Tag: 2 Star Reviews

All 2 Star Reviews In One Place

“X-O Manowar, Vol. 9: Dead Hand – Introduction” By Robert Venditti Review

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In the far reaches of deep space, the ultimate fail-safe of an extinct alien race has finally counted down to zero…and the robot army called Dead Hand has been activated. The civilization that built them has fallen…and, now, to combat the doomsday threat that destroyed their world, Dead Hand will complete the mission that their creators could not. Soulless and brutal, this billion-strong legion is the phantom army of a dead world…and it will cleanse the universe by any means necessary. But what unthinkable menace were they created to destroy? And will Dead Hand’s slow march across the galaxy spell death for countless worlds?

Let me start this review by saying that this one is just a preview for the entire comic book. And I read it because I wanted to see if the full comic book was worth the money and time I would spend on it. And I’m gonna give you the answer for that at the end of this review.

This preview tries to pick up momentum with new threats and high-stakes action but ultimately falls flat due to clunky storytelling and underdeveloped plot points.

In a way this preview feels more like a transition issue that lacks the punch needed to leave a lasting impression.

The artwork in this preview is easily the best part of this preview. Because the artwork in this comic book is solid, with dynamic action scenes and detailed armor designs that are a highlight of the series.

This preview hints at interesting future conflicts and new enemies, which could develop into something more compelling down the line.

The story in this preview feels very disjointed, with abrupt scene changes and confusing transitions that make it hard to follow the plot or understand character motivations.

The storyline’s stake in this preview feel vague, and the action sequences, while visually exciting, don’t carry enough weight to made me care about the story of this preview or anything else about this preview.

The characters in this preview, lack a lot of depth and emotional stakes. Which have left me feeling disconnected from their struggles. Which didn’t help me liking the characters or care about their journeys in this preview.

This preview relies heavily on exposition, telling rather than showing, which slows down pacing and reduces engagement.

So will I buy and read the full version of this comic book ? I don’t think I will. The main reason behind this is how poorly this preview was very uninteresting for me personally.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Legends & Lattes” By Travis Baldree Review

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The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is. If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.

I gotta admit that the only reason why I have read this book is because this book has been showing a lot on my booktok feed and feel where saying how good and amazing this book is. So I decided to give this book a shot and I gotta admit that I really should stop reading those way overhyped book Tok books because they never work for me personally. 

The only thing which I liked about this book is the fact that it has the DnD-style fantasy vibe to it which I am a huge fan of. But the way the story is presented to us as readers I gotta admit that the author of this book didn’t use the potential which this book had.

The whole plot of this book is it is about Viv an orc which moves to a new city and decided to open a very early version of first ever coffee shop. I personally was very intrigued by this plot which made me read this book and after reading it I gotta admit that it wasn’t as good as I expected it to be.

The overall plot of this book aims to be a cozy and stress-free read. But even thou I tend to like cozy books I gotta admit that I didn’t like this book as much as I wanted to. The reason behind this is that the author of this book was trying almost too hard to make this book be cozy.

The action int this book is almost none-existed. Because this whole book is mostly about Viv opening a coffee shop even thou she has no idea how to run a business and she learned about it as she goes with the coffee shop. 

I personally found myself a lot of times to be very bored of this book or just skimming this book because the plot build the plot in such a way that any minute something might happen. But nothing ever happens in this book so basically I was waiting for something to happen for the entire book and nothing have happened which would make me like this book.

The writing style of this book is very simple and easy going. Which played very well with the cozy ish plot of this book. But other than that I gotta admit that at times I felt like the writing style in this book is too generic in a way. 

I personally feel that this book could have easily be a short story rather than 300 pages of just Viv making coffee and talking to be people about nothing. I feel like this book was entirely too long and that it could have been at maximum 100 pages long and it would only make this book better than it is now with 300 pages in which nothing really happens for the entire book other than making coffee and pastries.

The characters in this book are okay for the most part. I wasn’t a fan of the characters in this book. Because they felt like very generic fantasy characters. We didn’t learn much about the characters other than some glimpse into their backstories here and there throughout this book. 

There were times where the characters started to talk about their backstories but those times were quickly shut down by the character saying “oh well its not important anymore lets move on”. Which made me really annoyed because whats the point of bringing out the character’s backstory if you gonna shut it down after one paragraph or so? 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“THE HEART OF JERRY DAGDA” By Kons Gkos Review

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It’s a comic book about a guy named Jerry Dagda who gains the ability to cause heart attack to people.

This comic book tries to tell a poignant or quirky story but in the end it falls flat due to its disjointed narrative and lack of emotional impact.

I gotta admit that this comic book feels more like an unfinished draft than a fully realized piece. Which explains the low rating I have given this comic book.

