Princeless: Short Stories Volume 1
(The Princeless series)
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Various Artists
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, YA Collection/Comics/Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: This collection of short stories explores various characters from the Princeless comic series. Included are:
The Thing in the Dungeon - Young Adrienne and Devin find something strange in the castle dungeon.
The Merry Adventures of Young Prince Ash - The boy who would be king undertakes a bet to race through the beast- and elf-filled forest.
The Runaway Prince and The Girl with the Giveaway Ears - Thrown into the dungeon for failing to rescue Princess Adrienne, Prince Wilcome makes a new ally who may be more trouble than she's worth.
The Smiths - The history of Adrienne's half-dwarven sidekick Bedelia.
The Princess's New Clothes - After being "rescued" by Adrienne, the vain Princess Angelica wonders if she could do more with her life than simply look gorgeous.
Nightlight - Melancholy Princess Angoisse, abandoned in a tower in the middle of the swamps, meets a dashing young man with peculiar habits.
Waiting - The waitress Aisha seizes an opportunity when a pair of adventurers and the fugitives they seek arrive at her restaurant simultaneously.
Kira's First Hunt - The wolf-girl Kira participates in a pack initiation rite that takes an unexpectedly dangerous turn.
Girls Who Fight Boys - Adrienne and Bedelia rescue Raven from under righteous Sir Zachary's nose. (Previously reviewed as part of Princeless: Get Over
Yourself).
REVIEW: Yes, I know it's been a rather Princeless-heavy review streak this month. I had a Barnes & Noble coupon to burn off... This is the last one for a while, I swear. Anyway, this collection is a mixed bag. Some of these stories are interesting and fun, foreshadowing future developments in the series. A couple hint at possible spin-offs. But others seem oddly pointless, with less of the wit that makes the Princeless series so enjoyable. The changing artists also made it a little hard to track who was who, particularly in The Girl with the Giveaway Ears, and several of the wolves in Kira's tale were difficult to tell apart. Some images were tough to decipher for being so dark, as well. Overall, it's not bad, worth reading if you're following the series.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Cinder Edna (Ellen Jackson) - My Review
The Paper Bag Princess (Robert N. Munsch) - My Review
Monday, March 7, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Princeless: Be Yourself (Jeremy Whitley)
Princeless: Be Yourself
(The Princeless series, Volume 4)
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Emily Martin and Brett Grunig
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, YA Comics/Fantasy
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: After a seafaring side trip, Princess Adrienne and her sidekicks head to the swamps to rescue Adrienne's middle sister, Angoisse. She was always the broody one, pining for boys she couldn't have and joy she'd never feel for the perpetual gloom of her soul... a real ball of sunshine and roses. But even as Adrienne and company fight their way through beasts and goblins and Sparky's patented crash-landings, Angoisse may have finally found the man of her dreams - if he's truly a man, and not a nightmare...
Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort to make a "proper" man and future ruler out of his only son, King Ashe brings Devin to the place where the queen's carriage was ambushed by the possible-traitor Black Knight; maybe the anger will put some fire in the weak child's guts. But Devin doesn't think the evidence points to murder. The boy determines to set off on his own quest to find his mother - along with some unwanted help, the wolf-girl Kira.
REVIEW: With Volume 3 devoted to launching Raven's spinoff, I enjoyed getting back to Adrienne's quest. A hilarious, heart-filled adventure awaits in the swamps, as they cross paths with goblins and deal with swampland politics, with more surprises and snicker-worthy moments awaiting at Angoisse's tower. The dragon Sparky even gets a turn as heroine, loaned out to help the locals deal with a troublesome monster. As before, Adrienne's direct method of heroism isn't always the most effective, but she's learning, as are those around her. Back home, Devin finally gets a chance to come into his own. The new illustrators are nice, without the odd pink fetish from the previous issue. I'm looking forward to future installments.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Fairy Quest: Outcasts #1 (Paul Jenkins) - My Review
Heroics for Beginners (John Moore) - My Review
Heroes of the Valley (Jonathan Stroud) - My Review
(The Princeless series, Volume 4)
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Emily Martin and Brett Grunig
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, YA Comics/Fantasy
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: After a seafaring side trip, Princess Adrienne and her sidekicks head to the swamps to rescue Adrienne's middle sister, Angoisse. She was always the broody one, pining for boys she couldn't have and joy she'd never feel for the perpetual gloom of her soul... a real ball of sunshine and roses. But even as Adrienne and company fight their way through beasts and goblins and Sparky's patented crash-landings, Angoisse may have finally found the man of her dreams - if he's truly a man, and not a nightmare...
