Review: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley

title: Scott Pilgrim's Precious little Life

written by: Bryan Lee O'Malley

series: Scott Pilgrim #1

genre: Graphic Novel, Humor

page count: 192

publication date:  August 8th, 2012

publisher: Oni Press

Scott Pilgrim's life is totally sweet. He's 23 years old, he's in a rockband, he's ""between jobs,"" and he's dating a cute high school girl. Nothingcould possibly go wrong, unless a seriously mind-blowing, dangerouslyfashionable, rollerblading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers starts cruisingthrough his dreams and sailing by him at parties. Will Scott's awesome life getturned upside-down? Will he have to face Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends inbattle? The short answer is yes. The long answer is Scott Pilgrim, Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life

**Thanks to Oni Press for sending me a galley of this novel. This is a review of the colored edition. I recieved no rewards for reviewing this, and the review was written by myself and no-one else.**

When I saw this title on Netgalley I started fangirling already. Scott Pilgrim, my one and only comic crush, in color! This is seriously awesome! This graphic novel is about the first evil ex, the dude he has to fight in order to be with Ramona Flowers, the totally hot and funny girl Scott loves. The movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, is one of the best movies ever made, in my opinion. i have watched it 5 times now, and it still doesn't bore me at all. With Scott played by one of the cutest actors, Michael Cera ^^

Scott Pilgrim's Precious little Life is filled with humor. On every page there was something that made me laugh out loud. Just like the movie. It is just filled with so many dumb things, and is so random and geeky, I fell in love with Scott Pilgrim. With references to games - Scott goes to the toilet -> Pee Bar goes from full to empty - and the evil ex battle, comic style, it was just one of the most humorous books I have ever read.

That the graphic novel is colored made the whole novel even more entertaining. When I finished reading this graphic novel I watched the movie again, with the novel next to it, and the colors resembled! I was flabbergasted, how on earth is it possible to colorfill an entire novel :O And I fell in love with the entire novel even more.

The characters are extremely cute, the plot is random yet funny and interesting, the drawing style is beautiful, what more does a great graphic novel need? 5 stars and favorite go to Scott Pilgrim's precious Little Life. Everyone will love this!

Love,

Mar

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

book: Going Bovine
written by: Libba Bray
series? nope
genre: Young adult, humor
pages: 480
publication date: September 22nd, 2009
publisher: Delacorte books for Young Readers

Can Cameron find what he’s looking for?


All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

first thoughts:

Omigod that cover made me want to read this book sooo bad :o A cow and a yard gnome wearing sunglasses? This book must be freaking fantastic!

my review: 

Just a few minutes after starting this book I had already fallen in love with it. The simple amazingness of the characters and all of the strange things that happened for no appearant reason. They just happened. And that was this whole book. it just happened. And it was awesome. Hilarious.


Cameron, your not-so-special teenage boy that just wishes that the period of his life he is currently is living in can be ended soon. He is not popular, and he is not a geek. Then he gets a fatal disease. Life isn't fair, and this book made that perfectly clear. The mad cow disease shows Cam hallucinations. He sees an angel, Dulcie, a lovely creature. Only, she brings news that isn't happy at all. The world is in danger, and only Cam can save it! But, is cam seeing a hallucination or a real angel? Finally, he decides to go for it, and save the world. Companioned with a real midget, Gonzo, he leaves the hospital to save the world.


The character of Cam is not one I could relate to. Still, I liked him. He made me laugh with his strange actions. I understand that some people didn't like Cam because they couldn't relate to him at all, but it didn't bother me, actually. While he tries to save the world, an astonishing amount of crazy things happen to him. They were exactely like I expected after seeing the cover of the book. There even was a yard gnome that represented a Norse war god!


