Just as beautiful, terrifying, and heartbreaking as the film it's based off of. Though the book follows the movie close to a T, it's wonderful to see the film translated so well to print through Funke's insightful, yet curious prose. The darkness and wonder of the story is not lost, Vidal continues to be just as horrendously cruel and Ofelia ever the starry eyed girl hoping for a fairy tale. The incorporation of new fairy tales within the story were a wonderful way to add a bit more foundation to the world, while still keeping an air of mystery to it. 

Fans of the film may be curious as to how del Toro's dark fairy tale fairs as a book, but just know there really aren't any surprises with the main plot, as it's fairly faithful, but you get wonderful new short stories and illustrations out of it. Those that find the movie a bit too intimidating or scary may do better with this version, as you at least cut out the visual horror element, but I highly recommend listening to Javier Navarrete's beautiful score as you do.

It seems to be the smallest, simplest books that teach us so much. Psalm for the Wild Built is a comfort for those trying to find something out of life, even when it feels like we have all we could ever need. I found myself really relating to Dex, being in a position I really enjoy, and yet still find a lack of fulfillment. It made their journey all the more meaningful to me with them also being nonbinary being another way for me to connect with them.

The treatment of the robots gaining awareness concept is also incredibly refreshing, as they are allowed their autonomy without any fear of an uprising or really any aggression from the human end. It really makes you think about the lack of agency of robots in other sci fi titles and how it ties into their placement within the genre as a whole, but that's another discussion. Usually I am incredibly picky about sci-fi titles, something about the stories just don't vibe with me, but Psalm is one of the fair few I loved from beginning to end. 

Chambers' writing style allows the story to have its emotional, resonating moments while also carrying a bit of humor. I love when authors can find a way to swear within their voice without it taking you out of the story and using it sparingly as a way to express frustration or exhaustion. If anything, the pacing at the beginning is a bit wonky, as we jump from Dex switching vocations and finding the adjustment a bit difficult, only for them to become suddenly an expert after a period of time in the next chapter. I think showing a bit of that struggle may have made the end message even stronger, but it didn't lessen it in any way. Following that, the story evens out beautifully.

Check this one out when you're feeling a bit aimless in life or when drinking a nice cup of tea.

Normally I'm not a fan of apocalyptic stories or zombies, but the unique POV of the domesticated animals is what absolutely sold this book for me. The themes of nature, evolution, and an animal's perspective of the human condition were well interwoven throughout the story, giving it a surprising amount of depth to a story whose main character's named is Shit Turd. 

If you're sensitive to animals in peril or animal death, this really isn't going to be the book for you. 

A touch of Artemis Fowl, a smidgen of Men in Black, and a whole lot of Black girl magic. Amari was a wonderful character to see develop as she endlessly tries to defy and work against the systems against her to prove her worth. Alston does a wonderful job of showcasing real life issues and struggles through a fantastical lens without making it too complex for younger readers. I enjoyed the imagination behind every facet of this world that, while not groundbreaking or entirely innovative, it's still a lot of fun and entertaining. I especially liked seeing each Department of the Bureau and how each one functions and the different qualities of those that work under them.

Amari's spirit and determination make it so easy to root for her and you know I was cheering her on whenever she went against her bullies or fought against those that were so quick to cast her aside. Her journey speaks to so many who face injustice solely because of who they are or what they look like and hopefully will inspire them to carry the same kind of resilience and courage.

There were some moments where the book skidded a bit only to accelerate a few moments later. I would have loved to see more of the All Souls Festival and maybe have a more drawn out climax that didn't end as abruptly as did, but, as it is, I was still fairly satisfied.

Also, I don't know why, but I was somehow convinced that Elsie would be the traitor, probably because she was spending a good bit of time away from Amari so we were never fully in the know of what she was doing. But, seeing it all in hindsight, it is fairly obvious from a few scenes that it was Dylan all along. I'm so sorry I doubted you, you amazing dragon nerd.

Not to be too mean about it, but this was a headache of a comic. Between the six plot threads all going on at once, the jerky, rough transitions between scenes, and the fast pace just culminate in a really disappointing, dizzying read. There also so much telling rather than showing, which on more than one occasion had me going back to certain pages just to remember where certain characters were.

