The Last Book You'll Ever Read: The Complete Series

Today's fiction post is on The Last Book You'll Ever Read: The Complete Series by Cullen Bunn et al. It is 192 pages long and is published by Vault Comics. The cover has the main character bursting out of a book with monster hands reaching for her. The intended reader is someone who likes horror and graphic novels. There is foul language, sex, and violence in this graphic novel. The story is told from third person close of two of the characters. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Read this book at your own peril.
Olivia Kade wrote the book that ended the world. Now she needs someone who won't read it.
Civilization is a lie. Hidden deep in our genes is the truth. And it is slowly clawing its way to the surface. Olivia Kade knows the truth, and she has become the prophet of the coming collapse. Her book, SATYR, is an international bestseller, and it is being blamed for acts of senseless violence and bloodshed all over the world. Olivia's own life is in danger from those who have read her work. Determined to conduct a book tour, she hires security professional Connor Wilson to act as her bodyguard. She only has one requirement: he cannot read her work.

Review- An interesting graphic novel about a woman who wrote a book that could end civilization. Olivia wrote, what she thought was, a book about human nature and philosophy. But as more and more people read her book something is happening to them. The reader either think she is a holy prophet or a doomsayer and must be killed. Her bodyguard hasn't read the book and is mystified by the extreme reactions. Now all he has to do is get Olivia to the last stop on her book tour. This was a fun read with lots of questions about the nature of the book that Olivia wrote or if she wrote it all. The art is very good, the story is compelling, and the ending is open for more to be written in this world. I would like to see more in this world and how others are surviving in it. I would recommend this graphic novel. 

I give this graphic novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this graphic novel from my local library.

Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction

Today's nonfiction post is on Empress of the Nile: The Daredevil Archaeologist Who Saved Egypt's Ancient Temples from Destruction by Lynne Olson. It is 448 pages long and is published by Random House. The cover is a picture of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt on a dig. The intended reader is someone who is interested in women's history, world history, and Egyptology. There is mild foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- In the 1960s, the world’s attention was focused on a nail-biting race against the international campaign to save a dozen ancient Egyptian temples from drowning in the floodwaters of the gigantic new Aswan High Dam. But the coverage of this unprecedented rescue effort completely overlooked the daring French archaeologist who made it all happen. Without the intervention of Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, the temples—including the Temple of Dendur, now at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art—would currently be at the bottom of a vast reservoir. It was an unimaginably complex project that required the fragile sandstone temples to be dismantled and rebuilt on higher ground.
Willful and determined, Desroches-Noblecourt refused to be cowed by anyone or anything. As a member of the French Resistance in World War II she survived imprisonment by the Nazis; in her fight to save the temples she defied two of the most daunting leaders of the postwar world, Egypt’s President Abdel Nasser and France’s President Charles de Gaulle. As she told one reporter, “You don’t get anywhere without a fight, you know.”
Desroches-Noblecourt also received help from a surprising source. Jacqueline Kennedy, America’s new First Lady, persuaded her husband to help fund the rescue effort. After a century and a half of Western plunder of Egypt’s ancient monuments, Desroches-Noblecourt helped instead to preserve a crucial part of that cultural heritage.

Review- A great read about the first French woman Egyptology, Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. She loved Egypt from childhood and her parents enjoyed her passion. She fought the establishments in intellectual French to make a place for herself and other women. This book follows her whole life and career. She also fought for the temples of ancient Egypt that were forgotten and uncared for. Desroches-Noblecourt saw all the beauty and history as more than just Egypt's, it belonged to the whole world as world history. So she did everything she could to make others, especially those in power, see the beauty too. With effort, she did and we still have many temples that would have been lost to the Nile without her. I recommend this book about a fascinating woman, Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt. 

I give this book a a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 2

Today's manga post is on Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 2 by Yū Tomofuji. It is 192 pages long and is published by Yen Press. The cover has Sariphi, Cy, and Clops on it. As it is the second in the series, you need to have read the first volume to understand the story. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, love stories, and court intrigue. There is no foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this manga. The story is told from third person close of the main character, Sariphi. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- When an array of rival princesses descends upon the palace, Sariphi gains an unlikely ally in the princess of the reptile clan. A hopeless romantic, Princess Amit is determined to push her erstwhile sacrificial friend into the king's arms! But even with Amit cheering her on, will Sariphi be able to carry out the absurd set of tasks Chancellor Anubis concocts to prove she is worthy of being queen...?

Review- Sariphi has to actively choose if she wants to be queen in this volume. All the princesses have come to try and marry Leo. The cat princess even tries to kill Sariphi but Anubis is the real threat to her. He wants to out of the castle and for Leo to choose the right bride, not a human one. Also Sariphi gains a friend in the lizard princess, who becomes her personal attendant. Sariphi has many challenges in this volume but her faith in herself and in Leo is strong. There is world building in this volume with the reader seeing magic and the cost of doing magic. I am enjoying this series and I look forwarding to seeing Sariphi succeed. 

I give this volume a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Hide

Today's post is on Hide by Kiersten White. It is 240 pages long and is published by Del Rey. The cover is yellow with a Ferris wheel on floating ground in the center. The intended reader is someone who likes horror novels. There is foul language, no sex and mild violence in this novel. The story is from third person close of the different characters. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don't get caught.
The prize: enough money to change everything.
Even though everyone is desperate to win--to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts--Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that.
It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.
But as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.
Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.
Come out, come out, wherever you are.

