by Jordie Bellaire ; illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau ; color by Kendall Goode ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2024
A well-loved character gets new depth through colorful, expressive illustrations.
In this superhero adventure, Princess Diana of Themyscira longs for adventure and discovery.
To prepare for someday leading her people, 14-year-old Diana must learn about her world. She begins by finding out hidden secrets of the past, including a painful and violent truth about her mother’s actions to free the Amazons. Through her lessons, Diana forms new relationships with several of her sister Amazons. From her newly returned aunt, Antiope, Diana gathers insights into life in the world outside Themyscira. The detailed and vibrant illustrations make many of the scenes pop and feel full of movement. The inclusion of Diana’s inner monologue in yellow thought bubbles offers a clear delineation from the dialogue and allows readers to understand how her thoughts evolve over the course of her adventures. Even though she’s the future queen, she’s still an authentic teenager who desires the company of people her own age, thinks her mother doesn’t listen to her, and at times wants to be left alone to deal with her emotions. This graphic novel doesn’t always feel cohesive given the number of events it covers, leaving readers with questions about characters like Circe and Persephone, who appear only briefly. Diana has light skin and black hair; the Amazons have different body types and skin tones.
A well-loved character gets new depth through colorful, expressive illustrations. (design gallery) (Graphic adventure. 12-14)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781779527134
Page Count: 192
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
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by Rae Carson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2011
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel,...
Adventure drags our heroine all over the map of fantasyland while giving her the opportunity to use her smarts.
Elisa—Princess Lucero-Elisa de Riqueza of Orovalle—has been chosen for Service since the day she was born, when a beam of holy light put a Godstone in her navel. She's a devout reader of holy books and is well-versed in the military strategy text Belleza Guerra, but she has been kept in ignorance of world affairs. With no warning, this fat, self-loathing princess is married off to a distant king and is embroiled in political and spiritual intrigue. War is coming, and perhaps only Elisa's Godstone—and knowledge from the Belleza Guerra—can save them. Elisa uses her untried strategic knowledge to always-good effect. With a character so smart that she doesn't have much to learn, body size is stereotypically substituted for character development. Elisa’s "mountainous" body shrivels away when she spends a month on forced march eating rat, and thus she is a better person. Still, it's wonderfully refreshing to see a heroine using her brain to win a war rather than strapping on a sword and charging into battle.
Despite the stale fat-to-curvy pattern, compelling world building with a Southern European, pseudo-Christian feel, reminiscent of Naomi Kritzer's Fires of the Faithful (2002), keeps this entry fresh. (Fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-202648-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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by Ransom Riggs ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 7, 2011
A trilogy opener both rich and strange, if heavy at the front end.
Riggs spins a gothic tale of strangely gifted children and the monsters that pursue them from a set of eerie, old trick photographs.
The brutal murder of his grandfather and a glimpse of a man with a mouth full of tentacles prompts months of nightmares and psychotherapy for 15-year-old Jacob, followed by a visit to a remote Welsh island where, his grandfather had always claimed, there lived children who could fly, lift boulders and display like weird abilities. The stories turn out to be true—but Jacob discovers that he has unwittingly exposed the sheltered “peculiar spirits” (of which he turns out to be one) and their werefalcon protector to a murderous hollowgast and its shape-changing servant wight. The interspersed photographs—gathered at flea markets and from collectors—nearly all seem to have been created in the late 19th or early 20th centuries and generally feature stone-faced figures, mostly children, in inscrutable costumes and situations. They are seen floating in the air, posing with a disreputable-looking Santa, covered in bees, dressed in rags and kneeling on a bomb, among other surreal images. Though Jacob’s overdeveloped back story gives the tale a slow start, the pictures add an eldritch element from the early going, and along with creepy bad guys, the author tucks in suspenseful chases and splashes of gore as he goes. He also whirls a major storm, flying bullets and a time loop into a wild climax that leaves Jacob poised for the sequel.
A trilogy opener both rich and strange, if heavy at the front end. (Horror/fantasy. 12-14)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59474-476-1
Page Count: 234
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
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