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Graphic Novel Review: Wingbearer (Wingbearer Saga #1) by Marjorie Liu, art by Teny Issakhanian

Cover art for Wingbearer (Wingbearer Saga #1) by Marjorie Liu

Wingbearer (Wingbearer Saga #1) by Marjorie Liu, art by Teny Issakhanian

Quill Tree, 2022

ISBN-13: 9780062741165

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle, Comixology

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

 

Marjorie Liu takes a step away from horror and dark fantasy with her middle grade graphic novel, Wingbearer. Zuli, raised in the Great Tree by mysterious bird spirits, is unique. She doesn’t look at all like the bird spirits, and she has never seen anyone like her. She has never left the safety of the branches of her home. When an evil magic begins to affect the new growth of the tree and bird souls are not returned to its branches for rebirth, Zuli sets out to spread her wings with her guardian owl, Frowly, to discover the problem and return the bird souls home. Zuli is also on a quest to discover who she is and where she comes from. Along the way, she meets new friends and foes, and perhaps comes face-to-face with her biggest threat or salvation, the Witch-Queen.

 

Upon seeing the world beyond the Great Tree, she finds the land ravaged, broken ruins everywhere. Her first encounter with any other living creature is when she is  attacked by giant spiders. She discovers this world is not what she was hoping and dreaming about in the safe branches of her home. Throughout her journey, she also finds that not everything is black and white: there are grey areas that she must grapple with.  A memorable scene is when she becomes distraught after she sees other goblins in her friend Orien’s camp chopping tree branches for building materials and fuel. She does not understand why the destruction of even one branch of a tree is necessary for others to live. Zuli grapples with other philosophical and identity-related themes, as well as having to learn new things.

 

Liu’s creative power is in her world building, and Wingbearer does not disappoint. She creates a complex world without bogging down the story with too much detail, and everything is cohesive and well-constructed. As with her Monstress series, she fills the world with compelling and driven characters, each with their own motivations and personalities shining through. For instance, Zuli’s friendship with the goblin Orien progresses in a very real way, with philosophical and cultural conflict, as well as learning more about each other.

 

Teny Issakhanian, an Armenian-American artist, provides lush and beautiful illustrations. She really brings the characters to life, the emotion in their facial expressions is so powerful. The bird spirits are particularly beautiful. Her previous work includes DreamWorks TV Animation, Disney TV Animation, and the Jim Henson Company.

 

Reading Wingbearer was like revisiting past Dungeons and Dragons games for me. High adventure, magic, good and evil butting heads, interparty conflict…all the great stuff from RPGs. For parents wanting to introduce their kids to the fantasy genre, Liu and Issakhanian would be a great first read. This is the first of the series, and I am very much looking forward to the second volume. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Vault Review: Crank by Ellen Hopkins (#1 Crank, #2 Glass, #3 Fallout)

Boxed set of the Crank Trilogy by Ellen Hopkins  The Crank Trilogy by Ellen Hopkins (  Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

We are revisiting our reviews of the Crank trilogy today, due to a recent challenge to Crank in my own school district (you never REALLY think it will happen in your area until it does).  Yesterday we published an interview of Ellen Hopkins from our vault, which I hope you’ll read. Today, we present our reviews of The Crank Trilogy, consisting of Crank, Glass, and Fallout. 

 

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010 (Reprint edition)

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1416995135

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook. ( Bookshop.orgAmazon.com )

 

Crank is Ellen Hopkins’ controversial, and sorely needed, verse novel. Kristina Snow’s life changes forever when her father and the boy she’s crushing introduce her to meth. Unlike Impulse, which is raw and shredding in its emotion, Crank is almost cold at times, brutally showing a girl on the edge of being a woman, who should have the kind of life that discourages drug use, choosing to ride with the monster time after time. Likewise, the people in her life who should be able to step in, fail, leaving Kristina alone to fight a beast that defeats most adults.

 

Crank is a difficult book to handle, but it’s far closer to reality than any drug awareness program I went through in school. Hopkins’ books are strongly positioned to be of great value as fiction, as poetry, and for their educational value, as they boldly strip away pretenses and sensitivities to show addiction as the cruel master it is. Highly recommended for public collections as well as recommended reading material for those whose lives have been scarred by the real life monsters on our streets.

