tailmon's reviews
70 reviews

Holy fucking shit dude. Probably my favourite thing I’ve read this year so far. You love to see an it/itter winning

I feel like this book is kind of useless to read. I’m sure the author needed to write it but I don’t know if anyone needs to read it. The profanity controversy around it is not warranted, like it is intense but if a kid picked up this book and was not ready to read that they would put it down. There are some interesting stylistic choices and strong metaphors but the plot isn’t really anything beyond the motifs. 

I need to stop reading these while I have other pressing commitments and I also need to stop reviewing individual volumes because I do not have much to say.

Nice conclusion to the first arc, and I like that we got a look at some campers from outside of Roanoke cabin. Not much to add! I did rate this one higher than the first volume but that's pretty vibes-based tbh. 

Cute! Had to read this to check if it was obviously gay from the first issue for a school project. It is! Will probably keep reading some time in the future. Fun characters, setpieces, and mysteries, and I like the art, but the drastically different way April's face is drawn from everyone else's is really offputting to me. 

Felt a bit weird reading this so soon after her other book and seeing where things recurred and didn’t. There are lots of things I like about it and some things I don’t but definitely not as tightly put together as Ace of Spades. Seemed a bit more heavyhanded, in its foreshadowing especially. It was annoying to have an anagram recur throughout the book that we don’t have all the information to decipher until just before the book reveals it. I would say this book has a lot of cool characters and effective suspense, but I had the same problem as Annie LeBlanc in that the jacket description leaned too heavily on one love interest and made it obvious how it would end up! Come on YA marketers, get with it!

It feels unfair to judge this book against Ace of Spades so much, but that’s just the headspace I’m in. I would definitely still recommend this book to a teen who enjoyed Àbíké-Íyímídé’s first, or vice-versa. Worth noting that it’s 3 am and I read a good two thirds of this book in the past 5 hours or so, despite having a slow start with it. 

A bit insubstantial, but who could complain about Pete? I do find the way the moral is laid out at the end a bit silly, but I just love to look at him. 

I don't care about this book at all but some children like trucks. I saw this listed as a good storytime book, but I'm a little skeptical as its main source of humour is visual gags that rely on the audience being able to read words. I guess I can tell the children what the words are but it seems to lose some of its effect. Anyway. I really don't care.

SNIFFLE. Just so lovely. Very nice handling of language barriers and intergenerational love. The way the book sticks to May's perspective is a big strength, as it really allows it to take her concerns and frustrations seriously in a way that kids may relate to. 

Reminds me of a cuter and more restrained version of Cat, You Better Come Home. Something about the ending is a bit unsatisfying, but I love the colour work throughout.