ARC MINI REVIEWS — Nancy Drew, Oh No, Safely Endangered, Servant & Lord

This week’s mini review round-up includes 1 graphic novel, 2 comic strip collections, and a manga!

TITLE: Nancy Drew: The Palace of Wisdom
AUTHOR: Kelly Thompson
RELEASES: April 2nd, 2019; Dynamite Entertainment
GENRE: Mystery
AGE RANGE: YA

Nancy Drew is seventeen and good at everything… ESPECIALLY solving crimes. But her totally-in-control-and-obviously-running-perfectly-smooth-(but-not-really) life hits a snag when a mysterious message drags her back to the hometown she left behind.

I’ve never been the biggest Nancy Drew fan, but I remembered the characters well enough that my favorite thing about this graphic novel was seeing them re-imagined as modern, fun teens. (HIGH key loving the fact that my fave from my childhood, George, grew up to be a queer punk girl?!) The plot was okay—a little underwhelming, maybe, and certainly predictable—but the characters were fun and the art was lovely, so I feel pretty comfortable giving this 4 stars. I assume this creator is going to make more in this ‘series’, and if that’s the case, I think I’ll check them out, too.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TITLE: oh no
AUTHOR: Alex Norris
RELEASES: April 2nd, 2019; Andrews McMeel Publishing
GENRE: Humor
AGE RANGE: Adult

Alex Norris’ viral webcomic Webcomic Name, has captured the internet’s heart. The disappointed blob and its resigned “oh no” has become a recognizable slogan, tapping into the current internet zeitgeist of self-conscious pessimism to hilarious and heartbreaking effect.

oh no, indeed.

I wasn’t familiar with this webcomic aside from seeing one or two bits here and there, but I had liked the ones I’d seen, so I thought this would be cute. It turns out, in fact, that the sense of humor the creator utilizes gets old for me… very fast. 🙁

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TITLE: Safely Endangered
AUTHOR: Chris McCoy
RELEASES: April 9th, 2019; Andrews McMeel Publishing
GENRE: Humor
AGE RANGE: Adult

A collection of gloriously random and unexpected cartoons from the hugely popular webcomic Safely Endangered.

I already liked Chris McCoy’s webcomics, so I was excited to read this collection, and it didn’t disappoint! The sense of humor is just hilarious and so spot-on for my tastes, and I really love the simple, cute art style. There’s a lot of sarcasm and cynicism, and while it does occasionally manifest in a joke that’s a bit insensitive, I don’t think the average reader will be offended unless you just really hate morbid humor.Otherwise, give this one a go and I genuinely believe it’ll brighten your day a bit.

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TITLE: Servant & Lord
AUTHOR: Lorinell Yu
RELEASES: March 19th, 2019; TokyoPop
GENRE: Romance
AGE RANGE: NA/Adult

Christian has always admired handsome, talented composer Daniel. Their shared appreciation for music marked the beginning of a friendship between a willful boy and a sophisticated young man… But when tragedy strikes and circumstances twist around to put Daniel in the service of Christian’s wealthy family, their bond is tried in unexpected ways.

I was pretty excited for this one based on the artwork—which is absolutely gorgeous from start to finish, no doubt—but sadly, the art is kind of where my love for this manga ended. The plot is just okay, the panels are a bit hard to follow at times as things jump around and characters’ motives are hard to understand at times (mainly Dan’s—he frustrated me to no end), and the relationship definitely has some toxicity issues (Christian’s threats of stalking, Dan’s “prank” at the end, etc.). The biggest thing that annoyed me is that Christian keeps “waking up” from events, so it was hard for me to know what all actually happened and what didn’t.

Bottom line is: the art is gorgeous and the author has definite potential, but this story needed cleaning up. I’d definitely give this author another try in the future, though!

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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