And all the plot twists and turns really didn't help make the story anymore coherent. Just when I thought an issue was solved it was like BAM red herring and another red herring. It feels like these characters are always jumping to conclusions without really considering all the evidence, leading to so many false leads that it was difficult to keep up with. 

A little thing that also bothered me was how the comic treated text boxes and speech bubbles as these interchangeable ways of communicating the thoughts and words of the main character. There are moments when okay, this text box contains a thought or continuing a line of dialogue from a past panel, fine. But then there are moments when other characters are replying to that text box in real time, as, from the context of the scene, it was a piece of spoken dialogue, which doesn't make sense from a formatting standpoint. It was just maddening to see and makes certain scenes all the more confusing.

It's such a shame that all of these elements turned me off a comic that has such a wonderful look to it, with imaginative creature designs and beautiful locations with ethereal uses of color. 

Compared to Hendrix's other book I've read, We Sold Our Solds, this book feels more, well, I think frantic would be the best way to describe it. It makes sense given that our POV character, Lynette, stays in an eternal fight or flight mode, which at times can be both exciting and exhausting. I did understand more of the references/homages, as I'm more familiar with the slasher genre than the heavy metal, which certainly made a few aspects of the book more enjoyable. I'm wavering on whether copy and pasting the final girls' backstories from famous slasher movies (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.) was a good idea, since it somewhat lessens the overall creativity of the book, but this is only a small nit pick.

I'm not exactly sure what to think of the themes of this book. On one hand it juggles showing the resiliency of the final girls, painting them as survivors that shoulder on through their trauma and support each other with the glamorization of violence against women. However, while showcasing the women's strength, some tired slasher tropes somehow manage to sneak their way in, such as

the only person of color being the first final girl to die, the bury your gays behind Michelle passing away

. There are some interesting those tropes could have been further deconstructed, but, for some reason, the book chose to have it's cake and eat it.

Also dang, the women chose to go support Stephanie over Dr. Carol, you know, the one whose son was slowly picking off the women she worked so hard to give help and provide care to? Who probably has an infinite amount of guilt on her hands? I know she went off the grid and wanted privacy, and apparently Lynette saw something in Stephanie worth saving, and yet didn't she also deem Dr. Carol a fellow final girl in her own way? I just wish there was time spent on both of them so it felt like all women who were impacted by the violence had some people to hold onto.

I picked up this book solely for the inclusion of a circus with supernatural undertones, because that's really my brand at this point, and honestly I think I need to start being more selective when it comes to picking out books from small plot threads alone. There were things to enjoy about the story, I especially liked its noirish undertones, which gave me real big Nightmare Alley vibes but if there was a slight hint of the paranormal to it. Some of the characters had interesting backgrounds and the potential to have really interesting development or introspection like Ruby and Daniel. It just seemed like every chapter had this blanket of blah over it.

There were moments of excitement, but they were constantly bookended by scenes that were incredibly dull or could have been used to peek slightly deeper into our characters. Hayden, as a character, seems the most superfluous, as he's just really the normal guy to offset Daniel's inhumanity when it comes to potential love interests. He's set up to be completely mundane in comparison to all the more intriguing folk of the circus and he stays that way throughout the entire book. He's not a detestable guy by any means, he just exudes all the appeal of white bread.

I also had a difficult time trying to figure out where exactly this story was going, because at some points it felt very meandering. Going through the climax was an incredible sort of whiplash from how quickly things were trying to get resolved and, even then, I'm still not entirely sure what happened.

Like, I understand Ruby was trying to give Daniel what he wanted in showing him what mortality feels like, and then thinking she bested him when she's like "Psych, I'm never going to give you that experience that again and I'm the only one who can." And then Daniel just nopes out? Goes right to Hollywood and says "Yeah, I'm probs never going to see her again, but I'm cool with that since the madness I feel from that will always include her, so she's always with me." Soo....what was the point? He mentions how this was all a game with no winner, so really all this build up and story was for no resolution? At least none that matters or has very little weight to it. I'm sure there's probably a lesson in pessimism or defeatism in here somewhere, but it's really not worth the effort to look any further.

Ultimately, it was a very empty read and I don't think I'm going to be remembering it a year from now.