Title: The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee
Author: Ellen Oh
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance
Pages: 305
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Review Copy: eARC provided via NetGalley
Availability: Available now
Summary: Mina has become the hero of her own story. Literally.
When Mina Lee woke up on Saturday morning for SAT prep, she did NOT expect
Nearly be fried by a superhero who turned out to be a supervillain.
Come face to face with Jin, the handsome boy of her dreams.
Discover a conspiracy involving the evil corporation Merco that she created.
And it’s all happening in her fictional world. Mina is trapped in the story she created. Now it’s up to her to save everyone. Even if it means losing Jin forever.
From the award-winning author of Finding Junie Kim and co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, Ellen Oh. In the speculative fiction adventure Colliding Worlds, a teenage artist grapples with her first love, grief, and learning how to take charge of her own life.
Review: [The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee contains scenes describing human medical experimentation that, while not graphic, could be unsettling for some readers. Grief is also a present theme, as Mina’s mother’s died three years ago, and the Jin in the webcomic is based on a childhood friend who died of cancer.]
If you’ve ever enjoyed a webcomic where a “real world” person ends up in a fantasy world, you should give The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee a chance. It’s a solid example of the genre while still being able to have a bit of fun with the medium itself through meta moments like Mina realizing that something big will almost definitely happen at a school dance—just because it’s a school dance, and she’s in webcomic set at a high school. A lot of tropes, events, and characters get played straight or played around with in entertaining ways, and I enjoyed Mina’s lampshading throughout.
Mina and Jin were the stars of the book, and they had a sweet, sincere webcomic romance. I enjoyed their banter and their teamwork, and Mina was a lot of fun as a narrator. I liked watching her figure out how her powers worked as the webcomic’s creator, and her commentary on genre conventions and other meta gave the story a lot of flavor. Much of the supporting cast was fairly simple, though, and I do wish there had been more time to flesh them out—especially the character that was supposed to be the hero before Mina arrived in the webcomic world.
I would consider The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee to fall on the younger end of the YA spectrum due to its writing style and breezy pace. Some of the horror isn’t as deeply explored as I would expect in an older YA, like Mina’s powers to (accidentally) force the webcomic people to conform to her storyline or the medical/body horror inherent in the villain’s schemes. That said, the book doesn’t shy away from the heavier topics of parental loss—Mina’s mother’s death is still a significant influence on Mina and her father’s lives. I also appreciated the juxtaposition of Mina’s parents’ absences: her mother to death, but present in her art; and her father to work, but present in his worry about Mina’s future.
Recommendation: Get it soon if the premise appeals to you. Ellen Oh’s The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee is a fun, comfortable high school adventure with a dose of entertaining meta on top. There are some places I wish had been explored more, but the novel is a solid entry in this genre. I finished the novel wanting to read more stories like it, and that’s a sign of a satisfying story.
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I don’t usually recommend books on here (because I haven’t really been reading for fun since I started college) but if you like the Percy Jackson series then you should check out A Thousand Beginnings and Endings.
It is a retelling of Asian myths and legends and it is exactly what I’ve been looking for since I plowed through the Percy Jackson series and it’s various sequels in middle school and high school. It is basically a bunch of short stories each followed by an explanation of the myth that they are based on.
I have tried plenty of books based on Greek myths that people have recommended saying that if I liked the Percy Jackson series I would like those books, but so far they have mostly been disappointing for me largely due to the authors writing voice or weak character work. I am loving a thousand beginnings and endings because the authors of that book do not have that problem. The characters are well written and the myths are incorporated naturally into the stories. Each story is only a few pages long but they draw you in and make you want to see what myth they adapt next. The main things that remind me of the Percy Jackson series in a thousand beginnings and endings are the authors’ writing voices and the respect that they have for the myths and cultures they are writing about. It is truly a fun read and you all should definitely check it out if you haven’t already
ICYMI — We've revealed some stunning book covers recently! Check ‘em out on diversebooks.org!
THE MIRROR SEASON by Anna-Marie McLemore (03/16/21) | art by @marlygallardo | design by Liz Dresner - "An unforgettable story of trauma and healing, told in achingly beautiful prose with great tenderness and care."—Karen M. McManus
MEET CUTE DIARY by Emery Lee (05/04/21) | art by @motekill | design byErin Ferdinand - "[A] swoon-worthy, heartfelt rom-com about how a transgender teen’s first love challenges his ideas about perfect relationships."
HEALER OF THE WATER MONSTER by Brian Young (05/11/21) | art by Shonto Begay - "A middle-grade chapter book about a young Navajo boy who gets lost in the desert and comes across a sick water monster from the Navajo Creation Story."
LOVE & OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Misa Sugiura (06/08/21) | art by Hannah Good | design by Alison Klapthor - "[A] delightfully disastrous queer YA rom-com... When Nozomi Nagai pictured the ideal summer romance, a fake one wasn’t what she had in mind."
JO JO MAKOONS by Dawn Quigley (05/11/21) | art by Tara Audibert | design by Andrea Vandergrift - "Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-old who moves through the world a little differently than anyone else on her Ojibwe reservation..."
FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA by @crystalwrote (02/02/21) | art by Ericka Lugo - "Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard. Harder when your whole life is on fire, though."
SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA by Cynthia Leitich Smith (06/01/21) | art by Floyd Cooper | design by Catherine San Juan - "[A] modern take on J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, one that’s centered on its girl characters and told from a decidedly Indigenous point of view."
FINDING JUNIE KIM by Ellen Oh (05/04/21) | art by Alex Cho | design by Joel Tippie - "[When] Junie decides to interview her grandparents, she soon uncovers their unbelievable tales of bravery as kids during the Korean War."
HANI AND ISHU’S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING by Adiba Jaigirdar (05/25/21) | art by Nabi Haider Ali | design by Julia Tyler - “TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE meets LGBT romance in this funny, heart-warming rom-com about first love and identity.”
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Rules: Each day, I will post the cover of a book that I love and nominate someone new to start the challenge. No explanation, no discussion, just post the cover and by doing so spread some literary love!
Today’s pick is a middle grade that will keep you up at night. What’s more intriguing than reading about a character trying to save her brother from an evil situation?
Today’s pick:
Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh
Synopsis:
“Harper doesn’t trust her new home from the moment she steps inside, and the rumors are that the Raine family’s new house is haunted. Harper isn’t sure she believes those rumors, until her younger brother, Michael, starts acting strangely.
The whole atmosphere gives Harper a sense of déjà vu, but she can’t remember why. She knows that the memories she’s blocking will help make sense of her brother’s behavior and the strange and threatening sensations she feels in this house, but will she be able to put the pieces together in time?”
___
Why you should add it to your TBR: Lighter horror because of the age group, but still a lot of fun and just the right amount of light spookiness.
This month is the Asian Readathon created by readwithcindy and I am so excited! There are five challenges and each book you read to complete a challenge (if you aren’t combining challenges) must feature a character or author of a different Asian ethnicity.
Here are the five challenges:
Read any book by an Asian author.
Read a graphic novel featuring an Asian character or written/drawn by an Asian author
Read a book featuring an intersectional Asian character or written by an intersectional Asian identity
Read a book by Asian author that was originally written in their native language
Read the group book
Here’s what I’ll be reading:
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco, Filipino - challenge 1
A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Oima, Japanese - challenge 2 & 4
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, Chinese-Malaysian English - challenge 3
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh, various - challenge 5
Those are the books that I will be focusing on, but there are a few more books by Asian authors on my TBR that I would like to read.
Extra books:
Empress of a Thousand Skies and Blood of a Thousand Stars by Rhoda Belleza, Filipino
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee, Korean
Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi, Filipino-Indian
And that’s it! Any books not pictured I will be picking up from the library (or buying, let’s be real) I can’t wait to start reading!
