Movie Review: The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot

Yes, I know… what in the hell can this movie have to offer? Well you’d be shocked to know that this movie is not the silly action/monster movie it sounds like, but it’s actually a beautiful love story.

This movie stars Sam Elliot as Calvin Barr a WWII veteran with a very decorated past. As it turns out Calvin is the man who killed Hitler in this offering of an “alternative history”. Nothing is quite what it seems when two government officials show up on his doorstep to ask him to do the impossible, kill Bigfoot. In this movie Bigfoot is a carrier for the nightmare plague and if left alive will annihilate the U.S. Let’s forget that for a moment and talk about the most important part of this movie, the love story. Calvin falls in love with a school teacher named Maxine right before he has to leave for the military. Their love that can never be is the real heart of the movie, and I won’t spoil it for you.

There is a ton of symbolism in this movie and it really hits you in the heart. Calvin is a man with a lot to overcome. He feels guilt for the death he caused and his heart has been broken since he left the military and arrived home to find the love of his life gone. This movie is about him overcoming the obstacles in front of him and Sam Elliot portrays this character with excellence. You can feel every emotion.

I stumbled upon this movie by complete chance. My boyfriend saw it on Hulu and thought the title sounded hilarious and we both like Sam Elliot. At first I didn’t pay attention but it really started to catch my eye and I stopped what I was doing to watch. We expected a silly overly action packed war/monster B-movie. But really it has the feeling of a strange but lovable indie movie. There are long scenes and beautiful cinematography. In fact, we loved this so much we went to my dads house and watched it for a second time with him. It was just as good the second time.

There is really only one scene that came off as a little bit goofy and I figure it’s probably because the budget was limited. The Bigfoot itself is not as believable as it could have been. Honestly though, the Bigfoot is a small piece of the story and didn’t deter me in any way.

I absolutely loved this movie and I have been recommending it left and right. I strongly suggest anyone interested in a unique and odd love story to check this one out! I give The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot a 5/5 stars.

I don’t typically write movie reviews but I think I might do this once or twice a month. I’m a huge movie buff and I think it would be fun to review those too. Do you think this movie sounds interesting? Have you seen it? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments.

My favorite books from my childhood

As a kid I spent a lot of time reading to escape how boring reality was. For me, every book was a new adventure and as a kid living in a small town that was all I needed.

The very first chapter book that I read was “Because of Winn-Dixie” by Kate DiCamillo. I actually found this book while I was camping with my family at Moonshine park here on the Oregon coast. The book was down by the river, I picked it up and read the back. I was intrigued but afraid to take it because I didn’t want to steal it. So I left it there and when we went back the next day I picked it up and read a little bit. I repeated that process every day until we left. I then decided that the owner probably wasn’t coming back for it, so, I brought it home with me and finished it. To this day I am extremely fond of that book. I’ve always loved dogs and something about Winn-Dixie and his little smile won me over.

As a kid I also loved “The Hobbit” by the great J.R.R. Tolkien. I didn’t so much read this book but had it read to me. My grandmother read this book to my dad, then he read it to my brother and I, and I have every intention of reading it to Finn. It’s a family tradition at this point and it’s such a magical book, I feel like it really opened my mind to the fantasy genre. “The Hobbit” is like a really long and intense fairy-tale that embodies friendship, family, and adventure. I think it is an excellent novel to read to a child or read to yourself. I reread this book about once a year.

This next one is a little bit different, but I absolutely adored the “Young James Bond” series by Charlie Higson. I have always loved James Bond, my dad and I go see all of the Bond movies together. Higson wrote young Bond in a way that doesn’t come off as a cheesy, but very believable for the beloved spy. I honestly read those books so frequently that my copy of Silverfin, book one in the series, is absolutely wrecked. I actually got my copy of Silverfin on a whim while visiting the spy museum in Washington D.C., best souvenir I ever bought.

I couldn’t possibly leave out the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. I actually struggled with these books growing up. I had a hard time finishing The Order of The Phoenix because it was so long, it took three tries before I finished it. I read the last two books later in life mostly because I was tired of the bullying I received for reading Harry Potter at school. Luckily, times are a bit different and kids can like stuff like Harry Potter, Pokémon, and Star Wars without being bullied. Harry Potter will forever be my favorite kids series.

These are my all-time faves without a doubt in my mind. What did you read as a kid? Do you reread them often like I do? Let me know in the comments!

