Cast No Shadow
By Nick Trapalansky and Anissa Espinosa
Published by First Second
This book was adorable! The story focuses on Greg, a teen who never had a shadow. He was a loner with only one real friend: Layla. One day they decide to go to an old abandoned mansion to explore (cause every small town has one). There, Greg happens upon a ghost named Eleanor, and they fall in madly love. Unfortunately meddling with ghosts has some bad side affects, mainly Greg's shadow getting loose and causing havoc. The plot is really silly and cheesy but I loved it to death (get it?).
I really liked this book. The characters are decent, and interact well with each other very well, even if they don't have the most complex motives or traits. The art is simple, but it works for the story. The character art is great, with their designs reflecting their characters. The plot gets really silly, but it works well enough. This book put its pieces together very well, and I enjoyed it.
TL;DR: 7/10
Mighty Jack
By Ben Hatke
Published by First Second.
It's nice to be back in the swing of things. Mighty Jack stars the titular main character and his younger sister Maddy, who never speaks. Together they find a very suspicious vendor at a flea market, who sells them a box of very strange seeds. These seeds turn out to be magical, and with the help of their neighbor Lilly, they must try to keep the garden at bay, while finding out what evil lurks at its heart. Pretty simple story.
There isn't much to critique here. The story rambles and doesn't go very far until the end. It's more of an excuse to show weird and strange imagery while checking a few boxes. The characters are strong, with clear motivations and desires, and all come off as likable. The art is fantastic. There isn't much to say about this book. It puts its pieces together well, and nothing is bad or offensive. The story is lacking due to the dreaded "First book in a series syndrome," but that can be blamed more on the premise, since there isn't much you can do with an introduction story wise. Over all, it was a nice slice of life mixed with fantasy that I enjoyed.
TL;DR: 7/10
Castle in The Stars
By Alex Alice
Published By First Second
My glorious return after a 3 week hiatus. Castle in the Stars takes place at the height of the Victorian era, where along with Africa and Antarctica, the great leaders of Europe also have their eyes set on the stars. The main character is a boy by the name of Seraphin, whose mother tragically died in a attempt to find a magical macguffin called Aether, which is this fuel-like thing that can support interplanetary travel. If the book explained what it was, I didn't catch it on either of my readings. Anyways, After some period of time, his mother's log notes are found by (bare with me here) King Ludwig II, who invited him and his father (also an engineer) to his castle to create working space travel. Unfortunately they get wrapped up in a game of spies and espionage and must try to keep their findings out of the wrong hands.
I think I found a good first book in a series! Instead of using the book to dump exposition at you until you can't breath, it focuses on telling a good story now that can will easily flow into the second book. While this does mean that a few things were left vague, that didn't impact the story. The characters are a range. Some I really like. The 4 main characters are mostly good, and have good chemistry together. Seraphin and his father play off each other well, and the three friends who band together also complement each other, despite the very German character being a bit too stereotypical to work at times. The antagonists were a bit muddled. Their motivation was bizarre and I didn't fully grasp it. King Ludwig II was boring and edgy, but he didn't appear for too long so it didn't change much. The main thing that I really liked was the art. It was beautiful. I am a sucker for steampunk and Victorian architecture though. The characters are all identifiable and match their characters. Over all, I really liked this book.
TL;DR: 8/10
