it came out on the 5th but brand new content that I hadn't seen before. I'm finally moving past the point I was at in the web novel when it got dropped. This book was focused around Yuna doing more adventure related stuff which is what I have been craving now for some time and it delivers. Next book looks to be a beach episode which I'm not as excited for but I'm curious where things will go after that. Here is to all new content.

-5 Stars
How do I even begin talking about this comic? This is a non-fiction comic and the author is a survivor of a school shooting. The comic is about her experience that day and the years afterwards dealing with all the emotional trauma. Needless to say this book is heavy and I did cry a few times. I don't read a lot of non-fiction in comics or manga so initially I approached this like I would any other comic. It didn't take me long to get swept up in the story and to toss aside my usual approach to comics. This comics tackles a very serious issue and made me see a POV that I just never really considered before simply because this was not an experience I've ever had to deal with. It was an emotional read and as uncomfortable as it might have been I'm glad that I read this comic.

-4 Stars
The latest manga in this series and more food related goodness.

-4
More Sakamoto days with more over the top fights. I'm really enjoying this series and I can;t wait to read more.

-3 Stars
This is another comic from Sarah Andersen who is the author of and . If you enjoy those comics then you know what to expect here and will probably enjoy it as well. This comic is about a group of cryptids (Mothman, Nessie, Big Foot, etc) and a glimpse into their lives. It was what I expected and it was a fun little read.

Now, what am I working on next.

On audio I am about halfway through and I am enjoying my reread of this book. Adventure buddies!

For my non audio book I'm currently working on for a challenge. It's not my normal type of book but it's not bad so far. After that I have a stack of things lined up from the library.

LMAO, it's been a while since I've read the series. Maybe it's time for a reread of things.

Gabba gabba gabba