Book Review: Little Bunny's Sleepless Night

Little Bunny's Sleepless Night 

by Carol Roth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My first impression upon seeing the opening pages was that this book looks like one of the old storybook series I had as a kid; like the Bernstein Bears or Teddy goes to wherever books. I absolutely love the traditional illustrations! Then we get into the story and it's lovely! Perfect amounts of text per page, a wonderful rhythm to it that makes it easy to read (and no big words to stumble over).

Words are good, illustrations are good; this is going well! Only one last thing to make sure is suitable for a children's book: the plot or purpose of the story. Our poor little lead character, a bunny, is having trouble sleeping alone. So he tries to go to some friends houses to sleep but finds them a little less than ideal. Between quills prickling him, snoring bears, and a stinky skunk; our bunny decides that home, all alone, in his big bed is the best place for him!

Perfect for the transition to a 'big kid' bed for your toddler. Or for any child having trouble staying in their room or on their own bed. I would recommend this one in a heartbeat to anyone raising an only child, or an anxious kiddo when it comes to sleeping. It's perfect in just about every way; just like bunnies bed!

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: We Live

We Live, Volume One (comic)

by Inaki Miranda 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The most unique piece of We Live is the QR code that delivers you a soundtrack intended to be listened to while you read the comic. This is a very cool idea, and one that really worked for me. I wish it was enough to get me into the story more and make me like it better.

Unfortunately the excitement and uniqueness mostly ends there. Not that We Live is bad, it's not. It's just fine, average, or even pedestrian. I was really hoping for something different here, the monsters to be interesting, the conflicts or race to get to the shuttle to feel more desperate. But instead I just felt like we were toddling along with our two lead characters to get to some place I felt I didn't even know much about.

This could almost have been Horizon Zero Dawn with it's lush illustrations and world set-up. Maybe that's the problem; it didn't feel unique enough to me given the current big titles out there. One thing the comic industry needs to realize is that if the trope they are selling is big in another area (ie: video games) then they need to be careful it's not too similar.

All that to say if you buy the individual comics there are some gorgeous variants and the wraparound, fold-out cover is a real treat. However, in this trade paperback collecting the first few issues you don't get that special feel sadly.

I will rest my case on the fact that my continuing recommendation since 2019 is Something Is Killing The Children. If you want crazy monsters, the blood and gore (that We Live definitely has some of), interesting characters, and an elaborate plot laying just behind the basic monster hunter story then go for it. If you'd like some pretty, but fairly boring pages of pretty green lush forests, and some average monsters that attack; then go for We Live.

Please note: I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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Book Review: Brindille

Brindille 

by Frédéric Brrémaud
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m not sure what exactly happened in Brindille. It starts out really good, a bit vague but I can handle that at the beginning of a story. The opening panels of this graphic novel are gorgeous forest art. Our heroine is mysterious but interesting… and so it goes along. Then somewhere around issue #3 things start to happen with almost no context. I felt like I had missed something numerous times to throughout to the last issue in this collection (#8). I flipped back a couple times in case I was just tired and missing details but they literally just aren’t there.

It’s too bad the plot and information is lost as the art is wonderful. I loved how panels were very distinct in colour tones. When it was the war or enemy the panels were very dark, heavy in blues and reds. Whereas our forest panels (mainly featuring Brindille) were green and yellow, bright and filled with hope.

If only I could have figured out more of the storyline. It’s almost like the creative team was told in issue 3 or 4 that they had less time to tell the story than expected; so they panicked and cut out too much? I’m not sure what happened except that it just fell apart for me. So sad as I think there was real potential here.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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