So, yesterday was the official kick-off of the Keep Portland Weird festival here in Paris, which meant that I had a reading/screening in the...
Continue »
WOW. Okay, this was a LOT of fun. Even beyond the novelty and whimsy of reading a choose-your-own-something book in the first place, this one is done *extremely* well. Reading through to each new ending is entirely entertaining, as the writing keeps a constant sense of humor that's both funny and inventive. However, it's when you really start to have read through most of the branches that an unexpected Easter Egg emerges, as your discoveries down different roads illuminate your newest path, whether it's having a previous main supporting character crop up in only a passing cameo, or having something occur that would have just seemed like random apocalyptic oddness if you hadn't learned more about the backplot through a markedly different path before. The sum of all these mutually-exclusive choices adding up to a larger understanding of the story in aggregate is something rarely used in these kinds of gamebooks - as a lifelong fan of the medium, I can't recall another instance offhand - and it made the end product far, far more innovative and satisfying than it really had any right to be.
Above and beyond all expectations; pick this one up!
This collection of Thor tales was a refreshing departure from the normal superhero sagas usually seen, as most of them are (loosely) based on well-known Norse myths. (That said, they're still adaptations through the filter of Marvel's version of Thor and the Asgardian mythos, so don't expect entirely faithful retellings.) Matt Fraction, who previously had been seen as a writer of street-level heroes in the vein of a Bendis or Brubaker, turns out to have a shockingly good grasp on what's needed in a Thor story - even here, at a time when Thor was not yet a hero, but instead sullen, arrogant and surly. Interestingly, one of the themes of the book seems to be the way that stories and myths change over time, as certain characters might appear one way during a particular era, and then markedly different at a later time (as did the role of the Valkyries, for instance) - a point, if you'll forgive the pun, "hammered" home in the final story, when multiple characters remember an old ally/enemy as worryingly different and mutually-exclusive versions, and then struggle to get to the bottom of the discrepancy.
"Do you think that every time we meet a person we should treat it like it was the last time we were ever going to see them?"
This Israeli author tells the story of Koby, a self-involved taxi driver in Tel Aviv who is approached by a female soldier regarding his father - a man she has reason to believe was one of the unidentified victims of a suicide bombing a few weeks back. Their journey of discovery and their ever-changing relationship is handled with impressive subtlety, and Modan's art is at once elegantly simple and extremely detailed.
This may be only a short novella, but it's gripping, harrowing, and at times gut-wrenching in its terror. The account of this one man's 10 days at sea, unprotected from the elements, devoid of food and water, at the mercy of the shark-infested ocean ... It's ruthless, and so vivid that I was forced to go online and verify that yes, this IS actually a true story and not something made up.
The final chapter is entitled "My Heroism Consisted of Not Letting Myself Die." Wow.
Apart from the impressive AKIRA, I've not come across many manga that have really appealed to me. But, man - I liked this a lot! While sharing a similar setting to the Jane Austen novel of the same name, it's otherwise an entirely new story, centered around the eponymous Emma, a maid, and a gentleman of the upper class named William. While the social class issues at hand (something devastatingly important to the period in question) give the ongoing romantic subplot added levels of hardship and complication, it's the author's depiction of the setting that is the true star of the book. A self-professed Anglophile specifically fascinated with 19th century London, Kaoru Mori has clearly researched the time and place to a staggering degree; her illustrations and awareness of the setting are utterly convincing in their reproduction, while the details that make them up seem nigh all-encompassing. And bonus points for being a graphic novel composed of neither sci-fi/fantasy elements nor contemporary slice-of-life/autobio comics! Something the medium could absolutely use is more stories from a wider array of genres, and this series is thus a welcome addition to the fold.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
Don't Miss
Customer Comments
Don Alsafi has commented on (6) products.
Zombocalypse Now by Matt Youngmark
Don Alsafi, December 24, 2010
WOW. Okay, this was a LOT of fun. Even beyond the novelty and whimsy of reading a choose-your-own-something book in the first place, this one is done *extremely* well. Reading through to each new ending is entirely entertaining, as the writing keeps a constant sense of humor that's both funny and inventive. However, it's when you really start to have read through most of the branches that an unexpected Easter Egg emerges, as your discoveries down different roads illuminate your newest path, whether it's having a previous main supporting character crop up in only a passing cameo, or having something occur that would have just seemed like random apocalyptic oddness if you hadn't learned more about the backplot through a markedly different path before. The sum of all these mutually-exclusive choices adding up to a larger understanding of the story in aggregate is something rarely used in these kinds of gamebooks - as a lifelong fan of the medium, I can't recall another instance offhand - and it made the end product far, far more innovative and satisfying than it really had any right to be.Above and beyond all expectations; pick this one up!
Thor: Ages of Thunder Tpb by Matt Fraction
Don Alsafi, December 24, 2010
This collection of Thor tales was a refreshing departure from the normal superhero sagas usually seen, as most of them are (loosely) based on well-known Norse myths. (That said, they're still adaptations through the filter of Marvel's version of Thor and the Asgardian mythos, so don't expect entirely faithful retellings.) Matt Fraction, who previously had been seen as a writer of street-level heroes in the vein of a Bendis or Brubaker, turns out to have a shockingly good grasp on what's needed in a Thor story - even here, at a time when Thor was not yet a hero, but instead sullen, arrogant and surly. Interestingly, one of the themes of the book seems to be the way that stories and myths change over time, as certain characters might appear one way during a particular era, and then markedly different at a later time (as did the role of the Valkyries, for instance) - a point, if you'll forgive the pun, "hammered" home in the final story, when multiple characters remember an old ally/enemy as worryingly different and mutually-exclusive versions, and then struggle to get to the bottom of the discrepancy.Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan
Don Alsafi, December 24, 2010
"Do you think that every time we meet a person we should treat it like it was the last time we were ever going to see them?"This Israeli author tells the story of Koby, a self-involved taxi driver in Tel Aviv who is approached by a female soldier regarding his father - a man she has reason to believe was one of the unidentified victims of a suicide bombing a few weeks back. Their journey of discovery and their ever-changing relationship is handled with impressive subtlety, and Modan's art is at once elegantly simple and extremely detailed.
The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Don Alsafi, December 24, 2010
This may be only a short novella, but it's gripping, harrowing, and at times gut-wrenching in its terror. The account of this one man's 10 days at sea, unprotected from the elements, devoid of food and water, at the mercy of the shark-infested ocean ... It's ruthless, and so vivid that I was forced to go online and verify that yes, this IS actually a true story and not something made up.The final chapter is entitled "My Heroism Consisted of Not Letting Myself Die." Wow.
SO worth reading.
Emma, Volume 1 by Kaoru Mori
Don Alsafi, December 24, 2010
Apart from the impressive AKIRA, I've not come across many manga that have really appealed to me. But, man - I liked this a lot! While sharing a similar setting to the Jane Austen novel of the same name, it's otherwise an entirely new story, centered around the eponymous Emma, a maid, and a gentleman of the upper class named William. While the social class issues at hand (something devastatingly important to the period in question) give the ongoing romantic subplot added levels of hardship and complication, it's the author's depiction of the setting that is the true star of the book. A self-professed Anglophile specifically fascinated with 19th century London, Kaoru Mori has clearly researched the time and place to a staggering degree; her illustrations and awareness of the setting are utterly convincing in their reproduction, while the details that make them up seem nigh all-encompassing. And bonus points for being a graphic novel composed of neither sci-fi/fantasy elements nor contemporary slice-of-life/autobio comics! Something the medium could absolutely use is more stories from a wider array of genres, and this series is thus a welcome addition to the fold.1-5 of 6next