Meanwhile, in a last-ditch effort to make a "proper" man and future ruler out of his only son, King Ashe brings Devin to the place where the queen's carriage was ambushed by the possible-traitor Black Knight; maybe the anger will put some fire in the weak child's guts. But Devin doesn't think the evidence points to murder. The boy determines to set off on his own quest to find his mother - along with some unwanted help, the wolf-girl Kira.
REVIEW: With Volume 3 devoted to launching Raven's spinoff, I enjoyed getting back to Adrienne's quest. A hilarious, heart-filled adventure awaits in the swamps, as they cross paths with goblins and deal with swampland politics, with more surprises and snicker-worthy moments awaiting at Angoisse's tower. The dragon Sparky even gets a turn as heroine, loaned out to help the locals deal with a troublesome monster. As before, Adrienne's direct method of heroism isn't always the most effective, but she's learning, as are those around her. Back home, Devin finally gets a chance to come into his own. The new illustrators are nice, without the odd pink fetish from the previous issue. I'm looking forward to future installments.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Fairy Quest: Outcasts #1 (Paul Jenkins) - My Review
Heroics for Beginners (John Moore) - My Review
Heroes of the Valley (Jonathan Stroud) - My Review
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Someone Else's Fairytale (E. M. Tippetts)
Someone Else's Fairytale
(The Someone Else's Fairytale series, Book 1)
E. M. Tippetts
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, Romance
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Chloe Winters doesn't know why she let her roommate Lori talk her into being an extra with her on a Jason Vanderholt movie shooting in town; Lori's the one with the crush on America's hottest star, not her. She certainly didn't do anything to attract the man's attention. Working on a double-major at the University of New Mexico and angling for a career in forensics, she doesn't have time for a love life, and being the daughter of a teen mother via a married man makes her disinclined to sleep around, a trait that's cost her a few relationships. But Jason didn't get the memo, and somehow an awkward conversation becomes a movie premiere and Skype calls. Anyone else would be swooning over their fantasy come true, but "anyone else" isn't Chloe Winters. She's not the Hollywood type, and he has a reputation as a partying man. As nice as he proves to be off-camera, romance would be completely disastrous for both of them. Besides, Chloe's seen what love does to people's lives, and she just plain can't afford it. Not even with a man like Jason Vanderholt.
REVIEW: At the outset, I enjoyed the promise and the characters. Chloe's been scarred - literally - by a hard life, raised by a mother who never grew up and despised by her wealthy half-siblings to the point of physical attack. Few of her friends can understand her seemingly old-fashioned relationship ideas, especially as she's not chaste for religious reasons. (Indeed, several subplots deal with the role of sex in various people's lives and relationships, good and bad.) Chloe seems fairly on the ball - at first. As the story goes on, though, she becomes more and more oblivious to blatantly obvious clues, particularly about men, jumping to an awful lot of conclusions for someone who aspires to a scientific career. Jason starts off fairly flat, a guy pursuing Chloe because she's the lead in a romance novel and that's what the love interest does, though he gains a little depth later on... only to lose some of that depth toward the end. The relationship between Jason and Chloe has some ups and downs, as one might expect in a romance, many of the "downs" precipitated by Chloe and her unresolved issues about love and her own rocky past. Jason's life is no fairytale, either, dogged by fans and paparazzi, with nearly every moment of his life laid bare by scoop-hungry tabloids. There's a smattering of insight into the cult of fame and life as a Hollywood A-lister, here. Adapting to that kind of lifestyle, especially for a private girl like Chloe, is no easy task, a believably steep obstacle to overcome.
