Nov 19, 2017
From Our TBR Pile New & Upcoming Releases

Review – The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

The Language of Thorns:
By: Leigh Bardugo
Website: http://www.leighbardugo.com/m/
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Publisher: Imprint
Series: Grisha Verse
Rating:


The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic is, at heart, a book of fairy tales. These stories are set in Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha universe, the same world in which The Grisha Trilogy and the Six of Crows duology are set. Instead of high stakes adventures, we are given several fairy tales that take place in unspecified times within this world.

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Nov 16, 2017
Manga & Light Novels Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday Review – Alichino Volume 1 by Kouyu Shurei

Alichino Vol 1
By: Kouyu Shurei
Translator: Amy Forsyth
Release Date: (Original Japanese) November 1998; (English Translation) February 8, 2005
Publisher: TokyoPop
Series: Alichino #1
Rating:


Sometimes we pick manga we never heard of up at the library. Sometimes this a turning point, a time when we discover older or more obscured series that we collect the boxed sets of and treasure forever. This is not one of those times.

Alichino Volume 1 by Kouyu Shurei is not the most excellent manga on my library’s shelf. However, it is one which they’ve collected all of the volumes of and that was enough for me.

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Nov 13, 2017
From Our TBR Pile Manga & Light Novels

Review – Puella Magi Madoka Magica Vol 1 by Magica Quartet

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Volume 1
By: Magica Quartet
Illustrator: Hanokage
Translator: William Flannigan
Release Date: (Original Japanese) February 12, 2011; (English Translation) May 29, 2012
Publisher: Yen Press
Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Rating:


I think its safe to say that Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an international phenomenon. The story is written by Magica Quartet with the art done by Hanokage, and I cannot recommend this series enough.

A new student transfers into first year high school student Madoka’s class. The girl is familiar, a person from something Madoka knows must have been a dream. It being anything else was impossible. Cats don’t offer magical powers in exchange for your deepest wish. Yet here this girl, Homura, is and she’s fighting a rather familiar looking cat. The offer is again given. If she speaks her deepest wish, she will be granted both magical powers and her wish. But it isn’t all fun and games. The world of magic is a world of high danger and seemingly little personal reward. The lost are not mourned here, and evil stalks the innocent.

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Nov 09, 2017
From Our TBR Pile Graphic Novels

Review – Snotgirl Vol 1 by Bryan O’Malley

Snotgirl
By: Bryan Lee O'Malley; Leslie Hung
Website: http://radiomaru.tumblr.com/ ; http://milkmanner.tumblr.com/
Release Date: February 28, 2017
Publisher: Image Comics
Series: Snotgirl #1
Rating:


A graphic novel I’d heard about on booktube (that’s book based youtube videos for any who aren’t familiar with the term) and decided to pick up is Snotgirl by Bryan Lee O’Malley (creator of Scott Pilgrim) and Leslie Hung. While having a slight air of mystery here, this graphic novel doesn’t fall into the usual science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres I normally read.

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Nov 06, 2017
New & Upcoming Releases

#MangaMonday Review – My Hero Academia Vol 10 by Kohei Horikoshi

My Hero Academia Vol. 10
By: Kohei Horikoshi
Release Date: (Original Japanese) September 2, 2016; (English) November 7, 2017
Publisher: VIZ Media
Series: My Hero Academia
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Happy Manga Monday everyone! I think it’s safe to assume that’s we’ve all been waiting on the edge of our seats for the release of the next volume of My Hero Academia. Well, that day is tomorrow and I am here with an early review of My Hero Academia Volume 10 by Kohei Horikoshi.

This is usually the part of the review where I link up my reviews of previous volumes of series and give a disclaimer on how I’ll try to be as spoiler free as possible. Well, due to the brand new Manga Monday for the blog, a backlog of reviews for all nine previous volumes in the series, and a release date of tomorrow I decided to go ahead with Volume 10’s review first. Reviews of previous titles will be posted, however, and I’ll update this section accordingly.