Get To Know Me: My Favorite Author

My all-time favorite author is J.R.R. Tolkien. I consider him the grandfather of the fantasy genre and his fantasy writing is something that can’t be copied.

Tolkien is a master at world building. Middle Earth has an extensive history including multiple ages, several languages, and various races of beings. Tolkien is able to juggle the world of Middle-Earth in a way that I haven’t seen done before or since. Tolkien was a linguist and knew at least 16 languages, and created about 15. He takes these languages and imbues the races of Middle Earth with them. He created the beautiful rolling Elvish language and the harsh and terrifying Black Speech. Tolkien’s ability to dedicate himself to one world and add the depth that he did is something to be admired.

Tolkien also creates characters you want to root for. My favorite of his characters being Samwise Gamgee, the stubborn and loving sidekick to Frodo Baggins. There is something fascinating to me about an author who can create characters as terrifying as the Uruk-hai and then some as lovable as the Hobbits. He also manages to touch the depths of evil without making his story gory or explicit.

Tolkien’s writing style is wholesome but not silly. When you enter Middle-Earth you aren’t entering a world of sex and murder like a lot of fantasy novels. You are entering a world held together by friendship and the struggle between good and evil. I enjoy this because it allows Tolkien to focus entirely on the adventure and the bonds a fellowship creates, without worrying about how the violence or sex scenes will sound to the reader.

Tolkien also does a great job of expressing love between his characters. We have the love between the fellowship in The Lord of The Rings, which prompts a massive search and rescue mission for Merry and Pippin, we also have the love between Aragorn and Arwen which has spanned such a long time. Setting The Lord of The Rings aside we can also see Tolkien’s great care for love in The Hobbit between Bilbo and his new Dwarf friends, or in the tale of Beren and Lúthien. In fact, Tolkien compared his wife to Lúthien and on their gravestones they are respectively named Beren and Lúthien.

I hold Tolkien’s writing dear to my heart. He is my inspiration to read and write. Thanks to his books I chose to pursue English/Writing in college.

Who is your favorite author? Do you also like Tolkien? Let me know in the comments!

Grimworld By Avery Moray

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a world where ghosts and ghouls were the norm? Where you could run into a ghast walking home from school? If you are like me and have often wondered what a world filled with creatures of the night might be like then Grimworld is definitely for you!

This book is about a boy named Henry who becomes the victim of a Vytiper, a dark being that steals years off of your life for their own gain through the use of a cursed pocket watch. Henry ends up meeting Lang another victim just like him, with only weeks left to live, and together they must face ghouls and villains that they never dreamed of.

This book handles stress and the “race against time” plot device well. You can feel the dread of the boys’ impending doom on each page. Time is of the essence as Lang’s time dwindles before their eyes. With each tick of the pocket watch, his life approaches its end. You can feel it from the very beginning when Lang tells Henry:

“By the way,” he leaned forward and grabbed Henry’s watch, inspecting it, “looks like you’ll die in 10 years.”

This stress pushes further when you discover how close Lang is to the end and is pushed even further when you are informed that Lang already knows someone who has perished to the Vytiper.

Moray releases info on the Vytiper in small morsels that are easy to chew but keeps you guessing until the end. The boys must pick up all of the information on the Vytiper on their own because it is a recent entity in their world and no one has had the time to further research the beings. Most people don’t even know of the Vytiper’s existence. With that said the boys’ mission doesn’t feel hopeless, they are capable protagonists who take every logical step to save themselves. Not once does it feel like they are making unrealistic decisions for their age, I hate when characters are made over or under mature for their age group. One thing I really need to enjoy a book is likable and believable characters, Grimworld offers just that. While each character has their quirks they also have strengths that make them interesting and lovable, from the very beginning I was rooting for Henry and Lang.

I might add one more piece to my review, and that is the realistic and unrealistic balance of the antagonist. The predicament they are in is reasonable. Being faced with death is a scary idea and I am willing to bet that there is a frightening amount of people in this world who would be willing to sacrifice years of another person’s life for their own gain. So while the antagonist is an unrealistic entity that could only surface in our nightmares, it has a human quality that makes it even scarier. We are faced with not only the fear of the unknown but the known.

Grimworld is a one-sitting book that really captured my attention and has jump-started my excitement for Halloween. If you are looking for a spooky middle-grade novel then I suggest you check out Grimworld you will be impressed. I give this book a whopping 5/5 stars! As always thank you to NetGalley and I’d like to extend a huge thank you to John Hunt Publishing Ltd. for giving me access to this wonderful book.

