illustrated – The Constellation of Moon

Moon Reads: Mission Impossib-hole

Posted on April 25, 2025

Agent Harrier: Mission Impossib-hole by Ben Sanders

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Nothing is perfect, and as such, the reviews in this blog are chaotic. My main aim is to share my thoughts, joy and opinions on a book, not make a publication perfect review. This blog endorses authenticity, showing up and joy over perfection.

Disclaimer: Receiving a review copy from the publisher does not affect my opinion of the book. If you think I review it highly it is due to me knowing my taste well and therefore not requesting books I won’t enjoy. And I am not obligated to review the book if I do not like it, so you may not see bad reviews due to me preferring not to hype down a particular book. I only do reviews of books I disagreed with if I think it is worth bringing a topic or warning to light.

I am absolutely loving Agent Harrier (you should read my review of the previous one: You Only Spy Twice). And in case this wasn’t clear this was a requested book from the list the publisher sends (I love Little Tiger Books, they are awesome!), which they kindly sent me, and I love their books, here is my review.

Agent Harrier is a chaotic secret agent who somehow is very good and bad at his job and yet he always saves the day. The art is hilarious and breaks the fourth wall in funny ways and makes terrific use of the full page spread to play with the story and add to it. This is part of what makes the series so good, the art is spot on to the story.

There seems to be a lot fo holes going on in this third book, and not just any kind of holes, but PLOT holes, which are not helping the story go too well! They keep transferring Agent Harrier through various stories and realms to try to find the culprit behind all the holes that are interrupting this mission.

As always, it made me laugh and giggle and I felt it was too short but thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommend you read all three books if you haven’t yet!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Ghostly Things

Posted on April 8, 2025

Ghostly Things (Volumes 1, 2 & 3) by Ushio Shirotori

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Welcome to a full series review because sometimes trying to review a single manga volume feels like I am vaguely triyng to not spoil the plot or some volumes are just hard to describe without a lot of references to previous volumes.

Ghostly Things was a whim purchase and after reading the first volume I immediately had to go buy the other two (or initially as many as there were in the story). So that already tells you it was very enjoyable.

The premise is that we meet Yachiho who is moving into her new house on her own because her father is overseas, and the house comes with a few quirks and hauntings. But this does not discourage our lovely gentle heroine, and instead she decides to brave things and keep searching, because she has her own motives to have moved in alone.

The volumes cover a few plot lines, one is the mystery of the house and what it hides, then there is the search Yachiho is doing for a Book of the Dead, we also have our usual school and friends side story, though this adds flavour and some extra adventures, and some antagonists to the mix, and allows the town to show as part of where our story develops.

There is also a little spirit that helps her and is trying to guide her to do the right thing, but the spirit has its own motives and secrets.

The overall story was cute and the creatures, characters and environment were nicely drawn in lots of detail and very fun. The story flows, even though as times it feels a little too short, and I did wish it had one or two more volumes to expand on some parts, but it was still done well in three volumes.

If you like stories about yokai, the spirit world and a few mysteries thrown into the mix, I can recommend this one as a quick read since it is only three volumes and goes by really quickly for an afternoon read if like me, you can’t wait to read the next one.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-Be Wife

Posted on March 11, 2025

The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-Be Wife by Iwatobineko

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

As you may already know, I have a soft spot for manga, and when this popped up on my recommendations (I can’t remember where) I had to try it out. The art style looked adorable and the premise too.

The series basically asks, what would happen if you had an invisible man and a blind woman work together and fall in love?

Yakou Shizuka, who is quiet, bashful and blind works at a detective agency as a secretary and assistant. Her boss, Tounome, is a gentleman and the main investigator, with the added talent of being invisible. This is particularly helpful for investigations, even if it can generally be a bit of a difficulty for relationships and other things, but this is not an issue at all for Yakou as she can sense him and know when he’s near.

The fact that Yakou can sense him makes Tounome interested even more on her and so it starts that he decides to invite her out for a date and woo her slowly. So you get a cute slow burn romance story, and you also get a few mysteries and detective agency plots to keep the overall story going. On top of that the agency has two more characters, a human who is super good at tech and a wonderful tracking beastwoman, who also do detective work, and who are quite invested in the developing relationship between Yakou and Tounome.