Contains: sex, language, drug use, rape

 

Glass by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009 (Reprint edition)

ISBN-13: 978-1416940913

Available: New and Used  ( Bookshop.orgAmazon.com )

 

Glass is the direct follow up to CrankGlass continues the story of Kristina Snow after she’s had her baby, and kicked meth and nicotine, shortly before her eighteenth birthday. It follows her relapse in her struggle with the meth monster and goes farther than Crank imagined. Sharp and painful,  Glass is hard to read. For one, Kristina seems to not even care that she’s making such horrible mistakes. Almost on autopilot in her quest to fill simple needs, this reader more than once wanted to reach into the lines and try to shake some sense into her.

 

While Crank goes very far to combat drug use as an introductory tale, Glass is Anti-Drug 201, a hardcore look at more of the nasty side effects of addiction, as good as an uncut marathon of Intervention with viewers thrust, uncomfortably, inside Kristina’s head. There’s no doubt it will be too much for many readers, either too brutal, or too close to home. Hopkins savagely slices through any illusions of “normal life” with beautiful poems and style that makes the story she’s telling all the more horrific. Highly recommended.

Contains: sex, drug use, language, domestic violence

 

Reviewed by Michele Lee

 

Fallout by Ellen Hopkins

Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010

ISBN-13: 978-1416950097

Available: New and Used  (  Bookshop.orgAmazon.com )

 

In Fallout, the third book in the series that started with Crank, centered on meth addict Kristina Snow, Hopkins moves on to show the effect Kristina’s selfish ways still have on her children, and covers a wide spectrum of emotional and psychological problems. Fallout is told through three narrators: Hunter, Kristina’s first child, born of rape and trying to deal with rage; Autumn, who struggles with OCD and turns to alcohol to get her through a major life change; and Summer, who is unaware that she has siblings, and has been raised by a series of abusive foster homes and her own addict father.

 

Fallout is raw, as can be expected from Hopkins, sharp and yet beautiful as well. Hopkins manages to bring new sympathy to the subject, even to characters readers are already familiar with and have started to hate. While the full scope of the story would be missed if readers started the series here, this is the book that will most call to the loved one or friend struggling to support (or justify not supporting) an addict. Highly recommended.

Contains: drug use, sex, language

 

Reviewed by Michele Lee

Stoker Review Project: Links to Reviews

 

Monster Librarian has been reviewing the nominees on the final ballot for the Bram Stoker Award and they have been coming in steadily! Here’s a list of the nominees for each category with links to our reviews so far. I’ll be updating this as new ones come in, so check back regularly!

Interested in purchasing any of these? Here’s a link to Stoker Nominees at Monster Librarian’s Bookshop Page.

 

5/22: Grotesque: Monster Stories by Lee Murray has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection.

5/20: Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies by John Langan has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection.

5/19The Return by Rachel Harrison has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel! We’ve reviewed all the first novels now, scroll down to the links and see what we had to say!

5/19: True Story by Kate Reed Petty has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel.

5/19: Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel! We’ve got all the books in this category reviewed now!

5/17: The Taxidermist’s Lover by Polly Hall has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel.

5/16: Tome by Ross Jeffrey has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel.

5/15Women Make Horror: Filmmaking, Feminism, Genre edited by Alison Peirse has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction.

5/12: Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Novel.

5/11: Bent Heavens by Daniel Kraus has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel.

5/9End of the Road by Brian Keene has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction.

5/7: The Bone Carver (Night Weaver #2) by Monique Snyman has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in Young Adult Fiction.

5/4: Cradleland of Parasites by Sara Tantlinger has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in Poetry.

5/4:  Spectre Deep 6 by Jennifer Brody and Jules Rivera has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel.

5/3Road of Bones by Rich Douek, art by Alex Cormack has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel.

4/22: The Masque of the Red Death  by Steven Archer has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel.

4/22:  Worst Laid Plans: An Anthology of Vacation Horror  has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in an Anthology

4/5:  Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker has a link added in the category of Superior Achievement in Long Fiction.

 

 

Superior Achievement in a Novel

Superior Achievement in a First Novel

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection

Superior Achievement in an Anthology

Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction