Psyren: Dragon

I read Psyren, Vol. 3: Dragon

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE comics).

IReadsYou Review: UGLIES: Shay's Story

UGLIES: SHAY’S STORY
BALLANTINE BOOKS/DEL REY

CREATOR: Scott Westerfeld
WRITERS: Scott Westerfeld, Devin Grayson
ART: Steven Cummings
TONES/LETTERS: Yishan Li
ISBN: 978-0-345-52722-6; paperback
208pp, B&W, $10.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN

Scott Westerfeld is an American science fiction author who has written several book series aimed at the young adult market (YA). One of them is the Uglies series, a quartet of science fiction and fantasy novels that began in 2005 with the publication of Uglies (Simon Pulse). The Uglies is set 300 years in the future in a time in which everyone is turned “pretty” by extreme cosmetic surgery. The Uglies’ central character is Tally Youngblood, a teen girl who rebels against this forced conformity.

Uglies: Shay’s Story is the first of two original graphic novels set in the world of the Uglies and tells new stories through the eyes of Tally’s friend, Shay, another teen girl. Uglies: Shay’s Story is scripted by Devin Grayson from a story by Scott Westerfeld and is drawn by artist Steven Cummings.

As Uglies: Shay’s Story begins, Shay is a few months shy of her sixteenth birthday, the age at which one undergoes “the Surge,” which is the rite-of-passage surgery that will transform her into a “Pretty.” Currently, she is an “Ugly,” an ordinary human who has not had the surgery. Shay befriends “the Crims” (criminals), a group of fellow teens who say they don’t want to have the surgery. She joins the Crims: Zane, Croy, Astrix, and Ho by exploring past the monitored borders and going into the forbidden, ungoverned wild. This journey makes her think about her future. Shay must decide the path she will choose: become a Pretty or remain one of the Uglies.

Like the source material (the Uglies novels, of course), Uglies: Shay’s Story deals with adolescent themes of emotional and physical change. What really drives Shay’s Story is conflict. The central conflict is a personal one: preservation of one’s personal will versus the longing to conform. The other line of conflicts pits a dystopian society’s need for uniformity against the Uglies’ rebellious urges.

The conflicts play out in the most interesting ways because the players are teenagers about to enter adulthood, but who are also about to enter a world of choice and responsibility. Is becoming a “Pretty” about evolution and accepting adulthood? Are the teens who runaway just afraid to grow up? Uglies: Shay’s Story is a pop concept tailor-made for Hollywood, but the narrative plays out as a coming-of-age story that wants to be more complicated than the latest hot thing. It’s exciting and edgy, like our teenage years.

B+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

----------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform/remind you that any affiliate links found on this page are PAID ADS, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on affiliate links like these, BOOKS PAGE, GRAPHIC NOVELS, or MANGA PAGE and BUY something(s).

La Corda d'Oro: Three Young Men and a Lady

I read La Corda d'Oro, Vol. 15

I posted a review at the Comic Book Bin (which has FREE comics).

