I finally got to reading volume 1 of Fairy Tail and the manga is complete, so I don't have to wait for any chapters. I had watched up to episode 70 or so of the anime and had wanted to start reading the manga for a while now before I kept watchig more of the anime. I had forgotten how good Hiro Mashima is at incorporating humor into his stories. He does a very good job of making even the most dangerous situations humorous and smoothly transitioning back into a serious tone. Natsu is a great protagonist with a goal from the beginning of the story, which I really like. He's already an established wizard by the beginning of the story. The lead female character, Lucy, is actually the one looking to join a guild. A lot of the characters in the story have specific character traits that are entertaining and memorable. It's something that I'm sure will help me keep track of everyone. Looking forward to the next volume, but this is definitely a good start.

I really do want to know if Dan Abnett just gets off on making Roy Harper miserable? Does he just secretly not like Arsenal and manifests that dislike through his lackluster and lazy storytelling by using him as a scapegoat for disaster? I was concerned for Roy the moment he was working on his own on a drugs bust, mostly due to his drug addiction. Add Cheshire into the mix and suddenly you have a giant cup of possible betrayal headed your way. I really didn't think it would be this bad, though. Spoiler alert: Roy ends up sleeping with Cheshire in his apartment after working with her and wakes up the next day to find her gone. He immediately realizes that he started using drugs again that night despite not remembering the events super clearly. What an amazing way to throw all of Roy's character development down a crap shoot. I'm so upset. I think this is probably the last straw for me. I refuse to continuously have this amount of inconsistency delivered my way. I was really satisfied with the last few issues and it just took this one issue to ruin it all for me. I'm really disappointed and angry. I think I'll probably read up to issue #22 of Titans since it's what I own up until now, but after that I'm pretty sure I'm done with this run.

That was actually a very conclusive ending to this arc. Monsieur Mallah really does care about Brain as a friend and realizes how off the rails he is by the end of the issue. I could see Brain going crazy the minute his intelligence started rising at a really alarming rate.There was no way that was going to end well. I think what I most appreciated is that despite being villains, Mallah and Brain were still shown as individuals capable of building relationships as much as the heroes are. I'm really happy Nightwing and Wally were able to assist Roy too. I was waiting for the moment they'd show up again. Roy is super petty, though. It felt like it took him like four pages to finally accept Nightwing's apology. Hell, he gave him a harder time than Wally. It was funny to me that despite all their differences they can still crack jokes at each other, though. Roy teases Dick about how he'll accept the apology but pointed out that he still kicked his ass. I found that profoundly genuine and entertaining. By the end of all this I think the Titans have definitely proved their worth to the Justice League by saving them as well as reconciling despite all the recent hardship they've faced. I think I am done with this run, though. I may jump back on when they change writers, but I can't keep up with how inconsistent the writing has been. I love Abnett on Aquaman, though, which is ironic. I don't know if it's the editor in charge of Titans or what but the difference in quality for writing in this series and Aquaman is huge. So for now, this is goodbye Titans.

Well, that was a fun ride. This volume gives us more exposition to the world Fairy Tail is set in. We are introduced to illegal dark guilds infamous for their illicit activities outside of the approval of the council. Natsu and Lucy also go on a mission together to find and destroy a book that is inside a mansion. It's a very interesting arc that ended really heartwarmingly. Mashima does a good job of making side characters have dimension and have emotionally moving stories. We also get to meet Erza, a guild mate that Gray and Natsu are hilariously afraid of. Lucy, Gray, and Natsu accompany her to investigate her suspicions of a dark guild that plans on putting some very dark magic to use. I'm looking forward to how the manga develops the story in comparison to the anime, I'm already feeling like there are some slight differences. I'm enjoying every bit of it, though.

