Reseña de ARC: The Crumrin Chronicles Vol. 1: The Charmed & the Cursed

*Digital ARC gently provided by Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review* 

Reseña Bilingue

The Crumrin Chronicles Vol. 1: The Charmed & the Cursed 

by Ted Naifeh

  

128 pages

Published June 22nd 2021 by Oni Press

ISBN: 1620109301 (ISBN13: 9781620109304)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a sort of spinoff of Courtney Crumrin books, about a sorceress and her great uncle warlock. So it is centered in Wilberforce "Will" Crumrin, the brother of great uncle Aloysius, retorned from the land of fairies after near a hundred years or so, in the form of a boy clueless about living with humans. 

Reseña: Counting to D by Kate Scott

Counting to D 

by 

Kate Scott

227 pages

Published February 11th 2014 by Elliott Books (first published January 28th 2014)

ISBN: 098959470X (ISBN13: 9780989594707)

Edition Language: English

BLURB: The kids at Sam’s school never knew if they should make fun of her for being too smart or too dumb. That’s what it means to be dyslexic, smart, and illiterate. Sam is sick of it. So when her mom gets a job in a faraway city, Sam decides not to tell anyone about her little illiteracy problem. Without her paradox of a reputation, she falls in with a new group of highly competitive friends who call themselves the Brain Trust. When she meets Nate, her charming valedictorian lab partner, she declares her new reality perfect. But in order to keep it that way, she has to keep her learning disability a secret. The books are stacked against her and so are the lies. Sam’s got to get the grades, get the guy, and get it straight—without being able to read.

 
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Una lectura muy agradable.

Samantha Wilson es una niña de 15 años que toma 5 clases avanzadas en la escuela secundaria, es un genio en matemáticas y también es analfabeta. Ella tiene dislexia.

Estaba buscando un libro sobre neurodivergencia para un desafío, y encontré este por casualidad, por lo que estoy agradecida porque me gustó bastante.

Cuando comienza la historia, Sam está teniendo un pequeño ataque de ansiedad porque su madre, después de un tiempo sin trabajar, ha encontrado trabajo en Oregon y deben mudarse. Esto representa una nueva escuela, pero más que nada la deja sin su red de apoyo: sus dos mejores amigas. Sin embargo, luego también decide empezar de cero, con personas que no se burlan de ella por ser idiota por no saber leer, y de ahí esconder su problema.

 

Reseña de ARC: Weathering with You , Vol.1

Weathering With You, Vol. 1 

by 

Makoto Shinkai

Wataru Kubota (Artist)  

 

 198 pages

Published June 16th 2020 by Kodansha Comics 

Original Title: 天気の子 1

ASIN: B089Y8127F

 

 

BLURB: During the summer of his first year in high school, a young man named Hodaka runs away from home to the bustling city of Tokyo. Alone and exhausted, he decides to kill time in a fast food place, where he meets a young woman named Hina who happens to work there. Little does he know that Hina possesses powers that not only affect the weather, but the whole world...

In Weathering with You, Makoto Shinkai dives into topics like love and sacrifice to show how far one boy goes to protect the thing he loves most. This manga reveals the backstories and true thoughts of the characters who stole the hearts of fans and critics worldwide.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first volume of 3, so the story is put on hold.

Hodaka Morishima, a 16-year-old boy, leaves his island to go to Tokyo without a clear plan. The city is hostile, the rain permeates everything, and soon he is homeless on the street. An unknown girl is the only one who gives him a meal, and he ends up looking for a man he met on the ship who gives him a job as an assistant in a self-published magazine that follows strange events.



 

 

Reseña de ARC: Olive (Olive #1)

 +Digital ARC gently provided by Netgalley and publishers in exchange for an honest review+

{ English | Castellano}

Olive

by

Vero Cazot

Lucy Mazel (Illustrator) 

56 pages

Published July 15th 2020 by Europe Comics (first published March 6th 2020)

Original Title: Une lune bleue dans la tête

ISBN13: 9791032810880

 

My rating: 3.5 dreamscape stars

A oneiric journey through the mind and imagination of a 17-year-old girl. And when we speak here of "inner world"- it is something literal.