The first volume is utterly cute and very sweet, it is quite slow but will make you root for them and giggle while the story develops. The “chapters” are short and quick, but they still are fun to read and there is more plot than just their relationship, including the world building happening as the investigations happen, and learning more about the coworkers.

I would recommend it as a soft romance with a little bit of disability, and an interesting take on how to coexist with variety of differences. Very sweet overall.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools

Posted on February 7, 2025

Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools

Written by Myriam Dahman & Nicolas Digard. Illustrated by Júlia Sardà

Rating:

I have p[previously reviewed The Wolf’s Secret, which had stunning art and a wonderful story that was the reason as soon as I saw this book was coming out, I had to order it. I have no regrets.

Júlia has a perfectly fitting art style that makes the book flow beautifully to the story. It perfectly matches authors and artists, and I loved it.

Our story follows Leina who has the only boat in towna dn therefore helps ferry people to the forest so they can gather supplies like wood and hunt in the woods. But the forest is scary and therefore it is known that not everyone comes back from it.

So, when one of her friends doesn’t make it out, she decided to go looking for him, because why not? As she moves through he forest, she meets the Lord of the Toastools, who seems a bit magical and very strange, so Leina has an inkling that he might know where her friend is.

She is then invited for dinner in the palace fo the Lord of the Toadstools and because she wants to find her friend, she accepts, which then brings us to a few discoveries in the palace and why people disappear int he forest.

This one was less cosy than The Wolf’s Secret, but it was still in the same mysterious and cosy but slightly scary territory as the previous one and I don’t know, for me that combination is just perfect, like a modern type of fairy tale that one wants to keep reading more of.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Artic Fox

Posted on December 24, 2024

The Artic Fox by Holly Webb Illustrated by David Dean

Rating:

I have enjoyed a few of Holly Webb’s books before and one about an Artic Fox sounded perfect (and is the perfect review to post this Christmas week).

This story follows Ellie, who is going on a winter surprise holiday with her family (parents and little brother) to Lapland just before Christmas. This is exciting, so she tries to find out more about where they are going and that it has artic foxes, even if they are rare (due to being an endangered species).

Still there is a tiny bit of hope in Ellie, and there is enough to do during the trip too, visiting Santa, going on a sleigh ride and trying to catch the Northern Lights, so it is not like she’ll be having a bad time. However, one night during her trip she wakes up and hears a strange whining noise that leads her to a little artic fox caught in a trap.

As usual with this series of stories, our character is almost transported into living the life of someone else in the past, and so this time she’s trying to view how the fox hunting was in some ways necessary, and killing animals is, for survival, but not to overdo it. The story is cute even though it wasn’t my favourite out of the ones I’ve read (I think Star was the best).

But it is a lovely story for this winter to be cosy with and to share our love for animals.

Book Review

Moon Reads: You Only Spy Twice

Posted on December 17, 2024

Agent Harrier: You Only Spy Twice by Ben Sanders

Rating: MoonKestrel Logo2 20px Grey

Agent Harrier is a super fun and funny series of a wonderfully chaotic spy dog (he thinks he is the absolute best). There is in general a lot of fourth wall breaking and just chaos.

This is the second book in the series, and if you haven’t read the first, please do, it is hilarious.

But You Only Spy Twice finds Harrier somehow feeling like there is deja vu happening and things are repeating themselves in his current spy mission, what a very funny feeling indeed, specially when there seem to be two of him!

The book makes good use of negative space int he illustrations and lots of dramatic elements and overall the page. it is one of the best uses of the space in the pages to narrate and to give the reader an immersive experience, even when the characters break the fourth wall, it still feels interactive.

The story is funny, very Spy Kids but much younger type of chaos, and a perfect story for young readers or to read to them given the setup of the pages. Quick read too, very quick.

Can’t wait for the next one!

Book Review

Moon Reads: In Real Life

Posted on December 3, 2024

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

Rating:

Gamer girl graphic novel? Couldn’t pass it up!

Anda loves spending time online where she can do whatever she wants, and be whomever she wants. And she can meet people from all over the world and make friends, it is overall a good thing.

But then in the game, she meets a “gold farmer”, an avatar in game that illegally collects valuable objects and sells them to players that afford the expense, with the kid behind it being Chinese and trying his best to provide for his family.

