Getting back into the swing of things here with another book from the North American publisher First Second. As I think my reviews on their past books has shown they're really a hit or miss publishing house for me, either I like their stuff or hate it and it doesn't even matter who the actual creator is! So I came across this one at my school library and hoped it would be another hit and, well, it didn't work quite like that.
Cat Burglar Black by Richard Sala
Summary: K has had an unhappy life, orphaned at a young age she was raised in an orphanage where all the kids were taught how to steal and punished when they wouldn't so she's happy to finally have left that life behind and to be starting at a new boarding school. But her bad luck seems to follow her since her new school also has plans for her which she's less than pleased about.
The Good: K is a pretty likable lead character and the three girls she befriends are fairly likable as well. And the setting works well for the story, there are hints and details the suggest that the school and the town are even more sinister than the reader initially guesses and I liked that. Apparently Sala's other works also have that element of sinisterness to them and I don't think this story would work at all if it didn't have those little details sprinkled throughout.
The Bad: There are stories that are "family friendly" which are simple enough for a child to follow but have a depth to them that adults can enjoy and there are "for kids" stories which are so simple that they feel flat. This book falls into the later category, it rushes through the story so quickly that it's hard to feel bad about anything that happens to the side characters or even K, there's just no downtime for the reader to process what just happened (I seem to recall complaining about this in Sailor Moon recently as well). As a result of that, and the ending which felt a bit off tone/moodwise, this story didn't leave a good impression on me and I don't think I'll be recommending it.
The Art: After reading a bit of the book I had a niggling feeling that something looked off about it and finally figured out what it was, every single page was laid out the exact same way, either four square frames (in a 2 by 2 configuration) over a large panel or a large panel over those square frames, I can't remember exactly which. Regardless, obviously I like comics that are innovative and creative in their use of panels and how it makes the story flow (I like manga after all and half the time you can't figure out which order to read the panels in) so this isn't my style and honestly I just don't think that such a formulaic approach to the art works. You might be able to pull this off in some story, perhaps, but a story should be told in comic form because the visual aspects adds to the story and when it's so rigidly defined does it really add anything? Add that to what I was already feeling about the writing and this layout makes the whole story feel rather amateurish and as if Sala needed to wait a few more years to further refine this idea before creating it.
So, 2 or 2.5 out of 5 for this one, won't be recommending to really anyone, if anyone really needs good graphic novels for girls ages 8-12 I'm sure I can come up with some better recommendations than this one.
Yet another book which I really wanted to read but had to wait longer than I would've liked to get it from the library to actually do so. Oh well, at least I'm helping to up the circulation numbers so perhaps they'll get the final book in this series (I think it's a trilogy?) when it comes out. However, despite the fact that Starcrossed was published in 2010 and this book in 2011 I'm not seeing any news on a third book anywhere and, while the first book could have stood alone as a single story this one ends on a game-changing twist so I'm a little puzzled that I can't find any information on the next book at all. It's actually been so long since I first read Starcrossed that I had to speed-read through it again before I read this one, and I remember hearing that that book was a single book deal hence why it was written as if it could stand alone, but I thought that changed for this book. Guess there's nothing to do but wait and see how this story all wraps up.
Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C Bunce
It's a small-ish detail but I like how they were able to use the same model for this cover as well, gives them a bit of continuity which is nice. I also love the color scheme used, the purple is nice and eye-catching and doesn't clash with any of the other colors and (speaking from experience) it must've taken a while to edit Digger's hair so that the purple background showed through.
Summary: After the tulmultous winter where she helped set in motion a rebellion against the king, Digger is back in familiar territory in the capital city wondering what she can, and should be doing, next. She's annoyed, although not completely surprised, to find herself thrown in jail one night but surprised by her cellmate, Lord Durrel Decath (whom she previously met at the beginning of Starcrossed and was instrumental in getting her out of the city). And now she gets to return the favor and get him out of jail by proving that he wasn't the one who murdered his wife. There is a game of politics afoot and Digger rightfully suspects that it runs deeper than it first seems but with so many complications will she ever figure out what is truly going on?
The Good: Hurray for politicking in YA and I'm quite glad I re-read Starcrossed before I read this book. While only some of the cast returns (more than I expected given that the story is set in a completely different location) a lot of the connections Digger formed in the first book do come back which made me happy, I've read a number of stories lately where each book takes place in a different place with very few reoccurring characters and I think it makes the stories feel too disconnected, which was not a problem here. Digger remains a fun character to read, she's clever and quick-witted and I'd much rather read a story where the lead knows more than I do (rather than the other way around) yet gets into trouble more than often enough to feel human. Finally, it's interesting to see how while there is magic in this series, and is directly connected to all the main conflicts, it's never used to solve problems but rather to flesh out the setting even more.
The Bad: While I can see where the story is going in terms of it's ultimate goal (dispose of the king, his laws, and put a nicer person on the throne) I do wonder how Digger is going to fit into all of it. I can think of a few ways but none of them would really work, it will be interesting to see how the story plays out. Also, there is a very late plot twist in the story which while it's interesting I'm a little worried about. It effectively gives a lot of the story a whole different meaning but just feels a little off, I also feel like it was just thrown in there simply to add in more conflict and I like plot twists to be a bit more substantial than that.
I really loved this book, just wish I hadn't read it so long ago that I could give it a better review (I've even been taking notes on all the stuff I've read to help with that problem) but regardless yes I'd recommend it to my friends and yes I plan on buying it sometime in the future which is really the best praise I can give it.
