Uhh this took me forever to get through. I'm glad I read it. I totally buy into the afterword about how this was a turning point in the construction of the American identity. And it had some very funny lines about travel, and just interesting tidbits about tourism in the 19th century. But it was also a li'l bit offensive to my modern sensibilities! And it dragged. And was 500 pages long.

I mean, I wasn't the target audience of this book. It was......fine.

https://www.idontevenownatelevision.com/2020/05/10/170-resident-evil-volume-ii-caliban-cove-with-kait-renata-from-worst-bestsellers/

Oh man I think I got caught up in the hype and forgot that I'm not that into high fantasy type books?? Also it's been way too long since book 1, I had to read a recap, but I also felt like this kept introducing new characters? so...many...characters. Also so many twists and double-crosses and missed communications! Frustrating!! But I do love a good powers-training montage, and the general worldbuilding is still cool. I think this suffered from a) not actually being my cup of tea and b) middle book syndrome.

Once again I had to read a detailed online summary of this--I remember liking [b:The Hazel Wood|34275232|The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)|Melissa Albert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1500549460l/34275232._SY75_.jpg|53292100] but like, not enough to remember what happened in it I guess? But once I'd refreshed myself, I did like this. I like the worldbuilding and the story-ness of it all, and the writing is lovely.

Back when the library was open, sometimes I'd read a review of an upcoming book and put a hold on it and then forget about it until like 2-3 months later when it would show up on my holds shelf and I'd be like, "Oh yeah, I think I remember reading about this..."

Anyway this was one of those books, it made it just under the wire of library closure. I get why I'd request it--funny-sad essays, most of which are about travel, some of which are about drag queens...any of those things in a review would have triggered a hold for me. It was nice to read so much about travel right now, when I'm obviously not going anywhere. This is his debut essay collection and I feel like later in his career he could probably write some sharper, stronger essays? Like these were all interesting reads but they didn't necessarily all make points? Sometimes they kind of just sputter out.

Still, if you're called to by any of the basic points that called to me about this, you'll probably enjoy this.

why is so little of this book actually about characters from X-Men and/or Star Trek??? it's a book, don't tell me the actors were unavail

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-148-planet-x/

OK I mean I think it's cool to have a MG book about drag queens, and I think the way that the narrator learns about drag via RuPaul's drag race and frequent google searches is something that will be really relatable for a selection of tween readers. As the book itself knows, "drag kids" are taking off online and there are definitely some younger readers who will be interested in it for this reason.

Sadly the book's narrator isn't a drag kid, he's a semi-closeted gay boy whose comes from a generation of entrepreneurs, so he's always trying to start businesses and has most recently settled on starting a talent agency, so he books a drag queen 8th grader from his school.

It's a cute premise...for me as an adult reader, Mikey the narrator is supes annoying; his favorite modifier is "crazy-awesome" and that is used on every page. (Sometimes even "super-crazy-awesome.")

Spoiler

Also when we learned that Julian/Coco's dad disapproved of drag I know the dad was going to end up at the drag show and Learn a Valuable Lesson About Accepting his Son, which is nice I guess, but I think it's not cool that MIKEY called Julian's dad and invited him when Julian, Julian's mom, and Julian's grandma all thought it was a bad idea...idk like IRL that doesn't always work out so great.

also like...did you guess that the school bully is actually a gifted artist whose dad puts a lot of pressure on him and in the end can befriend Mikey? did....you guess it. idk I mean it's nice to consider that bullies have problems too but also this befriending-the-bully trope is often like....too much. Also like no surprise that Mikey was literally reading Wonder in this book. Bleh.

Still, it's a cute queer romance and I think there are aspects of this that will appeal to a lot of young readers. My rating is for me, as an adult this was pretty annoying.

I haven't read a lot of Lauren Myracle books but my sense is that she's often trying to bite off a TON of social issues? Anyway that's definitely the case here and it really...did not work for me here. This level of extreme melodrama isn't exactly out of line for comics but also...yikes. also YES the cat does die and I hate it, bye

The art is good but imo can't save this! I guess this could appeal to readers who are just looking to wallow in misery for awhile (which is a valid choice but not my jam).

I love a fairytale retelling but I felt like the setup here never quite gelled? It's a sweet romance if you can overlook the weirdness of the "curse" and the really long walk to water it took to get all these pieces lined up.

This was really fun and a little dumb and just what I wanted it to be.