Jason
You ever start a book and have no idea where it's going, but you are here for the ride anyway?
That's what happened with No Gods, No Monsters. It started off as a contemporary social commentary before diving into its paranormal fantasy elements, then took a hard turn into horror, but also it's a mystery? Regardless of classification, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next book.
Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
With Seven Secrets, Vol. 1, author Tom Taylor and artists Daniele Di Nicuolo & Walter Baiamonte create a fast-paced, action-packed story with a surprising amount of emotional resonance.
While I am familiar with some of Tom Taylor's other recent comics work, I purposefully went into reading this book a bit blind. I hadn't heard of Seven Secrets until I came across it on NetGalley, but with a premise involving a mysterious order protecting secrets throughout history, I was instantly intrigued.
Overall, the story in this first volume of Seven Secrets is quite simple – bad guys want the Secrets, good guys make sure that doesn't happen. Even the book's colorful art helps establish the tone as a kind of Netflix anime. As with most comic books, the first few issues are mostly exposition and backstory for world-building. That said, it's the character work that makes this book enjoyable.
Amidst all the page-turning action, Taylor is able to somehow devote space to focus on the characters, which is no easy task when there are so many to introduce. You get a sense of who these characters are, their relationships, and the strain the Order places on them – even if all that is only quickly explored due to the fast pacing of the story. Still, the characters seem well developed enough and I can only predict will become even more so in future volumes. Characters of particular interest are Canto and Sigurd.
The one major downside I have to the story is the overwhelming secretive nature of the Secrets. I know, that sounds like I'm missing the entire point, but for six issues I'm being told how these Secrets have the power to change the world, but it's hard for me to care about their protection when I have no clue what they are or even how the Order first came into possession of them. Taylor does a great job of creating a world that's familiar, yet with enough questions to keep you intrigued – for instance, we find out the Queen of England in this world is a young Black woman, and when we finally do get our first peek at one of the Secrets at the end of the book, it raises more questions than answers – but a story can't be ALL questions. At some point, I'm going to need something definitive to go on. Luckily, the questions and little hints we get are good enough to continue reading; I can however see them becoming tiresome if they continue beyond the next story arc.
All in all, a very fun & quick read and a solid four stars. I am definitely looking forward to reading Vol. 2.
Thanks to BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for allowing me to read this digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
I feel like I need to start out by saying that the first book in the series, A Deadly Education, left me disappointed. I will admit a lot of that is my own fault for having certain expectations about what a book about the Scholomance should be about, i.e. the famous school of black magic run by the Devil where Dracula himself studied.
That said, this book had the benefit of not having those expectations and being able to stand on its own. While I still didn't love it as much as I'd hoped, the school and world within it exist is very interesting and the ending was strong enough to make sure I come back for book three upon its release.
Thanks to Del Rey Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
I don't really know what to make of Spells Trouble, which ended up reminding me a bit of Practical Magic meets Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Overall, I enjoyed the story; in particular the relationship between Hunter and Mercy, the book's protagonist twitches. Opposites in many ways and argumentative like sisters can be, but never rivals and always there for each other at a moment's notice. Of course, the book ends hinting that may not always be the case. Luckily, we need not concern ourselves with that now.
Regarding tone, Spells Trouble is a little all over the place. At times it reads very much like an angsty YA novel, at others more like a simple Middle Grade, and then it hits you with a couple of very detailed mature moments that I was not expecting and honestly took me out of the story for a moment.
While I did enjoy the story, I was also a bit disappointed because it had the potential to be great. Unfortunately, it ended up being just a 3.5 for me. It moves along nicely and is easy to follow, but it also has some cliches and uses of slurs that were completely unnecessary. And since I did listen to the audiobook, I can say that while nothing amazing, the narrator does a solid job of bringing the story and characters to life.
Will I continue with the series? I don't know. It's not a hard pass from me, and honestly, if I had read this when all the books in the series had already been released, I probably would have. But is it something worth continuing in a year or two? I guess we'll have to see how my TBR looks at that time.
Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars
All in all, I think this novelization is a 3 stars read. It does add a bit more information not found in the film, so for that, it gets an additional half star, but not nearly enough to separate it from the film and make this an essential read like the novelization for Revenge of the Sith.
UPDATE:
2.5 stars, rounded up. For my full review, listen to the 2024 Secret Santa episode of the Shit We've Read podcast here.
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Read for the Shit We've Read podcast Secret Santa Special. Rating and link to episode to come later.
I think for now I'm giving this one a 4.5 because I can't tell if it's a 4 star book that I enjoyed more because of the films or a 5 star book that I was hesitant to say I loved because of the films.
4.5 stars
There is so much I loved about this book, in particular the amazing art by both Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner, as well as Mister Terrific's characterization. I've long considered Mister Terrific to be one of the coolest guys around, but so many of these stories have seemed underwhelming. Not so with this book. Mister Terrific IS the coolest guy around and I am fully a fan.
Unfortunately, I can't give this book a full 5 stars because the character assassination of Adam Strange is such a cynical take to make him relevant. Don't get me wrong, I'm not very familiar with Adam Strange, but making him out to be the villain seems like such a cop-out.
That said, taking this book for what is it, I think it's beautiful, engaging, and well-told. I can easily see myself revisiting this one time and again.