The Holy Terror

I read the first five books in this series in one sitting, simply because they were short, I had the time, and I had them all out from the library. There will be NO SPOILERS for the rest of the books, rather, I thought I'd just give my overall thoughts about things in general.First off, I hope you can actually find this series; it seems my library placed a huge order for all sorts of graphic novels for kids recently but not many people can find them at their own. If yours has a section like mine, I'd also recommend Lou! and Ernest & Rebecca. What's also interesting is that all of these authors, including this one for The Elsewhere Chronicles, are all French! I have no idea what possessed my library to order a bunch of graphic novels for kids by French authors ... but I'm sure glad they did.Of the three series I've mentioned, although they're all shelved in the same section (ages 9/10+ [or grade 4 and up]) this one is definitely the most mature. I had no idea I'd be in for so much death and tragedy, for one thing. The last two volumes are stronger than the first three, and actually started to remind me of another series I love: Amulet, though Amulet is by far a much better series.The Elsewhere Chronicles and Amulet are actually very similar stories and are also written for the same age bracket, but The Elsewhere Chronicles falls short in that it's not as well-written, well-drawn, nor well-developed as Amulet. Most likely you'll be able to get your hands on Amulet at your library, it's a much more popular series and that's why I'm giving it a mention here. If I had to pick between the two I'd read Amulet instead.It's fantastic that the heroine is black, though unfortunately she's surrounded by white people. Even her family (I'm not kidding here) is white. In Elsewhere there's a brief interlude where the kids walk through a fishing village and I'm pretty sure even the natives were just tanned white people. I was really confused by this; on one hand I loved that the heroine is black, but on the other ... why is she the only one?Each book is very short, around 40 pages or so, and reads like a picture book that wants to be a graphic novel. The story is there, but the pages that should include character and plot development are not. All together, the five books in this series could have easily been bound as one book instead. I didn't feel this way with the other two French series I mentioned above so it was disappointing to find so much lacking here.With that being said though, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what will happen in the sixth book: [b:The Tower of Shadows|17365942|The Tower of Shadows (The Elsewhere Chronicles, #6)|Nykko|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1368419418s/17365942.jpg|24131580] because I think things were really starting to hit their stride and get exciting. With a bit of googling, French Wikipedia seems to be telling me there's a seventh book coming out in December. I'm glad then that at least everything won't be wrapped up in one last book, which I had been afraid of, because even though I complained a bit that a very similar series is a lot better, I still enjoyed reading this one and want to know what happens next. Here's hoping that mine (and your) library gets it in stock!

It might be difficult to tell from the page count, but this is actually a graphic novel. I took this with me to the gym today, I've been going to the gym regularly for the first time in my life to try to correct some injuries instead of succumbing to surgery and I wanted to try to read while exercising. So I thought I'd bring something easy that didn't require a lot of concentration since they play music in the gym and I normally can't read if I hear music with words, but there was just enough ambient noise for me to block it out. I actually rode one of the bikes and was sitting in the front row where people walk past and I probably couldn't have chosen a more children's-looking book. Heh, whatever! I finished the whole thing AND kept my heart rate in the 130s the whole time. So, there./random anecdoteWhat made me sad though, was coming home and reading the negative reviews. Note: don't even BOTHER with Amazon if you're looking for, lack of a different term, better opinions. Just ... don't.You might be wondering why the negative reviews made me sad though, since I myself gave this 2 stars. Well, go read the top 1 star review here. I'll wait.Yeah.So.I gave this book 2 stars because I thought it was "just ok." Here was my thought process while reading it: "Oh, this is fun, it's reminding me of my time in drama, huh, well, the side love stories are kind of blah and I want to read more about the musical and set design and everything, oh, I totally saw that 'twist' coming, well, this book was ok but I wish it was longer and I wanted more character development and less emphasis on any sort of romance."NEVER, did I ONCE think, "Oh my god this is so inappropriate! How could this have an age rating of 10 and up?! This should have a warning label! Parents should know about the deviant sexual behavior this contains! Ugh, I was totally mislead and this was just wrong on so many levels."Never, did anything of the sort cross my mind. Tell me, oh people who gave this 1 star because two boys kissed and one wore a dress to save the show because the lead girl was having hysterics and the understudy was nowhere to be found, tell me, if this story was about a boy and a GIRL would you say it shouldn't be on library shelves where kids could see a picture of them kissing? Would it need a warning label then? Should it be banned because there would be, horror of horrors, heterosexual activity in it?Actually, DON'T tell me. I have no desire to hear your opinion whatsoever since I already know the answer.I gave this 2 stars because I thought the romance made the main story weaker and I didn't particularly care for the lead character. I had no idea what this book was about besides the drama (as in, musical "drama") aspect and I wanted so much more of that and then was disappointed that it was more about a boy-crazy girl than anything else. It also contained a lot of cliches as well, even the much lauded end things at the school dance cliche.If you're going to read this book, I hope you rate it because you liked (or disliked) the story and not because it contains "the gay." Well look, now you've been warned. If gay people bother you and you don't want your kids to read about them, don't give them this book. There, you're welcome, I just did your parenting for you.Seriously, with that being said, to all of the parents that handed this book over to their kids and then got "fired up" because they didn't realize this book has gay kids in it; shame on you. Shame on you for not paying attention to what your kids are reading, shame on you for being so disgustingly close-minded and bigoted, and shame on you for teaching your children those same disgustingly close-minded and bigoted views.

