Pleasant surprise. The story is interesting, well developed and (very importantly) original. While other fantasy authors base their mythologies in previous ones, Schwab here creates her own and it's amazing. The characters are compelling and overall, the novel manages to portray the dark and twisted world she created in a very real tone.

Longer, more detailed review to come later.

Just gotta say that Charlotte Gilman Perkins is a character in here and that's awesome.

At this point, I think it’s pretty much safe to say that everyone has seen Sarah Andersen’s comics. They are all over the internet and social media, even translated to different languages. With a very simple style, they talk to their audience with humour and sincerity.

As an awkward person, I love these comics. They illustrate all the things I dislike about life: dating, hanging out with other people, adulting… You know, everything we have to do on a daily basis to be functional human beings. She captures all these crappy things with very simple drawings and jokes. Who hasn’t felt as if their lives aren’t as together as other people’s around them (me, every time I get into Facebook), or wanting to change your dress style because you see clothes on other people and wonder if they would work on you (literally all the time).

As a book, I don’t think this adds much to Andersen’s work. After all, we’ve seen these images all over Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. But having a collection of them is pretty cool. And Andersen deserves to be able to get money for all the work she does (right now, she uploads like three strips a week, which is insane. She must me one of the most prolific webcomic artists working today). So, that’s good.

Also, we should appreciate this woman for putting herself out there with all her awkwardness. It takes bravery to do so. And a lot of sense of humour. So, yay Sarah and your scribbles!