Books

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Art of Big Hero 6

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The Art of Big Hero 6 by Jessica Julius

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought for myself.

As you may know, if you follow this blog, I have a soft spot for Art of books, and I treat myself to them because someone somewhere was saying that basically, once an art of book for a film or game comes out they don’t usually do any reprints, so the ones that are out there are what you get and they will only go up on price, so it is a worthy investment if you really want to keep the books. So I started slowly growing my collection and I have to say that I am learning new things on storytelling with each one alongside finding new inspirations on each of them.

The review, in this case, is for Big Hero 6 and basically, as an Art of book, it does extremely well giving you various areas of exploring what the content is. One of my favourite things is the tidbits of trivia they throw about a character design or maybe about how they started with an idea for a plot to go here and after some random doodles that were just for fun, the story took a fun turn or they included a specific element and changed something. I find these fascinating and Disneys overall books in this style tend to be rich in little trivia.

Like for example in the above, you can see the ideas of how Mochi would end up going around the room and why the little paw rockets, etc, and the fact that they would have a cute pet, which obviously adds to the story. And you can see from really cute simple sketches to more complex and developed pieces.

Obviously, the story is super cute so I had a good time going through the book and there is a very soft sketch and watercolour vibe throughout the book which adds to the charm.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue

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Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue by Paula Harrison and Illustrated by Jenny Lovlie

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: A gift by the lovely Asha

Series: Kitty, Book 1

Minor hiatus while the internet has been dodgy and making uploading images difficult. Meanwhile I read and read and this is one not to miss.

Kitty is the daughter of a superhero mum who goes out and helps people at night with her cat powers. So of course Kitty wants to be like mum and help others but she doesnt feel too brave and she should be in bed.

That is, until a handsome tomcat pokes through her window in search of her mum and suggests Kitty help them. At first she isnt sure but then decides to go have an adventure and find the cause of the scary sounds they can hear.

The book is then a setup story of Kitty and her “crew” of cats and how she meets each of them alongside using her little talents and powers, and of course as she finds the cause of the terrible scary sounds and ends up using the moonlight to light her way and not be so afraid.

Honestly the book was an adorable wholesome superhero kind of book with a very cat like hero who is learning the ropes and trying her claws out in the world, and with the super cute illustrations it is even mmore enjoyable.

Great for read out loud, or maybe small readers into superheroes or cats or both. Or adults like me that love cosy stories and being able to lose yourself in an adorable adventure.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Quarantine Comix

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Quarantine Comix by Rachael Smith

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Preordered since it sounded interesting and I was ina comic/graphic novel mood.

Quarantine Comix was born out of the dread created by the pandemic and being put into quarantine/lockdown, so Rachael started drawing. The first few comics are more or less about how the pandemic hit her and her life and how much she misses her boyfriend, and to be honest those first few pages weren’t that good or entertaining, but I could understand the feeling behind them and therefore I kept going.

The comics and panels get more relatable and you can see she starts looking back and making it a bit more fun and interesting rather than just staying in bed and being filled with existensial dread. Whcih meant I ended up taking pictures of the pages and sharing them with friends because I found them relatable but also amusing and I could sympatise.

Like for example the above made me laugh, in all honesty I didn’t feel I had to go back to bookshops and have not gone back to one just yet because I do not deem it essential. I do deem essential having books, so I kept well stocked. But I did completely relate with the “what am I meant to read?” and then being surrounded by books. At times nothing I owned seemd to do the trcik but slowly that is getting easier as life becomes its own new normal.

And I think that is what makes the comics work, they shift to a new normal, and you can relate to them in one way or they remind you of a friend or family member and a situation experienced in the last year or so, and therefore I feel like this would be a fun gift to give to some friends as a “meet up after the quarantine” in a share the feelings way, but it is also a nice little graphic novel about how normal has changed and we adapt.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Yolk

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Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Bought myself.

As you may know, I am not huge on contemporary and I tend to be very picky, but Mary H. K. Choi is an instant buy author for me after Emergency Contact, and I have to say that Yolk doesn’t disappoint at all. I think the best way of describing her books is that they are the perfect new adult contemporary.

In Yolk we’re exploring family relationships, particularly of sisters, June and Jayne, who have grown to not interact much until June gets diagnosed with cancer and reaches out to Jayne. But where June has the “perfect” life and a good job, good place and money, Jayne is still barely managing to live on her own, pay rent, keep a job and go to school. But as the sisters clash on trying to come to terms first with the fact June has cancer and this means certain things they may not want to talk about or even share with their parents, then on how their lives are anything but perfect and the grass isn’t greener on the other side.

And going back to the new adult contemporary term, this is a book about figuring out what comes next. It isn’t a “and then I went to college, graduated and landed the perfect job, married the perfect person and life is wonderful”. Yolk has all the not so fun parts of learning to live on your own, and of sometimes just not managing to do things. And that faking it til you make it doesn’t always work.

