leahrosereads's Reviews (1.04k)

Of fucking course!!!! I'm not overly surprised as to where we're heading, but I just don't exactly know where we're heading, ya know?

And I love it!

This was a good read, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where this story and character goes. I'm not a huge fan of the Marvel universe, and I didn't think there was enough here to really love for me.

However, I can see myself really liking Ms. Marvel in later volumes, and I'll be interested in seeing how this character continues to develop.

It's Batman, so it's obviously getting 5 stars for that alone! But, it's a really fun origin story. We see Bruce as a teenager, filled with determination to make Gotham City a better place, not as an angst ridden adult still stuck in the death of his parents (as the movies always make him out to be).

I really liked this Bruce and the friends were a great addition too. Too often, we see Bruce/Batman as this solitary figure without anyone around save Alfred and a sidekick from time to time. In Nightwalker, he has genuine friendships (one with a name that we all know the outcome of), but it was wonderful to see Bruce as this friend who's willing to help in anyway he cans.

It just help emphasize the loyalty side of Batman that I don't think we get to see too often.

This was the first of these DC Icons stories I've gotten to read, but I have a feeling it'll be my favorite. Batman will always hold a special place in my fangirl heart.

What a great freaking book! Before this year, I hadn't tried reading anything by Sarah J. Maas. She has such a large following, and I've been burned by over hyped books in the past, so I pretty much avoided her work. However, I wanted to read some popular series this year, and I gave her a try.

The ACOTAR series was a fast read, and I liked it just fine.

This was stellar though! SJM really wrote a fantastic Catwoman book. But more than that, she told the story in a dual POV, and it made me crave more. More of the friendships formed here, as well as the potential tragic love story as well.

While I preferred the Batman story a bit more (again, my Batman bias is showing), I could see this (and want this) as a TV series. I want to see more of this Selena and Poison Ivy and Harley, and I want more Batwing!!

I know, I know, DC doesn't do live action well, and I don't want this in live action either. I want this in the animated universe and think it would work so well to that visual. Especially all of the details around all the tech! I want this!

I may even need this.

The first re-read since about 2008...and I remembered that this was my least favorite Harry Potter.

It's really just filled with either really boring happenings or plot holes galore. There's nothing really magical about this story.

However, since this is the illustrated edition, I had some gorgeous art to keep me enticed to keep turning the pages.

VICIOUS by V.E. Schwab was a solid 4 star book, in my opinion. I really enjoyed everything about it, and I don’t really have any negatives to discuss.

It’s about two college science students (Victor [YAY!], Eli [BOO]) who, while researching their theses, figure out how to create ExtraOrdinaries (i.e. Superheros).

So, how did they find this answer? Well, Eli figured out that all EOs had one thing in common - near death experiences (NDE), and both Eli and Victor decide that it seems safe enough to try on each other, to get some abilities. And it works.

Your last thought during the NDE, the one that keeps you from leaving this world for good, is how your ability is created. For Eli, as a religious person, he put his life into God’s hands, and thus the regeneration (immortality) ability came to be. Victor used pain to cause his NDE and it was so horrifically awful, all he could think was to make it stop, and thus his ability.

I really liked that idea on how abilities are “chosen”. It makes sense.


Unfortunately, neither of these guys were good to begin with, and the aftermaths of using themselves as guinea pigs had serious repercussions - Victor lands himself in prison for 10 years and Eli gains a god-complex (partially due to his ability (regeneration)) that’s so extreme, his psychopathic personality decides to take center stage, and he begins exterminating EOs. (Not himself of course.)


When Victor escapes from prison, he only has one goal: to kill and/or torture his former friend Eli. And he has the ability to do it (well the torture part). He can diminish, remove or enhance pain from his targets and himself. And he definitely wants to use his ability on Eli. Over and over and over again.


When Victor helps a young injured girl, he finds out that Eli is killing other EOs and decides to use that to his advantage too.


I honestly loved every one on Victor’s team:

Victor - our sociopath anti-hero, superhero. Using pain to save the day...well, mostly to save himself, but oh well.

Sydney - the wonderfully colorful young girl who Victor rescues. Her ability made Eli want to kill her on the spot (she can bring people back to life). Luckily Syd’s sister was there to “save” the day. Not really, her sister’s a psycho too.

Mitch - Hacker extraordinaire. Death magnet. Lucky sonofagun.


And I hated Eli and Serena (Syd’s sister). Hated them. Both Victor and Eli are psychotic. Neither are good guys, However, Victor had that endearing Dexter-like quality about him, whereas Eli had that Hitler quality about him. Yeah.


Any way, I loved this. The pacing of the story was really well done. There was enough action that I was never bored, but there was still plenty of information dumping that I was never lost in what was going on and how things were happening. Perfectly done.


Again, I loved the characters (in general all were well written), and I liked that even though there were no “good” guys, there was still a team to root for.


Over all, I would definitely recommend VICIOUS to most of my friends, and I’m definitely looking forward to trying out other novels by V.E. Schwab/Victoria Schwab.

Maybe I didn't get this story, because it felt overly profound to be seen as deep, and it lost all depth in the process. It was blah with a side of meh, and the only POV that I genuinely liked were the Boys.

Victoria Schwab is pretty much one of my favorite authors at this point. I love her writing style, stories, characters, and atmosphere. While I tend to prefer YA and Adult, I devoured and thoroughly enjoyed City of Ghosts.

It was dark and whimsical and humorous and adventurous. It felt perfect for middle grade, but still worked well for this 30 year old to completely enjoy too.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what type of adventures Cass, Jake, and the ghosties will endure in the next book!

I don't like to review memoirs/autobiographies because it's about someone's life and it feels weird to critique.

What I will say about El Deafo is that I really liked the art, and I'm so happy this book exists so that children know that being bullied isn't ever OK, and that they can be their own superheroes. This was a very interesting read that I enjoyed very much. I will definitely share the story when I have children of my own.

My first introduction to Lovecraft was at Gen Con in 2006. Con goers made Cthulhu seem loveable. Of course, he's not, but at the time, cute Cthulhu was everywhere!

I went home from that Con and immediately picked up Lovecraft. His horror is some of the best I've ever read, and the Cthulhu mythos are still my absolute favorites.

They're the perfect mix of fantastical and logical, and I love the narrators trying their damndest to explain away a myth.