dnf @ page 205

I think the writing style hurt this book. There is TOO much telling and not enough showing; everything will be spelled out and you cannot make any conclusions yourself. The writing felt sterile and lacked emotion for me. There also felt like a noticeable lack of character description.

To be honest, this would work better as a Middle-Grade novel. At times, Darius feels younger than he is, though the narrative deals with the harshness of poverty, drugs, rehabilitation programs for former prisoners, and stereotypes. Also, the way everyone talked about Darius’ dead parents irked me. They talked about him being an orphan like they were sprinkling cheese on a potato, with no sensitivity.

But I thought the initial premise was fun before it meandered. A boy gets a second chance in a superhero world by working in a second chance program. Gave flavors of Static Shock (cartoon) with the metahumans living amongst humans, and a main character with a good heart trying to avoid street life. But there doesn't feel like a major goal the story was working toward even by the 200-page mark. This is slice-of-lifeish with what Darius encounters in his day-to-day job, which works better in a TV medium (animated or live-action) but for a book was utterly dull.

I generally love superhero stories especially when they play with morality, but I couldn’t get into the writing style, so I had a poor reading experience. Now, I don't know if she got more fleshed out past the part I read. But the female love interest felt very underused. To be fair, Darius was too nervous to ever talk to her in more than two words for the majority of the book yet she liked him. Ultimately, this book wasn't for me, but I appreciated the bite-sized chapters. 

the golden shower scene was enough for me

 just not keeping my interest

not for me

Dnf @38% (page 129)

I’m sad to say this book wasn’t for me. I found the storytelling too sterile and BORING. The premise of a Black female fire chief with magical realism + environmental message + finding a lost sibling interested me. But the execution couldn’t keep my attention. Maybe this would work better as a screenplay? Also, the story is set in the year 2042, but you didn’t see any technological advances or changes in society at a macro level. It felt like 2024, to be honest.

Syrah, the main character, had a traumatic event take place as a child that sent her to foster care and bred her desire to firefight and love of botany. She had some issues with stifling her emotions and appearing unemotional to others. I don’t think she was a bad character necessarily, but I wasn’t compelled to see her development/follow her journey.

Also, the love interest felt shoe-horned in. A clear HR violation too. Go girl, give us nothing.

I can’t verify if Alvaro was really married or not because I don’t care enough to read on. In hindsight, syrah was probably just latching on to the one person who showed her kindness. It looks like she maybe a Tree Love Interest (Giant) too(?)

dnf @ 103 pages 

This cover is stellar! It immediately caught my eye on the library display stand. The color direction remained varied and shiny throughout too. Truly, I thought it was one of the book's strengths. 

At the basic heart of the story, Dantes has been done wrong, and he goes on a long, tortuous journey to get his lick back.

It is an afrofuturistic retelling (with some Asian side characters: the jailmate, the female love interest(s), and later companions of Dantes) with Arabic references to The Count of Monte Cristo. I've not read the classic, but it didn't impede my understanding of the story. There were some cool sci-fi sprinkles here, but I'd have liked to see more.

There may be a barrier to entry with the dialogue. I greatly disliked reading it. It’s not old-timey speech, but it’s purple prose-y with an awkward rhythm. I wish the language would have been more to the point. I found myself rereading speech bubbles over, trying to get to the doggone point.

Since I was a newcomer to this story, I had to do a quick Wikipedia run and Google search to fill in some missing pieces. It's a lofty goal for a graphic novel to be able to cover everything. 

Like, with Haydee who felt like a lamppost with lipstick instead of a character.

she just shows up magically on one page. I didn't understand why Dante owned her. Because this graphic novel doesn't touch on that he bought her freedom as a part of his revenge. Now, from what I've read, it may have been omitted for good reason because it makes things squicky with their later relationship.

Overall, I'd have liked to continue this, but the dialogue was just too tiresome for me.

dnf @ 107 pages/ 32%

This story wasn’t suited for me, and I love character-driven stories.

Over 100 pages passed, and we were still stuck in Libertie’s DRY, wide-eyed perspective as a child, working with her ‘high yellow able to pass’ doctor mother. 

Libertie realizes the robotic sterileness of her mother and her difficulty with connecting to people. She learns her mother isn’t perfect.

Her mother had a way of helping former enslaved and descendants of the enslaved escape by putting them in temporary coma-like states. That is beyond interesting and startling terrifying, but the execution was too boring.

I didn’t even meet the Haitian man Libertie would marry because we were stuck with the child version of her. Nothing in the narrative voice was endearing to me despite the spotlight on intelligent Black women.

I gave this 100 pages to get better, but I don’t have 100 more to give.

 I’m not in awe of Indigo like everyone else in this book is. She ain’t no divaaaaaa! 

But seriously, I didn’t mesh well with the long-winded purple prose. Instalove is to be expected for fairytales, but I feel like the man (and Azure) were terribly codependent on this chick who made them feel special. Because I didn’t care for the characters, I wasn’t invested in the mystery. 

I’m guessing Azure falls romantically in love with Indigo at some point, Azure tries to body snatch Indigo’s life, or Indigo accidentally loses Azure and never forgives herself. 

Overall, I don’t have an interest in continuing this, but the story excelled with setting a luxurious, gothic tone. It really leans into the magical opulence of the supernatural. 

unfortunately, this story couldn't keep my interest. it was too dry for me. the sultan felt like a cartoon villain. I understand the grief from his wife and all, but he felt hammy from what I read. I will say I was pleasantly surprised to see a spark of humanness in him before he went into the usual diatribe 'the love you have for others is what makes you weak hahahahah'

zafira was kind of just there but I understood her motivation for magic. if something was just beyond your fingertips, wouldn't you look for it too?

no shade to the creators but this felt every bit like a mobile game. couldn't keep my interest