Books read in February
1-The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick - The blending of text and art was great, and it was a nice love letter to early cinema, but the story and characters themselves were pretty dull. Three stars.
2-13 Curses by Michelle Harrison - I had trouble getting into 13 Treasures because the pacing was awful, but because it picked up in the last third and I thought the characters were interesting, I decided to read the sequel. If anything, the pacing in this one was even worse than the first one, and the protagonist shift did not help. Two stars.
3-Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers - The ending of this book really annoyed me, and while I liked Courtney Summers' other books, this one didn't grab me as much. Three stars.
4-Darkwing Duck Crisis on Infinite Darkwings by Ian Brill - Everything about this is wonderful. EVERYTHING. Five stars.
5-The Predicteds by Christine Seifert - I have read a lot of YA dystopias, both good and bad. I am usually willing to forgive flaws for the sake of a) interesting characters or b) great worldbuilding. This had neither. In supposedly modern America some sort of testing was done to show whether or not high schoolers will ever commit an act of violence, and then of course the list is published and all those predicted to do violence/smoke/whatever are kicked out of classes, and there's no mention of anyone outside the town having a problem with it. I could buy it as a dystopia if it was coming from the government, but it was just the decision of one town in supposedly 2011. No. Also, the main character was horrible and her relationship with her mother made no sense. It was like the author just went "oh, I'll do it like Bella and her mother in Twilight, except the mother is totally a scientist." One star.
6-The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamilla Stevenson - A group of mixed-race teens are annoyed by everyone trying to force them to belong to one group/classify themselves as one thing, so they start their own group - the Latte Rebellion. What started partially as a joke ends up consuming their senior year, and leading to unexpected consequences. I really enjoyed this book. The structure was interesting, and I thought the ending had some problems, but overall it was fabulous. Four stars.
7-Thor the Mighty Avenger volume 2 by Roger Langridge - Someone explain to me why this was cancelled, because most delightful. Five stars.
8-Divergent by Veronica Roth - I am 99% sure that this started as an AU Harry Potter fic, but I don't care. It took me a while to get into it, mostly because I was going "AU Harry Potter fic" but by the end I thought it was great and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel. Four stars.
9-The Limit by Kristen Landon - Mediocre YA dystopia with shoddy worldbuilding. Not as rage provoking as some of the others I read this month. Two stars.
10-The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey - Mediocre YA fantasy/horror. It wasn't that it was even that bad, it was just that I've spent the last two years hearing everyone say that this was the greatest YA series currently being published and how everyone should be reading it and then... it was just mediocre and I called the big plot twists fairly early on.
11-Fushigi Yuugi volume 4 - Bandit by Yuu Watase - Miaka! Tamahome! Miaka! Three stars.
12-The Marvels Project by Ed Brubaker - Glorious love letter to early Marvel. Definitely reads better as a trade than in individual issues. Five stars.
13-The Order of the Stick Volume 0: On The Origin Of PCs by Rich Burlew - Fun origin story, I should really keep reading this. Four stars.
14-Bleach Volume 5 - Right Arm of the Giant by Tite Kubo - At some point I should just admit that I don't actually enjoy this story or any of the characters and stop reading it. Three stars.
15-There's an Alien in My Underwear by Bruce Coville - Cute middle grade scifi. I only have one book left in this series! Three stars.
16-Wither by Lauren DeStefano - Again, the characters were awful and the world building was atrocious. I spent two days ranting angrily to anyone who would listen about it. I pretty much hated everything about this book, the world building was awful, the main character made Bella Swan look super proactive, and the plot was laughable. However, turns out it's great for AU fanfic, so I don't hate it quite as much. Still. One star. (I will totally email my rant about why it sucks on request.)
17-Trapped by Michael Northrup - What if the Breakfast Club got snowed in for a week? I was expecting more Breakfast Club hijinks, but it wasn't BAD. Three stars.
18-Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma - I really have no idea how to describe this book. It was interesting and not exactly what I expected? Definitely worth reading though. Three stars.
19-Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley - I liked the movie better. Three stars.
20-Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir - I blame two people on my flist for my reading this. I'm sure you can guess who you are. It was an interesting read! I was surprised by how much of it I was already aware of due to fannish osmosis. Four stars
21-The Midnight Tunnel by Angie Frazier - Turn of the century girl detective! Super cute middle grade mystery. Four stars.
22-Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, Vol. 3: My Secret Life by Sean McKeever - How is this series so great, and everything he wrote for DC Comics so awful? Four stars
Best: Thor the Mighty Avenger volume 2 by Roger Langridge
Worst: Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Total: 22
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