David made an astute observation.

 
Let the boy cook!

I absolutely loved it! 

This story was wonderfully-dumb. Full of charm and humor. I enjoyed the Ogre Sister and villains that weren't largely incompetent. Punycorn is sweet and kind, and his friends don't spend their time downing or calling each other names. 

It's obvious the Unicorn Heroes don't appreciate or acknowledge Punycorn as a hero material, but it's balanced. They don't hate him or anything. Ending spoiler:

Even Bloodgutter's character was a surprising twist. A pacifist sword that got to keep to its morals. I just find it refreshing the characters accept each other.

The artwork is seriously cute, and you can tell Watson put a lot of effort into including visual gags a well. 

The least likely can do great things!

I can't wait to read the next book!

I love the exploration of conspiracy theories and how people fall prey to them - we want someone to be able to answer our questions. But every theory isn’t completely off based either.

Then, the portrayal of everyone’s grief (Zeph’s especially) and Oliver’s disassociation with his humanity and the life he lived on earth was great. This is mature writing without relying on shock value.

-1 star for calling a Black woman a man in any sense of the form. “You’re more of a man than I’ll ever be…” NO, not even as a compliment.

This was a thrill! No, everything wasn't perfect (side characters, female characters (they exist as love interests or somebody's mama), Black Twitter-isms, etc), but there was no dull moment. Kept my interest from beginning to end.

First, you will find every Southern Black American reference known to man here. It certainly made me smile and brought back memories. But it’s jam-packed and could’ve been intertwined more subtly. 

Yes, hunny chile. I’m going where the money resides. Don’t start none, won’t be none. Real recognize real. Cause Malik got that dawg in him. Because I know that’s right, sis. When Malik gets his magic down he goin in. He finna buss heads. And that girl from school? Got his nose wide open. Boy don’t even know what to do with himself. Betta sit his behind down somewhere. Ya heard?

Bruh. That's how much you get inundated in the earlier chapters.

Okay, okay enough.

Listen, I'm not saying the Black slang and AAVE are unauthentic, but it’s HEAVY-handed. One of the downsides of literature is that dialects and accents flow more smoothly through audio and visual mediums. Midway through Act ll it gets better. I didn't find it jarring by Act III as it was better integrated. 

But I thoroughly enjoyed Malik’s narrative voice and struggles. The mystery behind his momma and the dark magic business. The story kept my interest from beginning to end. Some serious plot twists will leave your head spinning.

The HBCU and the magical fraternities/sororities and real-life parallelisms were well done. The mixture of magic and (Christian) scripture will be extremely uncomfortable depending on how you grew up or if you were raised in church. There is child sacrifice(s), secret societies, and blood covenants as well; some dark stuff! The side characters were a bit weaker but not annoying.

But I was immediately interested when the author said this was a story tackling generational trauma. Some sources said it was "no Black trauma", and that is simply not true. It's there and present even if some of it is magical; it wasn't draining though to me. And it wasn't a pump fake like the Magical Society of Magical Negroes [full disdain here]. 

Lastly, the reader better have a real Louisiana accent if there's an audiobook. I start grinning and kicking my feet when I hear a NO person say “baybeh” or “say love.”

I would read more from this world.

ETA: Baron Samedi's parting words

in no world (real or fictional) would the older mentor character ever tell the female main character to get some "dick." This is the type of mess old men tell young men for real "get some coochie." Sir? That just felt off. For a friend to say that, okay. But not the responsible older adult

4.5

 It’s nice we’re getting more Princess Tiana/Disney’s Princess and the Frog content. I loved the art style here plus the expansion of Tiana’s wardrobe, and I thought it worked perfectly. There are also pages of Eudora’s (Tiana's mama) fashion sketches that tie in wonderfully to the narrative. The Harlem Renaissance is implied but never outrightly stated.

I will jump into some negatives for me, but don’t let it deter you from reading an otherwise nice story.

Why is Lottie here? Lottie can come but Naveen cannot (don’t say he had to watch the restaurant)? She was shoehorned in for no reason other than to give Tiana a nice New York apartment. You could’ve switched her out with Naveen or had Tiana roll solo.

I’m not asking for racism to be included in any way. But, since Disney chose to place the story in a real US timeframe around the 1920s, then we have some suspension of belief. Would a white man work so dutifully under a Black chef? Would a white waitress take Tiana and her Black friends' orders without any lip so kindly? I know New York was always a bit more progressive but still. You could fix this issue by having the restaurant be a high-class “colored” establishment.

Tiana is still unremarkable. She’s a hard worker who wants to prove herself in the mean streets of New York, but we don't get to learn anything new beyond that. I hope the new TV show explores more of Tiana's personality outside of what she provides others (and Tiana and Naveen’s relationship; he’s the hottest Disney prince. Give us something to work with lol).

Overall, a cute story for younger readers about not giving up, being there for your friends, and believing in yourself. 

Now, this series will either get majorly repetitive or be charming throughout. But I thought this first volume was majorly cute. Sometimes, you need a true friend in your corner. 

Taiyo, the male lead, is so obliviously sweet. He looks at Nishimura like she's gold. Her confidence grows slowly from his resoluteness in being her friend. I'm sure her social group will expand as the series goes on. 

I enjoyed the lighthearted premise and even felt some emotion at a surprise revelation at the end. I'll definitely read the next volume to decide if I'll continue with the series.

I wanted to dislike this, but it's good. The body language really shined in the emotional moments.

I’m not well-versed with DnD gameplay, so the beginning was a bit of ‘eat your vegetables’ for me. But it picked up around chapter 3, when the story finds its groove with the character dynamics and humor. The doggies are adorable here. And with funny meme-like expressions!

SN: Isn’t that Arlo?