Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Short Reviews: June 2013. Zita the Spacegirl, Hereville: Mirka, Garden Princess

Zita the Spacegirl: Far from Home (Book 1), &
Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (Book 2), Ben Hatke (author & illustrator)
ISBN: 978-1596436954 & ISBN: 978-1596438064
Summer 2011 & June 27, 2013
Juv Graphic Novel:  In the first installment, Zita jumps into a space portal to save her best friend from being sacrificed on a far-away world as a prophecy fortold, picking up a crew of random down-and-out lifeforms along the way.  In the second, a holographic recorder-bot sees a poster for the now-famous Zita, and impersonates her, while Zita gets branded a criminal in her attempts to rectify the situation.  BOTH EXELLENT, although book 2 gives short shrift to the backup characters from book 1, and sets Zita up to head off alone, so we may not get much of them in book 3 either, which is sad.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword (vol 1) and
How Mirka Met a Meteorite (vol 2), Barry Deutsch. 
ISBN: 978-0810984226, 978-1419703980
Spring 2011, June 26, 2013.
Juvenile Graphic Novel:  Odd little fairy-style stories with a kick-ass heroine that reminds me strongly of the Hale's Rapunzel's Revenge.  Orthodox Judaism does feature strongly, but it's less religious and more cultural.

Garden Princess, Kristin Kladstrup.  ISBN: 978-0763656850
June 26, 2013
Juvenile fantasy, "ordinary princess" style.  Adela isn't beautiful, and doesn't like to be "princessy" - she'd rather garden.  But when her very handsome friend and her equally beautiful step-sister get invited to a garden party by mysterious Lady Hortensia, Adela just has to come along to see the garden.  Hortensia is a HORRIBLE name, the story isn't too original, but - turning a thieving guest into a magpie and an "ordinary" princess into a dandelion is delicious, and the scenes of lovestruck courtiers failing miserably at housekeeping were hysterical. 

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