Reseña: I'll Be the One

I'll Be the One 

by 

Lyla Lee

 

 328 pages

Published June 16th 2020 by Katherine Tegen Books

ISBN: 0062936921 (ISBN13: 9780062936929)

Edition Language: English 

 

BLURB: Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her.

She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fun and cute.

“I’m fat. People think it means I should hate myself, and when I don’t, it makes them uncomfortable. But this is just another part of who I am, and I’m happy with who I am.”
[...] “You’re living your best life,” he says. “They’re not.”
“Exactly.”

Cheesy? Corny? Too straightforward? Yes. But. I. DON'T. CARE :D

Haneul "Skye" Shin es una chica de 16 años , coreana-americana , bisexual y rellenita, con un gran sueño: ser estrella de K-pop. Asi que cuando sabe que habrá una competencia de talentos para K-pop en Los Angeles, donde ella vive, acude de inmediato dispuesta a demostrar su talento como bailarina y cantante , sin que le importe lo que piense su madre, los demás, y hasta la misma gente del ambiente del K-pop que favorece a las chicas extra delgadas.

Reseña: Túneles (Tunnels #1)

{Comentario en Castellano | Review in Inglés}

Túneles (Tunnels #1)

by 

Brian Williams

Roderick Gordon

Traductor: Adolfo Muñoz García.

448 pages

Published November 19th 2007 by Puck 

ISBN: 8496886034 (ISBN13: 9788496886032)

Series: Tunnels #1

SINOPSIS: Will comparte con su padre una afición muy extraña para un chico de catorce años: pasa su tiempo excavando, buscando tesoros perdidos en las entrañas de la tierra. Así descubre que, bajo el mismo Londres, existen túneles que no constan en ningún mapa y puertas olvidadas durante siglos. Pero… ¿adónde llevan? Cuando el padre de Will desaparece misteriosamente, el joven decide aventurarse en su búsqueda, desafiando la oscuridad y el temor a lo desconocido. Con la sola ayuda de su amigo Chester, se dirige hacia un mundo fascinante y a la vez aterrador, un mundo lleno de sorpresas, con sus propias leyes, extraños personajes… y terribles amenazas.

3.5 don't-forget-your-torch stars

La gracia de este libro para mi es que es el primero que tenía en mi lista de TBR , desde 2011. YAY; uno menos.

Bien flaco favor le hicieron los publicistas a este libro comparándolo con la serie Harry Potter queriendo subirse a su popularidad. Desde ya les digo que no se le parece en nada. NO hay magos, ni seres de mitologia de cuentos por aqui; asi que tampoco se asemeja a Artemis Fowl II, pese a los subterráneos.

Reseña de ARC: The Fantastical Exploits of Gwendolyn Gray (Gwendolyn Gray, #2)

 +Digital ARC gently provided by Netgalley and editors in exchange for an honest review+

{English| Spanish}

The Fantastical Exploits of Gwendolyn Gray (Gwendolyn Gray, #2)

by 

B.A. Williamson

384 pages

Published April 28th 2020 by North Star Editions/Jolly Fish Press

ISBN13: 9781631634352

Edition Language: English

Series: The Chronicles of Gwendolyn Gray #2

BLURB: Heroes never return from adventure unchanged, and Gwendolyn Gray knows this better than anyone. She faces a new darkness within herselfwith no help or comfort from her friends Sparrow and Starling. On top of that, the City is only getting worse. When the Faceless Gentlemen return to menace her again, Gwendolyn escapes to the lands of the Fae. But even the dreamlike Faeoria holds dangers that even she could never have imagined. Gwendolyn must learn to master her magic and manage her internal struggles if she ever hopes to defeat the villainous forces that control the City, find Sparrow and Starling, and save the people she loves.