The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills

The Ghost Collector is less about the collecting of ghosts and more about the grief process. It will make you cry in the best way.

The Ghost Collector is about a girl named Shelly who lives with her mother and her grandmother. Shelly’s family has the unique ability to catch ghosts in their hair. Shelly’s mother tries to protect her from that life while her grandmother nurtures Shelly’s fascination with ghosts. Shelly loves her family very much and they are very tight knit, ghost preferences aside, until one evening Shelly’s mom doesn’t make it home and they learn she has died in a car accident. Shelly has a hard time coping with the fact that her mother is gone and hasn’t reappeared as a ghost, so she takes to collecting ghosts in her room until it is full to the brim.

What I like about this book is that for the most part the ghosts aren’t frightening and Shelly’s grandma has a very humane way of viewing them. In this book they are treated like any other person or animal. It was a nice change of pace to the typical ghost story. You get to see mischievous ghost people and their bones to pick with death and a graveyards supply of mice that met their fate to some very productive cats. It is slightly comical while holding that melancholy tone.

Focusing on Shelly’s grief was such an unexpected aspect of this story. You can feel Shelly’s pain and frustration at losing and being unable to find her mother, it haunts her every step. She is so young and faced with a tremendous loss, the emotion is very genuine in The Ghost Collector. There is one point in the book where Shelly is confronting a ghost bird and says,

“Why?” Shelly demands, “Why you and not her? If a bird can be a ghost, why not her? Where did she go? Where does anyone go?”

That piece of dialogue hit me hard. She is still a grade schooler and she is faced with such intense life questions. Shelly is one of the only people in the world capable of speaking to and caring for the dead, yet, she can’t find her own dead mother anywhere. Why? Honestly the resolution of this story so heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. I won’t spoil it for you.

The other theme that I really liked and found unexpected was the depth of exploration this small book went into about the affects of a loss on a parent. Shelly’s grandma lost her daughter and is now faced with raising her granddaughter alone. Shelly’s grandma, pre-car accident, hardly charged anything to clear ghosts from peoples’ homes but now she is forced to charge people and be more careless about the dead, and breaks her own set-in-stone rules. This has a major affect on Shelly, she thinks if grandma can break rules she can break rules. The cause and effect in this story is very clear and everything grandma does trickles down to Shelly. That’s how Shelly ends up collecting ghosts, she sees that grandma can break her own rules so why can’t Shelly hoard a few ghosts in her bedroom?

My only complaint about this book is that the perspective is difficult to read at first. it feels like the point of view should be different. It’s written in 3rd person but really feels like it should be written in 1st person. This story is all about Shelley and with the 3rd person perspective it feels like it is being narrated by an outsider. The words felt weird in my head when I began reading, and they threw me out of the story a few times. In comparison to the impact of this story this is a relatively small complaint but it something I had to get off of my chest.

The Ghost Collector has easily earned itself 4/5 stars in my book. This story is tragic yet beautiful, and it will make you shed some tears. Thank you to NetGalley and Annick Press Ltd. for giving me the opportunity to review The Ghost Collector.

Kriss by Ted Naifeh

Do you ever read something and feel little to no impact from the story? That’s how I felt about Kriss.

Kriss: The Gift of Wrath is the introductory volume to the Kriss graphic novel series. It is about a young man with a mysterious past who must fight a wild snow cat to save the townspeople and the girl he seemingly loves.

You honestly don’t learn anything about Kriss, the protagonist, in this first installment and that bothered me. He seems to be in love with a girl where he lives and he hates his “father”. His “father” isn’t actually his father. Other than that he fights the snow cat and meets what I interpreted as the gods of his existence. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot to say about the plot because there wasn’t much of one. Kriss is an angry character with a hidden past that we don’t glimpse, I don’t know the direction he is heading. To me he came off as an anti-hero, at first he appeared evil and it weirded me out.

The illustrations by Warren Wucinich were half dark and mysterious and half goofy. There is a character titled “The Lord Protectorate” and the way he was drawn looked comical compared to the rest of the gloomy scenes. It just felt like some of it didn’t fit in and threw me out of the story. Upon further investigation Wucinich illustrated some Invader ZIM graphic novels and I could see the art style hidden within Kriss. To me it felt flippy floppy and didn’t stick with one theme. A project like this should either be dark and gloomy, with the black and white with red contrasts or full color cartoon style like Invader ZIM, not both.

