It's gay, and it does slap.

I had honestly forgotten how much I truly loved the world Tara Sim had built-in Scavenge the Stars. Until I was 34 pages in and remembered how fantastically queer this world is. Do you want representation? We've got it. Demi-Sexuals, Trans Characters, Lesbians, Nonbinary peeps all pop up within this book in a way that shows this is normal for this world, and it's great.
I am sure I mentioned it in my review of Scavenge the Stars, but I'm a sucker for the idea of broaches that indicate pronoun preference.

I loved this book truly; it was full of heists and drama, AND so much character development, especially from Cayo. It was interesting watching him struggle with the addictive behavior he shows when it comes to alcohol and gambling, which I have never seen in Young Adult books.

I loved 95% percent of this book, the last 5% being the ending. I personally felt like the story had been built up for a reveal that wasn't equative to the reveal we actually got.

I would still recommend this series because, in reality, it was more about the journey than where we got. I would definitely recommend reading this duology back to back.

"A good friendship is like a work of art. When you've screwed it all up, you may wonder if trying to save it is even worth the effort. Well, take it from me: sometimes a friendship isn't just like a work of art. It is a work of art and it's worth saving. It's always worth saving."

This book is a beautiful tale of friendship and growing up, along with a wonderful take on imposter syndrome and pursuing your dreams even when your family disagrees with them.

This book is short and to the point, and while a lot of "self-help" books leave me feeling like I'm a failure. This book doesn't.
Odom's focus is often on knowing what you don't want to do and being authentic.

This is the kind of book I want to purchase for those going out into the world because there is a lot of good advice in this book and it doesn't spend a whole lot of time padding it out. Meaning that it is easy to digest and take away key points.

THEY ALL NEED THERAPY!!!!
It's also gay, But the need for trauma and mental health therapy for these young adults is paramount.

This book does contain a content warning in regards to suicide and suicidal ideation.

This book will pull you in and throw you around. Much like the tumultuous sea depicted on the cover, it will pull you in and throw you around without any moment to relax. This feels way more like a piece of literary fiction that you would dissect in a class. Rather than a YA book, you pick up for a good time.

Hartt's depiction of mental illness resonated with me; I would say it is honestly the high note of this book. Tommy's growth in this book and watching him gain insight into his mental illness is significant.

Spoiler

Harlow has room to grow as a person, as expected for someone who is still in High School. But she tries hard at what she sets her heart on.

Honestly, I hate Ellis, and there is no excuse for him to be as much of an asshole as he is to both Tommy and Harlow.
Ellis is the Salt.

This book is SO GAY, and it Slaps!!!!

I was completely engrossed in this story from beginning to end! It's the first time in a long time that I have felt fully immersed in the story's world. It quenched my need for great worldbuilding. In more than one scene, I could picture it so clearly.

I feel like the back cover description of this book does a disservice. There is so much more going on in this book because it leaves out giant portions of this plot that also make it interesting *cough* Found Family *Cough* I found myself loving El and her friends so much throughout this. They work so hard to support each other even when the world is against them.

So in considering this book, please use the lower two paragraphs of the description to determine best if you will enjoy this book.

Before you go forward with this book, you should know the content is dark and contains content that could (will) be disturbing.

Content Warning for Blood, Canabilism, Rape, Abortion, Torture, Famine, Violence, Self Harm, Vomit,

This is the kind of book I wish I could hand to my younger self, as someone who can't conceptualize a time in my life where Depression and Anxiety were not ever-present in my life, and unlike Olivia's parents, who strive to help her, my mother's response that was that everyone felt that way, so I just needed to suck it up and go on with life,

This would be a great book for a young one who is just beginning to learn about their mental illness, as this is a beautiful story about growth, support, and learning to vocalize your needs.

After three terrible books, this was amazing! The Art is Gorgeous! There are so many Bad Ass Women (like one is burned alive for the sake of her clan). Also, the world-building *chefs kiss*, while it is a bit heavy on the telling instead of showing, but the showing makes up for it ultimately.

I honestly have a billion questions from an Anthropological standing of how this is where they all ended up. (Like where in the world did ALL domestic animals go?) Also, are inter Clan marriages a thing? Because you would think they need to promote genetic diversity, the interactions are shown made it seem like that isn't the case.

But overall, this seems like an extraordinary adventure story, and I will be continuing it.

I was left disappointed in reading this. The humor just didn't hit the mark, like it would if it was something you were watching instead of reading.

Overall I was left feeling really meh about this. There are some really interesting pieces of history that you learn about. But it's not enough to make up for the lack of on point humor.

I won't be continuing this manga, but if it did get an anime I'd consider trying it.

I wanted to like this book so much, but I honestly just can't.

My first thought is this book is very Trumpian, in the sense that its humor is so thoroughly based around what is defined as "Locker Room Talk," and at its core, this book is trying to cause a stir. Reading this was like a bad flashback to when Trump was still on Twitter, and we would dread the next thing to pop up.

Given that we start with the low bar of these men talking (while through innuendos) about propositioning the girl's mother about sex, as well as having read many other works published by Europe Comics, that left me disgusted. I am honestly concerned about what was depicted in Hole 9 to make Europe Comics say, "With regard to both imagery and subject matter, the outlandish events that unfold herein simply could not be reconciled with the values and moral standards that we affirm as a literary institution." These left me so flabbergasted that I had to see if I could figure out what this content initially was, but sadly could not. Though in reading interviews with the Authors, I was only more confident that this works for the sole purpose of being provocative.

Overall lacked real humor, and while the art is gorgeous, I can't recommend it.

I will be honest I hadn't heard about the Velvet Underground before this. But reading this in it's entirety didn't make me want to learn any more either.

It overall felt incredibly slow, I have never had 90 pages drag on for so long. But there was little of interest happening in the story either.

If I could go back I'd say they should have made this one of the like 6x6 books with one panel on each page because with it's current layout it feels like there is a ton on each page with it varying with somewhere between 2 and 6 panels the lack of consistency doesn't make it any easier to get into a flow of reading it either.