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Graphic Novel Review: Hopeless, Maine (vol. 1) by Tom and Nimue Brown

cover image for Hopeless, Maine

Hopeless, Maine (vol. 1) by Tom and Nimue Brown   ( Amazon.com )

Sloth Comics, 2016

ISBN-13: 9781908830128

Available: Paperback

 

Hopeless, Maine tells the story of Salamandra, an orphan girl who is taken in to a home for orphans; strangely not many adults are around. Sal discovers the strange and sometimes nightmarish creatures on the island are things best to be avoided. She befriends another young girl, but no one else seems to be able to see her. Their friendship takes a dark turn when the young girl discovers Sal’s magical abilities. The girl also becomes jealous of other friendships that Sal tries to form. When Sal discovers the girl’s true nature, she must protect herself and a new friend, Owen, that she has made at the orphanage. They both want desperately to make their own ways and break the hold the island has over them. Sal finds out she may have family on the island and will do anything to know more about her kin and herself.

I like the dynamic between Sal and Owen, the headmaster’s son. Sal is outspoken, while Owen is more reserved and thoughtful, acting as almost a way to calm Sal when she gets her hackles up about something. She’s quite strong-willed, and Owen’s relaxed demeanor is a lovely complement to Sal’s headstrong ways. The artwork is rich and well executed. The character and creature designs are unique, and the colour palette that the artist chose is oppressive,  but that really brings out the glow of the candlelight and magic that is central to the story. It’s quite beautiful.

Hopeless, Maine contains a piece of poetry, two complete stories, a short story, and extra artwork. While the story and the artwork are wonderful, there are two major issues with the book. The size of the book is smaller than the typical loose comic or graphic novel size. A larger format would have helped both problems. First, it would be easier to read, especially the poetry at the beginning and short piece at the end. Frankly, I had to skip over them because the white text against the black background was far too small to be read comfortably. It’s definitely smaller than a ten-point font. Going with a larger format would also improve the text in the graphic novel portions of the book. Second, a larger format might have actually helped me appreciate the artwork more considering there are some subtleties to it that I had to squint in order to really pick up. Recommended if you have good eyesight.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on July 21, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Cover of Mayhem by Estelle Laure

Mayhem by Estelle Laure  (  Bookshop.org  | Amazon.com )

Wednesday Books, 2020

ISBN-13: 9781250297938

Available: Hardcover, ebook, audiobook

 

Mayhem Brayburn’s mother fled her home in Santa Maria, California, after her husband Lucas died, cutting all ties and marrying again to another man in a small town in Texas. The tradeoff she’s made is that her new husband beats her, and in avoiding the reality of her situation, she has become an alcoholic and addict. When Mayhem’s stepfather turns against her, her mother finally realizes the situation is untenable, and having nowhere else to go, she flees with Mayhem back to her sister Elle and childhood home in Santa Maria.

As Roxy tries to recover from her destructive relationship and her addiction, Mayhem develops relationships with Elle’s foster children: Neve, Jason, and Kidd. The three of them take her to their “hideaway”, a difficult-to-reach sea cave with a freshwater spring, and tell her that to truly be one of them she must drink from the spring, but once she does, she won’t be able to leave Santa Maria. After drinking the water, Mayhem can see the hidden secrets in other people’s minds. Her aunt explains that generations of the women in Mayhem’s family have drunk and developed an addiction to the water, dating back to the rape of the first woman in their family to come to Santa Maria. The water in the “hideaway” gives the Brayburn women the power to see secrets, but the price is that they must identify predatory men, drain their souls, and kill them. Elle tells her that the Brayburn women are the only ones able to preserve their sanity after drinking the water, so the people of Santa Maria are at risk if Mayhem doesn’t step up. A serial killer, the Sand Snatcher, is on the loose, and Mayhem’s first assignment is to find him, drain him, and kill him. And then there’s the problem of Mayhem’s stepfather, who isn’t ready to let go…

Interleaved with Mayhem’s story (which takes place in 1987) are journal entries and documents Mayhem has discovered by the Brayburn women who have come before her, beginning with the first, Julianna, and going through the generations: Julianna’s daughter Billie, Billie’s daughter Stitcher, and Stitcher’s daughter Roxy (Mayhem’s mother). While short, these express the individual personality of each woman effectively, and lead Mayhem to understand her part in the community of Santa Maria.