There really wasn’t a lot for me to base this review on because this volume was short and it was the introductory issue, I hope that Kriss improves over time because I see how the character could be compelling with his mysterious past. As of right now Kriss has earned a low 2/5 stars. I liked some of the art and I feel like it has potential, but right now I am not impressed.

Regardless of my opinion on this particular graphic novel I want to extend a huge thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for giving me the chance to review Kriss.

The Malamander by Thomas Taylor

The Malamander reminds me of a cross between A Series Of Unfortunate Events and Lovecraftian horror. This book is perfectly strange and creepy while not crossing the boundary into adult horror. The Malamander is a middle grade novel and it does a good job of keeping with that age group.

The Malamander is about Herbert Lemon a kid who washed up in a lemon crate in the town of Eerie-on-sea, he is the Lost-and-founder at the Grand Nautilus Hotel. He is very good at his job but life flips upside down when he meets Violet Parma, a girl his age who also has a history at The Grand Nautilus Hotel. Together they embark on an adventure to find Violet’s missing parents that leads them into the den of the Malamander.

The contrast between Herbert and Violet makes the perfect mystery partnership, Violet is fearless and stubborn while Herbert is extremely intelligent but fearful. Together they complete the duo and are a force to be reckoned with. They unravel the mystery of the Malamander and find clues that very well could lead to Violet’s parents. I enjoyed the relationship between the two protagonists, they keep each other going. Violet encourages Herbert to keep going even when he is scared out of his pants, and Herbert uses his knowledge to keep Violet on the right track. The characters flowed together seamlessly and it made the book enjoyable.

Something that I think works well in kids novels is the use of clever character names. In The Malamander we have Mr. Mollusc, Sebastian Eels, Mrs. Fossil, and Mr. Seegol. The names are nautical themed and also reveal something about each character. This is something I have poked fun at in adult books but for work aimed at middle graders I think it was done well. This works because it is fun and makes the characters easier to remember for younger audiences, plus it’s a little funny.

This book is creepy enough for its young audience but not so creepy that a child will be afraid to sleep, and to me that awareness of audience is something to be admired. Here is an example of one of the “scary” scenes:

Where its eyes should be, there are two enormous pale reflectors. They blink, twice. Then it moves off– darting from its crouch and springing along the murky foreshore at great speed, its feet slap, slap, slapping as it vanishes in a swirl of mist.

The description is creepy but not horrifying, I like that and the imagery used by Taylor is so easy to see. With every description you can see the characters and the scenery they live in. I found that Taylor’s writing swallowed me whole and spit me out in the strange town of Eerie-on-sea. Not only is Taylor wonderful at setting scene, but he is accompanied by the illustrator Tom Booth who breathes life into each character. Unfortunately, because this is an ARC, I didn’t get to see all of Booth’s illustrations but from what I did see I was strongly reminded of Tim Burton. The characters are dark and gloomy but there is still something heart-warming about them.

This book is a fairly short read and I could imagine a teacher reading this book to their class for Halloween. It’s quick, entertaining, and I could see myself reading this to my son when he is older. The Malamander really impressed me and in my eyes deserves a 5/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book and also thank you to Candlewick Press for granting me access to The Malamander.

The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken

Have you ever read a book where you just could not decide if it was for you or not? Then it won you over right there at the very end? That’s how it was reading The Blacksmith Queen.

This book is about a woman named Keeley who is prophecized to become the new queen after the Old King’s death. To make it brief the Old King has died and his bloodthirsty sons are killing each other off to claim the throne. Keeley and her sister are both prophecized as the potential queens. In a wild twist of event Keeley’s sister turns against her and Keeley is faced with battling not only the King’s sons but her bloodthirsty kin.

I have got to say that this book is a little cheesy and I had a hard time getting through it. The main character, Keeley, her last name is Smythe, can you guess what she does for a living? Yes, she’s a blacksmith, hence The Blacksmith Queen. If that doesn’t make you cringe just a little her father’s last name is Farmerson, and yes, he is a farmer. The names in this book were not everything that made it cheesy, there is campy humor spread throughout the books and sometimes the dialogue is a bit off-putting. Here is an example between Keeley and a centaur named Quinn about a horse who’s offspring was killed in a previous battle.

Quinn studied the gray mare and the saddle on her back. “If she’s not your horse, then what is she?”

“A mother looking for justice.”

I just thought this was a little over the top and reminded me of a really bad action movie. I pictured Tom Cruise holding patting the horse while dramatically proclaiming the horse’s desire for revenge.

