Made of Library

I’m really enjoying expanding my reading sphere into comics and graphic novels. I still think I don’t have a proper appreciation for the artwork side of it, but I really like how quickly the story moves and different way you become involved with the characters through their dialogue and actions. After I started reading The Strain I realised that I’d seen the first season of TV show adaptation of this story. I enjoyed the show though, so I didn’t mind following along again. This story is another modern take on vampires and it pretty much ticks all the boxes. The end of the world, ancient creatures, rich old dudes trying to take advantage, stubborn authorities who don’t believe what’s really happening. It’s all there and mixed up together in the perfect amounts. I still feel as though I’m not doing justice to the artwork side of things. I really don’t have the knowledge to appreciate it properly. But if it does the job required and I can see what’s happening and I don’t get

This book had been on my TBR list for quite a few years, so when I found out they were making a TV series adaptation I was actually kind of annoyed. I always want to read the book before I watch an adaptation, so I knew I was either going to have to bump this one up the list or watch the show without having read the book (inconceivable!), or spend an undetermined amount of time avoiding spoilers until I eventually got around to reading it. Despite it being the riskiest option I took the third path and tried to avoid spoilers. I’m pleased to say I mostly did. It’s harder to write a review of a book you really enjoyed, because all you want to say is “it was great, if you haven’t read it, you should”. I don’t like to discuss details of the plot for fear of spoilers, regardless of how long ago a book was published. Atwood has managed to build a dystopian world without bogging the story down with the politics. We’re told enough to know what the situation is and why, but there a

I’d seen Emily merchandise on clothes, pencil cases and bags long before I ever knew she was a character from a book. I thought she was just this cute, kind of goth looking cartoon character. I’m still not really sure which came first, but expect this book came later. The book is in diary format, and when it starts we discover that writer of the diary has lost their memory. What we learn about her she is also learning for the first time. She likes to write lists, 13 items long and tries to have that quick-wit snark, but, to me, it just falls flat. Emily didn’t feel like a genuine character, she felt contrived, like a middle-aged man writing as hard as he could what he thought young teenage girls would like from an edgy, outcast character. The plot was bizarre, but not in a good way that gave you an other-worldly feeling or left you kind of unsettled. This was more just random weird things being slapped together. I don’t know enough about the background of the Emily franch