3.3 spread-your-imagination stars

“Everyone is born different. None of us are born to fit in.”

When the heroine of a story defeats the bad guys, derailing their evil plans, the story ends with a happy ending, right? Well, Gwendolyne hoped it would be like this, not even caring that anyone knew what she had been through or done, or was she? However, she feels depressed and misses her friends and fellow adventurers. Her world continues to be mostly gray and it continues to follow the same operating laws, not like the world of pirates and adventure. Like all the kids, maybe she expected a radical change and not a small change here and there, like her friends from school who want to hear stories now. And I think Gwendolyn fails to acknowledge her parents' love for her.

But the gray men have not yet given up on reordering the world as it should be.

Gwendolyn is once again haunted by enormous powers and must jump to another world to escape and seek help.

Reseña: Cirque du freak (Manga 1)

Cirque Du Freak (The Manga #1)

by  

Adaptado por Takahiro Arai

Darren Shan (Autor original)

208 pages

Published July 25th 2013 by Harper Collins Children's Books (first published January 1st 2003)

ISBN13: 9780007539482

Edition Language: English

Series: Cirque Du Freak: The Manga #1

BLURB: The amazing manga retelling of Darren Shans international best-selling vampire saga, with illustrations by Japanese artist Takahiro Arai.

Darren Shan is just an ordinary schoolboy until he gets an invitation to visit the Cirque du Freak until he meets Madame Octa until he comes face-to-face with a creature of the night!

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Este es el manga del libro de Darren Shan. En su tiempo, me leí la saga de un tirón, y me fastidió ese final de la saga la verdad. Luego, ni hablar de la película. Ahora por un reto vi este titulo y bueno, le di una oportunidad aunque del libro al manga tampoco es que me gusten mucho las adaptaciones.

Reseña: Fence vol 1-2-3 (comics)

Estoy en un reto de Bingo de comic-manga, asi que empecé a leer este comic que tiene bastante hype. Lamento informar que no los encontré para tanto.

Fence, Vol. 1 

by

Writer: C.S. Pacat

Artist: Johanna the Mad 

Colorist: Joana Lafuente
Letterer: Jim Campbell

  

112 pages

Published July 31st 2018 by BOOM! Box (first published April 11th 2018)

ISBN: 1684151929 (ISBN13: 9781684151929)

Edition Language: English

SYNOPSIS:  Sixteen-year-old Nicholas Cox is an outsider to the competitive fencing world. Filled with raw talent but lacking proper training, he signs up for a competition that puts him head-to-head with fencing prodigy Seiji Katayama…and on the road to the elite all-boys school Kings Row. A chance at a real team and a place to belong awaits him—if he can make the cut!

Esta dirigido a un público juvenil, con personajes LGBT, transcurre en una escuela privada , y en el mundo de los practicantes  y competidores de esgrima.

El primer volumen nos presenta a Nicholas Cox, con mucho talento crudo, pero escaso entrenamiento, que esta determinado a vencer al campeon, quien no es nada menos que su medio hermano, el hijo legitimo que lo ha tenido todo, mientras que Nicholas es el hijo ilegitimo y abandonado.

Reseña: Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain (Please Don't Tell My Parents #1)

 +Reto Popsugar #37. Un libro acerca de alguien con superpoderes+

Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain (Please Don't Tell My Parents #1)

by  

Richard Roberts

 

 376 pages

Published February 15th 2014 by Curiosity Quills Press 

ISBN: 162007463X (ISBN13: 9781620074633)

Edition Language: English 

BLURB: Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She's got superhero parents. She's got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets even she doesn't understand. She has two super powered best friends. In middle school, the line between good and evil looks clear.
In real life, nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero's sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled supervillains. In the process, Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She's good at it. Criminal masterminds, heroes in power armor, bottles of dragon blood, alien war drones, shape shifters and ghosts, no matter what the super powered world throws at her, Penny and her friends come out on top. They have to. If she can keep winning, maybe she can clear her name before her mom and dad find out.

