Graphic Novel Review| The Wicked + The Divine

 

• Published: Nov. 1, 2014
• Genres: Graphic Novel, Comics, Fantasy
• 144 Pages per Volume
• Goodreads Rating: 3.92
• My Rating: 5.00

Volume One:
Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critical tongue-attractors like Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM reunite to create a world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.

Volume Two:
The second volume of the award-winning urban fantasy series where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. Following the tragic and unjust death of Lucifer, it takes a revelation from Inanna to draw Laura back into the worlds of Gods and Superstardom to try and discover the truth behind a conspiracy to subvert divinity

Working at a bookstore is the worst form of torture. My To-Be-Read list never shrinks; for every one book I finish, three take its spot. It’s especially difficult trying not to buy everything I see. Thankfully, the On The Same Page Secret Sister project helps. Now, whenever I see a book that looks interesting, I put it on my wishlist and keep my hands away from it in hopes that my Secret Sister will send it to me.

In my first box for this round, my Secret Sister sent me the first volume in this series, as well as Sex Criminals. I enjoyed both graphic novels, but The Wicked + the Divine has so many of the things I love: mythology, sassy characters, fighting, foul language and a mystery.

The Pantheon
The 12 gods of the Pantheon don’t stick to one mythos. Of the twelve, no one religion reigns. There are gods from Norse, Irish, and Greeks myths, and gods from Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Japanese myths. From what I gathered in the story, any of the gods can be part of the Pantheon – it just depends on whose turn it is. In the beginning of Volume One, we see the previous Pantheon 90 years ago, but aren’t given many clues on who is who.

Their interactions with each other are interesting as well. I would love to see how “Jehovah” interacts with Lucifer. Are the Gods who are enemies in myth also enemies in this life, or do they realize how short their two-year existence is and simply move on from their past? It’s interesting that certain gods can be a three-person god (like the Morrigan and  Urðr), but they manifest differently per god.

The Artwork
I am picky, and I am stubborn. If I don’t like the artwork in a G.N., I usually don’t pick it up. On the other hand, if I’m invested in the story and they switch artists, I’ll keep reading. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the artwork at first. The more the story progressed, the more I began to love the artwork. Each character is distinctly different, with their own facial expressions and quirks. This may sound like a small expectation, but I’ve found with many graphic novels that artists have a hard time giving characters their own looks. (See: The Walking Dead).

The Backgrounds
If there’s anything I love, it’s a story with a good amount of backstory. With the first two volumes of tW+tD, we don’t get a lot of backstory for the gods before they were turned, or even for the last time the pantheon was on earth. I’m sure most of that will be revealed in the next few volumes.

 

I am completely obsessed with this series. I can’t wait to read the next volumes in this series. Have you read The Wicked + the Divine? Did you love it or hate it? What are your opinions on the gods? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review| Code Name Verity & Saga

Since I finished these two books within 24 hours of each other, I thought it would be a good idea to write up two mini-reviews for them. Woo! We’ll go ahead and start with the one I finished first, Code Name Verity.

From Amazon:

Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.

This book was recommended to me by multiple people. I even had it featured on one of my posts about books I bought but hadn’t read yet. I was afraid it would either be so great that I’d need the second book immediately or it wouldn’t live up to the hype and I’d be disappointed. It definitely didn’t live up to the hype for me.

Split into two parts, we get two points of view. I expected this huge amazing story and I found the first half to be boring. I know, I know. We’re listening to our main character fighting through interrogation and we’re learning her backstory. I can’t even pinpoint why I was bored; I just was. I really enjoyed the second half, though. It was the second half of the book I couldn’t put down. Once we start to see the intricacies of the two stories, I started to care about the characters. Unfortunately, certain character deaths just left me feeling like:

 

And then I moved on. There was no uncontrollable sobbing, no faux tears, no big exclamations. Nothing. Some parts made me say, “Ooooohhh,” when there was a big “Ah-ha!” moment, but that was the most physical reaction I got from it. I did like the ending, and I even liked how a certain character died. I don’t think s/he would have wanted it any other way (and I’m writing it like this to keep it spoiler free).

All in all, I gave it three out of five wormies.

Now on to Saga. From Amazon:

Saga is the story of Hazel, a child born to star-crossed parents from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war. Now, Hazel’s fugitive family must risk everything to find a peaceful future in a harsh universe that values destruction over creation.

First of all, that summary doesn’t even come close to describing this series. Hazel’s parents are from two different planets, Landfall and Wreath, who have been at war with each other for as long as anyone can remember. Saga follows them as they’re being hunted for doing nothing other than loving each other. Both of these two, Marko and Alana, are beautifully written (and drawn) characters.

New and interesting species and creatures are imagined in this series, some of which I have a hard time trying to understand (like the robot people who reproduce the way humans do). This was the book that had me almost in tears, laughing out loud, grinning like an idiot from the cuteness of these two idiots and more. It kind of feels like Game of Thrones because you think everyone is dead or dying. I couldn’t count how many times I would sit there after reading a chapter like:

Then I’d read the next chapter and be all:

Of course characters have to die; the story takes place during a war and our main characters are fugitives.  While I hated having saying good-bye to some people, I understood why it had to be done. Maybe I’m weird, but I rarely get emotional with people’s deaths in books. It really didn’t affect me at all when Dumbledore died, but it hit me hard when Sirius did. I guess it really depends on the circumstance of death; if a person is a soldier, okay, I expect that. If they’re accidentally hit, that’s when the feels hit me hard. It’s even worse in graphic novels because there’s rarely a warning that somebody is going to die. Many times a character will be having a conversation and the next panel will have their head gone or a bullet wound through their body. It sends a shock through you, and it’s why I love visual literature.

If you’re a fan of graphic novels (or even if you aren’t), I highly suggest picking this up.  Marko and Alana and Hazel Izabel and Lying Cat (LYING CATTTTT) and so many others make this one of the best graphic novels/comics I have ever read, second only to Rat Queens (because it’s the fucking Rat Queens, come on).

Saga gets five big wormies.

Have you read any of these? Do you plan on picking them up soon? (YOU TOTALLY SHOULD). If you’ve read them did you like them as much or more than I did? Let me know in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday| Last Ten Books That Came Into My Possession

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely people at The Broke and the Bookish. This week is all about the last ten books to come into your possession, either by buying, trading or borrowing. The books featured all come from a used book store called the Book Trader here in Groton, CT. It’s mostly used books, but I found a few new books in there for a great price. Aristotle and Dante was $7.95 new, compared to it’s original price of $10.99. I may have gone slightly overboard, but I just couldn’t pass up these deals.

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
• The Black Jewel Trilogy – Anne Bishop
• Orange is the New Black – Piper Kerman
• The Winter Sea – Susanna Kearsley
• Queen of Camelot – Nancy McKenzie
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Saenz
• The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy – R. A. Salvatore
• Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
• Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card

I know the list is only nine, but I didn’t count the trilogies as separate books. The pile on the left is mainly for me, while the pile on the right is mainly for my husband.  Did I need new books? Not really. Unfortunately, I am an addict, and the drug is books. It’s bad. Like… really bad. Oh well. I’ll just have to avoid bookstores (and the library!) at any and all costs for the next month or so. If I can do that, I might be able to make a real dent in my huge TBR list/shelf. One of these days I’ll post a picture for you all.

What are some of the newest books you have? Did any of these make the list?