Speaking as a teen librarian, I wanted to dip my toes into this series since it seems like it's a big hit with our local teens. I've previously read The Naturals, a book I didn't give the most glowing review, and Raised by Wolves, which I seemed to enjoy a lot more as a teen. I can definitely say that The Inheritance Games falls somewhere between the two, probably leaning towards The Naturals end.

I liked the protagonists waaay more in this series. While not entirely deep, they didn't feel like overused tropes and were actual characters that had clear passions and motivations. Still not a fan of love triangles, but I've learned just to grin and bear it at this point.

I can see why this series has enticed many a young adult reader. It's decently paced, the mysteries and puzzles are described and set up in an engaging way, and really you can't get more dramatic than rich people shenanigans. There is a good sense of progression, despite the short chapters and snappy writing style.

However, I wasn't much a fan of its end.

I understand that there are still more mysteries to uncover, so I know the reason for Avery's inheritance can't just be "she has a good name and she helped my totally not dead son out while he's homeless." It makes for an unresolved ending, but I think that's just the nature of this story. But the reveal of Skye being behind Avery's almost murder was so anticlimactic. We just have another character drop that bombshell and then poof, Skye is out of the picture. It really killed any sense of thrill or suspense from that plot point.

I never like rating peoples' personal experiences, especially when it comes to the sort of things that Ahed has lived through. The star rating is just for optics.

This is such a heartbreaking book. I knew that I had to steel myself going in, but it still hits so hard. I wanted to get a perspective on the history of and current state of the Palestine-Israel conflict and boy did I get one. It's a good starting point, though I will say there is a lot of repeating information, but the series of events flow naturally for a biography.

I would recommend it to those looking to find individual Palestinian perspectives to educate themselves on the matter. 

What a wild ride from start to finish! Ace of Spades is a top notch thriller that will have readers constantly guessing just how far the culprit will go to besmirch the reputations of two promising students with secrets to hide. 

The institutional racism/social eugenics angle was such a great realistic element to the story. It's a hard truth knowing that there are many places like this school that are extremely biased against their students of color and do nothing to help them excel or even pass a school environment. And it's not like places are subtle about it, much like here.

Also, glad no redemption for Belle. There's no coming back from setting up someone for murder because of a racist school, even if you say sowry.

Definitely worth its hype.

The weirdest little comic you ever did read, but man was that a hoot! It straddles the line between absurdity and "oh wow, that was actually a bit heart breaking." 

A cute, quirky rom com featuring a determined teen hoping to smash the glass ceiling at the Medieval 
Times adjacent experience that she works at. While I thought that the feminist angle of this book didn't really go hard enough, I really appreciated that, when Kit began to include her friends in her crusade for female knights in the show, the group included her trans, gender-nonconforming, and women of color co workers. It brought some intersectionality to the issue and I'm glad that the endeavor didn't solely focus on Kit. 

It's one of those YA romances where you can sit back and enjoy its silliness and simplicity. Kit faces many hardships, sure, like poverty, a deadbeat dad, and trying to get into a good school, but it never tries to be anything complicated. It strikes a good balance between showing Kit struggle and receiving so much support from her friends and family. You could really get a sense of how devoted they are to each other. 

While the ending was incredibly rushed, I did like the more realistic beat it ended on, that not every plan is achievable, even the ones you put so much effort and time into, but there's still one for you.

Thanks so much to NetGalley, Letter Better Publishing Services, and Iron Circus Comics for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I've been following the Lackadaisy comic for a few years now, so you can imagine my excitement that within a year we not only get a fabulous pilot for an animated adaptation, but a reprint of the first volume with more on the way. 

Whether you're a long time fan or just happening to discover the series for the first time, it doesn't take long for you to get sucked into this alternate Earth of bootlegging cats. Butler's style is immaculate, there's really no other way of defining it. There is such an attention to detail that brings so much energy and life to the characters and setting. The art deco influence is especially apparent, giving the Prohibition backdrop a touch more authenticity.

With many of these webcomics turned print graphic novels, there are usually issues when it comes to plotting, pacing, and layout that can make the physical version seem aimless or less accessible. I thought that this volume did its job in laying the foundations of the world and its story, as well as introducing us to the key players. It's difficult to make a completely coherent jump from an online comic to a physical one, considering the differing conditions in which each are created. I'm willing to be forgiving on that front, though I will say that layout wise there were some pages that were difficult to read. Each pages consists of three strips which sometimes can get very text heavy and have smaller illustrations. I'm curious as to how it will look in the physical book, but as far as the e-book goes, some pages felt very cluttered.

Following the comic, there's a good amount of back matter, like smaller comics, a look into how these characters developed over the years and some phenomenal additional illustrations. There isn't really anything new included in this edition to draw in older fans already familiar with it but I'm sure there is a lot of appeal in finally being able to own a physical copy. 

So happy that this story is getting a wider release!

Cute cat + video games = a manga that I'm probably going to love on sight. It really did not take long for this manga to become so endearing, especially with the little end comics from the cat's perspective. 

I appreciate the great message about acknowledging your emotions and problems straight on instead of running away from them, but I don't think there is much here that sets it apart from other junior fiction with the same lesson. There is some great development from our main character, you can really see how she gets from point A from point B in her growth, but really I can't think of anything else that stuck out to me. 

The end is probably the stickiest thing. Where I don't mind the whole ending of "we did some reverse the clock shenanigans so none of the bad stuff actually happened", given how often it appears in other children's media, I can't actually decide if it caused a paradox or not? It just made a few things a bit more confusing in hindsight

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I think the target demographic would be a bit more interested in this book, what with the dreamy imagery and the slight mysterious air to the circus.