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July + August reading round up! These last couple months have been almost entirely graphic novels and fanfic, oops. I read one single real book for the entirety of August. But c'est la vie!
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (★★★★★) [goodreads]
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Ennead Vol. 1 by Mojito (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]
Cosmoknights Vol. 2 by Hannah Templer (★★★★★) [goodreads]
Tristan and Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]
Rainbow! Vol. 1 by Sunny & Gloomy (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]
Sparks Vol. 1: Portals by Revel Guts (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
The Adventure Zone Vol. 6: The Suffering Game by the McElroys & Carey Pietsch (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
Historical Fiction, M/M Romance. In late 1950s New York, Andy, son of a newspaper tycoon, is set to inherit the paper from his father. But he's not prepared for it at all--in fact, he's not sure he even wants the job at all. Luckily he has newspaper writer Nick to help show him the ropes at the office... I love Cat Sebastian's historical fiction but I was putting off this series because the 1950s and beyond is not historical enough for me. That's just contemporary fiction to me at this point. BUT my friend read them and was like "read these" so I gave in lmao.
I never should have doubted, of course! It was exactly what I expected from a Cat Sebastian romance. This was sweet and fluffy, almost entirely character focused. There's little to no conflict (a few potential dangers lurking about, but nothing quite materializes), so if you're looking for something with a serious plot this won't be for you. But the characters are charming, the ups and downs of their relationship are fun to follow, and overall it's a lovely read. I'm still not completely sold on historical fiction post-WWII but Cat has yet to let me down.
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (★★★★★) [goodreads]
Historical Fiction, M/M Romance. The sequel to We Could Be So Good. Down-on-his-luck Eddie is having the worst baseball season of his career. Arts page writer Mark is still mourning the loss of his partner when he gets stuck doing sports column interviews with Eddie. Perfect for fans of sunshine puppy dog/serious grumpy cat couples.
This was very cute. I enjoyed it even more than the previous book, so 5 stars it is. I enjoyed Eddie and Mark as characters and I thought their romance was sweet. Mark was a fave, no surprise there. There's a lot of funny dialogue, and while, like the first book, there isn't a serious plot or high stakes, it never got boring to me and was a fun read throughout.
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
Fantasy, Horror, F/F Romance. Shesheshen is a shapeshifting, amorphous monster that eats people, but she's made one fatal mistake: she's fallen in love with a human. A human whose brother she just ate and whose family wants her dead. Can she court Homily, keep her identity secret, and fend off everyone trying to kill her all at once?
3.5 stars rounded up, I'd say? I really enjoyed Shesheshen as a character/POV and the writing with its mix of humor and horror. There's a lot of body horror, given that the main character is a blob monster of sorts that eats people and uses their bones and organs to craft her own humanoid shape, but it feels more like a black comedy than straight-up horror despite its grossness. Unfortunately, these are the strongest parts of the book to me, as I wasn't particularly won over by the romance. YMMV of course, but it felt like something necessary for the plot to progress and I was more interested in Homily's family than Homily herself. But as long as you go into it not expecting a super developed romance it's a fun read.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Ennead Vol. 1 by Mojito (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]
Graphic Novel, Fantasy. My coworker handed me a copy of this book and was like "here read this it's a dark Egyptian mythology BL webtoon", and I was like "okay" and read it. This volume is entirely set up for the characters and the plot. When I am inevitably handed the next volume I'll probably read it.
Cosmoknights Vol. 2 by Hannah Templer (★★★★★) [goodreads]
Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi. "Cosmoknights follows a ragtag group of queer outer-space gladiators as they fight to escape--and possibly overthrow--the neo-medieval patriarchy that rules their universe."
I didn't remember a single thing about the first volume other than I enjoyed it, but I was able to pick this one up and follow along easily. It was a lot of fun, the art is great, and I love the designs and characters and overall worldbuilding. Lesbians in space fighting the patriarchy really does sum it up best I suppose. Excited to see where the next one goes.
Tristan and Lancelot: A Tale of Two Knights by James Persichetti & L.S. Biehler (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]
Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Romance. With Merlin missing and Camelot in danger, Knights of the Round Table Tristan and Lancelot join Arthur's estranged half-sister Morgan le Fay in a quest to find him. And also they find love along the way, I guess. While I do love an Arthurian retelling, this was mostly average all around, from the plot to the romance to the art. It was cute enough but probably better left to the actual YA target audience to appreciate.
