I loved this and highly recommend it if you a) loved Harris Wittels's comedy and/or b) are looking for a good memoir about grief, especially the particular grief of losing someone at a young age to something preventable.

I will add that a particular bonus appeal factor here was confirmation that comedians I like are good people, or at least have done nice things. I enjoyed reading about kind gestures from people like Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Kulap Vilaysack, and Aziz Ansari. (I know most of those people have also done problematic things in their lives but just, you know, from a celebrity-adjacent memoir perspective...I liked that.)

Anyway it's very funny and heartbreaking and raw. I was very moved by it.

first up: I blanked on the title of this for a moment and searched for "bag of dragons" and this was still the top hit, so thanks for that, GoodReads

anyway, this is a DELIGHTFUL middle grade urban fantasy. I read it all in one sitting and can't wait to learn more about this world (and Kavita's dragon). Jax is such a great protagonist--a smart, curious boy who wants to do the right thing....but dragons?!--and so much is communicated about him and his relationship with his mother through relatively little.

This is one of Jenny Han's first novels, and she's definitely grown as a writer. But still, there's plenty to appreciate about this bittersweet coming of age story. I think she really captures the way summer is a great chance for teens to try out new identities/personas.

I will say that this is one of our local school district's assigned summer reading books and I cannot for the life of me figure out they'd assign this one over To All The Boys I've Loved Before? But no one asked me! (TO THEIR DETRIMENT TBH)

I feel like, without much plot to go on, this one really just highlights some of the real weird factors of the Fae society that Maas has put together, such as:
- if it's possible to have queer soulbonds why would a person stay in the closet for literally 500 years
- if you have extremely powerful healing magicks and shit why do these ladies still have terrible period cramps
- why does your idyllic faerie country have a wrong side of the tracks at all
- why

but there are some great fashions described and also Feyre and Rhys fuck while flying so like, I'm still on board this weird horny train

update 6/18: hell ya, recorded a horny podcast on this topic

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-99-a-court-of-wings-and-ruin/

--

LOL THESE FAIRIES ARE SO HORNY I CAN'T HANDLE IT

On one hand I'm glad that this book acknowledged that fairies can be non-heterosexually horny (I thiiink in book 2 it might have come up briefly? these are all a blur to me) but this book had some of the most...unusual bisexual representation I've ever seen?

Spoiler

like first of all there's the bi High Lord who, it seems, is SO bisexual that he generally prefers to always have a threesome or more with at least 1 man and 1 woman?? and then there's the reveal that one of the fairies is bi but PREFERS women but has been in the closet for OVER FIVE HUNDRED YEARS like what? also at the end of this book she is still MOSTLY IN THE CLOSET BUT TOLD ONE PERSON ABOUT IT, like yes coming out is a personal decision and people/fairies should do it on their own schedule/level of comfort but it's been LITERALLY OVER FIVE HUNDRED YEARS, I do not understand the priorities of these horny fairies

also this book is off-the-rails and so weird about raising the stakes and then instantly resolving problems as they arise, like "oh no, insurmountable obstacle...jk don't worry I have a new magic power/friend/creature/spell". like every chapter.

also I can't believe there's going to be another book in this series bc it seems like this pretty much resolved everything? Is the next one just going to be fairy erotica with no plot because that seems to be what's left to do here. also I will read that.

A fun, quick, informative read with awesome illustrations! I definitely learned about some new ladies of history, and appreciated the diverse range of women & accomplishments collected here.

ok so first of all: THE DOG DIES
(

Spoiler

but comes back as a hellhound so that's OK I GUESS

)

OVERALL this fits in the same formula as Rick Riordan's books and also the first RR Presents book, Aru Shah and the End of Time.

I didn't love it as much as Aru Shah and I think a big part of it was this recurring subplot with Zane's two older neighbors, the seer Ms. Cab and the mortal gardener Mr. Ortiz, who kept persistently asking out Ms. Cab even though she kept saying no, and Zane kept saying how much he admired how "persistent" Mr. Ortiz was about asking out Ms. Cab and I was like NO WAY MAN BACK OFF. (

Spoiler

and then it fuckin worked and at the end Ms. Cab went out to dinner with Mr. Ortiz

)

That's not necessarily something that's going to be on the radar of most of the middle-grade kids reading this but still, seems like it's just contributing to some generally kind of gross background radiation.

THAT ASIDE, hell ya disabled Latino kid going on fantasy adventures! The meat of the book is cool and the Mayan myths are definitely a compelling basis for Percy Jackson-style shenanigans.

I picked this up on a whim because I'm into the trend of comics-adjacent prose novels, I lovedThor: Ragnarok (which I knew was partly based on the Planet Hulk comics), I love Greg Pak's writing usually...seemed like a win.

This story is like pretty dumb though and also unpleasant?? I never read the Planet Hulk ~comic event~ so IDK how this compares and also I don't care. I'm not sure who this is for. I guess like a less-squeamish Hulk fan who wanted more detail than the comics went into? Or like...didn't like the art of the comics...IDK.

My issue also is that in general I actually care like 90% about Bruce Banner and 10% about the Hulk so like....meh.

Spoiler

Also I slogged through the end because I thought this would end with Hulk changing back to Bruce and returning to earth, which was the part I cared about, but......it doesn't, he's just like "nope I'm space king now the end" so...okay I guess but obviously there's gotta be a return to status quo eventually...

This didn't do a ton for me personally, it felt like there was a LOT stuffed into 4 issues and the world/characters mostly never quite gelled for me? But the art is very fun and I enjoyed the banter between the 2 Kims, and it's definitely great to have a fun space/dimensional adventure with queer & trans characters. I just personally wish it were....slightly more fun? I guess?

I cannot FUCKING believe that I'm invested in Doctor Strange comics now, I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME.