#quick review

I believe Stolas is the best character in Helluva Boss. His character just brings such emotional rawness. Idk if that's the right phrase, it just feels right. I will never understand why people are constantly trying to find a way to criticize him.

However, they both had to face situations that made them a little bit insecure and afraid because the school event prompted a lot of people to come to confess. At first, Hioki had to see, yet, another person confessing to Watarai and he also learned from his friends that it happened a lot before too.

Then, he was asked to deliver a letter to Watarai and he wondered why this person liked him. While he listened to everything she said, I think his thoughts got muddled. Hioki is a nice person, but seeing and hearing why others would want to be with Watarai are two different things.

I guess Hioki was pushed to realize that he also was a little possessive with Watarai. Unfortunately, he didn't get to entirely process all these thoughts before Watarai misunderstood him a little bit.

When Hioki gave him the letter and Watarai discovered it was from someone else, he was probably a bit hurt and it showed in his actions. It left Hioki being even more lost and he also feared having angered Watarai.

Thankfully, these two could count on their friends to make them "reconcile" and finally give Hioki the chance to say what he feels. I guess feeling "jealous" made Hioki see how much he likes Watarai. In the end, he confessed his feelings which brought a lot of joy to Watarai.

What I like about this episode is that the "misunderstanding" or the "jealous part" of Hioki aren't shown in a dramatic over-the-top way, but you do see them. It's not exactly a fight or a real misunderstanding, it is just two young men trying to navigate young love. The characters are experiencing it, but it doesn't further them apart. Instead, it makes them think and grow from it. It brings them closer.

The message could be that to get a healthy relationship it is important to talk about how you feel. Communication is the key and friendship is always helpful. I really like how this series is bringing this very well-known but sometimes forgotten message.

It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me cheer. Go see it. 10 out of 10.

The God of Endings, Jacqueline Holland

After several visits of picking it up and then deciding to wait til next time, I finally rented The God of Endings in an audio book through Libby. I really enjoyed the world building and childhood sections. Ultimately though, the book falls apart and commits (in my opinion) the worst story crime. It’s unsatisfying. I finished this book less than a year ago and cannot remember a single character’s name.

The concept of a young girl from a grave stone carving family in colonial America receiving the “gift” of immortality from her estranged Eastern European grandfather is a clever enough one. The inherent conflict of feeling she ought to have died and the plot device of coming from a family that respects and values death instead of fearing it really carries the book up until plot points of vampires killing Nazis, the central modern day conflict inflated past a point of logical stakes, and our narrator hypocritically giving up her centrally held tenets without demonstrating any growth or change to bring her there. The ending is unearned and the use of mythological figures and teachings (such as Chernobog) leave more questions than answers that matter little to the narrator’s over all arc and growth. With that in mind, I think about the first half of the book, its complexity, and “vampire rules” all the time with fascination, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the ending.

The Marble Queen is a an amazingly drawn book, Gabrielle Kari is one of the greatest artists out there and her brilliant craftsmanship truly captures a unique voice in comics. I am impressed her illustrative style was captured on so many pages of the books really showing the level of heart that went into this work. The amazing use of paneling and page layout allowed for very dynamic use of the medium of comics breaking conventions from each other while feeling like bold artist moves on the page.

The book is hampered some what by being a YA book, it feels like at times there are areas that maybe would have been better served with more details but it does really edge what most YAs feel their able to do in a first novel. With lots of death, some blood and some implied sex. The pacing was a bit fast, there were moments that felt like they could have lingered longer and taken more time and perhaps the beginning starts a little slow but the romance does feel satisfying.

I think there are feelings I'd like to see explored more, the ending appears to set up a potential follow up book but it's ending is satisfying enough to simply imply potential conflict that is not needed. Anna does do a great job capturing Amelia's anxiety and the ways it manifests, the ways she tries to treat it, and how it affects her life. It is a great deception of that mental health struggle. I do wish we could have seen more into Salira's perspective, the white woman who doesn't know about being gay being the POV makes sense in the like cynical ways but I would have liked to get more into the interiority of Salira who does fall a bit into the "more butch brown woman who dots after he innocent white GF trope." I think that would have been felt a little less if we saw the world a bit more from her eyes. That said the book does do a solid job of showing plenty of fem brown women so I think it be an oversimplification to say it's just an example of that. It's worth noting only in that i know several other BIPOC women who might hesitate at it but I think we're in the clear here.

My heart melted when they all hugged will after his coming out. I was sobbing ong im so bloody proud for my guy🙏🙏