Tarnished Angel by Kurt Busiek

Another great book in the Astro City series. Tarnished Angel is the story of Carl, a recent paroley that wants to go straight. He gets hired by the residents of Keifer Square to try and stop the murder of black masks, what you or I would know as super vilains.

The title refers to Carl himself who is also known as Steel Jacket and sees being a hero as being an Angel. The illustrations are spot on and just gorgeous. They complement the noir style of the story. The story itself is interesting and as usual we get to many different and interesting characters, including one of my new favorites Mock Turtle.

I just love this series and the way each book focuses on a different character and location within the city. I can't wait to read the next one.

Jinx by Meg Cabot

Jinx has a problem back home in Iowa, so she is sent to NYC to live with her cousin Tory's family in NYC. This book pays serious homage to (or rips off, depends on how charitable your mood is the movie the Craft(1996). It's about girls who practice magic and don't pay enough attention to the consequences; then one goes to far.

There is romance and magic, and if you haven't watched the Craft, you might be surprised. Otherwise Jinx is just a little too good and Tory is a little bit too bad. There were a couple of things that seriously bothered me but they are spoilers so only read on if you don't care about having info on the story and ending.

*Spoiler alert* I do have a major problem with Jinx believing that she brought having stalker on herself. I understand that they are trying to send a message about consequences and being careful what you wish for, but they should have addressed the fact that no girl should ever feel like they bring being stalked upon themselves. My second major gripe is that at the end of the book Jinx basically replaces Tory, and Tory gets sent off to boarding school. This just rubbed me the wrong way and didn't feel appropriate either.

Betrayals by Lili St.Crow

In this book in the Strange Angels series Dru and Graves are at Schola, but nothing is going the way Dru thought it would. Dru is very isolated because of both her sex and because no one seems to be training her. Christian has pretty much just dumped them there and while Graves is assimilating really well, Dru is just left in the cold. Eventually when it becomes clear that there is definitely a traitor high in the ranks Dru, Graves and some new friends are forced to flee.

Dru spends the first half of the book being extremely introspective, which is fine excpet that whenever she comes close to trying to deal with the things that have happened to her, she backs off. This kind of leaves Dru stuck in a rut.

Graves on the other hand is changing quite a bit, but since this seems to involve him spending less time with Dru and the story is told from Dru's point of view, we miss out on that character development as well.

There are some interesting new characters like Dibs and Shanks, I hope we see all of them develop further. About half way through the book really picks through and I can't wait to see what develops next. I don't want to spoil anything but trust me, the end picks up; the slow beginning is worth it

Read Your Own Books Challenge

MizB's Reading Challenges is holding a Read Your Own Books Challenge. Since reading more of my own books was part of my New Years Resolutions I have decided that I need to join in. I went through my goodreads account and I read 20 of my own books last year. This year I would like to improve so I am going to try and read AT LEAST 30 of my own books. Fortunately I started off the year by reading a couple of books I got for Christmas, including a few graphic novels.

1.Nemi by Lise Myhre
2.The Middleman: The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse by Javier Grillo-Marxuach
3.Strange Brew by P.N. Elrod
4.The Diamond Secret: A Retelling of "Anastasia" by Suzanne Weyn
5. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
6. Showcase Presents:Batgirl by John Broome
7. Monster High by Lisi Harrison
8. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
9. Grimm Sisters #1 The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
10. Stitches by David Small

The Diamond Secret by Suzanne Weyn

This book is part of the "Once Upon a Time" series, a series that rewrites fairy tales for young adults. This story tells the story of Anastasia Romanov. My biggest complaint about this book is that it really was JUST LIKE THE MOVIE. The villain was Rasputin's assistant and there was less of a magical element, otherwise it was still the story of a girl found by two con men who wanted to pass her off as the Princess Anastasia. The personalities and stations of the two men were even the same, and although Ivan was a soldier and not a castle worker, he lies and tells Nadya that he was a castle worker.

IF the reader can past the similarities between this story and the movie (or if you have never seen the movie), then the book is actually pretty good. Dialogue is interesting and the added drama of Sergei and his missing wife and child add an interesting side plot. My only other gripe was that the foreshadowing in Nadya's dream was a bit heavy handed, I mean we already know from the blurb on the back that she is supposed to be Anastasia, they didn't have to spell it out quite so much in her dreams.

This series is written by many different writers, and I am curious to see how other's in the series are. I might try to pick up another one

Strange Angels by Lili St.Crow

Since I am starting the second Strange Angels book Betrayal today, I thought I would post my review of the first book to refresh my memory regarding the story.

Dru and her father have been traveling the country exterminating paranormal bad guys for a long time. Since she has never been in one place for long, she doesn't really know anyone or have any friends in the area or any area really. Dru's father disappears and because of the way they have lived, she doesn't really have anyone to turn to. Until Graves, a new school mate takes interest in her. He is also now alone in the world.

Dru and Graves have an adventure in which they both become more then they ever imagined and barely escape with their lives. Now they are off to a school for people like them. Dru and Graves are great characters and I think that's what really kept me interested in the book. The way they interact with each other and how they tick kept me interested.

Lone Wolf & Cub, Vol. 1: The Assassin's Road by Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima

Lone Wolf and Cub refer to the title character and his child, a man who was once a samurai that performs assassinations as a ronin (a lordless samurai). The beginning chapters of the manga left me a little bit disappointed. It was action sequence after action sequence that had very little story, just how the main character became involved in the current debacle and the completion of the job.

The illustrations from these stories are what really make this manga worth reading and what kept me reading even though I wasn't into the story. The illustrator uses the illustrations to create tension and mimics how movies are shot. The illustrator uses long shots and close ups in a very dramatic way. The reader should pay careful attention to these illustrations because the author relies very heavily on the drawings to move the story along, with little to no text for long sequences.

The last chapter in the book finally starts in on the personal story of the ronin and his son. This was by far the most interesting story in the book. I am hoping it will be continued in the next book, in which case I might consider reading the whole series.