I wish I could give this ONE HUNDRED STARS but 5 will have to do. OMG I loved it so much. People kept recommending this to me and I kept saying yeah, I'll read it as soon as the library gets it, I'm not made of comic book money. And then people kept sending me scans of like, Bruce Banner eating his sadness ice cream and Spider-Woman making Hulk make her a sandwich, and I was like, yeah, I really need to read this ASAP.

And I did and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. Just like really funny superhero banter, which I love, and Jess and Carol being badasses, which I love, and Tony and Bruce being science bros, which I love. And Natasha, Clint, and Jess being grownups in a not-love-triangle!!

AHhhhhhh soooo perfffff

X-Men at their soap opera-y-est. Which is not to say that I did not like it.

Also, Gambit has an ahMAHzing perm in this.

FF have never really been on my radar, but I picked this up because everyone was raving about it and because I've liked everything else I've read by Matt Fraction. Not disappointed! It did a good job of setting up the premise and the new characters (the FF's B-team). Plus the use of the B-team is a great narrative device to make this newbie-friendly, since everyone has to explain shit to the new characters, and thus to the reader. Most of this volume was just introducing the characters and concept (which, BTW, is that the actual FF get stuck in time travel problems, or something?? SCIENCE and so the FF B-team is in charge)--which it definitely does in a fun, interesting way--but I'm excited to read the next volume where maybe some more stuff happens. I like stuff!!

I've seen this suggested as ~THE~ Black Widow GN to read, and I hadn't read any other Black Widow comics. But I mean... I like her in the movies... and I like Marjorie Liu... so I read this!

It felt like I was maybe supposed to know a little more about Black Widow than I actually did? Umm but still I was into it. Liu does a good job generally of making characters with bonkers backstories seem less bonkers & this is no exception.

OK. [b:Wolverine and the X-Men, Vol.4|15746856|Wolverine and the X-Men, Vol.4|Jason Aaron|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1342023935s/15746856.jpg|21437919] lost me a bit with the AvX crossover, but this one won me back fully by adding a WERESHARK.

Also an evil circus that magically brainwashes all the X-Men into thinking they're circus performers (uh, again).

But also mainly, wereshark.

Comics!!!

Thumbs up for: dinosaurs, weresharks.

Thumbs down for: Dog Logan's time traveling nonsense?

Thumbs back up for: Logan's ~father figure feelings~

Confused thumbs for: deaged time travel X-Men? Or something? STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME READ OTHER COMICS, I CAN'T HANDLE ALL OF THIS.

I know I've been railing against comics crossovers lately, but I was pretty into this one because it was just SO bonkers. Like, all of X-Treme X-Men was pretty bonkers, but then cross it over with some OTHER dimension-hopping X-Men and it was just so confusing that I stopped trying to understand it at all and just went along with it. RIP X-TREME X-MEN :(

Really interesting, contemporary take on faerie lore. I'll be interested to see where the next book goes, since this one did a lot of heavy lifting in terms of world building--which I liked, it was very cool, gritty world building.

I loved this as a follow-up to [b:Tithe|46777|Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1)|Holly Black|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1342120818s/46777.jpg|1460966], because it took all that cool world building and went in a totally different direction with it. If Tithe showed us the drama of the faery court, this was like, The Wire of faeries. Street level. I was into it.

I loved Val negotiating the new world she'd stumbled into. I loved her friendship with Ruth, how Holly Black sketched out the conflict between them without spelling it all out, and how they overcame it when it mattered.

A note on content: this is dark and has drug addiction and character deaths in it. In case it's not obvious, it's not a readalike for [b:Katie the Kitten Fairy|1012318|Katie the Kitten Fairy (Rainbow Magic Pet Keeper Fairies, #1)|Daisy Meadows|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1362305776s/1012318.jpg|1797707], and I'd only rec it to older teens.

This is more personal preference than anything else, but [b:Valiant|266607|Valiant (Modern Faerie Tales, #2)|Holly Black|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1332713354s/266607.jpg|588218] was more the type of story that I enjoy reading, and I was a liiittle disappointed to go back to the court intrigue type story. This is essentially a direct sequel to [b:Tithe|46777|Tithe (Modern Faerie Tales, #1)|Holly Black|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1342120818s/46777.jpg|1460966] with a few threads from Valiant woven in, and I would have preferred a direct sequel to Valiant. BUT NO ONE ASKED MEEEE.

Anyway, I still really liked it. I was happy to see Luis from Valiant pop up and get his own love story, and also happy for Cornelius. I enjoyed seeing Kaye navigating Faery and working things out with her mom and her... sister? Overall, definitely a satisfying conclusion to the series.