The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Batman Inc. was the lone book from last week, all the rest were new in stores on 8/29/12 Decent bunch, overall. Especially strong: American Vampire #30, Wolverine and the X-Men #15 American Vampire #30 (The Blacklist, Part Three) Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Rafael Albuquerque, Colors: Dave McCaig Ugh. That hits like a kick in the gut. I mean, in a good way, but still: oof. Skinner and Pearl are both in top form in this issue, in all their complicated history, ambiguous morality, and asskickery. The panels are gorgeous, and the writing ticks briskly along to its inevitable-feeling, heart-twisting climax. Wow. Batman Inc. #3 Writer: Grant Morrison, Artist: Chris Burnham, Color: Nathan Fairbairn Another fairly solid installment of Batman Inc. I really liked all the Matches scenes, thought they were quite well written. Dick is silly, Damian is petulant, what else is new? I am highly amused that the web of connections drawn on the Batcomputer does include both Kathy Kane ...

Catching Fire Suzanne Collins, 2009 Premise: Sequel to The Hunger Games . Katniss and Peeta may be done with the Games, but the imapct of their win is still reverberating throughout Panem. Katniss is faced with very real consequences for her family unless she toes the line through their “victory tour”. Of course, nothing goes as planned, and there may be no way to stop the wave once it's started. I read this one just as quickly as the first book, although it took me a while to pick it up, and then took a while for me to do this write-up. That isn't because I didn't like the book, but I do feel like I have a little less to say about this one, except for explaining how it compares to the first. I think that Catching Fire does a much better job of making the Capitol a real place where real (privileged) people live. The banquet scene was awesome. Also the other districts make more sense with more context. Not complete sense, there's still the matter of where th...

The Wanderer Fritz Leiber, 1964 Hugo Winner 1965 Premise: When it appears in the sky, many don't believe it. Many deny what it is. But the Wanderer is a planet, real, alien, and catastrophic for many of the people of Earth. It took me a long time to get into this book. And it's not a very long book. Much of it is structured in a way that reminds me of the beginning of The Stand : it jumps between many different groups of people to show how they are affected by the crisis. In The Stand , I think this is brilliant. The problem with it here is that most of the groups are either uninteresting, awkwardly dated in description, or just unsympathetic. I don't really care what happens to the spoiled young people who take refuge in a penthouse or the Brazilian terrorists that you never get any names for. The descriptions of how and why the planet-ship affects the tides and causes earthquakes is interesting enough, but it goes on a bit long. Frankly, I'd rather mor...

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part Two Script: Gene Luen Yang, Art: Gurihiru, 2012 Premise: Sequel to The Promise, Part One , and Avatar :  The   Last   Airbender Tensions rise between The Fire Nation and The Earth Kingdom over the fate of the disputed colonies. Zuko seeks advice from an untrustworthy source, Katara struggles with being the girlfriend of the now-famous Avatar, and Sokka and Toph try to knock some sense into Toph's students. This is a really strong second chapter. At this point, fans know what is eventually going to happen with the colonies. Legend of Korra has finished its first season, and since it takes place further into the future of that world, we know the founding of Republic City is going to be the eventual solution to the political problem. Seeing how they get there, though, is a story I'm still very excited to read. More important than that larger story, of course, are the stories of the characters. They're dealing with mo...

Law of the Broken Earth (The Griffin Mage: Book Three) Rachel Neumeier, 2010 Premise: Sequel to Lord of the Changing Winds, Land of the Burning Sands. Mienthe came to live with her cousin Bertaud after her parents died. She's a little shy and unsure of herself, but she finds herself drawn to the mysterious spy, Tan, who returns to Feierabiand with more than he intended. Agents from the neighboring kingdom are coming in search of Tan, but Bertaud has gone north to try to head off a looming war between humans and griffins. On Mienthe's actions may soon hang the fate of three nations and two species. This was a solid ending for an enjoyable series. I didn't fall as hard for the new characters in this volume, but I really enjoyed the storyline. This book also did a nice job bringing back all the characters from all three books by the end. (Kes is back! And awesome-scary now!) I also give this book major kudos for redeeming the only part I didn't like in the fir...

