HMM I think I probably would have liked this way more if I'd read it closer to when I read the actual [b:Uglies|24770|Uglies (Uglies, #1)|Scott Westerfeld|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358962036s/24770.jpg|2895388] books? As is, though, it's been a few years and all I remember are the barebones details of Uglies so this didn't feel like an alternate take on Uglies, it felt like... the same thing? Which, I mean, I really liked the other Uglies books. So that's fine.

I really liked the very end with a few sketches from the artist & notes from Scott Westerfeld about character design and like what it means to be an "Ugly" (aka: normal).

I was surprised by this! IDK, I thought it was going to be Scott Pilgrimy or something but it was very simple and moving and made me want to call my parents and thank them for their parental sacrifices. THANKS PARENTS.

AHHH yess to all of this but especially to Pepper Potts's continued badassery.

Oh yeah and the part where Thor offers to fund Stark Resilient and Tony doesn't get it and then is like nope I want the challenge of being broke, bye.

IDEK I'M STILL CRYING ABOUT IT

like I didn't think it would hit me so hard emotionally b/c none of the key issues hit me directly (violent bullying, MIA soldier relatives, adults cheating) but like, AS King is just that good I guess.

FOR REAL UGH READ IT.

OK so a minute ago I said that romcoms aren't my thing... THIS is my thing. If meta-humor about fantasy kingdoms isn't your thing, you probably won't like this, but if they are.... oh man, this book NAILS it.

SO SO funny. I kept tweeting lines from it as I read--they aren't as funny out of context but I didn't care.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Ngggththtthh? The name of our kingdom."
"Gark said the kingdom didn't have a name."
"It doesn't. But there are times where, grammatically, it makes sense to speak the name of the kingdom aloud. And since it does not have a name, it is traditional just to mumble unintelligibly for the length of the average kingdom name."

It reminds me of [b:The Magicians|6101718|The Magicians (The Magicians, #1)|Lev Grossman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1313772941s/6101718.jpg|6278977] but funnier and less scary. Like not scary at all really. But it has that same kind of vibe, of someone who's consumed a lot of fantasy novels finally getting to write their own and using every trope to its best advantage. And then... without spoilers... even the parts that at first I was "meh" about evolved into awesomeness.

I'M 20 GHOSTS ABOUT THIS BOOK

PS the best part is how it's a fantasy book that did not force me to look at a map of a madeup country. good job Crap Kingdom!

Kind of confusing, probably because I think I skipped a few volumes of Astonishing? But also because parallel universes?

Kind of reminded me of X-Treme X-Men but without Dazzler. So, not as good. But still pretty good.

OH GOD Marjorie Liu will you please write X-Men always?! I loved everything about this. Especially Jubilee and X-23 watching the wedding from a tree. CUTE but also made me mad again that X-23's solo series got canceled. But whatever, now Marjorie Liu can write this! Yay!

Also the vintage comic at the end with Northstar's coming out is BONKERS. Highly recommended. The plot hinges around Northstar adopting an AIDS baby and it's VERY 1992 melodramatic. But also groundbreaking and cool. In an afterschool special way. With superpowers. So, best.

UGH BEST. I know the "X-Men pretending to bicker and fall apart while secretly having a plan" thing happens like, a lot? But I love it every time. Especially when Gambit and Wolverine get to bicker.

I don't really know much about Karma as a character but her whole plot line was interesting even for a newcomer. (And sad. Aww.) And I like that Jean-Paul & Kyle are having a cool grownup marriage but with superpowers. YEAH!!

Obv any short story anthology is going to have highs and lows, but overall I thought this was really strong. It's clear each author brought their own geeky passions to play in their particular stories, and it's usually cool to see authors writing about what they LOVE, even if I don't love it (eg Star Trek, astronomy, tabletop gaming). I tended to connect more with stories that overlapped with my own geeky sensibilities (eg Sara Zarr's theater geek story, DAVID LEVITHAN'S SCHOLASTIC BOWL STORY!!!!!!!!)

Other highlights for me... Tracy Lynn's story about a cheerleader getting "geek lessons" was really unexpectedly great (I felt like the concept could have easily been way cliche, but wasn't), and I loved the interstitial geektastic comics with text by Black & Castellucci and illustrated by Bryan Lee O'Malley & Hope Larson. Cute!!

But like seriously David Levithan wrote a short story about high school scholastic bowl so... infinite stars!!! OK fine, four. Overall a strong anthology for teen and adult geeks alike.

Ooh I liked this one so much that it took longer to read because I kept emailing fragments of it to Tara.

Like, yes, more Pepper/Rescue forever. Also yes to Tony snarking on Doc Ock forever. But most importantly, YES TO IRON MAN AND THOR ON THE MOON FOREVER. File that under things I didn't know I wanted until I received them, oh my god.

This volume also includes Rescue #1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick? DOES RESCUE ACTUALLY HAVE HER OWN COMIC? BRB let me Google that. Oh I guess there's just that one issue. UGHH Marvel, the world is ready for Rescue to have her own comic, probably. I am, anyway.