There’s also an awkward sex scene that I found off-putting. I honestly really don’t want to go into it, here is a weird quote from a romantic gesture between the two. Sorry, it might be a small spoiler so if you’re interested in the “mysterious” love arc to skip this quote and the following paragraph.

A hand pressed against his hindquarter and he recognized Keeley’s touch.

Yes… the romance is between Keeley and a centaur. It’s a little strange but also pretty cute. I am not going to hate on the love story, it felt a little awkward to me but maybe that’s just the way I interpreted it.

Okay now that I have gotten that off of my chest let’s move on to what endeared me to this story. The characters are badass. Keeley is awesome, her sister Gemma is stone cold, and their cousin Keran is a drunken disaster that I enjoyed every second of. This book is extremely explicit when it comes to the battle sequences, punches are not held and there will likely be scenes that turn your stomach a little.

Keeley is such an interesting character. She loves her family above all and is capable of making friends with the strangest of beings and animals. This includes demon wolves, a vengeful mare, and grumpy centaurs. Her ability to be likable while also being stubborn and flawed made her feel very well rounded and interesting. She is the kind of character you want to win because she doesn’t want the power she just wants to help those she cares about.

I struggled to read this book in the beginning and I don’t want that to deter anyone because it gets better. The cheesiness and oftentimes awkward dialogue are worth it because the characters are loveable and the plot is quite interesting.

I was originally going to give this book 3/5 stars but after reading the ending and doing some reflection I have deemed it worthy of 4/5 stars. This book captured my attention and with the flaws taken with a grain of salt, it is quite funny and ambitious. It seems that this is the debut of a series and I look forward to the next installment.

As always thank you to NetGalley and a big thank you to and Kensington Books for giving me access to this book.

Absence

Hello everyone it has been a little while since I have posted and I thought I should give a little update on why I have been missing. Honestly a lot of stuff just happened at once. My boyfriend got a new job, our baby has had two different colds, and we had a lot of family events happen. I haven’t had much time to read this past month, so I havent been able to release reviews.

Luckily I am back and I intend on writing at least one review this week and more next week. I am behind on a few of my reviews so I will be playing catch up. Thank you for sticking with me through this absence, I look forward to discussing good books with you all again.

Topside by J.N. Monk

Imagine living your whole life not knowing what the world outside is like? Then imagine that you royally messed up and you have to go outside to fix your mistake! In short, that is what Topside is about. Jo, a young maintenance technician makes a mistake that destabilizes her planets core and must go on an adventure to find Oblexium, the only substance that can fix her error. Jo comes face to face with a scam artist, a shapeshifter, and pair of bounty hunters in the form of a shark in a dress and a sentient lightbulb. Jo’s adventure gets complicated when agents from the interior, her home, start pursuing her with the thought that she has been abducted.

What I most enjoyed about Topside is that Jo finds friends in the most unlikely of places. Funnily enough, she stumbles upon these friends due to her likeability and sheer ignorance of the world beyond the interior. Monk creates a world of danger but also of acceptance. Jo, while skeptical, accepts these odd people around her for who they are and forms an interesting little gang of friends. I thought that it had a really good message for a kid’s graphic novel.

Also, Jo is an interesting and fun protagonist. She has this aura of exhaustion from the constant work, but she also has an enthusiasm that makes her enjoyable. The balance for this character is very good and it made me care for her. She is honestly just trying her hardest to fix her mistake and help her family move up in the world. She is an underdog and I liked her.

The pacing in this graphic novel, while quick, feels perfect for the target audience. It moves quickly enough to hold kids attention while also having enough detail for an adult to enjoy. One minute your following Jo as she wanders through an apocalyptic style town the next your in hot pursuit following the interior agents, it really holds your attention.

Something unique about Topside that I particularly enjoyed was the not so antagonistic antagonist. He is just a guy forced to do a job he doesn’t want to do, and he is forced to jump through a bunch of ridiculous bureaucratic hoops. He’s comical and seems to embody the tedious nature of office work and adulthood. I don’t hate him and I think that there should be more “bad guys” like him in children’s books.

I also want to praise Harry Bogosian’s illustrations in Topside, they are gorgeous. Jo’s appearance reminds me a little of Steven Universe, I’ve mentioned that show before and honestly I’ve only seen a few episodes, I think it’s great.

I give Topside a 5/5, I was really charmed by this one. As always thank you to NetGalley and also a thank you to Lerner Publishing Group, without them this review wouldn’t be possible.