No.No.This had so much potential to be the best of the three prequels and I was feeling the heartbreak and uncertainty and pressure and had tears in my eyes up until ... well, go read it to find out!It's a 10 minute read, at the most, and it's free.This seriously pissed me off though, but I can't get into why without spoiling the whole thing. Some people might not be turned off by what happened, but the way one person acted is just something I never enjoy reading about and it completely ruined the entire story for me.Sigh.Well, the good thing is, the three prequels are all free and very short and are both indicative yet also not of what to expect from the full novel. These short stories are just like the snippets you find throughout the novel and not the main storyline that envelopes them all.Here's my review of the first prequel and my review of the second one as well. There are links there too to get to the pages on Amazon to snag them for free. Those two were both a lot better than this one, though again, there's just something I won't tolerate in this yet it might not bother you. YMMV.And also, here is the trailer for the TV show, and it gives you a small hint of what the book is about without spoiling anything that you wouldn't know from reading the synopsis.Well, anyway, I hope you guys decide to read the full novel even if you end up not liking these short stories, because I really enjoyed it and found it to be something really unique that made me think about life and death in a much different way.

I really had to think about my rating for this one for quite a while. I waffled between 3 and 4 stars for a few days because of one thing: the heavy-handed foreshadowing.The more I thought about it though, and especially after finishing the book, I realized one really important thing: these books are not written for people my age. Without the foreshadowing and the constant mentioning that bad things are coming, I honestly think that what happens could be severely traumatic, upsetting, and disturbing for a child to read (and this is set at 12 and up, so if you're a parent I'd suggest reading these first before handing them off to your kids.) I'm being very serious when I say that this could be nightmare material. The foreshadowing is therefor quite necessary because it prepares the reader for the very awful things that happen.And even then, with the foreshadowing and warnings, I still wasn't prepared for the ending; it still left me shaken and upset and even surprised at how wrong things went. I was almost left with my mouth hanging open (and a few tears in my eyes) when the shit hit the fan. It was intense and scary and pretty much everything you'd want in this type of book.Cirque du Freak is turning into a great, and well, I don't want to say fun series because it's horror and that's not really fun, you know? But it's entertaining and kept me on the edge of my seat and I read the third book the very next night in one sitting. The characters are well-written, the world is fascinating and strange and just terrifying enough for an adult, and the story is so different from any others I've encountered that I've actually continued reading the series instead of bouncing off to something else instead. I rarely continue on with a series but with this one I find myself opening up the next book as soon as I finish the last because I can't wait to see what will happen.If you're looking for something gory, scary, and well-written, then grab this series and give it a chance. I can say I'm enjoying it immensely and will probably read the whole series in the next week or two.

This is an older series and many of you may have read it years ago or already decided it wasn't for you, but maybe my review will sway you into giving it a chance (or just make you remember how much you loved it.)Here's my take on things:Be prepared for a male author with all male main characters. There's a younger sister character with a small part and I enjoyed the siblings' relationship, but aside from her and a few mothers, this is mostly a series about boys. Did that bother me? Not at all. Just pointing it out.Lots of gore, which I enjoyed immensely. Also, some deadpan humor thrown in so it wasn't completely gross and disgusting all the time. It was a nice way to break things up so it didn't feel dark and bleak every step of the way.The story is short and intense and doesn't contain a lot of filler. I can see how this might get compared to the Goosebumps series because those were quick reads too, though I'd say this series is for a slightly older audience, but if these had been around when I was 10 or so, I would've gobbled them up.Not a whole lot of surprises, you can kind of see where things are heading early on, but the few surprises that are included are pretty big ones. There's also a scene in the beginning that doesn't get explained and I'm curious to see where things go with that. I love that Shan obviously planned this as a series but still wrote a full book. Things are left open-ended, but there's not really a cliffhanger and I appreciated that.This is a short gory book with a slightly new twist on the vampire mythos geared heavily towards male readers (though I think girls won't feel alienated at all) and the inclusion of a "freak show" is something fascinating and I welcomed reading about a topic done to death (heh) that ended up still feeling unique. I really liked it and already have the next book loaded up on my Kindle (though I'm trying really hard not to start it tonight ... must ... wake up ... early ...)I can see how this series is so popular now and hope the quality continues with each subsequent book. Also, if you liked this book and this series, definitely check out his other unrelated series, The Demonata; I really loved the first book and I can tell you that reading A Living Nightmare after Lord Loss that his writing only gets better.It's really neat to watch an author progress and continue to improve and also clearly enjoy his work. There are not a lot of authors writing stories like Shan's and I think it fills a nice pocket that fans of the Goosebumps series can stick their hand into once they start getting older. I definitely would've been one of them and I can't wait to dive deeper into the rest of his series.

Definitely read this before you tackle the novel; it'll make you, well, appreciate isn't really the right word, but it'll add more weight to the novel than if you wait to read it after like I did.Both this and the first novella, The First, are free introductions to this world and you can get them on Amazon. The third short story, [b:The Choice|18004694|The Choice (The Returned, #0.7)|Jason Mott|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1371197108s/18004694.jpg|25269022], comes out on August 1st and is also free, but I don't think anything can top Tatiana's story, the one included in this book. I hear this is going to be a TV show and I'm super curious to see how Tatiana's story plays out. It's one of the best side stories of the whole "series."There's no reason not to check these out: they're free, they're short, and then if you like them enough you can even try to request the full novel from NetGalley like I did, because these novellas will no doubt make you want to find out what happens to all of the Returned and make it difficult to wait until the end of August.

In case you weren't aware, Colette Gale is actually Colleen Gleason's.Anyway, this is FREE right now on Amazon. I'm not a fan of serials or novellas in general, but hey, it's free and it's Colleen Gleason so I ain't even mad.

Not bad for a free story and sets things up for the full novel. I see no reason not to check it out now if you're at all curious about this author's debut. Keep in mind though that this doesn't paint the complete picture of the entire first novel, it's more similar to the vignettes that are scattered throughout the main book. So, if you didn't like this novella or think it's lacking something, that's because it is: the rest of the surrounding story.

This is about an incredibly materialistic, shallow, melodramatic preteen who is whiny and annoying. This is not something I'd tell anyone in this book's targeted age range to read. I thought I was getting Diary of a Wimpy Kid for girls but it's basically a whinefest with no substance. And the way the kids talk is nowhere near natural. Everything is over-the-top drama and none of it is funny. Plus the whole thing is supposed to be a diary written by the girl but everything plays out in real time. Like she'll talk about writing in her diary in the janitor's closet and then her friends come in and they leave but she's still telling the story like she wasn't just writing everything down. It's weird and hard to explain, but you can't have something going on in the present when it's all supposed to be a diary written by the character.