My rating: 3.7 mad-scientist stars

En esta versión alternativa de Los Angeles, muy al estilo del universo Avengers y Los Increibles, hay superheroes y villanos, y acaban de pasar por una guerra con los aliens. Penelope Akk es una chica normal de 13 años, un poco nerd ,  cuyos padres son dos superheroes en retiro. Papá es Cerebro Akk y mamá es Auditor. Con esos padres, ella espera tener una habilidad científica-matemática como ellos, pero con lo que no contaba es que ella en realidad es una ..¡científica loca! Porque todos saben que los cientificos locos son todos villanos, ¿verdad? errr.

Reseña de ARC: Sparrowhawk (1-5)

+Digital ARC gently provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review+

 

Sparrowhawk (Sparrowhawk #1-5)

by 

Delilah S. Dawson

Matias Basla (Illustrations)

 128 pages

Published August 20th 2019 by BOOM! Studios

ISBN: 1684153956 (ISBN13: 9781684153954)

Edition Language: English

Series: Sparrowhawk #1-5

 BLURB: After a young woman is kidnapped by an evil Faerie Queen and trapped in a far off realm, she must survive teen Victorian fairy fight club in order to get back home.
As the illegitimate daughter of a Naval Captain, Artemisia has never fit in with her father’s family, nor the high class world to which they belong. However, when she is targeted by the Faerie Queen and pulled into another realm, she has no choice but to fight her way back home, amongst evil fairies who want her head, and untrustworthy allies that claim solidarity but have ulterior motives. New York Times bestselling author Delilah S. Dawson (Ladycastle, Star Wars: Phasma) and illustrator Matias Basla (The Claw and Fang) present a gripping dark fantasy tale of a young woman claiming her time and her agency.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Artemisia Gray es la hija de un comandante naval y de una mujer nativa quien fue traida por su progenitor hasta Inglaerra en en el siglo XIX. La madrastra nunca la aceptó más que como una sirvienta, de sus dos media hermanas, la menoer aprece serla única que la acepta como familia. Sin embargo tras la muerte de una de sus hermanas, la madrastra revela que estan a punto de caer en bancarrota y es imperativo un matrimonio conveniente como sea. Sin embargo, la reina de las hadas tiene otros planes...

Asi inicia esta aventura a lo Alicia en el Pais de las Maravillas, espejo y conejo malvado incluidos deone Artemisia abrirse paso de forma sangrienta por las tierras de las hadas con la idea de regresar a su tierra.

Reseña: Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl #1)

by 

Eoin Colfer

280 pages

(first published April 26th 2001)

ISBN: 1423124529 (ISBN13: 9781423124528)

Series: Artemis Fowl #1  

 BLURB: Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't fairies of bedtime stories; these fairies are armed and dangerous.
Artemis thinks he has them right where he wants them...but then they stop playing by the rules.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Artemis Fowl es un antiheroe de 12 años, un genio criminal que viene de un legado familiar de gente dedicada a hacer ganancias por cualquier medio necesario, y aunque de vez en cuando hacen algo legitimo, se aburren y vuelven al mundo criminal. Cuando inicia la historia, Artemis hace años que se maneja solo junto a su fiel guardaespaldas Butler (de un largo legado de Butler que han servido a los Fowl). Su padre lleva años desaparecido, probablemente por la mafia rusa, y su madre vive en un estado de depresion recluida en su pequeño mundo en su habitacion. 

Asi que Artemis conspira con encontrar una gran ventaja para hallar a su padre y obtener mucho, mucho dinero. Sus investigaciones le han llevado a descubrir que existe un mundo secreto de hadas y decide apoderarse de su oro... facil ¿verdad? Pues no. Pero eso no amedrenta a este villano que tiene planes sobre planes en marcha.