Aquaman Vol. 1: Unspoken Water by Kelly DeConnick

While many felt let down by the recent release of the blockbuster film of Aquaman, this graphic novel is here to save the image of the hero altogether. With the rising popularity of the gold and green clad hero comes a graphic novel that expands on Aquaman’s origin story in a new and beautiful way. This is the type of story that should be featured on the silver screen.

Aquaman is a vulnerable hero in this story, he has lost his memory and his life has been saved by strangers. The island he has washed up on has been experiencing intense hardships, and it is up to Aquaman to save the day. He is an unlikely hero facing up against a powerful goddess who desires to turn the world to salt.

One aspect of this story I really enjoyed was the use of a new mythology, one I had never experienced before. We are introduced to old gods, then even older gods. It seems that this universe is built on something entirely different than we have read in comics yet, it is fresh and introduces us to a new version of Genesis, at least that was how I read it. It really builds onto its own history and creates a setting that can only expand from here, I imagine that history will only get richer and deeper as the series continues.

I also have to praise the illustrator highly, Robson Rocha is fantastic. The imagery is beautiful and while reminiscent of old school comics stick to the high quality of newer graphic novels. Rocha creates a vibrant world for Aquaman to explore. We see beaches and the depths of the ocean, from humans to gods the illustrations are impeccable. The illustrations only add depth to the story and creates ideal settings for the narrative.


DeConnick switches up how we envision Aquaman, he is not some silly hero that can speak to fish. He cries out for the aid of the ocean and he does receive it, he is not just some commander of fish but truly a hero that works in sync with the marine life around him. I think this version of Aquaman is definitely different than what I was expecting while still resembling the original hero, the newness does not lose the original character just enhances it.


The story felt more serious than I was expecting and it was a good thing. We do not need any more silly heroes in tights and underwear, we need heroes with emotional depth and rich backstory, DeConnick delivers.


I give this one 5/5, I truly enjoyed this graphic novel regardless of how skeptical I was in the beginning.

Also a huge thank you to NetGalley and DC Comics for allowing me the opportunity to review this graphic novel.

Voyages In The Underworld Of Orpheus Black by Marcus and Julian Sedgwick

One detail left out of the original tale of Orpheus is that he is reincarnated over and over, at least in this novel he is. In Voyages (shortened for my sanity) we follow an artist named Harry Black who is a conscientious objector to World War II. Through his “cowardly” choice to not paricipate in the war effort he loses the affection of his brother and father, thus sending him on a path of redemption aimed at his brother. Harry yearns to rekindle the friendship he had with his brother prior to the war, and he wants to create an illustrated book with his brother as the writer. When asked about the book Harry says, “I want to do a big illustrated book, with words and images combined; make a kind of warning. About how we’re just going to become more efficient at killing each other unless we work out how to develop our better selves.” I found this explanation very self aware because that is exactly what Voyages does. But, soon after, disaster strikes and the pub where Harry’s brother Ellis was drinking is bombed by the Germans, and Harry is sent on the search of his life to recover Ellis at all costs, Harry knows that his brother has to have lived.

Voyages is an interesting mixture of fiction and poetry, often swirling together and creating a lyrical tale that meanders down a sad path of loneliness. I am not what I would call a poetry expert nor enthusiast but I found the poetic aspects to be very beautiful. It sung its way through this story and really turned it into a piece of artwork. While on the topic of artwork, the pieces of illustration that I had access to in this ARC, while limited, were beautiful. Alexis Deacon did an amazing job of brinigng Voyages to life. The illustrations depict a world similiar but not entirely our own, a mirror of what our world looks like but with an almost sinister twist. Every illustration filled me with anxiety but also wonder.

Something that really caught my attention was the ever looming presence of Orpheus. He is constantly near by, playing the fiddle or infecting the town with his music. You can expect to see a reference of him around every corner. His music haunts Harry as he recognizes it but can’t place where he has heard it. This detail gave me something familiar in an unfamiliar setting, I had a detail to orient myself by.

My only real bone to pick with this book is that it is extremely slow paced and a bit difficult to get through. I believe I have had access to this book since May or June and I am just now finishing it. It’s not that this book is uninteresting it just didn’t captivate me like other novels, and like I previously stated I’m not really one for poetry, which is a personal issue but an issue none-the-less. This book took too long to develop and by the time you get to the interesting pieces you’re a little bit lost and it starts making less sense. I was also a little bit lost on the ending, I had a hard time understanding who was alive and who was dead, that made it hard for me to feel any kind of satisfaction.

