4.5/5 I really enjoyed this book for many reasons. Yoon does a great job of mediating the genre--taking risks but still adhering to certain YA aspects. The casual diversity in the text is gorgeous. Personally, I loved Maddy's fixation with Hawaii and their trip because I was there less than a year ago. I could see Black Rock, Kaanapali, and Lahaina (the deleted scene). My only critique of the novel is that Maddy and Olly both seem a little too perfect. This seems to be a feature of the genre but I would have loved to have seen Maddy struggle with her illness via a blog or another platform. I think it was a little far fetched to believe that Maddy had zero internet friends or support in this day and age. I also wanted to know more about Olly's journey after their return/the move. What happened? Why did they go back to New York? But other than those minor issues, I'm so glad this book exists. I'm so happy that this isn't another text that romanticized young death and serious illness *cough* John Green *cough* I'm so thrilled to see a YA novel by, about, and for WOC gaining so much positive attention as a successful YA text. Planning to check out more of Yoon's work very soon!

Why do I do this to myself? Why did I wait so long to finally start reading this?? I'd heard amazing things, but I figured it would be just ok. Boy, was I wrong! This is an amazing start to what will no doubt be an amazing series! Complex characters, allegorical themes, and a compelling plot. I'm into it! Bitch Planet, another non-compliant coming your way!

My only reason for giving this book two stars instead of one is my respect for Defoe as an author, who made the first novel a meta fictional text and who continues to fool many readers into believing Crusoe despite his glaring contradictions and inconsistencies. Other than that, I hate this "classic." It moves far too slowly and the climax is anticlimactic since we know from the beginning that Crusoe escapes--hello, old Crusoe opens the story. Crusoe is an unreliable narrator who consistently blames his isolation on unknown exterior forces rather than owning his faults and accepting responsibility for his actions. Speaking of ownership, let's not forget Crusoe's immediate desire to slaughter the natives from the mainland and enslave those he "saves" (both literally and through his own twisted version of religion). I love that I can hate a character so much, but there just wasn't enough action or solid writing to compel me to enjoy this text.

Dear. Brian K. Vaughn:

Kindly go to hell.

Signed,
One of the broken-hearted souls who trusted you

***

Ok for real though. WHAT THE FUCK? This volume wrecked me. I've read my fair share of BKV series and I can't say that any of his other work has hit me like the last issue of volume 9. Sure, there have been upsetting moments in Saga, but they all pale in comparison to this. And that cover is just mocking me.

How am I expected to survive a year hiatus after THAT? I need to lie down...

3.5/5 Call Me By Your Name, where do I begin? Parts of this novel contain absolutely stunning prose. Aciman captures the heaviness that defines some summers; the slow, drawn-out days that seem to bleed into one another only punctuated by a few outlier events. Elio's yearning and attempts at coy ring unbelievably true.

There are a few reasons that I knocked my rating down to a 3.5. The relationship between Oliver and Elio felt very private. I never got a sense of the emotional connection between the two. Based on this, none of the interactions that should have been pivotal felt concrete. This bled into the ending as well. I'm sure Aciman meant to keep us at a distance and taper the ending to convey the sense of unattained potential but I wonder if I would have been more moved by the ending had the relationship between Elio and Oliver been a tad more accessible. But then again, I find it difficult to fault an author when this seems to be their desired effect.

Of course, the last sentence undid most of the negatives for me. I still hold out hope that Oliver will turn around just like Elio hopes.

Lovely art, but the story is really lacking. I understand that for an independent artist it may be hard to construct a first comic, but this story was quite lack luster. I didn't know who anyone was, I didn't know their motives, and I didn't feel connected to them. The lettering was just typed font overlaid against the artwork. This is so unfortunate because I love the premise and adore de Leon's art; I just wish she had collaborated with someone on this piece to make it a more cohesive comic.

I still love this book for many, many reasons. Reading it five years after my first reading, reading this as an adult, creates an entirely different and yet eerily similar understanding of the novel. I can feel my younger self reading this for the first time; I can see what I missed the first time around, I feel the tug of my younger self slipping into reading the relationship between Sam and Charlie as romantic, and my complete absorption of Charlie's narrative without critically viewing this as a text, as a constructed piece of work.

As an adult (granted still not a grown up, because honestly when is that gonna happen), I see all the subtleties that Chbosky inserted into Charlie's letters--his voice, the foreshadowing, the allusions to other literary youths--I see it now. Maybe I'll pick this book up in another five years and find something else. Maybe my readings will be infinite.

Horrible drivel. This is not Spike. This is not Illyria. I don't know who these characters are, but they're not the ones we've come to know and love. Also this storyline makes next to zero sense. I don't care about Spike's "mission" and I'm not sure it could even count as one. This was a major waste of time. Oh yeah, and the art is horrible.

Not terrible, just not my cup of tea. I found the story a tad confusing due to the sheer amount of characters, never felt invested in the mystery or the narrator, and I wasn't shocked by the reveal. Again, this may be because I'm not a detective/mystery reader, but I still can't say it was the worst or best book I've ever read.

3.5/5. Not the best Buffy comic but a preferable alternative to the horrible movie. Buffy's origin is not treated as a joke but highlights many of parts of Whedon's original plan for the slayer. The art is a little exaggerated when it comes to the female characters and the vampires look more like goblins than the signature Buffy vamp faces, but thankfully later issues don't have this problem.