Showing posts with label witches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witches. Show all posts

Monday, March 10, 2014

Review: 'Spell Checkers, Volume 1' by Jamie S. Rich, Nicholas Hitori De & Joelle Jones


This graphic novel features three mean girls who are the Queen Bees of the school and who augment their power (abuse of the student body) with magic.

It is rare that I find a book with so little to praise.

Plot: Three mean girls find themselves divided and accusing each other when graffiti and rumors about each of them start to spread. There is nothing original here.

Characters: Jesse, Kimmie, and Cynthia are awful human beings to each other as well as to everyone around them. They are, frankly, stupid, ignorant and hateful. I know "mean girl" books are popular but please - this is ridiculous. Secondary characters have no depth, mostly because the story if room the witches' incredibly shallow point of view.

Language: The spell words are ridiculous. The witches' constantly slut-shame and insult each other. Other characters are equally insulting and derogatory.

Art: Illustration is about the only thing this graphic novel has going for it. The lines are clean, faces expressive and the characters drawn with enough individuality to allow of easy visual distinction.

Unfortunately, Spell Checkers has nothing else to offer. I can't recommend this one to any reader.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Review: The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

Imperial Russia meets the paranormal in this enthralling debut from Robin Bridges. 

Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, has a dark secret that she has kept hidden since she was a child - she can raise the dead.  As part of the inner circle of Russia's imperial court Katerina has grown up surrounded by nobles and political intrigue but nothing has prepared her for the plot she discovers which may bring down the tsar himself.  Now Katerina must uncover the players and put all the pieces together while maintaining her secret in order to protect the people and country she loves.


Bridges's familiarity with Russia and Eastern European folklore is very apparent as she uses elements of both to weave an exciting, glittering world with a dark paranormal underbelly.  Like the characters of this novel, the reader is placed on a strange tightrope balancing between elements of science and paranormal.  Katerina struggles to find an equilibrium that allows her to pursue her desire to be a doctor as well as embrace the shadow of her very unnatural gift.  Readers will relate to Katerina as she endeavors to make hard choices between what she wants and what must be done.  Duty, desire, romance and mystery come together beautifully in this novel to bring to life a character that is as flawed and real as the person sitting next to you on the train.  The Gathering Storm has everything a reader could ask for including an ending that somehow leaves the reader with both a sense closure and commencement.  I am impatiently awaiting the next book in the trilogy due out in October 2012.

Rating: 4.5 Stars
Teen Gauge: 14+

Recommended for Readers of:
Maggie Stiefvater, Melissa Marr, Jessica Spotswood, Heather Dixon