On top of that, I had been in a reading slump for ages and Yolk broke the slump, I also liked that as much as it has romance as part fo the story, romance isn’t the be all and end all of the story. It doesn’t get all tied neatly in a bow with a perfect relationship and a happily ever after, instead it leaves it a “this could be, but we don’t know and there is nothing instant about it, we have to be intentional” and I liked that, that some of the romance is more intentional and more about admitting the mistakes or coming to terms with your own internal issues that colour what you do or why. Honestly, June and Jayne are such great characters for exploring so much growth and also lack of it at some places, but it was a great read, full of reality and yet also with a lovely feel at the end. I had just so mcuh to feel and hold inside as the book came to an end.

I recommend it this book if you want to find a new adult book in contemporary, like romance and contemporary books that are less formulaic and exploring new territory. But if you liked Emergency Contact or similar books, then definitely read Yolk.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Book Love

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Book Love by Debbie Tung

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Ownership: Gifted by a friend for Christmas <3

As you well know I am partial to graphic novels, comics and illustrated books as much as I am partial for young adult and science fiction and fantasy, so getting Book Love as a Christmas gift fom my frined Kayden was a lovely touch. I had set it aside as I knew it would end up being a soothing encouraging book to make me smile when needed, and I was definitely right on it.

This is a collection fo comics about being a book lover and the good things that come out fo it like living many lives and feeling like part of a story and just all the fun or reading, but also the slight challenges, for example finding where to store all the books or getting an edition of one. As I read I took pictures of it to show and share with friends becuase I could identify with a particular comic or identify someone in one of them and thought they’d enjoy seeing it.

Overall this was utterly enjoyable and a great bookish gift, just amke sure the bookworm you’re gifting it to, doesn’t already have it since duplicates take book real estate in the shelves! But honestly, I recommend this as a fun little gift to cheer someone up and remind them of the joys of loving books and being a reader.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Ninth House

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Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px

Read before: No

Spoiler free review: For the most part yes

Content warnings: Rape, child abuse, substance abuse, various types of sexual abuse, murder, gaslighting, faecal matter consumption, heavy violence, gore, overdosing, death, suicide, blackmail, self-harm.

I like dark academia, I like magic, and this book sounded very interesting being setup in Yale. But I will start by saying that it is extremely slow burn and full of noise. It is also full of shock causing scenes that were unnecessary (there’s the rape of a 12 year old, and someone is made to eat shit, literally) and that could have been handled better.

The main story is about Alex, Galaxy Stern, going to Yale and finding that her ticket to Yale has conditions on her being able to see grays. Grays are basically ghosts. So she gets put into a society that oversees a few other societies that deal with differnet kinds of magic. The system sounds in theory really interesting and I ahve to say that the magic system was one of the most itneresting things in the story.

On top of that we have a murder mystery and the mystery of Alex’s past and why she ended up being found by the society. All of these should point to a really good intense book. And yet mostly it is a book that shows how ridiculous the society system for universities is in the US and that power is too tempting and therefore people will do anything for it.

I liked quite a bit of the story, including Dawes and Darlington and the actual reason behind the murder of Tara. That was well buitl and very intersting, alongside what happened to Darlington and what happened to Alex in the past. All came ot show what each character was made of, their motives, etc.

What I didn’t enjoy is that it was trying hard to glamourise Yale and the societies and at the same time you could see no love lost for it and it was slow and boring at times, which it then seemed to compensate by being too over the top on violence and abuse and the bad things. Like it was trying to show how bad things were but it started being a bit like “yeah, we get it, it is bad, can you just move on to the actual story instead of trying to shock me with this bit of violence?”.

I ended up warming to Alex, and to the story so at least that is good, and I will read the next one, but it was a little too hyped and trying too hard to be dark and gritty that it got itself lost in it and took a while to find the story and the heart of it.

So, I don’t recommend it overall, but if you like the components of it, and Leigh’s writing, then this may be the book for you, but you have to be warned it is dark and has a long list fo things for it to be triggers.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Agent Zaiba Investigates The Haunted House

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Agent Zaiba Investigates The Haunted House by Annabelle Sami. Illustrated by Daniela Sosa

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Spoiler free review: Yes

Series: Agent Zaiba Investigates

The third book in the Agent Zaiba Investigates series, and this time the copy I have came from the publisher, but if you have read my reviews for The Missing Diamonds and The Poison Plot you know I am already sold on this story and would’ve bought my own copy anyway.

As I had predicted on my first review, this series has all the thigns to make it a modern classic for children along the lines of Fantastic Five and Baby Sitters Club. There is intrigued and drama, there is friendship and fun adventures, and on top of that a diverse set of main characters which makes it even better!

Our third detective adventure with Zaiba is when we meet a new family that moved into an old “mansion” kind of house that seems to give all the vibes that it is haunted. Zaiba has an open mind on the possibility of ghosts, but Ali and Poppy arent so sure, and when a housewarming party makes things go bump in the dark, the Snow Leopard Agency UK branch is ready to find out if it is a supernatural cause or not.