I give Voyages a 3/5 stars, while truly beautiful it had some flaws that were hard for me to forgive. If you love poetry and a good mythological retelling I urge you to give Voyages a try.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to this book and thank you to Candlewick Press for granting me permission to read and review Voyages.

Why Does Young Adult Literature Get A Bad Wrap?

I spent three years working at a bookstore and I am an avid YA consumer and I have noticed a trend amongst the reading community. Young Adult lit seems to be treated like a second class genre. I had what some people might call “real” adults come up to me to buy YA and say things like, “This isn’t for me, this is for my daughter.” or my personal favorite, “I don’t read this junk it’s for kids, this is a present.” My question is why? Why do people feel the need to justify YA purchases, is it so bad to read something aimed at teen to twenty year olds? And what does this say about how we treat the YA demographic? Some of the most powerful books I have ever read qualify as YA. I even read middle grade novels, in fact Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are two of my favorites, and they are aimed at middle schoolers, yet, I am not ashamed.

This also poses another interesting question, why don’t adults feel like they need to justify purchasing books like Harry Potter but God forbid they buy John Green? I honestly saw more older adults buying YA than teenagers and I didn’t see a problem with it. A lot of adults also confessed to me that YA was their guilty pleasure. I was once told something very interesting by one of my coworkers, she said to me that she didn’t like the term guilty pleasure because it insinuates that you should feel guilt for something that brings you happiness. I have never thought of that term the same way. She was right, why should we feel guilty over the things that bring us happiness?

I also don’t like bashing particular YA books, not even Twilight. I understand that Twilight can be viewed as promoting unhealthy relationships, but I am not in the business of judging people’s tastes. There are definitely YA books that I don’t enjoy, but I will never judge a person by their tastes. Plus people really should think about the wide range of books that fall into the YA category, we have anything from Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson to Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. How could someone consider a category with such a wide range of different styles of literature childish?

In my journey of trying to understand why people hate the YA genre so deeply I stumbled upon a deeply concerning article titled, Against YA by a Ruth Graham. Graham’s assertion is that you can read what you want but you should be embarrassed if you read something written for children. My first issue with this smear campaign is that there is a ton of “children’s” literature that is highly respectable and sophisticated. For example, The Hobbit was written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children as a fairytale, but this is on most “Top 100 Books To Read In A Lifetime” lists. Do you think scholars who adore The Hobbit are ashamed to read something written for Tolkien’s children? Probably not. My next issue with this article is the example Graham used as a representation for the entirety of the YA category. Graham picks The Fault In Our Stars, which to be honest I absolutely hated. But, I have the brain capacity to recognize that this book means something to people, and probably for a good reason. Also, the author has a weird bone to pick with the typically concrete endings in YA, Graham seems unhealthily obsessed with the idea that more YA needs to end in ambiguity, as if that is what makes great literature. I hate ambiguity in a novel and I always have, say what you mean or why freaking say it? I read my fair share of books in the literary “canon” and I can tell you that a lot of them are boring and outdated, not to mention don’t encompass a lot more than one major demographic. I hated reading Toni Morrison and Shakespeare, it is not the stuff for me. Nevertheless I got my English degree and read all the canonical shit OSU could throw at me. Graham doesn’t take into consideration haunting stories like The Book Thief, which was shelved as YA where I worked and quite frankly has been one of the most powerful books I have ever read.

I guess I am here to tell anyone who is similar to me that you should not be ashamed to read what you like. Older generations are constantly bitching that people don’t read enough anymore, so get out and read. But, most importantly, read what you like or you will grow to loathe reading.

I am curious to hear someone else’s take on this. Do you agree with me? Or do you think that YA is something that “real” adults need to move away from? I personally love this genre and I’d love to hear from both sides. Let me know in the comments.

The Weight Of A Soul by Elizabeth Tammi

How far would you go to save your sister? Would you kill a stranger? A friend? In Tammi’s novel The Weight Of A Soul Fressa is faced with those questions when her sister mysteriously winds up dead in the forest by her village. Set in the times of vikings we are thrown into a plot that is ever more complicated due to the mysterious Norse gods that Fressa meets along her journey.