Reseña: Blart: The Boy Who Didn't Want to Save the World Blart: The Boy Who Didn't Want to Save the World

Blart: The Boy Who Didn't Want to Save the World

by

Dominic Barker

319 pages

Published February 1st 2006 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (first published 2006)

ISBN: 074758074X (ISBN13: 9780747580744)

Edition Language: English

Series: Blart #1

BLURB: Blart is not an average boy. He lives on a pig farm with his grandfather and doesn't care about being heroic or famous or legendary, but he does know that if you want to catch a pig you have to sneak up behind it and take it by surprise. So when a great wizard visits and explains that humankind depends on Blart joining his quest, Blart says no - until the wizard threatens his pigs. Reluctantly, Blart embarks on a very epic quest stuffed with brilliant characters: a feisty princess who likes dragons, a warrior who's a big softie at heart, a disaffected dwarf, and evil Zorab, trapped in a mountain, waiting for his minions to dig him out...

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Shelves:  adventure-and-action, anti-heroe, fantasy, magia, parodia, read, teen-protagonist, witches-wizards

Blart is a 14-year-old swineherd, coward and selfish and ugly , who is taken by force by a magician to stop a supervillain.

‘My name’s Blart. I look after pigs and I’m with Capablanca who doesn’t.’

I was going to give it 3 stars until it got pretty boring and dumb from the middle almost to the end.

Imagine a parody of The Hobbit in a basically Python-esque way, with a Dudley Dursley at its worst as the protagonist.

Pelicula: Our Shining Days (2017)

Pelicula que los músicos no se pueden perder:

 Our Shining Days 

 (Chinese: 闪光少女;  

: Shǎnguāng Shàonǚ; literally: "Shining Girl")

 2017

 

Directed by	Wang Ran
Produced by	William Kong
Written by	Bao Jingjing
Starring					Xu Lu Peng Yuchang Liu Yongxi Li Nuo Lu Zhaohua Han Zhongyu
Music by	Kubert Leung
Cinematography	Charles Lee

Esta es una de esas peliculas coming-on-age, donde unos adolescentes pasan por algo que les hace alcanzar mayor madurez a traves de las experiencias que van pasando. 

La pelicula es bonita y muy interesante en cuanto nos muestra varios músicos en una escuela de música en China , cuyos estudiantes se encuentran fuertemente divididos entre aquellos que se dedican a la música clásica occidental, y a aquellos dedicados a la música folclórica o tradicional china.

Reseña: Bint: The Night Masquerade (Binti 3)

The Night Masquerade  (Binti #3)

by  

Nnedi Okorafor

 208 pages

Published January 16th 2018 by Tor.com

ISBN:0765393131 (ISBN13: 9780765393135)

Edition Language:English

 BLURB: The concluding part of the highly-acclaimed science fiction trilogy that began with Nnedi Okorafor's Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning BINTI.
Binti has returned to her home planet, believing that the violence of the Meduse has been left behind. Unfortunately, although her people are peaceful on the whole, the same cannot be said for the Khoush, who fan the flames of their ancient rivalry with the Meduse.
Far from her village when the conflicts start, Binti hurries home, but anger and resentment has already claimed the lives of many close to her.
Once again it is up to Binti, and her intriguing new friend Mwinyi, to intervene--though the elders of her people do not entirely trust her motives--and try to prevent a war that could wipe out her people, once and for all.

Don't miss this essential concluding volume in the Binti trilogy.

My rating: 3.7

Previously: While Binti was at her father's people , the desert people, barely grasping the new knowledge delivered to her , she feel something very bad happening at the Rook , the family home.

So we deal with a overwhelmed girl, between bouts of flashbacks from the original travel to the Uni and the deaths, anxious for getting home with her family, and assaulted for all a new kind of ...language? ...mental perception? A bad trip among desert storms combating PSTD and her worst nightmares.