Of course the key in the books is the foreshadowing that is done subtly but effectively and therefore when Zaiba starts gathering more clues or finding new ones, piecing together things becomes easier for the reader if they recall what was discussed before the incident. And on this third book the foreshadowing is subtle and there is less of the “Zaiba took notes” kind of vibe that was seen more on the two previous ones. You can see she is starting to get more and more confident but also implementing the detective ways shes learned form her aunt and the Eden Lockett books.

What actually happens with the supernatural haunting mystery is something I wont spoil but I liked the way they get along with it and how there is a lot of building a good community alongside the finding the cause of the issue and who dunnit.

Highly recommended for young readers and middle grade and also adults because it is fun to read, the illustrations are cute and fitting and it is just a nice book to read. Your modern diverse Nancy Drew!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Agent Zaiba Investigates The Poison Plot

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Agent Zaiba Investigates The Poison Plot by Annabelle Sami. Illustrated by Daniela Sosa

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Preordered.

Spoiler free review: Yes

Series: Agent Zaiba Investigates

The second book in the Agent Zaiba series, you can read the review for The Missing Diamonds here, and now that we have the Snow Leopard Agency UK branch setup, Zaiba is ready for more things to be resolved and any mystery or good investigation that may come up.

The best part is that is the sumer fete time and Zaiba has a detective “murder mystery” course setup as one of the features of it. But things turn interesting when in the middle of a baking competition, there appears to be poison added to the cupcakes and causing one of the judges to be ill.

Zaiba, Poppy and Ali waste no time in trying to find out who put the poison in the cupcake and why.

One of the things I like a lot in the book is how the foreshadowing puts the clues and items nicely there for the reader to find if they are paying enough attention but they are also not screaming “I am the clue”. It is just done well through the story, so little hints of “hey this may be what the poison was made of” that show up early in the book, help and show that sometimes data you get before the actual incident happens can be quite useful. As Zaiba and her aunt put it, powers of observation.

Overall, another good mystery for Zaiba and her friends to solve, more development on the relationships of the family, and a better view into the world Zaiba inhabits and the story of her ammi, which is nice to see. You get continuity but you could also read each on their own and it would be alright without needing to read the previous one.

Highly recommended diverse detectiving classic to be!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Agent Zaiba Investigates The Missing Diamonds

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Agent Zaiba Investigates The Missing Diamonds by Annabelle Sami. Illustrated by Daniela Sosa

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: Yes

Ownership: Preordered.

Spoiler free review: Yes

Series: Agent Zaiba Investigates

First book in the Agent Zaiba series! I have been meaning to review it for ages, and then packed the house, got the second one, then got the third and ended up rereading it so I could do a review of each of them consecutively.

I would class the whole series as something to become a classic, like Baby Sitters Club, or Fantastic Five. But with a more diverse cast! We have Zaiba, her little brother and her best friend, Poppy. All of them really into detectives and investigating, so when at the engagement party for the wedding of a cousin of Zaiba, some diamonds go missing from a famous actress,,,,, alongside the dog that had the diamong collar, Zaiba takes it into her hands to find out the truth and maybe just maybe crack the case fo who stole the diamonds.

Overall, it had a lot of culture, but adventure wrapped in one, and I loved just following the trio of friends around the hotel while they find clues and make notes and figure things out, some by accident and luck and some by using the powers of observation and memory.

Highly recommend it if mystery is the game and you want something with adorable drawings and cute notes and just something that makes you feel like you are part fot he fun and the adventure.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Zatanna and the House of Secrets

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Zatanna and the House of Secrets by Matthew Cody and Yoshi Yoshitani

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Read before: No

Ownership: Preordered

Spoiler free review: Yes

I don’t know how I had slept on Zatanna for so long as superhero kinda thing and I love her.

This little lovely graphic novel is all about her house which is an interesting house full of secrets. Zatanna is a big upset that her magician dad is tired, and suddenly when she comes back form school, Dad has disappeared in the house and been taken by evil lady.

But the house has a personality and mind of its own, so Zatanna has to team up with some interesting “allies” so she can try to save her dad and maybe find out more about all the secrets the house keeps, and maybe, just maybe something about her mum.

Look, I loved the art, Yoshi does amazing work and basically, I can’t say no to anything done by her so I had to preorder this and also it looked really cool. Then the plot reminded me of my dad when he had his magician performer streak/mid-life crisis and had me as an assistant and just how much I enjoyed it and at the same time felt very embarrassed by it, but I still can perform some tricks and things stuck to me and have helped me through life, so you know, win-win. Basically, it was a fun read, which on top of that brought back memories and made it even more significant for me to read and enjoy.

Recommended for children, magician parents, superhero lovers, and just anyone that needs a magic house and some magic in their life, oh plus a cute bunny companion.