As Anda interacts with the gold farmer, this brings into questions a lot about what is right and wrong, and what the rules mean, since they are not as straightforward when real lives are involved.

This may be a book that does not sit well with people, but as I come from a “third world” country (I hate this designation and calling it “underdeveloped” is also not good) this resonated with me in how life can be easy to live by the rules (or break them in ways that sound just daring) but that don’t have any real impact in livelihood and how life pans out for you.

There is usually some discourse on social media about “you shouldn’t do this, go do this privileged thing that to a developed rich country sounds like a low class thing or a right everyone has everywhere”, and usually it is done in ways to say “well, I am better than you, how dare you break the rules that were imposed by capitalism”. and well, this books brings some of the reality of life for those not as privileged and what the impact of it is, and why hard choices are made.

It is still a very idealised approach and I get it, the discussions for this type of nuance can’t be had in a single graphic novel, but at least it tries to touch on it and ask some of the questions we love ignoring because it is nicer to feel better and morally higher than others that have less options or possibilities.

The artwork is really fun and fits well with the ideas behind the story, so that’s a good win for me too.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Find Peace in a poem

Posted on November 26, 2024

Find Peace in a poem

Rating:

This is a lovely little poetry book, with a good collection of poems about mindfulness and about various topics to do with peace, calm and introspection.

The collection comes with the poems by “topic” and each beautifully illustrated. Some of the poems were ones I had read before or knew quotes that had come from them, but other were new to me and I found them fascinating. As it is always the case with a poetry collection, some of the pieces resonated more with me than others and there was one in particular that just stuck.

The Ink Cure by Kate Wakleing just hit me deeply, because damn, I use at and sketches, the little distracted doodles to navigate sometimes complex feelings or situations. It is known that my art is heavy in emotion and expression and part of it is because to me drawing is both a mindful practice and a very emotionally driven one. And I felt like this poem captured a lot fo my feelings very well.

I recommend this book for getting a nice encouraging collection that guides you through various approaches and ideas with a good touch of art and illustration. Beautiful in so many ways!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Thunder Cake

Posted on November 22, 2024

Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

Rating:

I remember someone saying they had fond memories of reading this book for thunder storms and rough times, and so I obviously had to get a copy and read it.

Thunder cake is a lovely little book about the power of grandma’s and good food.

As a thunder claps and booms, Grandma explains it is time to make a thunder cake and they need to get the ingredients immediately because a real Thunder Cake must be in the oven before the storm arrives.

However the list of ingredients is long and thunder signals the storm coming close faster and faster, looming over them.

Now, this is based on the author’s childhood memories of her grandmother and how she helped her overcome her fear of thunder, and well, I think this is a delightfully way to help a child get over fear of thunder and make it into something nice, an epic lovely quest to make a cake and have a delicious item ready.

Can definitely agree with whomever had mentioned this was great for rainy weather and rough times, it will make you smile, remember your time as a child and maybe also remember those adults who made an effort to help you conquer fear with a kind and fun adventure.

I haven’t yet baked a Thunder Cake, but one day I will when the thunder storms come and they are not in the middle of the night and I am actually able to have some of the ingredients. In the meantime, I recommend this book for another cosy autumn/winter read.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Wolf’s Secret

Posted on November 12, 2024

The Wolf’s Secret by Myriam Dahmn and Nicolas Digard. Illustrated by Júlia Sardá

Rating:

There’s a cosy vibe going on and this book is full of that stay at home curled up with a good book feeling that I crave during the colder months.

Our story follows Wolf, who is a feared scary hunter, but he has a secret. There is a girl who lives in the forest that sings and makes him very curious.

But will his curiosity and his loneliness (no one tells you that being scary means it is hard to make friends) get the best of him and will he ever go beyond watching this girl and listening to her?

The artwork was absolutely breathtaking, in that beautiful way that is just so expressive and makes you feel everything. I kept wanting to keep that feeling. And the prose, the words, it is a masterpiece in sweetness, in ease of story-telling.

The story overall talks about trust, differences, obstacles, loneliness and friendship and it is one of my favourite books. I kept thinking of it even after finishing reading it, over and over.

I can recommend it for a beautiful short fairy and folk tale that will whisk you away and bring you back feeling like a little magic happened.