What really held this one back in the ratings were the multiple subplots and peripheral characters, many of which seemed to exist largely to draw out the story. The half-brother who once attacked Chloe comes back... only to go away again long before the end. Chloe's best friend Matthew plays heavily into a possible love triangle... but that fizzles out awkwardly. Other subplots deal with Chloe's immature mother, Jason's family (particularly a teen girl looking to follow in Chloe's mother's footsteps), roomie Lori's relationship, and more. Early focus on Chloe's career choice and personal interest in forensics falls by the wayside, just one of a tangle of competing side-tracks. The later parts of the book feel downright disorganized, as though Tippetts didn't have quite enough romance to fill the word count and scrambled to fluff and stretch the plot with unneeded filler. When I saw that the rest of the Someone Else's Fairytale series transitions from romance to mystery, some of the extra weight made sense, but not within the context of this ostensibly stand-alone tale. By trying to do too much and establish so many extra things for future installments, it becomes weak. The ends a little too neatly, with the finale feeling both stretched and oddly abrupt.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wicked Games (Jessica Clare and Jill Myles) - My Review
When Lightning Strikes (Brenda Novak) - My Review
Bidding On Brooks (Katy Regnery) - My Review
(The Someone Else's Fairytale series, Book 1)
E. M. Tippetts
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, Romance
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Chloe Winters doesn't know why she let her roommate Lori talk her into being an extra with her on a Jason Vanderholt movie shooting in town; Lori's the one with the crush on America's hottest star, not her. She certainly didn't do anything to attract the man's attention. Working on a double-major at the University of New Mexico and angling for a career in forensics, she doesn't have time for a love life, and being the daughter of a teen mother via a married man makes her disinclined to sleep around, a trait that's cost her a few relationships. But Jason didn't get the memo, and somehow an awkward conversation becomes a movie premiere and Skype calls. Anyone else would be swooning over their fantasy come true, but "anyone else" isn't Chloe Winters. She's not the Hollywood type, and he has a reputation as a partying man. As nice as he proves to be off-camera, romance would be completely disastrous for both of them. Besides, Chloe's seen what love does to people's lives, and she just plain can't afford it. Not even with a man like Jason Vanderholt.
REVIEW: At the outset, I enjoyed the promise and the characters. Chloe's been scarred - literally - by a hard life, raised by a mother who never grew up and despised by her wealthy half-siblings to the point of physical attack. Few of her friends can understand her seemingly old-fashioned relationship ideas, especially as she's not chaste for religious reasons. (Indeed, several subplots deal with the role of sex in various people's lives and relationships, good and bad.) Chloe seems fairly on the ball - at first. As the story goes on, though, she becomes more and more oblivious to blatantly obvious clues, particularly about men, jumping to an awful lot of conclusions for someone who aspires to a scientific career. Jason starts off fairly flat, a guy pursuing Chloe because she's the lead in a romance novel and that's what the love interest does, though he gains a little depth later on... only to lose some of that depth toward the end. The relationship between Jason and Chloe has some ups and downs, as one might expect in a romance, many of the "downs" precipitated by Chloe and her unresolved issues about love and her own rocky past. Jason's life is no fairytale, either, dogged by fans and paparazzi, with nearly every moment of his life laid bare by scoop-hungry tabloids. There's a smattering of insight into the cult of fame and life as a Hollywood A-lister, here. Adapting to that kind of lifestyle, especially for a private girl like Chloe, is no easy task, a believably steep obstacle to overcome.