Dulcie -the angle- was a real anime girl, in my opinion. She's always being sarcastic. She is a real female heroine, bus the still is the cute girl you imagine while thinking about an angle. Gonzo is a midget, and he acts like one. He loves gaming, and doesn't have a lot of faith in the world. Then there was my favourite and most peculiar character, Balder. Balder is a talking and living yard gnome, but he also is a Norse war god :o How crazy must you be to think of such strange and amazing characters?!


Bray's sarcasm you could smell coming from the pages while standing metres away was my favourite thing about this book. Her writing style was nice, easy to read for me (so maybe too easy for American teens...). Still, it was pretty hard for me to finish this book. It took me almost a month! (I think that's a record) I read it chapter by chapter. She could have made this book a trilogy and then there would still be enough information to keep it all interesting.   It was just a little bit too much for my brains to process...


Altough there were lots of things happening, the main plot was that Cam had to save the world while fighting his disease. I forgot that from time to time, until I read a little about it and thought -Hey! He had to save the world, right?- The author really build too much of a story around the main plot, which I think is bad...


I would recommend this book to people who like randomness, lots of sarcasm, romance and long books.


rating:
4 stars ^^


xo Mar

An abundance of Katherines by John Green

book: An abundance of Katherines

written by: John Green

genres: romance, drama, humor

pages: 227

own / library / borrowed

release date: september 9th, 2006

series? nope

publisher: Dutton Juvenile

note: holy crap I loved this book. I would change my name to Katherine for you, Colin <3

the book:

Colin is not like any other boy, he is a child prodigy. He speaks lots of languages, and is very good at mathematics. Actually he is good at everything, including getting dumped. There is something special about his type of girl. He only dates Katherines, he always likes Katherines. But also, Katherines never ever like him. Colin is heartbroken after Katherine XIX broke up with him, and decides to go on a roadtrip with his best friend Hassan. They end up in a small town, Gutshot, Tennessee, where they start to live. Colins starts working on a theorem, which should be able to show a relationship, and also predict the future. Will Colin succeed in doing this or will he fail, for the first time in his life?

my review:

Holy sh*t!!! John Green, you are genius! The characters you create are real, the stories you write are unusual, which makes them new in their category, and with that special and awesome! Colin is a very, very smart boy, but you will see that he is also just a normal teenager, who will be left heartbroken every time he is dumped *which was quite an amount of times, btw* and has the same problems as everyone else has with friends and being popular.

I think the cover may scare the hell outta people, because they see all the math signs. I, as a math nerd, immediately fell in love with the book, only after seeing the cover. The book was full of math, but that did not make it more difficult to understand or boring.
Also I loved all the anagramming in this book. I, as one, love to anagram, but am just not very good at it. This book made me want to improve my anagramming skills, and that's a good thing. right? Dingleberries! (a word with lots of possibilities to anagram, try yourself)

The book was written and edited very well, not very hard to read, just an average level of difficulcy, which made it readable for people like me, whose English is not very good.

John Green, of whom I read one other book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, seems like the #1 writer I discovered in 2012. and I'm sure I'll read more of his books. Actually two of his other books *Paper towns and the fault in our stars* are already lying on my shelves, about to be read by me :D

The story was great, the characters felt like friends and I feel like I have actually learned something after reading this book. Did you know that in every shower there is a tiny little small whirlpool, that causes the shower curtain to move inwards? I did not before reading this book.

And John Green, the one Dutch word you used *paardenlul, p. 178* made my day. Really, it made me laugh that of all swearwords of the Dutch language you use this one, one I have never used before :D *no, I'm not gonna translate it, look it up on google translator if you're interested :P*

I guess I could go on talking about how much I loved this book for days, but I have to go change my name to Katherine :P *just kidding*

rating:

5+/5 stars FTW

xo, Mar

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

book: Artemis Fowl

written by: Eoin Colfer

genres: humor, young, fantasy, crime

pages: 398

own / library / borrowed

release date: April 26th, 2001

series?: yes, Artemis Fowl #1

publisher: Miramax

note: I think I would have loved this book... If I were a boy 9-11 years old... I did definitely feel too old and too girly for this book. So if you loved this you might not like this review. Sorry, but I have to stay honest

the book: 

