I LOVED this. Not a perfect book or anything, but--I love it when I can sense authors aging up with me, and this is a perfect late-20s book the way Scott Pilgrim is a perfect early-20s book, I guess? Just sort of on point for my general concerns and sensibilities at this point in time.

I still love O'Malley's art style and his way of adding little jokes into the art. So cute!! I thought about giving this 4 stars and then I remembered how cute the art was and bumped it up to 5.

Huh. I guess I'm not sure what to say about this. It was engaging and funny. The audiobook is read by an Australian (which makes sense obviously), which was fun. I generally have a soft spot for books that are kind of about everyday heroes or the power of small deeds or whatever, so I was into it. It might have more of an impact on teens who maybe haven't already been exposed to a ton of media on that theme? But like I said, I still dug it.

Most reviews seem to focus on the ending, which I... liked.

Spoiler

I can totally understand it feeling kind of gimmicky or whatever, but still: I liked it. It reminded me of [b:Sophie's World|10959|Sophie's World|Jostein Gaarder|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343459906s/10959.jpg|4432325], which I also liked.

I don't have anything profound to say. I just liked it.

(If you're wondering why I read this after being pretty MEH about volume 1: I checked them both out from the library at the same time and then I couldn't renew them because someone else requested them, and this prompted me to move them to the top of my to-read pile. #libraryproblems)

anyway this was even more boring than volume 1, just full of all the kinds of stuff I care about least in comics (boring time travel and Apocalypse and huge world-ending business) and hardly any of the stuff I do care about (character development, humor, sass, etc).

Pretty much all I liked about this was WASP, please put Janet Van Dyne in some book that I care to read. And/or a WASP MOVIE, thank you goodbye.

GUYS I need to read whatever comics where Cyclops actually killed Xavier because I have read like 500 comics where people are mad about it and not seen the actual event?

OH WELL I liked this well enough. I like the new students, and I almost always like the ~political~ X-Men storylines.

DAZZLER AGENT OF SHIELD!!!!

I kind of don't care that much about Magik and her magical problems but I care SO much about DAZZLER AGENT OF SHIELD.

oh gosh, I just love all of Stephanie Perkins's stuff. This was especially great to read in the wake of [b:The Girl with All the Gifts|17235026|The Girl with All the Gifts|M.R. Carey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403033579s/17235026.jpg|23753235], which left me mildly traumatized. Isla was like a cup of hot chocolate and a hug. I love Isla, I love Josh, I love how great Stephanie Perkins is at writing romance that's sweet and realistic without being without substance. I love how she writes about travel and dreams and the future.

LOVE

I loved this blend of cookbook and memoir! Knisley depicts her childhood and young adult years with humor and affection, and I love her attitude about food and cooking so much. Totally charming. All the recipes look so great, too.

We have this in adult but I don't think there's any reason teens couldn't enjoy this. Some of the nostalgia might wear slightly better for adults, though.

So fun and great! And has a cool arc about consent and super powers. I love this just as much as I loved [b:She-Hulk by Dan Slott: The Complete Collection Volume 1|18359940|She-Hulk by Dan Slott The Complete Collection Volume 1|Dan Slott|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1391413183s/18359940.jpg|25959420]--such a great blend of humor, pathos, superhero legalities, and action.

Ehh... like, I get that they needed to put Tony Stark in space to tie him in with Guardians of the Galaxy, but ultimately I just didn't care that much about this. I like Tony best when he's interacting with people, not stuck in space with robots. And the ending felt like a fakeout. But I'm glad Tony's back on earth.

I haven't read all of AvX and I probably don't care enough to read all of it tbh, but this volume made enough sense on its own that I enjoyed it a lot. It's Rogue-centric, and it's Rogue at her best--funny, tough, and just. I especially loved her with Ms. Marvel.