What really held this one back in the ratings were the multiple subplots and peripheral characters, many of which seemed to exist largely to draw out the story. The half-brother who once attacked Chloe comes back... only to go away again long before the end. Chloe's best friend Matthew plays heavily into a possible love triangle... but that fizzles out awkwardly. Other subplots deal with Chloe's immature mother, Jason's family (particularly a teen girl looking to follow in Chloe's mother's footsteps), roomie Lori's relationship, and more. Early focus on Chloe's career choice and personal interest in forensics falls by the wayside, just one of a tangle of competing side-tracks. The later parts of the book feel downright disorganized, as though Tippetts didn't have quite enough romance to fill the word count and scrambled to fluff and stretch the plot with unneeded filler. When I saw that the rest of the Someone Else's Fairytale series transitions from romance to mystery, some of the extra weight made sense, but not within the context of this ostensibly stand-alone tale. By trying to do too much and establish so many extra things for future installments, it becomes weak. The ends a little too neatly, with the finale feeling both stretched and oddly abrupt.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wicked Games (Jessica Clare and Jill Myles) - My Review
When Lightning Strikes (Brenda Novak) - My Review
Bidding On Brooks (Katy Regnery) - My Review
Friday, March 4, 2016
Princeless: The Pirate Princess (Jeremy Whitley)
Princeless: The Pirate Princess
(The Princeless series, Volume 3)
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Rosy Higgens and Ted Brandt
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, YA Comics/Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The would-be hero Princess Adrienne is en route to rescue one of her sisters when she and her companions, dragon Sparky and half-dwarf smith Bedelia, happen upon another girl locked in a tower. It isn't until after the rescue that they learn she's Raven Xingtao, daughter of the Pirate King, long-time enemy of Adrienne's father Ashe and other nobles of the land. The princess's crusade takes an unexpected detour when Raven "borrows" Sparky for a personal project: tracking down the brothers who imprisoned her and usurped her rightful place as the Pirate King's heir.
This volume contains all four issues of the Pirate Princess sequence.
REVIEW: Raven stars in her own spin-off series after this adventure - and it's quite clear from the outset that she's being set up for her own stories. Indeed, she fairly bowls over most of the cast - even Adrienne - for a good portion of the book. It doesn't help that the new artists lean toward the pink end of the color palette. The hero princess still has a lot to learn about her chosen career, not to mention letting her anger and impulses get her into situations she can't easily get back out of. Raven, on the other hand, knows just what she's doing, merely lacking the means to obtain her goal... at least, until a helpful rescuer introduces her to a malleable lady dragon. After a bit of an uneven start, the tale wraps up in fine form, with a preview that tempts me to explore Raven's standalone adventures. It's more of a detour than a continuation of the Princeless story, but a reasonably entertaining one. I'm looking forward to getting back to Adrienne's quest in Volume Four, though.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Piratica (Tanith Lee) - My Review
Bloody Jack (L. A. Meyer) - My Review
Princeless: Save Yourself (Jeremy Whitley) - My Review
(The Princeless series, Volume 3)
Jeremy Whitley, illustrations by Rosy Higgens and Ted Brandt
Action Lab Entertainment
Fiction, YA Comics/Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: The would-be hero Princess Adrienne is en route to rescue one of her sisters when she and her companions, dragon Sparky and half-dwarf smith Bedelia, happen upon another girl locked in a tower. It isn't until after the rescue that they learn she's Raven Xingtao, daughter of the Pirate King, long-time enemy of Adrienne's father Ashe and other nobles of the land. The princess's crusade takes an unexpected detour when Raven "borrows" Sparky for a personal project: tracking down the brothers who imprisoned her and usurped her rightful place as the Pirate King's heir.
This volume contains all four issues of the Pirate Princess sequence.