The plot line in this comic book had a lot of potential in my opinion but the way the plot line is presented to us feels like is very underdeveloped and unexplored which gave me the feeling like the creator of this comic book had no idea what he was doing.

The plot line in this comic book feels very scattered, with no clear focus or direction. The events which happen in this comic book seem disconnected, making it hard to follow or care about what’s happening.

The artwork in this comic book is very decent. Because it has clear linework and expressive faces, but they don’t do enough to elevate the storytelling. 

But I gotta say that the artwork in this comic book was my favorite part of this comic book. 

The characters in this comic book come across as flat and underdeveloped which made it hard for me to like the characters in this comic book or even care about their journeys through this comic book.

The pacing in this comic book is very uneven. Because some parts of this comic book drag for too ling without any purpose or direction while other parts are very rushed especially through important moments.

The tone of this comic book is very confusion. Because this comic book makes it very unclear and difficult to make a sense of what tone this comic book aims for. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Brutopia: The Poshlost of Mohammed: Book 5: Islamonausea & Copium” By  Talha Dahlan Review

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This is a seven-part graphic novel depicting the life of Mohammed. The series, based almost entirely on the original and earliest sources of Islam, has been released and is now available in seven full-color volumes. Mohammed, if real, is said to have lived between 570 and 632 AD. It is hoped that with the seven books in this series, readers will gain a greater understanding of Mohammed the man, his legacy, his actions, and his impact on the world.

This comic book had a lot of potential which it didn’t use, but of course I will explain everything in this review. So if you are interested in reading about my thoughts and opinions about this comic book then keep reading.

This comic book tries to tackle complex socio-political themes with provocative intent, but they way it is presented to us as readers I gotta admit that it falls short due to its heavy-handed tone and lack of nuanced argumentation.

The writing style in this comic book is unapologetic and confrontational, aiming to challenge prevailing narratives and provoke debate. Which was the main reason why I gave this comic book 2 stars instead of 1 because in a way I liked the writing style in this comic book.

The tone of this comic book often feels accusatory and dismissive rather than analytical. Which really annoyed me in a way because of how dismissive this comic book sounded even thou I’m a huge atheist. 

The arguments this comic book tries to give us are presented to us are sweeping and lack depth.

This comic book’s structure feels disjointed, with abrupt jumps between ideas without clear development or context, making it hard to follow or engage meaningfully.

The artwork in this comic book is very minimal. Which doesn’t give a lot to talk about when it comes to the artwork in this comic book.

The artwork doesn’t support or enhance the provocative themes, which makes the reading feel dry and uninviting.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Bird Box” By Josh Malerman Review

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Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from. Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

This review might be a very unpopular opinion about this book because of my rating of this book and my opinions about this book. So if you are interested in reading my controversial opinions about this book then keep reading. 

The plot of this book, is very overrated. Because a lot of people on the internet call this book “very terrifying” but in reality this book is everything but “terrifying”. After reading this book or trying to read this book I need to say that this book is very overhyped and it gets way too much credit for being scary even thou the scariest part of this book is that the author was able to write such a long book on a story that would easily be a good short story. 

The plot of this book drags for way too long than it needed to. Because easily if this book was cut in half we would still get the same story out of it. Which in my opinion says a lot about how much irrelevant things the plot in this book had.

The plot of this book moves very very slowly. And because of this there is almost no action in this book. At the same time I feel like the plot is very repetitive. Because 60% of this book is about the mother telling her kids to “don’t speak, listen” which made me wonder if thats the mother whole dialogue with her kids.

When it comes to the dialogues in this book they are very uninteresting and unrealistic. Because the dialogues are very stilted and they feel like the characters are written by a toddler who didn’t have any idea how grown ups talk to each other.

This book has 2 timelines which it follows, and I gotta admit that if the author was so set to have 2 timelines of the plot of this book. It would have worked better in my opinion to have 2 separate books. One book for each timeline. 

I personally found the second timeline to be very boring and uninteresting. Because the second timeline talks about everything that took place as the fear and apocalyptic events were first starting.  While the first timeline was way more interesting than the second. Because the first timeline takes place 5 years into the apocalypse of this book. Which I personally enjoyed way more than the second timeline of this book.

The plot build towards this big action taking place, but the action never comes in this book which really made me very annoyed at this book and at the author of this book.

The characters in this book in my opinion feel very underdeveloped and unexplored. Because this book doesn’t use a lot of time for us to get to known the characters. instead this book jumps straight into the action, and we have to figure out everything about the characters as the plot moves forward. 

I personally found the characters to be boring and uninteresting. Because of we don’t get to know them. At the same time the characters feel very unrealistic in a way. And the mom in this book instead of giving her 2 kids names she only calls them “boy” and “girl” which is their gender because she as one girl and one boy. Which really made me question what parent would not name their kids and only call them by their gender.

