octavia_cade's Reviews (2.64k)

The blurb for this is "Maika struggles with the monster inside" and honestly - glad as I am to have an initial answer of what the monster is - it is the least interesting part of this series for me so far. Luckily for me, each of these issues tends to be packed with different story elements, and this one's no exception. There are so many different characters and moving parts and motivations that readers really have to pay attention in order to keep up, and I like that.

Surprisingly, one of my favourite parts continues to be Kippa. When I started reading this, she came across as a little cutesy - and she still is, but it's such a leavening agent to the horror of what's going on around her that if she were gone I'd miss her. I hope this means she's not on the chopping block! 

The conclusion of this little mini-series, and it was alright. Damning with faint praise there, but trips to hell and fighting with hell and all the religious underpinnings of stories like this tend to leave me not that interested. I was glad to see the dead kid reunited with his family instead of suffering in hell - I'm a firm believer that stupidity should have its consequences but this was far too severe and he didn't deserve it.

I have to admit, I'm slowly making my way through both Locke & Key and Sandman and I far prefer the former. The latter comes across as far too over the top for my tastes, and that was certainly the case in this particular crossover. 

A follow-up to In Pale Battalions Go, in which a boy destroyed his family - by stupidity and accident, not out of malice - and killed himself. He's in hell, his dad's dying in misery, and his twin sister decides to go get him back, because for all of his foolish actions, and for all of their father's angry words, Jack was a fifteen year old kid who doesn't deserve an eternity of suffering.

I liked the sister. I am not, it must be said, the greatest fan of Sandman, although I haven't read very much of it. I feel as if I should go back and read the whole thing, but it's overly violent for my tastes and I don't get too excited about the weird settings, so, you know. It's okay. This is okay. I probably won't read it again, but I get the feeling that people who love Sandman will love this. 

This is very much an issue of two halves, and I liked them both - albeit for very different reasons. In the first, the introduction of one of the Arcanic courts introduces another political element into the text. I always enjoy stuff like this - shifting priorities and allegiances - much more than battles, so that was fun. In the second half, my enjoyment was more character-based. I feel immensely sorry for poor little Kippa, who seems doomed to be dragged from one horrific experience to another with only her tail for comfort... and a cat. There's not a lot of funny moments in this series, it's too grim for that, but the images of Kippa hugging that cat half to death while it looked absolutely horrified to be so hugged was a welcome moment of light relief. 

I can't say enough good things about the art in these comics, but this volume is especially wonderful. I don't know how to describe it, but there are very stylised mountainous creatures that seem to be mostly hair and eyes, and they're so flat-out weird that I'm almost more interested in staring at them than I am trying to follow the story. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the story, but those eye-creatures are so creepily compelling that they're the best part of this issue for me. I think it's partly because they seem so different from the rest of the artwork, which really underlines their alien character. 

It's okay. Not the best of the Boxcar mysteries, but not the worst either. I liked the focus on nature and environmentalism, but the book could have used a good proofread, I think. There's one part where the kids use paper napkins instead of plates while camping, because they don't want to be bothered with washing dishes... except they've been using paper plates the whole time, and burning them in the fire, so how they suddenly have crockery in the middle of nowhere I don't know. And the illustration of them in the station wagon doesn't match the text, with the kids sitting in different places. It's nothing big in either case, but sort of sloppy, you know? 

This is less horrific than the first in the series, but the overarching sense of menace is still there. I have to admit that I'm a bit confused as to the structure of the Inquisition witches and how the various characters there fit together, but maybe that will become clearer over time. As it is, this feels like an issue more concerned with world-building than plot. I've more questions than answers, but the art, especially, is so compelling that I'm not about to stop reading. 

This is the most unadventurous of the Starfleet Academy books that I've read so far, and I think that's why I like it the best. The others are deeply unrealistic in what they put their protagonists through, but this one is actually relatable. Picard has failed in his first attempt at entering the Academy; it's a rigorous testing process and he does well... but not well enough. His failure is difficult to deal with, but worse is the attitude of his (deeply unpleasant) father, who insists that his younger son should stay on the family vineyard. Picard wants none of it, but going against his father's wishes may estrange them both forever.

It's more a family drama than a science fiction story, although there is one (fake) holodeck battle as part of the testing. The inability of the Picard sons to tell their dad where to get off is frustrating, but again, as I said, relatable. It feels like a story that could happen, as opposed to the other Academy books, which are less convincing. 

This is a quick, easy read, and for all there are parts that I like about the book, even decades later the story is coloured for me by the dreadful sudden romance between Chakotay and Seven of Nine. In all fairness to Diane Carey, she is not responsible for that and does her best to make something of this ludicrous piece of characterisation, but she's hampered by the source material.

I keep my copy of the book because Kate Mulgrew signed it for me at a Star Trek convention once, and she did a fantastic job in "Endgame". Janeway's part of the story was the most enjoyable, and it's pretty clear that Carey thinks so too. 

I love the Alien films, so when I saw this at the library I had to pick it up. It's a retelling of the first film from the point of view of Jonesy the cat. This shift in perspective has leached all the horror out of the story and replaced it with humour, because Jonesy - like all cats - is a self-centred little despot. He's often completely oblivious to the deaths going on around him: Ripley's final fight with the Alien goes unnoticed as Jonesy washes his arse, for instance, and he's more interested in demanding food and treating alien larvae as a chew toy and hacking up fur balls into acid holes than anything else.

It's very funny. The scene where Ripley's desperately trying to stuff him into a cat box so they can escape while Jonesy refuses to let himself be stuffed had me laughing, although to be fair I was laughing at nearly every page.