Artemis Fowl is a genius. He is a 12-year-old boy who is smarter than most men. Then he decides that he wants to have the money of the fairies. He kidnaps one of the elfBI, captain Holly Short, and tries to get the fairy gold. But fairies do live long, so they are very smart. Artemis Fowl has never been tricked. Who is smarter and wins this battle? Are it the fairies or is it a 12-year-old genius?

my review:

This was not what I espected it to be! I love the idea of a genius kid who is one of the biggest criminals in the world. I just don't like this book, I guess. It's just not my thing. Here are some reasons for that:

1) the pieces about the fairies: I have always liked fairies, but in this book they seem very dull, and I just cannot make myself like them. They have all those rules they are not allowed to break and they have to charge their powers. Like they are batteries. How stupid is that. Fairies are the ones that should fly around while cheering and throwing fairy dust, not the ones fighting trolls!

2) the way this book was written: this was 400 pages full of nothing. Because after reading, what did happen?  Nothing!! In the first page they say the boy is selfish, and it ends with him being selfish. So that's how I come to point 3

3) the romance in the book: HELL, I just cannot review this because there is none O.o It had been so long since my last book without romance... Maybe that's why I think this book was not written for girls but boys. I guess I am right. Maybe that's why only boys recommanded this book to me...

4) the cover: Not inviting people to read it at all, because it is just ugly!!

of course there were good things about this book. I think the story in general was OK, but the author could have improved the book a lot by having more interesting characters and a little bit of romance (or at least friendship) so that readers can relate a little more to it.

total:

I give this book 2.3/5 stars

xo Mar

Diary of a wimpy kid - Jeff Kinney

hi everyone :D 


the book:
Diary of a wimpy kid (#1) - Jeff Kinney


genres:
young, humor, school


note:
this book is NOT young adult! I read it because my sister made me, she just loved the book. I did not really like it. But still, I get why all younger children like this book so much. I would recommend it to all children aged 7 - 11, boys and girls, they'll love the book. But, if your older, you might still like it ;)


on amazon:
(sorry I am lazy today...)
Boys don’t keep diaries—or do they?

The launch of an exciting and innovatively illustrated new series narrated by an unforgettable kid every family can relate to

It’s a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you’re ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.

In book one of this debut series, Greg is happy to have Rowley, his sidekick, along for the ride. But when Rowley’s star starts to rise, Greg tries to use his best friend’s newfound popularity to his own advantage, kicking off a chain of events that will test their friendship in hilarious fashion.

Author/illustrator Jeff Kinney recalls the growing pains of school life and introduces a new kind of hero who epitomizes the challenges of being a kid. As Greg says in his diary, “Just don’t expect me to be all ‘Dear Diary’ this and ‘Dear Diary’ that.” Luckily for us, what Greg Heffley says he won’t do and what he actually does are two very different things.


my opinion:
The book is full of cartoons O.o awesome. Also, I read this book in less than 90 minutes, so it was not hard to read at all. Actually, it was way too easy...
I did not like the character Greg, all he cares about is himself amd being popular, even if he has to set aside his best friend. I DID like his best friend! Rowley is this funny awesome dude who just does not want to grow up. I want him as my crazy best friend O.o 
I totally get why 10 year olds love this book. First, because it is full of cartoons, which means they have less to read, which means they like it. (Or at least Dutch children do like it because of that... stupid children O.o) second: it was a kind of funny book. Third, because all children want an easy book to read. And this book was one of the easiest I have ever read since 4th grade or something...


the book was in one word:
childish


extra:
There is also a movie made of this book. I have seen it, but I preferred the book, and I did not really like the book, so...


ratings:
goodreads: 3.96 / 5
mine: 2 stars / 5 (2.3)