The writing style in this book is very stiff. For the most partite felt like the author wasn’t that interested in writing a good book instead he was more interested in the paycheck he would get for publishing this book. Which really speaks for itself here because I don’t am that harsh about the writing style in books.

I Give This Book 1 / 5

“Seto Utsumi Vol. 1” By Kadzuya Konomoto Review

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This manga has been made into a movie and a TV drama in japan.”I wish we could just spend all our high school days sittin’ and chattin’ by this river.” This seven chapter volume is a collection of the funky, off-the-wall, and sometimes cynical after-school conversations between Seto and Utsumi, two high-schoolers from the Kansai region of Japan.

This comic book tries to blend slice-of-life humor with a sports theme but in my opinion this falls flat in is presented to us as readers. 

The characters in this comic book feel very underdeveloped and like the creators of this comic book didnt exactly know what they were doing when it came down to the characters. 

The characters feel overly stereotypical in this comic book. At the same time the characters in this comic book lack nuance which made it hard for me personally to connect or care about their journeys.

The plot in this comic book is just as underdeveloped and unexplored as the characters in this comic book. Which really annoyed me a lot because the plot in this comic book had a lot of potential to it. 

The pacing in this comic book is all over the place. Because some scenes are dragging on without an end while other scenes are very rushed especially through important moments.

The humor aspect of this comic book, really misses the mark in my opinion. Because the humor which the creators tried to go with felt more cringy to me than actually being funny. 

The artwork in this comic book was easily my favorite aspect of this comic book because of how cute and clean it was. The artwork made it very easy to follow the characters and action. 

The artwork is the only reason why I gave this comic book 2 stars instead of one star. Which in my opinion speaks for itself how good the artwork was that it made me give this comic book a whole star more to the rating. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“The Strawberry Patch Pancake House” By Laurie Gilmore Review

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As a renowned chef, single-dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive. Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when Mayor Kelly suggests Archer is looking for a nanny, and Iris might be available, she shudders at the thought. But in need of money she reluctantly agrees.

This book is the 4th book in the “Dream Harbor” book series. And I need to admit here that this book is in my opinion the weakest book in this series so far. But as always I will explain everything in this review so if you are interested then keep reading.

The plot is kinda of decent in this book. But it isn’t as cozy as in the other books in this series. There was something about the plot in this book that didn’t made me interested enough in it. 

The main reason why I didn’t like the plot in this book as much as in the other books in this series is because I’m not a big fan of the single-dad and the nanny hooking up and falling in love with each other. I personally am okay with a lot of things but the single-dad and the nanny has something to it which makes me uncomfortable. This is something which I don’t like in books I’m reading which is the main reason why I say that this book is the worst book in this series so far.

The majority of the book is just the single dad saying “I don’t want to live here” and “I don’t know how to be a parent”. While the nanny says “I cant believe I find my boss attractive”  and “I don’t like kids so why am I a nanny?”.  Those 4 lines are pretty much a dozen of times in this book. Which really made me bored and uninterested in this book because of how much those 4 lines are used in this book. Which made me feel like I’m reading the same thing over and over again for this entire book.

The characters here aren’t that good as they were in the 3 previous books in this book. It might have something to do that Archer is a completely new character in this series and we didn’t get him introduced to us in the previous books in this series. And when it comes to Iris, we only got her introduced to us in book 3 in this series. And even thou she was in book 3, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her or get to know her. 

In this book we don’t get to know Archer and Iris on a deeper level beside them freaking out about not knowing how to take care of a 5-year-old. All we get to know about Iris and Archer is that Iris had many jobs in her life and Archer worked in some fancy restaurants in Europe and wanted to be a famous cook. And thats pretty much all we get to know about those characters. 

The characters from previous books are pretty much none existing because we only get like 2 or 3 scenes where we get to see Kira (the main character from book 3) and we get one scene with Logan (the main character from book 1) and thats pretty much it. Which in a way annoyed me because I really loved the characters from the previous books in this series. And this book not having those characters feels in a way like a stand alone book rather than a book in a series. Because the previous books in this series had characters from the previous books in this series. 

The writing style was easily my favorite part of this book, because it was the same as in the other books in this series. The writing style in this book is easy and straightforward. The writing style is pretty much a YA writing style because of how easy and simple it is and it makes the book fast to read. At the same time the writing style really goes well with the easy going plot of this book.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Pixies #1” By Sean Patrick O’Reilly & Shawn DePasquale Review

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Part one! Joe Beck is an auto mechanic with the worst luck in the world, and since a young age, his accidents have introduced him to every hospital employee within a sixty-mile radius. In Annie Hall, Woody Allen divides everyone into the Horrible and the Miserable. Joe unfortunately falls into both categories. To get the girl of his dreams Joe must discover his affliction, ‘The Pixie Curse,’ and find out how to redeem a mistake he made many years ago.

