Brooms
Ratings12
Average rating4.4
Objectively, I really did like this book. It has diversity like you wouldn't believe and a fun enough story with some exciting moments. The art was good. Also loved the more home-spun magic vs. your typical Latin incantation and training vibe. That was good.
But - and here's the kicker - something kept me from absolutely falling in love with this book. I don't know what it was, but I just couldn't really get attached to the characters and I really didn't care much in those exciting moments. I honestly kind of think that the book tried to do too much, with too many characters, in too few pages and just didn't allow the characters any time to breathe. I feel like too many tings were left unexplained. (Or maybe I'm just not quick enough to grasp them.)
This was really sweet! I loved the idea of the secret, backwoods broom races. I think the authors did a great job with the world-builing and characters. This is a good comic read alike for those who like Rust in the Root!
(11/13/2023) whoops, i thought i'd written a review of this one already... i guess not. hurray for BIPOC creators and truly diverse BIPOC cast! but i think that's as far as it goes for me, unforch. even though there are characters who are deaf, who use mobility devices, who have chronic aches/pains, who are queer, who are trans, and so on, the small blurb you get on the book jacket about each ensemble character is just about as far as their personalities go. kind of a bummer for a title that i otherwise should be all about: “a queer, witchy Fast and the Furious.”
I really enjoyed this a ton! I finished this in one sitting because I didn't want to stop reading! It was thrilling, excellent, really well done all over.
The artwork was stunning. I liked seeing ASL and the one character has a leg brace when she rides her broom – so cool. There were a lot of blues and cool tones in the panels which I liked. But there were also warm colours as well, which was great to see.
I definitely need to make a note of the illustrator because I would love to see this type of artwork soon again. I connected to the characters quickly, not just because of the story and dialogue, but because of how they were drawn. I could tell their personalities, if they were friendly, if they would even make you a cup of tea if you were down – just from what they looked like on the page (screen).