Rainbow! Vol. 1 by Sunny & Gloomy (★★★☆☆) [goodreads]
Graphic Novel, Contemporary, F/F Romance. Another one of those cute YA comics that I think would be better received by the target audience than me. This book deals with some heavy topics (the MC has an absent/alcoholic parent) and focuses on the struggles of the main teen MC as she tries to navigate school/her job/her mother/her mental health. She does a lot of things that are probably very relatable for some readers, but come across as frustrating to read about from an outsider POV. Realism, I suppose! The art is super cute and colorful, which seems at odds with the subject matter a little.
Sparks Vol. 1: Portals by Revel Guts (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
Graphic Novel, Fantasy. A pair of satyrs at a magic academy--soon to graduate--are forced to work together after a magical accident throws them together. This was very cute! This volume mostly lays the groundwork for the characterization and relationship setup, with hints of a bigger plot coming in at the end. The art is fun and the characters are entertaining. I'd definitely be interested in reading more to see where this goes.
The Adventure Zone Vol. 6: The Suffering Game by the McElroys & Carey Pietsch (★★★★☆) [goodreads]
Graphic Novel, Fantasy. The penultimate arc of the comic adaptation of The Adventure Zone: Balance podcast. I never actually listened to the podcast so I don't know exactly what was cut, but even I could tell that there wasn't enough Suffering Game within this volume, alas. But the second half goes wild, I cannot waittt to see how this all concludes. I actually started listening to the podcast after finishing this lol but I've only gotten through the very first episode so this will probably be slow going for me. Which will happen first, me finishing the podcast or the last comic volume coming out probably in a year!!
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As for your comments on it—as someone who has listened to the podcast multiple times (twice in its entirety), I do feel like they* did a good job adapting the earlier arcs, but The Eleventh Hour and onwards is where the story gets meatier, and I noticed in The Eleventh Hour that they were cutting and combining things in a way which I personally felt like had left out important things or undercut some of my favorite moments. So it wouldn't surprise me if the Suffering Game turned out to have some of the same issues!
* as in, the graphic novels
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I hope you enjoy the volume though, despite the bits that got cut/condensed. I'm sooo intrigued how they're going to wrap this up, this volume ended at a cliffhanger so I'm like noooo I have so many questions. How am I supposed to wait for the last volume... (or two volumes?? idk if they're gonna cram it all into one book or what.)
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I hope you enjoy the podcast! I think the biggest difference between the graphic novels and the podcast is that with the graphic novels, they know the characters and the story they're going for from the start, whereas with the podcast you're listening to them figuring out those things as they go. Obviously, I'm a fan of both (see: my listening to the podcast multiple times, my buying the graphic novels as they come out) and I think they're both enjoyable, but it is a different kind of narrative experience, even setting the obvious different mediums aspect aside.
or two volumes?? idk if they're gonna cram it all into one book or what. I was wondering this too, when you referred to The Suffering Game as being the penultimate volume! I think it could absolutely be possible to condense The Stolen Century in a way that won't rob it of its impact, but I could also see the finale filling a whole volume on its own.
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I've never been a diehard McElroy fan because I don't listen to podcasts, but I have listened to clips of their show and I think they're very funny. The first episode had some really funny moments so I don't doubt the rest'll be good. I just gotta make time to listen because I am not someone who can multitask while listening to audio that I need to actually absorb lmao.
Okay for a second I thought I had made the assumption the next book was going to be the last one for no reason, but doing some Googling, Wikipedia says the publisher confirmed the next volume is the last. But I can only find a single article talking about it, so that may not be true...? I hope it's only one more book because I can't wait TWO more years to read the actual finale 😭
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Coming back months later... today, I finally got around to reading this volume! The short version of my thoughts on it are that, while there were several changes made to the story that I thought were to its detriment (either for emotional reasons or for pacing reasons), I ultimately had a good time with this volume and didn't experience the kind of disappointment I felt with The Eleventh Hour.
