Tag: illustrated

Book Review

Moon Reads: Worst Man

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Worst Man by Brandt & Stein

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

I like graphic novels and I had been in a bit of a slump, so I decided to grab one and give it a punt.

Worst Man is about the wedding of Domino McElligott and Battista Lovely, they are getting married in a remote island far away from everything, a nice secluded perfect wedding. 

Introduce Radcliffe Raleigh. He is a professional "worst man", who works to stop weddings from happening to avoid people who aren't truly in love or that others think are a bad pairing or shouldn't marry. He is hired by the mother of the bride, who is a tech mogul, Valentina McElligott. She had previously hired him to break up her other daughter's wedding, which Rad failed to do as they were truly in love and therefore was against his policy, but for that he had six months.

To stop this wedding, he is now given 32 hours and a threat on his life. So he gets to it and tries hard to pull all the tricks he can muster in such a short time. But what he doesn't plan on is the best man who is on his own mission to see this wedding succeed for his friend. 

Add to the mix the fact that Domino's sister came and they vaguely remember Rad from the time he was their own worst man, and that she is upset that her perception is that their mother gave them the island to Domino and Battista but didn't even show up to her wedding. A groom who insists on being blindfolded so he doesn't see the bride before the wedding because it is bad luck. A mother of the groom with a terrorising pooch that is also the ring bearer. A hotel that had their staff scared away by Rad so it's only him and his hacker friend, alongside the best man and the two friends he brought up to help.

And Valentina is also helping by bringing quite literally a boatload of people from her company and a wedding planner that is having a crisis and frustrated and determined to somehow still make this the best wedding ever (she's in a war path). 

This was so so funny. Between Rad desperately slowly falling for the best man and trying his best to at the same time ruin this wedding, but also frustrated because how is he going to undo this when the best man seems to be undoing whatever he does to cause chaos. 

Chaos is just everywhere. One of the fun things is you get to see loads of very messy family and friends relationships. Like the misunderstandings between the sisters and how they see the other different than they themselves perceive who they are. You get to see a bossy mother of the groom who knows best. A bride and groom who truly love each other and are just trying to have a good wedding without too mcuh chaos and somehow with Valentina involved that feels impossible. 

But, will love prevail, both for Rad and for the couple? 
Go read to find out, it is worth it and a very fun journey.
Book Review

Moon Reads: Monster Movie!

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Monster Movie! by Chuck Wendig

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

This was a bargain book found in Forbidden Planet that my partner suggested and added to my pile of books to buy, a gamble trusting that I would enjoy it.

Ethan is afraid of a lot of things, almost everything except certain constants in his life. Mostly what he likes is being able to be in control of the variables and to have predictability, and he doesn't like complex emotions, the more stable and predictable and not scary, the better. 

And thankfully he has two best friends who complement him and don't mind that is scared of so much, and that usually accommodate for him. But when the entire class gets invited to watch an apparently rare almost impossible to find horror movie at the house of the most popular boy int he school, his friends insist he should join them. But "scariest movie ever" does not  sound at all like something Ethan will enjoy, but he debates this over and over, and while he debates this, the movie turns out to be a monster and Ethan is the lucky one to escape amongst his classmates who were watching it. 

At first he only wants to escape and forget it, but as the monster starts wreaking havoc in his little town, Ethan realises he may be the only one who can stop it and get his friends back. 

Now this was pure chaos and havoc, and craziness. Ethan has a lot to confront and a lot to decide as monsters coming out of a scary movie and stealing everyone's heads is not the ideal scenario for him to shine. But he really cares about his friends and he wants to fit in a little bit better. But as he tries to find a way to stay alive and not fall victim to the monster and also a way to try to recover his friends, he realises everyone can be scared of things, and that doing it scared is possible, even if it is scary. 

For me this was a funny read, and I liked how Ethan solves and saves the day on it, it was a nice twist that fit into who he is and also helped him grow into himself, and gave him a little bit more courage to be himself, even if it doesn't automatically make him brave and courageous (which I actually liked, he is still Ethan at the end of the book, and still scared, but maybe less things scare him now). 

