A knockoff of that Tomie DePaola book but not nearly as good

Confusing and bordering on gimmicky!

Why would you set up a moral if you’re not gonna follow through??

huh

Cute illustrations but stilted dialogue. And it’s soooo predictable

Fantastical in what feels to me like a sterile way?? The novel piles on information without explanation, which I know is intentional and helps convey Lyra’s youth and naïveté, but it’s also exhausting. No sparks of magic here, in my opinion.

Two frogs argue over whether reading is boring while saying “dude” a lot

Sort of a mixed bag! The Guardians Prelude issues are effective teasers for the movie, giving some insight into Nebula and Gamora’s relationship and Groot and Rocket’s attitudes. This volume also compiles the introductory issues that present each Guardian, dating from the 1950s and 60s. While these issues are interesting from a historical standpoint (especially getting to see Tony pull up his mesh stockings), the writing is incredibly heavy on exposition. Comics have come SO far in terms of storytelling technique. The final issue of the volume is (a recently written edition of) Peter Quill’s origin story.

Compelling writing about war, trauma, and recovery. Not a whole lot of plot, though, so it elicited mixed feelings from me.

I liked some of the content, but other parts struck me as gimmicky (especially all the lists). Abani is a talented writer, but some of the essays veer between multiple topics in a confusing and unfocused way.