Reseña: Blade Singer

Blade Singer 

 by  

Aaron de Orive

Martha Wells

 202 pages 

Published June 13th 2014 by Cloak & Dagger Studios 

 Manuel "Manny" Boreaux, a troubled adolescent from Texas, is magically transported into the body of a goblin pickpocket in an alternate world inhabited by faerie creatures. Manny must quickly adapt to the danger all around him and try to find a way to get back home, a feat complicated by the pickpocket's association with a notorious gang of thieves. But when Manny uncovers a plot to assassinate a young king, he must enlist the aid of an elf cavalier and a cat burglar to thwart a Sidhe witch's scheme to ignite a civil war between humans and the Fae.

My rating: 3.5 

 bookshelves: teen-protagonist, adventure, fantasy, sword-and-fantasy, fae-or-fey-or-faery, elfos, seelie-unseelie-court, ya-juvenil

Manny Boreaux is a seventh grade student whose parents died in a car accident six months ago. He lives with his aunt, but finds himself in denial and resentment, making bad decisions. His going to a bookstore chasing memories, leads him magically to an adventure where he is in a parallel world full of magic, guards using rapier, fay beings, and where suddenly he is a thief that is becoming a goblin.

I picked this book for curiosity because is co-authored with Martha Wells (Raksura books).

This is like the Musketeers with faery races .

An entertaining page-turned, but feels more like a novella than a novel. Despite being a stand-alone novel, a second installment is clearly pending.

Reseña: Disney Manga: Descendants the Rotten to the Core Trilogy Volume 2

 +Digital copy gently provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review+

Disney Manga: Descendants the Rotten to the Core Trilogy Volume 2 

by  

Jason Muell (Adaptación)

Natsuki Minami (Illustrator)

80 pages

Expected publication: October 3rd 2017 by TokyoPop

ISBN:1427856893 (ISBN13: 9781427856890)

Edition Language:English

BLURB; The children of Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella De Vil have never ventured off the Isle of the Lost. . . until now. Invited to pristine Auradon, to attend prep school alongside the children of beloved Disney heroes, Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos must carryout their villain parents evil plot to rule once again. Will the rebel teens follow in their rotten parents' footsteps or will they choose to embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My bookshelves:  vi-primero-la-pelicula, me-quedo-con-la-pelicula, graphic-novel, netgalley, ya-juvenil, teen-protagonist, highschool-scene, heroes-and-villains, media-tie-in, fairytale, fantasy

This is the second part of the trilogy based upon the Disney's picture where four teen children of villains that live in exile in the Isle of Lost, have the opportunity of go to school at Aralon (where the good characters of the fairytales live). The original idea was stole some magical object to release their parents, but ...

Well, the manga style of the drawing does very little to help differentiate between the protagonists of the story, and for this it detracts from all the small eccentricities that make the flesh-and-blood version of this youthful fantasy with characters of children of villains an engaging story.

I'm sorry, but it's not what I expected.

Reseña: Pyromantic (Firebug 2)

Pyromantic 

by  

Lish McBride

 336 pages

Published March 21st 2017 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

ISBN:0805098631 (ISBN13: 9780805098631)

Edition Language:English

Series:Firebug #2

BLURB: Ava is having a rough time. Getting rid of Venus didn’t set her free—she’s still part of the magical mafia called the Coterie. Her new boss seems like an improvement, but who knows if he’ll stay that way—the Coterie life changes people. And since Ava’s currently avoiding her friends after (disastrously) turning down a date with Lock, well, everything kind of sucks. And that’s not even taking into account the feelings she might have for him.

But when a mysterious illness starts to affect magical beings, it’s up to Ava and her team to stop its spread…or else one of them might be next.

My rating: 2.75 melting stars

Realmente queria que este libro me gustara mucho más, pero Ava, la prota, lo intenta demasiado. Trata demasiado de ser graciosa, de no caer en sentimentalismos, pero igual termina interactuando de modo forzado. 

La trama es interesante, y se lee bastante rápido.