Fressa is given the near impossible task to find a soul that weighs the same as her sister’s so that Hela can retrieve her from Valhalla. Time is running out as Fressa’s parents, the aloof chief and chieftess of the village pressure Fressa to marry her sister;s betrothed. Fressa struggles with the loss of her sister and the fear of betraying her love,

I struggled deciding how I was going to rate this novel. I will be honest the pacing is very slow and it was not the grand adventure I expected. Almost the entirety of the novel takes place in the small village where Fressa lives. To me it was a little bit boring to stay in the same place for so long, the same setting played over and over. For a fantasy novel to really stick out the setting has to be unique in some way, I didn’t feel a particular draw to the landscape. I kept waiting for this novel to take me to places I had never seen, and the one place it does take you to is seriously lacking in the detail department. So that was a little disappointing.

Something Tammi handles really well is grief. When Fressa finds her sister dead you can feel the Earth shattering pain that Fressa feels and you can see her depression thicken around her like a cloud. This is important because it helps us to understand Fressa’s descent as a human, she becomes a cold-hearted killer. She sinks low and is constantly trying to work out who is worthy to take her sister’s place in Valhalla, strangers become enemies and friends become potential victims. Everywhere Fressa turns a deadline is looming and her desperation grows.

In my head I went back and forth about whether I thought that the Norse mythology was used effectively or not. The gods play an important role in this novel and the symbolism is outstanding, but to me the gods themselves felt a little flat. Most history/mythology buffs know who Hela, Loki, and Odin are so I can understand why Tammi may have lightened their character development, but to me they came off as uninteresting. I was very excited for the mythological angle, but it left me wanting.

As I dug through this novel I was constantly debating with myself over whether this book is a 4 star rating or not, and the ending almost convinced me. The ending really wraps the story together and gives it a warm feeling, but it was also a little bit predictable. I absolutely did not dislike this novel, in fact it was quite good, but it had some boxes that needed filling to satisfy my reading expectations and it didn’t do that.

This book is a solid 3/5 stars. If there was a continuation of some kind I would read it out of curiosity, but I won’t be adding it to the top of my TBR pile.

July 2019 Recap

I was supposed to do this post yesterday but my son turned 5 months and we decided to take him to the beach for the first time, I mean look at that cute little face! Can you blame me for slacking off? Also he loves sand! Anyway, July was the first month where I was really productive. I did several reviews and if you missed them do not fret I will be covering them in this post!

To kick off my July posting I reviewed Teen Titans: Raven by Kami Garcia. I was impressed by Garcia’s adaptation of the Raven character and I think we can all look forward to what is to come next. I gave this graphic novel a 4/5 stars. Be sure to check out the new Raven and her powerful adopted family.

Next I reviewed The Hunger by Alma Katsu. Possibly the most impressive book I read this month, it was haunting and beautiful in a way that can’t be explained, you just have to read it. I gave The Hunger a whopping 5/5 stars! Also look forward to another review of a book by Alma Katsu I will be doing titled The Deep!

Next up was the popular NetGalley title Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker. While I understood peoples draw to this book and its popularity it did not do it for me. I felt like a debut graphic novel for a series should have been more impressive. It was a lot of rinse and repeat. But never-the-less I gave Mooncakes 3/5 stars because the illustrations were beautiful and it attempted to do things I hadn’t seen done before.

After that we talked about Small Spaces by the popular fantasy writer Katherine Arden. This middle grade novel really impressed me, it was spooky and meaningful. Small Spaces squeezed 4/5 stars bordering closely on 5. I have actually requested the next title in the series titled Dead Voices, fingers crossed that I am approved to read that one!

Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle was up next. This love story had so many ups and downs I struggled to stop reading. With an ending that shook me to my core Kingdom Cold earned itself a 4/5 stars. This novel is sure to anger you and make you fall in love all at once, check this one out.

Last week I reviewed Crown Of Coral And Pearl by Mara Rutherford. You will absolutely regret it if you miss this one! Rutherford’s YA Fantasy is beautiful and entertaining beyond what I expected. Crown Of Coral And Pearl was the second book of July that earned itself a 5/5 stars. This book releases on August 27th, you must get your hands on it if you are a lover of YA.

Lastly we covered The Lure Of The Ring by Alan James Strachen and Janet Coster. An unusual pick on my part, this book explores addiction and unanswered question buried within Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings. While interesting it was a little wordy, if you are interested in a deeper understanding of Tolkien’s work it may be worth it to check this one out. This one earned a 3/5 stars.

A huge thank you to my followers for sticking with me and also joining me this month. Hopefully you are enjoying this as much as I am, and as always keep your eyes out for my next posts. I have some good stuff for the month of August!