One other thing it covers is that we all have value, and passion and our projects, and that if we like something we don't have to give it up to fit in, and maybe that thing might be a strength, even if some people may not see it that way. It was an good framing of how things aren't always perfect or how times change and also that at the end of the day we all want to succeed, are afraid to fail and that anxiety is a painful companion that sometimes has to take the back seat and let us exist.
Book Review

Moon Reads: Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star

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Cosima Unfortunate Steals a Star by Laura Noakes. Illustrated by Flavia Sorrentino.

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

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. 

I knew Laura was writing a book for a while and that the main character would have EDS, which in between having been in an instagram pod with her for a long time and also having EDS myself, this was a necessary purchase and read. 

I read it a while ago, I am just a mood reviewer and this is my blog, so I more or less come and write my reviews when I finally feel like it, and apparently today is one of those days when I feel like writing about myself while I review a book. 

Cosima can only remember the Home for Unfortunate Girls (therefore why she is called Unfortunate), all she knows is she was dropped up as a baby, and that who her parents are/were seems a bit of a secret. The Home for Unfortunate Girls is a school/orphanage for children who are disabled or deemed different, and it is more or less obligatory that if your child falls under this category, then they gotta be here. 

But for Cosima, this is home, even if it doesn't treat them amazingly well and there's always some weird schemes going on between the Home's manager/matron and the benefactors, that involve the children working a bit too hard. Luckily, Cosima has made good friends here (Pearl, Mary and Diya) and what they enjoy a lot (particularly Cosima) is running mini heists where they obtain cakes, biscuits and other sweet goods for the themselves and to share with the rest of the children. 

Now, Cosima is here because she has EDS, and her knee dislocates often alongside her joints giving her trouble, so she uses various walking assistance to move as needed dependent on how she's feeling that day. This was a nice thing to see throughout the whole book as her disability is ever present (and as much as it is part of the plot, it is not the main plot nor does it work as plot tool exclusively) and therefore it shows how it displays in a dynamic way. 

As someone with EDS, it was just nice to read a book that was pretty mcuh my experiences. As a kid, playing games that involved "pulling" could cause dislocations easily (to the point my parents and myself became experts and pushing my elbow or shoulder back) so I had to be mindful of what I did. I have always adapted to it and didn't know how dynamic it really was becuase in my family this was all considered relatively normal. EDS is a hereditary condition, so it wasn't anything "new" or any different quirks to the ones the whole family had. It was actually really amusing when I got my formal diagnosis and then suddenly almost every single family member started questioning their quirks and reframing them into this context and suddenly the diagnosis made even more sense "what do you mean x is a symptom? I've always been able to do that and also this 15 other things that fit the criteria and that as a family we thought were totally normal". Great conversation to ahve. 

Anyway, I have gone off topic, but the above does have something to do with Cosima's heist, and the fact she desperately wants to find out who her parents are/were as she holds hope that her father is still alive. So when she finds out that Lord Francis Fitzroy wants to adopt them, she plots the biggest heist ever as she is not convinced about this and wants some truth and the money to bu their freedom. 

During her heist which was fun and amusing to read, and very clever and creative, Cosima inches closer and closer to finding the truth about her family and maybe understanding her condition better. 

Honestly if you have EDS or a similar disability, this is a must read with good representation and own voices, but even if you do not, it is a wonderful read, funny and quirky and just very sweet, and it depicts dynamic disabilities really well.
Book Review

Moon Reads: Mort the Meek and the Raven’s Revenge

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Mort the Meek and the Ravens’ Revenge

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

Mort lives in Brutalia, where violence is the norm everywhere. People just love brawls and getting into fights and scrambles as part of their normal life, well, everyone except Mort. He would like to live his life peacefully, or as close as he can, which makes him seem meek and weak to the rest of the people in Brutalia. 

The problem happens when his uncle who is the lead executioner for the executions (a past time of the King and Queen) dies and therefore Mort inherits his position. To make it even more complicated, his first execution is to be his best friend. So Mort has a full week to try to find a way out of violence and to save his friend, while at the same time trying to ensure his peaceful ways. 

The overall artwork and illustrations are really funny, and the ravens add a bit of a conversation at the start of the chapters, which was fun even if they are ravenous ravens. We also have the author play a lot with the fourth wall and break it or playful try to pull the readers further into this world and what Mort is experiencing. 