Review- A very intense and interesting horror novel. Mack has been hiding all her life, from her past and her future. But when she is offered a chance in this game, she thinks why not. But of course nothing is like it seems. The other people are odd, like her and there is something wrong with the maze. The mystery about the maze was not too hard to figure out but the plot was still enjoyable. I liked the characters and I was sadden by their deaths but this is a horror novel. I think that White did a good job in this novel, she took a good concept, added interesting characters, and made a good novel. I would enjoy reading another novel from her. 

I give this novel a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this novel from my local library. 

Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice

Today's nonfiction post is on Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice by Christine Kenneally. It is was 384 pages long and published by Public Affairs. The cover is a black and white picture with a stairway in the back. The intended reader is someone who is interested in the history of twentieth-century orphanages and the children who survived them. There is foul language, discussion of sexual violence, and violence in the form of child abuse in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- The shocking secret history of twentieth-century orphanages—which for decades hid violence, abuse, and deaths within their walls For much of the twentieth century, a series of terrible events—abuse, both physical and psychological, and even deaths—took places inside orphanages. The survivors have been trying to tell their astonishing stories for a long time, but disbelief, secrecy, and trauma have kept them from breaking through. For ten years, Christine Kenneally has been on a quest to uncover the harrowing truth.   Centering her story on St. Joseph’s, a Catholic orphanage in Vermont, Kenneally has written a stunning account of a series of crimes and abuses. But her work is not confined to one place. Following clues that take her into the darkened corners of several institutions across the globe, she finds a trail of terrifying stories and a courageous group of survivors who are seeking justice. Ghosts of the Orphanage is an incredible true crime story and a reckoning with a past that has stayed buried for too long, with tragic consequences.  

Review- This is a tough read but also very worth it to give the survivors their voices. Kenneally started researching the topic of child abuse in Catholic orphanages around 2016. At first she was just looking in her native Australia but she dug deeper into the story she realized that this was more than just the odd priest or nun, it was systemic. The stories the survivors told were stomach turning and gave the survivors life long PTSD. Keanneally investigates the stories and gives the survivors room to tell the stories themselves. This book is a testament, like the Spotlight stories that broke open the sexual abuse of priests, to the will of the survivors . I would recommend this book out of respect to them.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library. 

Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 4

Today's manga post is on Kiss Him, Not Me!, Vol. 4 by Junko. It is 168 pages long and is published by Kodansha Comics. The cover has Kae, Nanashima and Shinomiya on it. As it is the fourth in the series, you need to have read the first three volumes to understand the story. There is no foul language, no sex, and no violence in this manga. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo and high school rom-coms. The story is told from third person close of mostly Kae. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Hi again! It's me, Kae! After sweating it out with the boys, I've slimmed down again, but the fujoshi in me will never fade away!
After everything that happened in the last volume, Igarashi has now fallen in love with the true me. je's decided to continue his pursuit, but this time, he means business!
Igarashi's new resolve also spurs a change in Nanashima, and he doubles his efforts to win me over, it's great that they're both so fired up, but what's firing me up the thought of them possibly getting hot and heavy with each other...

Review- This volume is more about the boys and their inter-relationships and Kae is in the background having her fujoshi fantasies. But Kae is also learning to be real friends to the boys and getting to understand them. There is a little moment with some other boys are not good are hearing the word 'no' and Kae has to be rescued by her friends. The manga is really sinking into the silly theme and exploring the characters that live in this world and even in Kae's imagination. I would like to see some growth from Kae, maybe start thinking about the boys as real people, not just there for to her have fantasies about. 

I give this volume a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Alice Ever After

Today's post is on Alice Ever After by Dan Panosian, Giorgio Spalletta (Illustrator) and Cyril Glerum (Illustrator). It is 128 pages long and is published by BOOM! Studios. The cover has Alice trapped in a glass pill jar, crying, trying to get out. The intended reader is someone who is interested in what happened to Alice after she grew up. There is mild foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this graphic novel. The story follows Alice and her sister Edith. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Alice first visited Wonderland as a child. Now an adult, it’s her only escape from her cold, strange reality. But in order to return, Alice needs something stronger than mushrooms, and is forced to resort to crime to feed her growing addiction… When this fateful decision takes her a step too far down a terrible path, Alice finds herself committed to the dreaded asylum. What horrors await her in the bowels of this twisted place? And will Alice ultimately choose to escape from her uncaring family and childhood trauma in Wonderland, or find the courage to face her demons in the real world?

Review- A dark for Alice and a dark reason for her going to Wonderland. When Alice was a child, she was given a drug to help her sleep and she dreamed of Wonderland. But She was given too much and is now addicted and need the drug. This has some very dark moments when Alice is in the asylum with the guards and the madam. The art is good, bright in Wonderland and more muted tones in the real world. If you are a big Alice in Wonderland fan, then you should enjoy this graphic. If you like darker takes on classic stories, you should like this graphic. But if you are neither, then you may not care for this one. 

I give this graphic novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this graphic from my local library.