But that being said, and to address your thoughts on the book, there absolutely was far less suffering in the graphic novel version as compared to the podcast! Some of it is, of course, the obvious "different mediums have a different sense of pacing" element. So moments that were more drawn out when listening to the actual play podcast version of this story get hit on much more quickly in the drawn graphic novel version. But, more than that...
I think the biggest change in terms of what made the graphic novel version feel, as you said, "too easy" and light is with the Wheel of Suffering itself. The sacrifices that happen in the graphic novel did happen! But it's also much... lesser? Like, in the graphic novel, you never find out what would have happened if the characters refused to make the requested sacrifice. But you do in the podcast—because the characters were asked to make sacrifices that they just couldn't do. And the penalty for that was an increased number of spins on the Wheel being required in order to progress further, meaning they as a group had to make a lot more sacrifices overall. Pretty much all of the more emotional moments from the podcast just straight-up didn't happen in the graphic novel at all! Including what I considered to be The most memorable and emotional sacrifice made during the arc, and what was in fact one of the first things I looked up fic for once I was done listening to the entire podcast! (Being vague because I don't know how you feel about podcast spoilers.)
To be fair, there were also some missing elements where I fully understand why that had been cut. For example, in the podcast, the trio were actually participating in the Wonderland games at the same time as another group they'd met on the way, and there were some Suffering™ choices that needed to be made in regards to that. I did like those elements of the story, but considering the amount of actual important overarching plot moments that did need to fit inside this single volume, it makes sense that those elements would be on the chopping block when it came down to streamlining the story. So I'm not saying that all the changes that impacted the Suffering™ feel of the arc were necessarily a bad thing... but some of those specific Wheel of Sacrifice-related moments being cut felt like a weird choice.
I hope it's only one more book because I can't wait TWO more years to read the actual finale
asdfghjkl; nearly forgot to say, but after reading this volume, I can't imagine that it would need more than one volume to wrap up the story! The reason I thought so before is that I assumed that the graphic novel would end at the "Barry Bluejeans is the Red Robe" reveal, with the next volume starting off with the events that happened at the end of this one. But since we already got all of that lead-up... I can't imagine that the final two arcs won't be in a single volume, particularly since the finale is so short in comparison to the others.
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(please do tell me the podcast spoilers of the most Suffering-est moment, I never did listen past episode 1 so I doubt I'm going to be listening to the whole thing anytime soon lol)
man I went to google if there was a release date for the next volume and still nothing...please I need it I want to know the end...
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But the big moment (for me) was the one with Magnus. I remember this was near the end of an extended Wheel of Sacrifice round, where they'd made a few refusals, and so had even more spins to to take on. And then he landed on the memory one again, and was told that he would need to sacrifice his memory of Governor Kalen. Meaning that he would forget why his wife died, never be able to take down Kalen, and never have that moment of vengeance. I can't remember how much this was emphasized in the graphic novels, but this is something that's deeply important to him! But if he refused the sacrifice, his companions will have to suffer more as well, and they were in really bad shape at this point, particularly Taako. So he accepts that sacrifice, and forgets.
There was also this imo really sweet moment related to this where, before Magnus forgets, he asks the other two (who, iirc, don't even know the backstory to this) that, if they ever meet Kalen, to take him out, and they make that promise. I don't know how well this is conveyed in text, but it all served to make me feel many feelings while listening.
man I went to google if there was a release date for the next volume and still nothing...please I need it I want to know the end...
I know the ending, and I'm still impatient too!! The best I could find was "2025", which, assuming that's correct, is good news, but I'd still like to know more specifically...
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yeah 2025 is all I could find too.... I hope it's early 2025 rather than late 2025 😔
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asdfghjkl; I have to admit, reading this made me go, "wait, did they???" I do remember that I was disappointed by the graphic novel version of The Eleventh Hour* (aka the arc that particular backstory was revealed in), but couldn't remember all the reasons why... But I just pulled my copy off of the shelf, and Kalen is mentioned, just... very briefly. As far as I can tell based on a quick flipthrough, Magnus' Tragic Backstory™ just got a single page dedicated to it, with Kalen's name being mentioned like, once, so I can see how it could be easy to forget!
* a disappointment made more intense by 1.) what an amazing job I thought they did with the first four volumes of the graphic novels & the choices/adjustments made there, and 2.) how deeply I love The Eleventh Hour as an arc
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