I do have to highlight that one thing that made this lose part of its rating and be so low and it is that it does the whole "the villains are evil... and fat" which wasn't necessary at all. They were evil enough without having to comment on their body or make them be fat as if that was part of what added to them villainous. 

The rest of it was actually fun, with lots of clever and creative ways to change the viewpoints of violence into something different and finding ways to bend the rules and somehow still be as peaceful as he can.

The main thing I remember about it is that it was fun to read, quite an easy quick read and the art made it even better, so it's still a nice little book and while I was looking it up for this post, I realised there's a few sequels, so I am gonna go see if I can get a hold of them and add a review for them too in the future (not like I don't have a long list of books to read, but maybe the library might have them?)
Book Review

Moon Reads: Glam & Beardy Volume I

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The Very Serious Diary of Glam & Beardy Volume I by Ruby Clyde & Rachel WD. Illustrated by Vincent Batignole.

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

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 love good middle grade series. Some of my favourite have been Diary of an Accidental Witch, The Boy Who Grew Dragons or Tales of the Chocolate Heart. So when Little Tiger had this up for review and request, I had to try it to fill my middle grade craving for a good series.

Glam & Beardy do not disappoint at all.

We start by getting to know Glam who is the last child of the Glamour family and is hoping to get the most glamorous familiar, since all kids get one around her age, except her. Hers just doesn’t seem to come at all. We get to know her family and that the kingdom has several “families” with different skills, like glamour or wisdom or strength.

It is also not common but not a bad thing if your familiar is from a different family (like Glam’s mum, who was born into Wisdom but has a glam familiar). Glam gets sad that she can’t find a familiar, and she’s not very glamorous, until she does meet her familiar Beardy, who is definitely a not glamorous familiar, but even worse, they’re not a defined skills from the kingdom, so Glam is convinced she has the wrong familiar.

This leads to an adventure to try to find a way to find the right familiar for Glam and the right kid for Beardy.

One of the things I really liked was that Glam’s family isn’t absent, on the contrary they are there for her even if she doesn’t always believe it or actually feel like it. I love stories where the parents/family are supportive and part of the story and not just absent or there for plot points.

There was also a lot about friendship, belonging and about skills, and the nice thing is that Glam is very much interested in history and anthropology rather than glamour, but still tries to be as glamorous as she can.

It was super cute to read, the illustrations are spot on and really fun, and there’s a lot f the world and story yet to find out, so I am very curious for the next volume. If you enjoyed any of the series I mentioned above, this is a must read for sure!

Book Review

Moon Reads: Dungeon Runners Level 1: Hero Trial

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Dungeon Runners – Level 1: Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood and Joe Todd-Stanton

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

I love middle grade fun series and Dungeon Runners starts with a bang for sure.

Kit is a small little gnorf (part gnome, part dwarf), which means he’s pretty small and doesn’t have any particularly great advantages for playing as Dungeon Runner, but he has always wanted to, since his own grandfather was one of the amazing teams back in the days.

So when a space opens up for a new team to join the Dungeon Runners, Kit is ready. Except that he has no team, so he finds new friends and a new team in Sandy, a sea witch who only knows one spell and Thorn, a vampire who loves knitting. Every team must have a healer, a fighter and a magic user, so they’re perfectly balanced to take it on.

The story is very cute and interesting, with Kit trying to be brave and fit as a fighter because it is one thing to dream you want to be part of a wonderful team, and then actually have to be an amazing team member is another thing. But what Kit may not have in strength he has in being a good gnorf, compassion and even courage when needed, and he will figure out the teamwork with Sandy and Thorn so that they can qualify to be the team selected.

I loved it, between the art, the “dungeons” the narrating of the actual “dungeon running”, and the three friends finding their strengths and weaknesses and the fun and clever ways. It is also a “fair” book in that they’re not perfectly winning all the time, it is an actual competition and therefore not everything goes their way just because they’re the main characters.

It’s a lovely little series and a good start for it, I am very intrigued where it intends to actually go, but so far (I have read up to book 3) it is very delightful and will be a recommended one for kids (one of my work colleagues’ kid is enjoying them too, so even kid approved for sure).