REVIEW: Raven stars in her own spin-off series after this adventure - and it's quite clear from the outset that she's being set up for her own stories. Indeed, she fairly bowls over most of the cast - even Adrienne - for a good portion of the book. It doesn't help that the new artists lean toward the pink end of the color palette. The hero princess still has a lot to learn about her chosen career, not to mention letting her anger and impulses get her into situations she can't easily get back out of. Raven, on the other hand, knows just what she's doing, merely lacking the means to obtain her goal... at least, until a helpful rescuer introduces her to a malleable lady dragon. After a bit of an uneven start, the tale wraps up in fine form, with a preview that tempts me to explore Raven's standalone adventures. It's more of a detour than a continuation of the Princeless story, but a reasonably entertaining one. I'm looking forward to getting back to Adrienne's quest in Volume Four, though.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Piratica (Tanith Lee) - My Review
Bloody Jack (L. A. Meyer) - My Review
Princeless: Save Yourself (Jeremy Whitley) - My Review
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
The Last Dragonslayer (Jasper Fforde)
The Last Dragonslayer
(The Chronicles of Kazam series, Book 1)
Jasper Fforde
Graphia
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time, magic was the ultimate force in the world, able to conjure castles in an afternoon or relocate mountains on a whim. Today, there's barely enough wizidrical energy in the Ununited Kingdoms to fly a carpet or unblock a drain, with technology beating it handily for cost and reliability. Some say it's just the way of the world, that magic is a finite resource that will, like the veins of underground marzipan, eventually be used up for good. Others say that magic has always been tied to dragons. Only one still lives - and now, premonitions around the world peg Maltcassion as slain inside a week.
Jennifer Strange, a nearly-sixteen-year-old foundling raised by the nuns of the sacred Lobster, may technically be an indentured servant at Kazam Mystical Arts Management, but in truth she runs the place after the founder, the Great Zambini, literally disappeared in a puff of smoke and never reappeared. For all their powers, wizards are in fact rather childish, relying heavily on their mundane managers to wrangle work and fill out the mountain of government forms, though their egos never permit them to admit it. Only a handful of wizards at Kazam still have enough juice to earn a living, reduced to home and lawn service and the odd pizza delivery - barely enough to pay the bills, and even those contracts are drying up. As she helps settle a new servant, young Tiger Prawns, into life at Kazam, the pre-cogs light up with news of the dragon's impending death, even as surges of wizidrical power well into the megashandars burst through the kingdom of Hereford. Big Magic is stirring, prophecies are on the verge of fulfillment, and everyone from King Snodd to TV talk show hosts turns their eye to the Dragonlands: the last unspoiled wilderness in the land, just begging for development as soon as the big firebag drops dead. All the world waits with bated breath for the Last Dragonslayer to arrive... possibly Jennifer Strange herself.
REVIEW: I've heard nothing but great things about Jasper Fforde, how clever and smart and downright hilarious his books are. Not being literate enough in the classics to attempt his Thursday Next series, I figured a young adult fantasy with dragons would be much more my speed. Unfortunately, having finished it, I still fail to see the clever, smart story I was promised. It feels more like someone yelling random silly things at me, and expecting me to find them funny because they're being yelled, and because they're silly. One wizard is named Full Price - that's FUNNY! He turns into a walrus - walruses are FUNNY! Now there's a kid named Tiger Prawns - that's another FUNNY name! Laugh, already! Silliness alone, sadly, isn't enough for me to find a thing funny. Context is a big part of humor, and the context here is mostly more silliness. The characters are largely childish and unpleasant, few being deeper than the paper they were written on, though the dragon bordered on intriguing. Jennifer often feels like an empty shell of a protagonist, even though she's narrating the tale in first person; she gives lip service to deeper personality, but I didn't feel it myself. As for the story, it just never takes off like it should. I was past the halfway mark before I saw any real depth to the thing, and even that never quite coalesced into anything more than a heavy-handed statement about modern greed and short-sighted consumerism. The conclusion seems to be pulled out of nowhere like a magician's handkerchief chain, and frankly Jennifer's world didn't earn or deserve its outcome. Maybe Fforde's humor just doesn't translate well to the young adult fantasy medium, or it doesn't carry across the Atlantic as well as Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, or it simply isn't my cup of cocoa. Whatever the reason, I didn't enjoy it; had it not read so fast, and had I not been so determined to find the witty story I'd been promised, I doubt I would've bothered finishing it.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Goblin Quest (Jim C. Hines) - My Review
The Accidental Sorcerer (K. E. Mills) - My Review
The Princess and the Firedrake (Jim Stinson) - My Review
(The Chronicles of Kazam series, Book 1)
Jasper Fforde
Graphia
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time, magic was the ultimate force in the world, able to conjure castles in an afternoon or relocate mountains on a whim. Today, there's barely enough wizidrical energy in the Ununited Kingdoms to fly a carpet or unblock a drain, with technology beating it handily for cost and reliability. Some say it's just the way of the world, that magic is a finite resource that will, like the veins of underground marzipan, eventually be used up for good. Others say that magic has always been tied to dragons. Only one still lives - and now, premonitions around the world peg Maltcassion as slain inside a week.