I need to admit here that this comic book has a charming premise and flashes of playful mischief, but the execution of the plot in this comic book feels uneven.

This comic book struggles to land its tone which is caught between whimsical fantasy and broader slapstick and it is resulting in a start that’s more cute concept than compelling comic. In a way because of this problem this comic book fails to engage me or interested me personally long enough to give this comic book a good rating.

The core idea of this comic book has pretty impish, storybook appeal that could support quirky adventures. But in my opinion the only audience this comic book will appeal to are young children who are learning to read and we want to give them something fun enough for them to not lose interest in reading.

This comic book has a very straightforward plot line to it while also trying to make some jokes to appear as humors to add light and breezy mood to the whole comic book.

The characters in this comic book, has a feel to them that makes them more as archetypes with limited interiority than anything else that I want the characters to be so that I can give the comic book a good rating. Because of this its very hard for me personally to invest in the characters’s stakes or journeys throughout this comic book.

This comic book has also a pretty inconsistent tone to it. Because this comic book keeps jumping from winking fantasy to noise-and-chaos humor which made me feel like the creators of this comic book couldn’t make up their minds on which way to go with.

The same thing can be said about the very uneven pacing of this comic book. Because there are some scenes which seem like they are on a marathon of how fast they are, while other moments in this comic book are very very slow. In my opinion because of this the plot feels more like a string of bits than a fully developed plot line.

The artwork in this comic book is in my opinion the best part of this comic book. Because it is very clean and cute at times. 

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“FCBD 2015 – Motorcycle Samurai” By Chris Sheridan Review

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Look hard into the storm clouds. You may yet see her, mounted on her electric steed, streaking past. The last hero of the West… THE MOTORCYCLE SAMURAI! It’s been called “the new benchmark for indie digital comics.” Now discover the mad genius of The Motorcycle Samurai for yourself, as Chris Sheridan does the brings his creation to print! Top Shelf celebrates FREE COMIC BOOK DAY with 24 pages of full-color action, whetting appetites around the world for the future release of The Motorcycle Samurai graphic novel. Now saddle up and let’s ride!

This comic book tires to give us an exciting blend of action and martial arts wrapped in a unique premise, but unfortunately, it falls short in execution. Which had really disappointed me a lot because I had some high hopes for this comic book because I have read some very good comic books recently.

The storyline in this book feels rushed and somewhat underdeveloped which had left me with more questions than answers and little emotional connection to the characters. Which had disappointed me a bit.

The pacing in this comic book is pretty uneven, with scenes that jump quickly without sufficient buildup or payoff.

The concept of this comic book has had some potential. But the narrative doesn’t do enough to fully explore it or create a compelling hook.

The artwork in this comic book is competent but overall lacks the detail and energy needed to elevate the story or make the action sequences truly engaging. Overall, the visuals feel generic and don’t leave a lasting impression.

I Give This Book 2 / 5

“Arcana Studio Presents 2016 FCBD Ed: Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom” By Sean Patrick O’Reilly Review

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Comic book legend Stan Lee’s newest creation, The Unknowns, makes it’s world debut on Free Comic Book Day! Two average teens help alien protectors disguise themselves as a touring rock group in order to take out undercover cells of invaders! Also included is the next chapter in the Howard Lovecraft series (just in time for the animated feature film, Howard Lovecraft & The Frozen Kingdom), as everyone’s favorite Cthulhu teams up with young H.P. Lovecraft in Howard Lovecraft & The Squid Kids! 32 pages of all-ages animated fun!

I need to admit here that the only reason why I read this comic book is because it has H.P Lovecraft as its main character. Which easily makes me read anything if the book or comic book has one of my favorite horror authors in them as the main character.

This comic book aims to introduce H.P Lovecraft and the monsters he created in his stories for a wider family-friendly audience which the parents would allow their young  kids to read. Which was a very unique approach to H.P Lovecraft and his satires. 

The Lovecraftian horror is very weak in this comic book because this comic book is supposed to be a kid friendly adventurous twist. But for me personally this comic book doesn’t quite hit the mark of being a good comic book.

The story in this comic book feels overly simplistic to me, and it lacks the depth or tension that could make the Lovecraftian themes truly compelling.

The narrative of this comic book is predictable and at times, feels rushed, which diminishes the potential for building suspense or emotional investment.

The artwork in this comic book is certainly unique and approachable. The artwork in this comic book clearly aims at younger readers, but it sometimes clashes with the darker tone the story attempts to convey. 

The artwork style in this comic book doesn’t fully capture the eerie atmosphere that Lovecraftian tales typically demand.

I Give This Book 2 / 5