DNF @ page 58 (two issues). I can see the intent here and while I think it could be fun, it’s about as subtle as a brick to the face and thus not fun at all for me.  The art and color work is absolutely vibrant and lovely, though. 

DNF @ 48%. Richard Armitage, we're about to break up buddy. I love you so much, but your audiobooks are not doing it for me.

While I'm intrigued enough to want to know how all 3 stories link up and find out what's going on, I don't care enough to sit through a whole lot more boring story to get there. I don't know how it manages to be boring, but it is. 

DNF @ page 135…this is wildly absurd, and not in a good way. I also hate the art style. 

DNF @ page 110. This is billed as Riverdale meets Stranger Things, but honestly the only similarities I saw was the fact that these kids are in high school.

I hated every single character in this. The way they talked and acted made no damn sense, and the flow of the story made little sense either. Characters pop up out of nowhere for a scene then disappear. The pacing is all over the place, and though I read 110 pages out of the 300 in this graphic novel, I don't really know what the point is beyond bullying sucks and, uh, maybe these guys might have a crush on each other. Also maybe one of them is becoming a werewolf. And there's a ghost? Who the hell knows.

The art is okay, though the character design is one I personally don't like (everybody has big jaws. big big jaws). I don't think the art itself had any real flow, each panel feels like it exists in a world of its own, even though multiple panels take place in one scene.

Glad I tried this out, but meh. 

This had promise, but it honestly felt like a muddled, confusing mess of world building and story telling. The narrative focuses on one character, but bounces back and forth between two timelines rapidly, with no real reason why the timeline switches are made when they are. I'd hoped the confusion would lift as I read more, but at almost half way through the novella, I just couldn't be bothered to figure things out anymore.

DNF @ 17%. As much as I would love to try to get into this more, at this point I'm mostly bored and put off by the writing. It's underwritten and overwritten at the same time, giving me tons of world building but not in a way that seems to flow easily. The world building happens in fits and starts, dumping here and there and leaving me off kilter. 

I started The Stone Sky recently and that just hammered home how the world building in this book just isn't working for me. 

DNF @ 32%, this is soooo not for me. It's way more literary and flowery prose than I personally care for, and despite what the plot summary tells you, it focuses way more on Leah and Miri's entire relationship and history of their love. It's like what's happening to Leah is in the background of this story so far, and I was bored. And annoyed by the writing. 

 DNF @ 50%. Though I wasn't sure right from the start if I even liked the main character, I'm sure now that I don't. A lot of it has to do with her characterization, but specifically, and this a VERY PERSONAL ISSUE TO ME, she starts smoking cigarettes after years of quitting and loves it. The narrative talks about how much she loves smoking and everything she does is accompanied by smoking. 

Also, this book may be billed as some sort of horror, but I found myself kind of meh about all the supposed horrific imagery. I think that probably comes from the fact that I was so disinterested in the main character from the start. 

 The concept for this book is interesting: it takes place in a future where humans are genetically engineered and life is lived half on the internet, and there are "menials", humans who are basically servant slaves. The world building right out the gate was incredibly strong here, and very intriguing. However, it's presented in a way that is so, so dull. By page 58 we've met 6 characters, 3 of whom have had POV chapters, and I just...don't care. I'm interested in the world itself, but the characters and everything else filling in the world didn't do a single thing for me. 

 The biggest strength of this book was also the biggest issue for me: Nghi Vo seems to embody Fitzgerald's writing in a way that makes it truly feel worthy of The Great Gatsby. She writes beautifully, and it doesn't feel like a poor attempt at a retelling. It feels natural and effortless.

Unfortunately, it just reminded me of how much I really, really, really, really, really fucking HATE The Great Gatsby. I was hoping that my love for Nghi Vo's writing could outweigh my hate for Gatsby, but alas. Hate wins this time.