Dramacon, Vol. 1

Dramacon is told in the style of manga, a form of art originating from Japan that is typically in black-and-white. Many novels originally published in Japanese have made their way to America translated into English, but Dramacon is unique in that it originated in America. Dramacon tells the story of comic writer Christie who comes to an anime convention with her artist boyfriend Derek to sell their art. Here, after Derek mistreats her, she falls for the mysterious Matt who encourages her to stand up for herself.

Dramacon is an extremely clever book. First, it highlights the importance of how popular anime conventions have become for young people to attend. It also heavily borrows for the manga styles exhibited in Japanese novels, but puts a very interesting Western spin on it. Dramacon will appeal to both fans of manga and those who are wondering what the craze is all about. Parents should be warned, though, that occasionally a curse word is thrown in, and there's even a scene that almost leads to rape.

The art in this was charming and I like the idea of a manga style art style being about the con-life style and artist alley creators!

I was really enjoying this as a middle grade read, but I was surprised when some adult situations would just sneak in...One of them being especially a serious topic. I would suggest this read to a bit more mature readers, perhaps young adult? [ There is a scene when they imply they've had sex in the hotel room. This scene was pretty mild. My big shock was when her boyfriend got drunk and tried to rape her. She got away safely, but there are no legal consequences to her boyfriends actions. This scene was a surprise to me because the whole book reads like it's for young audiences (hide spoiler)] This was not my favorite, but I see it's potential to be interesting and fun. There is no really set audience for this and I think that's why it lost my interest rather quickly. If this was dedicated J or YA read I think it would do better. ~Ashley

I was really impressed with Awkward by the same author and I highly recommend!

I really, really enjoy Svetlana's stuff. I've already read Nightschool and thought I wouldn't really care for these as much since they weren't supernatural, but I was wrong. They're great!

You can read my full review on my blog here: http://knowitnotsomuch.blogspot.com/2012/02/dramacon.html