Book Review

Moon Reads – The Bakery Dragon

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The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz

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

Apparently we are on a theme of reviews being quite cosy. I think partly this is because the world is being a little bit too much and we need reassurance, a safety blanket and cosy books are perfect for this.

The Bakery Dragon was actually initially an illustration Devin Elle made and then this inspired her to write a little book story about a dragon who longs for a different kind of treasure.

I think the overall story is super cute with our little dragon, Ember, finding that a hoard of gold and treasure isn’t really motivating and then while wandering around the town they see a little bakery window and find it so enticing. I honestly fully understand the dragon, I find the bakery windows and looking at bread and pastries super tasty and exciting and I just always end up wanting to go in and buy something and taste it (specially if you add the nice smell of the bread, yum!).

Anyway, bread turns out to be the perfect hoard and treasure for Ember, who is curious and wants to learn how bread is made. The baker then shows Ember how to make bread and Ember learns that sharing bread and making bread and having others enjoy it is very rewarding and a treasure in itself.

I am a fan of Devin Elle’s artwork so it is not a surprise that I loved a book about a little dragon that loves bread and that expands on her illustration work and dedicates itself to bread and cute little dragons. This book is like a bread version of The Tea Dragon Society hitting all the stops in cuteness, food appreciation and dragons.

Book Review

Moon Rads – The Baker and the Bard

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The Baker and the Bard by Fern Haught

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

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.

Felt like this fit nicely into the same vibes as our last book. The Baker and the Bard follows two friends, Juniper who is an apprentice at the local bakery, and Hadley who is a bard that performs at the local inn. The little adventure had in this book is sparked by a stranger requesting a specific pastry that requires magical mushrooms that need to be foraged since the baker doesn’t have them in stock easily.

Our two friends will then set off on a soft gentle adventure to the forest where they will also realise there’s a little mystery of something eating local crops and leaving a glowy goo behind. Might as well find magicla mushroom and solve the mystery, right?

The story is just cute with finding new creatures, a caretaker and a bit of understanding coexisting environments. I admit the story felt a bit shoe horned to just cover certain topics and at times it was a little weak but the art came into save it and honestly the art is the best part of this cosy adventure. It is still a very cute and cosy book which left me wanting some pastries and a nice cup of tea.

Book Review

Moon Reads: Narwhal’s Sweet Tooth

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Narwhal’s Sweet Tooth by Ben Clanton

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

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.

Every time I see there’s a new Narhwal and Jelly book I am very happy for it.

The series is very funny and cute and perfect for little ones. The artwork feels a bit like drawn with a crayon and it is so fun. Narwhal is always so peppy even when bad things happen.

In this one, Narwhal’s “horn” which is actually a tooth starts seeing the effects of having too many sweet things and ahs a crack, which hurts Narwhal, and so JElly and Narwhal go around trying to figure out how to fix it and cheer Narwhal up.

As always, sheaningans, waffles and lots of fun happen and this was very cute, with some interesting facts about Narwhal horns/tooth.

I just want to know what happens next, because Jelly seems to have softened a lot now that they’re good friends with Narwhal.

Book Review

Moon Reads: The Moth Keeper

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The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill

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

From the same author as The Tea Dragon Society, we have The Moth Keeper, so I know I like the art style and it was partly one of the reasons I chose this book. But the story itself was worth the read too.

In this book we follow Anya, who is training to be a Moth Keeper, a slightly lonely but crucial responsibility and a great honour. It is lonely because they are the protectors of lunar moths that allow a special flower to bloom once a year, which is needed for the village to thrive. This does mean you end up basically living at night and seeing mostly nights and very little sunshine and very few of your people.

Anya wants to prove her worth and take over the post, but it feels like a heavy cost to have to do less with friends. Then of course, Anya notices something that could cause harm to the moths and somehow breaks tradition to try to move forward.

The story is very sweet and gentle, it has an intricate nightly world initially, based around the moths and our little village, it is full of a fantastical and yet simple way of life. It is also about growing up, about making choices and pondering what thebeaten path brings, or if the choices you make, once you actually go through are exactly what you wanted. What if you want it, but also want to be able to do more, to engage in with your community?

Very sweet, lush and hopeful, worth a read for the lovely dreamy art, and for a sweet story.