This story was amazing and I didn't want to put it down the whole time I was reading it. The author really does convey the stress she was put through in various situations in order to survive. If you've never read up on North Korea and the strict stratification within the society, she does an amazing job of breaking it down so anyone can understand the type of atmosphere that exists there. Lee comes off as very human and really does help you put yourself in her shoes and have a cultural understanding of the corrupt bribing system that is prominent in countries like North Korea as well as Laos, which she personally experienced. Even when talking about her experiences in China and South Korea, she helps the reader understand the discrimination North Korean defectors often experience due to their lack of education and exposure to the rest of the world. Fitting into society and progressing is an arduous journey in and of itself even after surviving the trek to freedom from one of the harshest dictatorships in the world. Hyeonseo Lee also recognizes the privilege she had within North Korean society and describes her slow but eventual realization that her family was very well off in comparison to most of the country. Her family and her had access to many things others could only dream of, including illegal foreign goods like clothes, foreign music, and food when no one else had anything to spare. Despite this, she still saw many horrible things during the Great Famine and the idea that it was so normal during that to see people dying in the street in such horrific ways was astounding. The title of the book is also no exaggeration. In order to protect herself and her family when she was staying in China, she had to change her name multiple times. By the time she settled on her final name, Hyeonseo Lee, she had already had six previous names. Lee's experiences are complex, difficult, and compelling from beginning to end. I recommend this book to all as well as her TED talk about her experiences. Here is the link for those of you that are interested: https://www.ted.com/talks/hyeonseo_lee_my_escape_from_north_korea

This is the first book I've read by Melissa de la Cruz and it isn't bad, but it's also not amazing. It's a very quick, easy, and fluffy read. It almost feels like you are reading a modern sped up version of Pride and Prejudice. I would have liked to see more interactions between Darcy and Luke. Most of their relationship development happens before the beginning of this book, so I would appreciated having flashbacks of what their relationship was like back in high school rather than just being told from conversations between them in the present. Bingley and Darcy's friendship in this adaptation is really nice, though. As a reader, you can tell that Bingley knows Darcy very well and that they can freely give each other advice and have fun together easily because of how close they are. I did enjoy this and finished it pretty quickly because it really is easy to read. I bought it, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it in my book collection because it's entertaining enough, but I don't think I live it quite enough to keep it. Solid three stars for me.

This storyline mostly focused on superpets getting together to find some random alien that had kidnapped a bunch of regular pets in Gotham. I appreciated the use of imagery rather than dialogue to tell a lot of the story. For the most part it was just fluff, though. A trivial issue at most but still entertaining, at least at the very end.

I was very excited when I initially bought this book, I even pre-ordered it. Unfortunately I was highly disappointed. The characters that we had come to know and love from the original series felt completely out of character. They ended up in positions in their adult lives that didn't make much sense. Ron and Hermione ended up somehow raising a child that had prejudices that they had fought against when they were younger and I still can't wrap my head around that. I am convinced that J.K. Rowling approved glorified bad fan fiction and decided to make it canon. Maybe I'd tolerate this better if I saw it on stage, but even then, the plot and premise is disappointing at best and abhorrent at worst. Do not recommend at all. Just stick to the original series.

I am very happy to see that Shura is saved and has broken the contract she was bound to. I am still not sure where I stand with Shima, though. He's a double agent and I really like him as a character, so I hope he's one of the good guys. At the same time, I don't completely trust him. I am also happy to see how much affection Shura has for the boys. She is willing to even threaten Mephisto when it comes to ensuring their safety. What most concerns me at the moment is that Julio seems to have some powers surfacing and isn't taking good care of himself at all lately. I'm hoping we aren't heading toward a hero turned villain storyline with him. I don't mind storylines like that when they are well written, but Yukio is in for a lot of suffering together with Rin if that happens. Lewin is finally finding information about what caused so many people to change positions or leave after the Blue Night. Bon is out helping him, but everything is super sketch around what happened that night. It seems that some people involved used to be a part of the Illuminati or something called Section 13. The guy that told Lewin this was bound by a deal that killed him, so other people that know more about Section 13 probably are too. Lewin and Non have a lot of work ahead of them. Now for the saddest part for me of this volume: Shiemi's rejection of Rin's desire for a romantic relationship. I feel like it made sense story wise for her to reject him at the moment. Shiemi and Run both have a lot more space to grow as characters and I would like them to develop individually before they become a couple. Yes, I still have hope they will become a couple in the future. Run deserved nice things, the boy has had a hard life. I think Shiemi does love Rin, but like she explained this volume, she doesn't feel ready for romance yet, and I think it's cool that she was honest and open about that. There is still hope for the future!