 

Even though the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books decline a bit as they go, I'd recommend those instead. They're funnier and better written though share some of the same characteristics (both good and bad) with this series. It's really a shame this turned out to be so awful because I liked the premise and I do like girly stuff and drawing but this was pretty much just a big failure.

It's difficult to continue to write reviews for this series when all I'm doing is basically gushing ... but just go check out my reviews of the first three books and then the images hidden in the spoiler below if you're still not convinced you should check out this cute series.Reviews for the first three books: My Best Friend is a Germ, Sam the Repulsive, and Grandpa Bug.This author is French and from what I gather this is the last book in this series that's been published, though I hope he's still writing/drawing it because I'd really love to read more. If not though, I eagerly await his next endeavor and will wish for it to be translated in English so I can have the chance to enjoy it as much as I did Ernest and Rebecca.

Randomly borrowed from the library. No words, artwork doesn't make sense, story doesn't make sense, seemingly nothing to follow or understand. This feels like one of those things someone would say, "You just don't get it, man. Open your mind."No.I shouldn't have to read other reviews to try to figure out what the hell I just read.

Here's my review for the first book, and things pretty much continue the same way for this stroy. As promised, here's also a glimpse of the inside:The little girl in this series is adorable, the story is both hilarious yet sad at times, and the artwork is really pretty and detailed. If you love graphic novels, don't overlook this one just because it seems like a picture book for kids. I'm well past the age for picture books and I really enjoyed this whole series. This is a weird mixture of picture book and graphic novel that I haven't seen done well or often, and it contains a wonderful story as well!If you'd like to check them out, here are my reviews for the last two books: Grandpa Bug, and The Land of the Walking Stones.

Everything I loved from the previous two books carries over to this one, yet we start to get glimpses that Rebecca is beginning to grow up, just a little bit. I love that this series isn't just fluff; there are real family dynamics and important topics discussed, yet cleverly so. It's still funny and the artwork is still impeccable. I completely recommend this series to everyone. This entry gives us the wonderful characters of Rebecca's Grandparents and their hometown, which were presented with a tremendous amount of love and care. Here's a little sample of the inside:And here are my reviews of the first two books: My Best Friend is a Germ and Sam the Repulsive, and then the final book, The Land of the Walking Stones.

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the inside because I really think this is a super underrated series and seeing the artwork will make you want to check it out more than my review.Remarkably surprised to pick this up in the children's graphic novel section at the library to find such quirky, beautiful, (lots of pink!) and incredibly detailed artwork with a poignant yet hilarious story about divorce, childhood illness, and growing up. It's very cute and cartoony but also considerably well-thought out. Grabbed all four books from the library and I've got my reviews up along with pictures! (Reviews for the last three books: Sam the Repulsive, Grandpa Bug, and The Land of the Walking Stones.)Click on the spoiler and then the image to open up a new page and larger view. These aren't really spoilers, I just don't like to bombard people with images in the feed, but this is a book you really need to see.In person, the pages are way more vibrant and the artwork is just amazing. The story is great too, of course; I wouldn't recommend a graphic novel just because it's pretty to look at. This series really is a gem and I recommend it for all ages!

T_TFull review to come with some snapshots I took of some pages to illustrate just how well this author conveys blindness, deafness, despair, hope, and kindness all with very few words.This is a Korean webtoon, and if you're unfamiliar with them, they're actually posted for free on the publisher's site with a new chapter usually put up weekly, I believe. The only hurdle is finding a translation if you can't read Korean. Unlike most manga scanlations, you're not doing something "bad" by reading this for free. I'm not sure why they offer them for free (though some do get published as books like this one has so obviously they make money when people buy them) but for whatever reason they want you to read them and enjoy them without paying a dime. I'm loving this one so much though that I'm probably going to import the 4 volumes (which is the complete series) just to own it and possibly use it to work on my Korean. A more complete review with images, like I said, to come, but obviously from my rating and the bit that I've written here I believe you can tell I think it's a fantastic series.

This has a really pretty cover and I've had the first one on my wishlist for a while now. I only have two friends that read the first book but they gave it 4 stars so it seemed like something I'd give a chance. The historical/paranormal aspects made it sound really interesting and different and something that I'd likely check out.But now I won't.