It is refreshing to see a new kind of monster show up in the horror genre. Elle’s best guess is that the Brayburn women are similar to the sluagh, but while the author may have taken inspiration from their legend, it’s been transformed into something different. The Brayburn women are monsters who must be fed, but they’re also saviors for the girls and women of Santa Maria, and while it may not be openly discussed, the town knows it. The Brayburn women exact a terrible kind of justice on predatory men that the law cannot, and for many girls and women this may be a cathartic, if disturbing, read.

 

Contains: Murder, torture, rape, violence, suicide.

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 11, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Kiki Macadoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas by Colette Sewall

cover for Kiki Macadoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas

Kiki Macadoo and the Graveyard Ballerinas by Colette Sewall ( Amazon.com )

Owl Hollow Press, 2020

ISBN-13: 978-1945654558

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

 

Kiki Macadoo, age eleven, and her teenage sister Alison, are going to a special ballet summer camp housed in a Gothic castle in a remote area surrounded by dense forest. Kiki loves ballet but is terrible at it, while Alison is very talented. While both of them are excited about camp, Kiki is nervous, and Alison is bummed because she’ll be spending the summer away from her boyfriend, Dylan.

Despite the camp’s setting, the kids seem pretty normal– they’re there because they want to excel in dance. Sewall writes naturally about ballet and dance, without making the terminology intimidating. Kiki is placed in the lowest dance class, with 8 year olds, but she’s lucky in that she has a pretty good relationship with Alison, her roommate is kind and friendly even though she’s a much better dancer, and the dance teacher is understanding and helpful. The camp director, Madame Dupree, is elderly, forgetful, and a bit eccentric (there’s a subplot where her son’s fiance attempts to have her committed so he can sell the property to developers, but it doesn’t really go anywhere), but she’s also thoughtful and generous. When she learns that Alison will have her sixteenth birthday at camp, she enlists Kiki in helping plan a surprise party for Alison. It’s  refreshing to see a school story, especially one involving teenagers and middle-schoolers, where the main character isn’t bullied because of physical flaws or struggles with learning.  It’s also nice to see the conflicting feelings Kiki has about dance and about her sister– she may struggle but she perserveres.

While the campers have been forbidden from going into the forest, it doesn’t stop Kiki. Her lessons end earlier than Alison’s or her roommate’s, leaving Kiki plenty of time to explore. One of the boys at the school, Oliver, lives on the grounds and tells her she needs to be careful because fairies and spirits live in the woods (Oliver isn’t mocked for dancing; we have come a long way since Oliver Button Is a Sissy). At first she doesn’t believe him, but it turns out that Kiki is one of a rare few who can see them, because she has “ghost eyes”, two different-colored eyes. Kiki and Oliver become friends and explore the forest together (it is almost a character in its own right), and between Oliver’s stories and hints dropped by Madame Dupree, Kiki learns that in addition to harmless spirits, there are some dangerous ones as well. The wilis, water sylphs who died of broken hearts while at ballet camp, draw in any young woman with a broken heart and force her to dance to her death, at which time she becomes one of them. There is a graveyard filled with the bodies of girls who died dancing and became wilis.

The surprise party for Alison does not end well. Alison’s boyfriend shows up with bad grace and she discovers he’s seeing another girl; broken-hearted, she runs into the forest where she is drawn in to the wilis’ dance. As terrifying as they are, it is up to Kiki to break her sister away from the wilis’ spell.

I really liked the author’s choice to make the wilis her dangerous spirits. They are part of Slavic folklore and are not commonly known, but they do appear in the ballet Giselle, which is tragic and terrifying. Giselle is maybe not as well known to the average kid as The Nutcracker or Swan Lake, but that makes the story extra cool in integrating the ballet theme into the story.

As it is a middle grade book, things end well, but the path to getting there has its frightening moments, and definitely magical ones. The door is left open to a sequel, and I’ll be interested to see if one happens and, if it does, where it takes Kiki, Alison, and Oliver next. Recommended for ages 8-13.

Posted on July 1, 2020 by , Reply
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