Jennifer Strange, a nearly-sixteen-year-old foundling raised by the nuns of the sacred Lobster, may technically be an indentured servant at Kazam Mystical Arts Management, but in truth she runs the place after the founder, the Great Zambini, literally disappeared in a puff of smoke and never reappeared. For all their powers, wizards are in fact rather childish, relying heavily on their mundane managers to wrangle work and fill out the mountain of government forms, though their egos never permit them to admit it. Only a handful of wizards at Kazam still have enough juice to earn a living, reduced to home and lawn service and the odd pizza delivery - barely enough to pay the bills, and even those contracts are drying up. As she helps settle a new servant, young Tiger Prawns, into life at Kazam, the pre-cogs light up with news of the dragon's impending death, even as surges of wizidrical power well into the megashandars burst through the kingdom of Hereford. Big Magic is stirring, prophecies are on the verge of fulfillment, and everyone from King Snodd to TV talk show hosts turns their eye to the Dragonlands: the last unspoiled wilderness in the land, just begging for development as soon as the big firebag drops dead. All the world waits with bated breath for the Last Dragonslayer to arrive... possibly Jennifer Strange herself.
REVIEW: I've heard nothing but great things about Jasper Fforde, how clever and smart and downright hilarious his books are. Not being literate enough in the classics to attempt his Thursday Next series, I figured a young adult fantasy with dragons would be much more my speed. Unfortunately, having finished it, I still fail to see the clever, smart story I was promised. It feels more like someone yelling random silly things at me, and expecting me to find them funny because they're being yelled, and because they're silly. One wizard is named Full Price - that's FUNNY! He turns into a walrus - walruses are FUNNY! Now there's a kid named Tiger Prawns - that's another FUNNY name! Laugh, already! Silliness alone, sadly, isn't enough for me to find a thing funny. Context is a big part of humor, and the context here is mostly more silliness. The characters are largely childish and unpleasant, few being deeper than the paper they were written on, though the dragon bordered on intriguing. Jennifer often feels like an empty shell of a protagonist, even though she's narrating the tale in first person; she gives lip service to deeper personality, but I didn't feel it myself. As for the story, it just never takes off like it should. I was past the halfway mark before I saw any real depth to the thing, and even that never quite coalesced into anything more than a heavy-handed statement about modern greed and short-sighted consumerism. The conclusion seems to be pulled out of nowhere like a magician's handkerchief chain, and frankly Jennifer's world didn't earn or deserve its outcome. Maybe Fforde's humor just doesn't translate well to the young adult fantasy medium, or it doesn't carry across the Atlantic as well as Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams, or it simply isn't my cup of cocoa. Whatever the reason, I didn't enjoy it; had it not read so fast, and had I not been so determined to find the witty story I'd been promised, I doubt I would've bothered finishing it.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Goblin Quest (Jim C. Hines) - My Review
The Accidental Sorcerer (K. E. Mills) - My Review
The Princess and the Firedrake (Jim Stinson) - My Review
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