graphic novels

One of the interesting side effects of Q's insatiable desire for more reading material is that my house is now full of graphic novels I don't have time to read. Actually this already started with J, who has several on her shelves I'd love to get to someday. These days, though, J has moved on to mostly obtaining her own books by requesting ebooks on her own library card, meaning that I have no idea what she's reading (which, to be clear, is great - I was going to the library by myself at a younger age than she is now, and I think privacy in book-selection is important for kids as they get older, and we were actively working towards this by getting her her own card), whereas I am still the book obtainer for Q, so I have a much better idea what he's reading.

Anyways, I finally made the time to read a couple of them before they go back to the library! Aster and the Accidental Magic, Thom Pico and Karensac, is a compendium translation of two Belgian volumes (which explains why it felt disjointed - it was two standalone stories). Cute middlegrade with some original if slightly random-feeling twists; Q really liked this one, especially the Chestnut Knights in the second story. He wanted the sequel immediately.

Witchlight, Jessi Zabarsky, is about a witch, and the girl who she meets/kidnaps who becomes her traveling companion and swordfighting teacher (and, SPOILERS, girlfriend, and how cool is it that there's this whole genre now of queer/queer-friendly fantasy comics meant for kids, like this and the Witch Boy trilogy and Mooncakes and Tea Dragon Society??). There's definitely a lot more going on here, emotional-arc-wise, than in Aster - YA vs middlegrade, I guess - and I correspondingly liked it more, being, you know, not actually a kid reader myself. But Q also liked it, so, hey.

Unravel the Dusk

Unravel the Dusk, Elizabeth Lim, 2020. Sequel to Spin the Dawn (and conclusion of the duology). You know how some sequels are really good at refreshing your memory on what happened in the previous one? This... wasn't. I don't know if that's because the assumption in YA is that your readers are still young enough to actually remember most of what they read, or what, but I definitely found myself struggling to pick up the threads of all the oaths and curses and whatnot that never actually got recapped. Unfortunately, a lot of what made the first one charming also failed to carry over... instead of all the neat inventive fantasy-sewing bits, this felt much more run-of-the-mill with battles and the aforementioned curses. The central conflict felt belabored, and the eventual resolution felt unearned. I think there is definitely an art to writing a story that pays off on-theme... like, the recent Space Battle Lunchtime is a great example of this, at heart it's cooking-themed and so the day is saved through cooking. On MLP all problems are friendship problems. Etc. I wanted Dusk to be more about creativity and less about Generic Fantasy Final Battle. I still think the first one is very enjoyable, but my recommendation would be to skim this one heavily if you absolutely must know how it all turns out.