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Nov 04, 2017
From Our TBR Pile Graphic Novels

Review – I Hate Fairyland Vol 1 by Skottie Young

I Hate Fairyland Vol. 1: Madly Ever After
By: Skottie Young
Website: http://skottieyoung.com/
Release Date: April 20, 2016
Publisher: Image Comics
Series: I Hate Fairyland #1
Rating:


One of the parts that I love so much about this series as a whole is that, yeah, the idea of a world that is perfect and charming in every way would become very frustrating and annoying very There is nothing I love more than completely over the top humor or stories that point out flaws and misconceptions in things usually considered ‘good’, ‘normal’, or ‘benign’. I Hate Fairyland Vol 1: Madly Ever After by Skottie Young does both of these things with near perfection.

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Oct 23, 2017
Graphic Novels New & Upcoming Releases

Review – The Castoffs Vol 2 by M.K. Reed and Brian Smith

The Castoffs Vol 2: Into the Wastelands
By: M.K. Reed; Brian Smith
Release Date: October 24, 2017
Publisher: Lion Forge
Series: The Castoffs #2
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


During the Get Graphic Readathon I read an early copy of The Castoffs Vol. 2: Into The Wastelands by M.K. Reed and Brian Smith. The Castoffs is a graphic novel series filled with magic, mechanical enemies, and a trio of girls who go from adversaries to friends.

I had the opportunity to read volume one of The Castoffs a few months ago. When the opportunity arose to read an early copy of volume two I simply couldn’t turn it down. As always, major spoilers will be avoided, but minor plot points will be discussed (nothing that wouldn’t be on a dust jacket).

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Oct 19, 2017
Graphic Novels Throwback Thursday

#ThrowbackThursday – Sandman, Vol 3: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman

Dream Country (Vol. 3)
By: Neil Gaiman (writer)
Release Date: (Original release) 1991; (this volume) October 19, 2010
Publisher: Vertigo
Series: The Sandman #3
Award: World Fantasy Award for Short Story (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream); Harvey Awards Nominee for Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Material (1992); Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards for Best Continuing Series, Best Writer (for Neil Gaiman) (1991)
Rating:


Happy Throwback Thursday, everyone. This week I continued reading The Sandman series, written by Neil Gaiman. This is an excellent horror graphic novel series, perfect to read around Halloween that everyone should read.

For anyone unfamiliar with the series, or if you’d like to catch up on our reviews, check out the reviews of Preludes and Nocturns (Volume 1) and The Doll’s House (Volume 2).

Dream Country (Volume 3) of the The Sandman series reads more like a compilation of short stories as opposed to the previous volumes in the series. The volume is separated into three different stories. One is about a Here again Dream takes somewhat of a back seat. Dream’s presence is obvious, and very much felt in each tale. Yet, he is not necessarily the main character of each tale. He is the catalyst, the important factor, the other, at times.

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Oct 17, 2017
From Our TBR Pile New & Upcoming Releases

New Release – It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

It Devours!
By: Joseph Fink; Jeffrey Cranor
Website: http://www.welcometonightvale.com/
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Publisher: Harper Collins
Series: Night Vale #2
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Welcome to Night Vale, the popular, long running podcast, has just released a second novel, It Devours! written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. This follows last year’s novel titled simply as Welcome to Night Vale. It Devours! is a thriller-esque tale set in the town of Night Vale, a small place somewhere in the mid-west where every conspiracy theory is true, monsters are real, the rules of time-space are more like guidelines, and the citizens take everything in stride, because, to them, it’s all quite normal.

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Oct 12, 2017
New & Upcoming Releases

Review – Blackwing by Ed McDonald

Blackwing
By: Ed McDonald
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Ace Books
Series: Raven's Mark #1
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Ed McDonald explodes onto the scene with the strongest debut novel I have read all year. Blackwing is the first novel in a new series featuring a world torn apart by a war that cannot be won against creatures who cannot die.

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