Two week round-up today. (I literally just moved across the country, so things are a bit hectic here, but comics must be purchased!) American Vampire: Lord of Nightmares #3 Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Dustin Nguyen A decent issue, but not a lot happens. Some nice atmospheric art underlays a good deal of expositional dialogue between Felicia and Hobbes, but I wish more space had been spent exploring the new characters introduced near the end of this issue. Captain Marvel #2 Writer: Kelly Sue Deconnick, Art: Dexter Soy Not bad, not bad. I am still loving Carol’s new look and attitude. The plot is cute, and the art has come together a bit more for me. There are some really great moments in this book, although like most big two ongoings, I wish it had a couple more pages for my money. Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #5 By David Petersen A lot of this issue is a montage of sorts, but it’s wonderful. I absolutely loved following Celanwe and Conrad’s voyage across the sea. T...

Locke and Key Volume 2: Head Games Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodiguez, 2009 Premise: Sequel to Welcome to Lovecraft . The Locke family kids try to adapt to their new life and make friends at their new school, with mixed success. Zack aka Lucas aka Dodge is distracted from his plans by the need to tie up loose ends. His methods continue to be pretty violent. And Bode, the youngest Locke sibling, finds a new key, this one a key to the strangest realm of all: the human mind. While I liked this volume more than the first, it still isn't a favorite of mine. The plot continues to move forward, but the slow burn means that we're still in the part of the horror movie when I'm yelling at characters: don't go in there! Don't do that! While Tyler and Kinsey's more foolish decisions are believable for teenagers, they still frustrate me a little. There's a little less gore and a little more creepiness in the volume, which I liked. Some of the art was really nice...

Land of the Burning Sands (The Griffin Mage: Book Two) Rachel Neumeier, 2010 Premise: Sequel to Lord of the Changing Winds . Gereint Enseichen has been a magically bound servant in the Kingdom of Casmantium for a long time now. By treaty, griffins are taking the city his master lives in, and he's taking the opportunity to try to find freedom. But instead of escaping across the desert, Gereint is drawn back into the affairs of the kingdom as the griffins encroach further into man's holdings than agreed. I had doubts about this sequel, when I saw that this book wasn't the further adventures of Kes, the main character from the first book. However, it turns out this is even better. This book delves much further into Casmantium, which was the 'enemy' kingdom for all of the first book. Their relationship with the griffins goes back further and has more old hatred on both sides. The main characters, Gereint and Lady Tehre, are simply fantastic. They are both m...

Kushiel's Dart Jacqueline Carey, 2001 Premise: Phedre is born to the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers, although the irregularity of her eyes means that she will have no place in the structured courtesan Houses. Instead she will make her own way, as a patron-supported courtesan seeking both information and pleasure, but finding danger in the intrigues of politics in the capital and elsewhere. I ended up with very... mixed feelings about this book. I'm not entirely sure how I want to review it, and I've put off doing so for a while. Overall I liked: the plot of the second half of the book, most of the characters, learning about the religion and history of the (alternate-historical-ish) countries. The book takes place in alt-France, called Terre d'Ange, supposedly once the home of angels on Earth. The people are a little, well, French. The religion is neat, I liked the mash-up angels-as-pantheon-of-gods thing they have going on. Overall I didn't like: the ...

Lord of the Changing Winds (The Griffin Mage: Book One) Rachel Neumeier, 2010 Premise: Kes knows she's different from her sister, from her neighbors. She assumes that she'll always be a bit different, with her quiet ways and her interest in the hills. She assumes that she'll use her herb knowledge to help her sister's horses indefinitely. Then she saw the griffins, and her world was forever changed. This book had simply gorgeous prose. I adored the way the poetry in the language seemed to echo Kes's thoughts: straightforward on the surface, deep and complex at heart. I especially just loved the first chapter. I loved the specific details about Kes's discomfort around others, and I loved the griffins. These are not creatures of flesh and blood, but beings of fire and spirit, dangerous and alien. I really liked how the inherent conflict between the fire nature of the griffins and the earth nature of humans played out over the book. The griffins K...