The first installment of a sexy murder mystery, an original story by an artist I've followed online for a long time under the username Reapersun. It ends on a cliffhanger, so hopefully I can find vol 2 soon!

I've been excited about this book ever since it was announced and was delighted to get to hear Travis McElroy, Clint McElroy and Carey Pietsch talk about it's creation on a panel at SDCC. One of the early decisions they had to make was: Would they include only Taako, Merle and Magnus as the characters or would they include Taako, Justin, Merle, Clint, Magnus AND Travis as characters? Would Griffin's voice only be included in narration or would he appear as a character? I think they made the right choice in having Griffin, as an outside the narrative DM, interact with Taako, Merle and Magnus directly. It does mean though that a lot of the dialogue especially in the first half of the book is newly written, to incorporate character traits that the McElroy family had not yet developed for their characters in the first few episodes. Taako is interested in cooking from page 1, Merle has a connection to the beach, and Magnus is already carving ducks. They worked very hard to make this story accessible to people who haven't listened to the podcast and I think they succeeded. For people who have listened to the podcast, lines taken directly from it will sparkle with extra emotional resonance. Carey Pietsch's art shines especially in character expressions and on pages that give new vistas to the world. The moon base is far more fleshed out than I'd previously imagined it, and the fiery destruction of the town is terrible and heartbreaking. I love that she's paid attention to some fanart canons, such as portraying Lucretia and Johann as people of color, and the over the top design of Magic Brian. I practically cheered with Taako picked up the Umbra Staff and Merle first cast Zone of Truth. At the moment I still love the podcast a little more than the comic book version of this story, but I think the comics will only get better and better as the series goes along and the secondary cast is introduced. I already can't wait for book 2!

This book is a joy and a delight. Much lighter and more whimsical than any others I've yet read by Steifvater, infused with the feeling of a series of tall-tales or urban myths. Set in 1962 in the small town of Bicho Raro, Colorado, the book centers around the Soria family, all of whom can perform miracles. News of this power draws pilgrims from all over the United States who come seeking cures for their inner darkness. What most of them don't realize is that miracle cures are a two-step process: a Soria Saint can make a person's inner darkness visible in a physical, external form. But overcoming this darkness once manifested is up to the pilgrim and a Soria cannot offer aid without risking a fearful consequence. This is a book in which a desert can fall in love, a radio can save a soul, and owls flock whenever miracles draw near. It's a short, sweet, magical book and I highly recommend it.

A thoughtful and personal take on the question of Israel and its history, its relation to Jewish identity, and its conflicts with neighboring countries. Published in 2010, this book chronicles author Sarah Glidden's birthright tour and a few days afterwards in which she travels alone. Sarah is determined to travel with a journalist's objectivity. She is constantly evaluating the information she receives from tour guides: does it seem biased? Is it incomplete? Are they using neutral language, especially when touching on international matters? Yet it's impossible to maintain this stance indefinitely. Slowly Sarah is overcome but the shear beauty of the country around her, from city to desert. Conversations with her fellow birthright travelers reveal a wide range of different motives for the trip: one friend has never before left the US; two people she speaks with are converts; another traveler is interested only in the nightclubs and souvenirs. Sarah came to Israel looking for an answer, but each new experience seems to say that the only definitive is infinite complexity.

This comic feels almost like a dramatization of a fun D&D campaign. Three young mages are assigned a mission: to travel to a remote village and discover the cause of a memory-sickness affecting its citizens. Charris is the group's fighter and Ursa is its healer, though she has other powers she's keeping secret. Trinh's powers are largely untested and she's very timid about using them, but she's able to shift into a spectral form and break/dismantle objects almost instantaneously. These three build a grudging alliance as they face a countryside scarred by the remains of the Mage/Machine war, which ranged across the world in decades past. When they discover a plot to rebuild dangerous technology, they must trust each other and work together or else risk restarting the old conflict.

I tore through this book in about 2 days. The main character is Eliza Mirk, a high school senior who doesn't care about school, doesn't have any friends and has a somewhat antagonistic relationship with her family. The only thing she cares about is her webcomic, Monsterous Sea . This story has millions of readers online, and sales from its merchandise have made enough money that Eliza will be able to comfortably pay her own college tuition when the time comes. She has kept her identity as its author secret from everyone except her immediate family. Then a new student, whom I can only describe as a manic pixie dream boy, transfers to Eliza's school. Wallace is built like a football player but he spends all his time reading or writing in a notebook and never speaks out loud if he can help it. He and Eliza begin a very shy conversation when he sees a piece of Monsterous Sea art in her sketchbook. He thinks it's fanart and it turns out he's a fan of the comic too. Not only that, he's one of the biggest name fic writers in the story's sprawling fandom.

Even though the trajectory of the plot is incredibly predictable, I got totally sucked into this story anyway. It's very similar to Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, down to the excerpts of the comic and fic which are placed between the chapters. Despite its unoriginality, if you are in the mood for a very fast, light YA read I would recommend it.

A historical fiction family drama written by the creator of Downton Abbey, set in an earlier era but sharing many of that show's themes. The opening chapter takes place just before the battle of Waterloo, when a pair of lovers of differing social classes are divided by the conflict. Then the narrative jumps forward 25 years to the fashionable London neighborhood, Belgravia, recently transformed by a series of ambitious building projects. I listened to this as an audiobook and was completely engaged by the first 1/3 of the story. Then the pace of the plot slowed to a crawl, and meandered through an unbelievable boring middle section that seemed to last for hours. I came close to giving up, but stuck with it, and it did regain some of its momentum at the end. I wouldn't recommend it though.

I was following along as Eleanor Davis posted some of these comics on instagram, but it's so nice to sit down and read them all in one volume and with some of the gaps fill in. Davis has been one of my favorite comics authors for years and I am impressed by and also disbelieving of her decision to ride a bike from Tuscon, Arizona to Atlanta, Georgia. This book chronicles roads taken, strangers met, camping under freeway overpasses, stress, depression, knee pain, kindness, indecision, natural beauty and the constant presence of Border Patrol helicopters. All of this captured in Davis' wonderfully unique line, a way of seeing and recording the world which I find utterly captivating.

This book has a strong educational agenda, but it still tells a compelling story of friendship across cultural barriers. Anna, an American girl, spent a good portion of her childhood growing up in Cairo where she befriended Layla, a neighbor. Layla and her family support and comfort Anna when her mother is diagnosed with, and ultimately dies of, breast cancer. As college students, Layla decides to study medicine while Anna studies photography in the US and struggles with the realization that she carries the same gene mutation for cancer than her mother carried. Each of them faces challenging decisions that are influences by family history and society's expectations. Anna flies back to Cairo when Layla's father is diagnosed with kidney failure.... just in time for the revolutionary unrest in spring 2012 to reach it's boiling point.

After having read several other excellent books that mix fandom and romance, this book fell flat for me. The main characters are a trio of teenagers from Melbourne, Australia, visiting "SupaCon" (an inaccurate mix of San Diego Comic Con and a theme park) in California for the first time. None of the characters particularly engaged me, and the conclusion worked out so perfectly for all involved that it read like a daydream rather than a reality.