Fangirl (The Manga) Volume 1
This is a manga adaptation of the beloved YA novel by Rainbow Rowell which I have read several times. It’s the story of Cath and what happens when she goes to college.
This didn’t really felt like it added anything new or revealing above the original story. It’s very nicely done but not something that really needed to exist.
This is only part one though so I should check out part two at some point.
The Last Graduate
El is no longer an outcast at the Scholomance school of magic.
She has an alliance and – even better – friends.
After the events of last year everyone is enjoying a breather from attacks by the Mals.
Everyone except El!
This is a very good second installment of this series. I really hope she sticks the landing in the last book.
A Deadly Education
El is an outcast at the Scholomance school of magic.
This would be bad enough in a normal boarding school but this magical school is full of monsters called Mals looking to snack on unprepared students and the outcasts are the easy marks.
Luckily El is no easy mark.
Grishaverse Trilogy
Eastern Europe inspired YA fantasy series. It’s competent enough even if it is predictably about a conflicted chosen one. Though she does seem more conflicted love life than her fate as the chosen one.
The Lives of Christopher Chant
A story telling the childhood adventures of the boy who would grow up to be Chrestomanci in Charmed Life. Very entertaining kids book with much more of a fantasy adventure focus.
Next in order is Conrad’s Fate which I disliked on first reading and have stalled with for now.
Charmed Life
I started to read the Chrestomanci books in DWJs preferred order.
Eric and Gwendolyn are orphans who are taken to live with their parent’s cousin who happens to be Chrestomanci.
This is an excellent kids fantasy book with the trademark wit and compassion of the author on full display.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
I only read this one because I enjoyed the Netflix movie.
Lara Jean Covey is put in a pickle when her unsent love letters are mysteriously posted. It would be embarassing enough but one of them is to her older sister’s very recently ex-boyfriend.
Almost accidentally she finds herself fake dating another letter recipient called Peter Kavinsky.
It’s a pretty good young adult fake dating story but it doesn’t work as well as the movie.
Fangirl
This is a book I’ve reviewed before. This time I split between the physical and audio versions of the book. I read more in the physical version because I got caught up in the story again. While very enjoyable the audiobook just didn’t move fast enough once I was pulled in. While still a very enjoyable book on this read I felt like it wasn’t quite as impressive as I remembered it being so I’ve knocked it down to A-
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Jake is a misfit teen in Florida. He grew up loving his Grandfather Abe’s fantastic tales from his childhood, stories filled with invisible boys, girls that can float or generate fire. When he finds his grandfather murdered, seemingly by a monster, it causes him so much trauma that he ends up going to a psychologist. In order to deal with his grandad’s death he’s advised to travel the Welsh island where Abe grew up to try and come to terms with things. Once there he discovers that the fantastic tales are all true and that he’s found himself not in an impossible new world of peculiar children and time travel but he is also in terrible danger from the monsters that killed Abe.
I’ve been meaning to read this for ages and when I caught the film on TV recently all it’s annoying flaws drove me to pick up the book to see if made more sense than the film. It certainly explains certain things better and there’s a lot of things that the film makers changed for no real reason that fit better tonally. I’m still not sure it actually completely makes sense. I liked it enough that I’ve picked up the second book in the series and I’ll give that go too.
The Magicians of Caprona
Caprona is a small Italian city state famous for the warring magical Montana and Petrocchi families. The story follows the youngest boys of the Montana household, Paolo and Tonino, as the feud between the families escalate. When the families fail to come together to find the spell that will save Caprona from an enemy Enchanter and the forces of other city states the younger family members band together to save the day.
I’ve read this book many times before and reviewed it here once. One of the first few Chrestomanci novels this is a highly entertaining piece of YA fantasy. It doesn’t quite hit the highs of Witch Week or Charmed Life but that may just be down to personal preference. I highly recommend Diana Wynne Jones to anyone and this is as good a starting point as any.