papercraftalex's Reviews (368)

I usually don’t agree with “everyone needs to read this” reviews, but everyone needs to read Ace by Angela Chen. The first few chapters were a bit more basic for those who haven’t been on tumblr as long as I have, but the other chapters explore so many different things and offer so many different viewpoints that I genuinely believe everyone would benefit from reading this book and working on reflecting on how they see relationships and sexuality in society.

The Girl From the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag is a cute, queer selkie romance. The art and story are adorable and I was definitely rooting for the characters. The romance happened very fast, but it seemed realistic for sapphic teens. I’d recommend it to anyone interested, but keep in mind it’s for a younger audience!

Veronica Fish’s art in Slam! was fantastic and really added a lot to the comic. Pamela Ribon’s storytelling, however, was lackluster. The characters were hard to connect to and were very flat and the plot was almost nonexistent. It was a confusing and disappointing read. I had high expectations because I love roller derby, so maybe that made it easier to be let down. I will read the second volume sometime in the future to see if it improves.

Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder was touching because Feder really showed the audience who her mom was when she was alive and how much love their family shared. Feder also utilizes some great jokes and relatable stories throughout that keep the book from being too depressing.

It’s an allegorical horror reminiscent of Silent Hill. It was the kind of horror that’s less visceral and more “Oh, there’s so much wrong with society,” but the drawings and story did spook me in a nice way too. I think it wrapped up too quickly and I would’ve liked it to be longer, but it was overall really good and I’m excited to read the rest of Machado’s work.

This was a very touching and realistic portrayal of mentally ill and queer teens.

The entire story was depressing with no concrete ending. The characters were all despicable, which I don’t mind if the characters are relatable but I couldn’t connect to them at all.

Anke Gladnick’s graphic allegorical memoir Threshold featured beautiful art and conversations about identity, especially trans identity. It was very metaphorical and it took me a while to fully understand what they were trying to say, but I enjoyed it fully.

It was a heartbreaking read. The characters and their pain were so real and visceral. This is not a subject I (or probably many others) were taught in school and it was done in a captivating way that will forever reside in my mind.

Just like the previous one, I learned a lot I hadn’t previously known, but I think the author really found her footing in this story. The characters felt more whole and I loved the subplots.