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 22 2012

DC COMICS

DEC110262 ALL STAR WESTERN #6 $3.99

DEC110316 AMERICAN VAMPIRE #24 (MR) $2.99

DEC110193 AQUAMAN #6 $2.99

DEC118131 BATMAN #4 2ND PTG $2.99

DEC110224 BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #6 $2.99

NOV110193 BATMAN VS BANE TP $12.99

DEC110263 BLACKHAWKS #6 $2.99

OCT110243 DC UNIVERSE SECRET ORIGINS HC $39.99

DEC110197 FLASH #6 $2.99

DEC110201 FURY OF FIRESTORM THE NUCLEAR MEN #6 $2.99

DEC110243 GREEN LANTERN NEW GUARDIANS #6 $2.99

DEC110246 I VAMPIRE #6 $2.99

DEC110247 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #6 $2.99

DEC110307 MAD MAGAZINE #514 $5.99

DEC110269 RAY #3 (OF 4) $2.99

NOV110233 SANDMAN TP VOL 08 WORLDS END NEW ED (MR) $19.99

DEC110206 SAVAGE HAWKMAN #6 $2.99

DEC110213 SUPERMAN #6 $2.99

DEC110267 TEEN TITANS #6 $2.99

DEC110261 VOODOO #6 $2.99

Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 22 2012

MARVEL COMICS

DEC110603 AVENGERS ACADEMY #26 $2.99

DEC110619 AVENGERS SOLO #5 (OF 5) $3.99

DEC110609 CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BUCKY #627 $2.99

DEC110737 CAPTAIN AMERICA PRISONER OF WAR TP $19.99

DEC110679 DEADPOOL #51 $2.99

DEC110689 DEADPOOL MAX 2 #5 (MR) $3.99

DEC110625 DOROTHY AND WIZARD IN OZ #5 (OF 8) $3.99

DEC110652 FANTASTIC FOUR #603 $2.99

DEC110722 FEAR ITSELF UNCANNY X-MEN PREM HC $19.99

DEC110746 IRON MAN 2.0 TP VOL 02 ASYMMETRY $14.99

DEC110681 MAGNETO NOT A HERO #4 (OF 4) $2.99

DEC110739 MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN TANGLED WEB DIGEST TP $9.99

DEC110608 MIGHTY THOR #11 $3.99

DEC110706 MMW INCREDIBLE HULK TP VOL 02 $24.99

DEC110707 MMW INCREDIBLE HULK TP VOL 02 DM VAR ED 39 $24.99

DEC110687 NEW MUTANTS #38 XREGB $2.99

OCT110697 POWERS PREM HC VOL 04 SUPERGROUP (MR) $24.99

DEC110757 QUASAR CLASSIC TP VOL 01 $24.99

DEC110615 SECRET AVENGERS #23 $3.99

DEC110660 SPIDER-MAN #23 $2.99

OCT110739 SPIDER-MAN FIGHTS SUBSTANCE ABUSE TP $24.99

DEC110756 STRIKEFORCE MORITURI TP VOL 02 $34.99

NOV110666 SUPERIOR PREM HC $24.99

DEC110752 THUNDERBOLTS CLASSIC TP VOL 02 $29.99

DEC110694 TORSO GN HC (MR) $24.99

DEC110626 ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #7 WITH DIGITAL CODE $3.99

DEC110673 UNCANNY X-FORCE #22 XREGG $3.99

DEC110642 VENOM #13.3 $2.99

DEC118115 WOLVERINE #300 2ND PTG KUBERT VAR (PP #1007) $4.99

DEC110751 WOLVERINE AND CAPTAIN AMERICA TP $14.99

DEC118116 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #4 2ND PTG BRADSHAW VAR XREGG (PP #1007) $3.99

DEC110666 WOLVERINE AND X-MEN #6 XREGG $3.99

DEC110651 WOLVERINE PUNISHER GHOST RIDER OFF INDEX MU #7 (OF 8) $3.99

DEC118014 WOLVERINE X-MEN ALPHA OMEGA #1 (OF 5) 2ND PTG BROOKS VAR $3.99

DEC110685 X-MEN #25 XREGB $3.99

SEP110635 X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE OMNIBUS HC $125.00

SEP110636 X-MEN AGE OF APOCALYPSE OMNIBUS HC DM VAR ED $125.00

DEC110730 X-MEN FF PREM HC $19.99

DEC110680 X-MEN LEGACY #262 $2.99

IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for February 22 2012

IDW PUBLISHING

DEC118182 TRANSFORMERS ROBOTS IN DISGUISE ONGOING #2 $3.99
DEC110398 COBRA ONGOING #10 $3.99
DEC110404 DANGER GIRL REVOLVER #2 (OF 4) $3.99
NOV110336 DEAD RISING ROAD TO FORTUNE #4 (OF 4) $3.99
DEC110385 GI JOE DISAVOWED TP VOL 05 $19.99
DEC110420 GODZILLA LEGENDS #4 (OF 5) $3.99
DEC110353 INFESTATION 2 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS #2 (OF 2) $3.99
DEC110434 PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES TP $17.99
NOV110353 POPBOT BIG BEAUTIFUL BOOK PI
DEC110370 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ONGOING #7 $3.99
NOV110268 TRANSFORMERS LAST STAND OF THE WRECKERS HC $29.99
AUG110352 WALLY WOOD EC STORIES ARTIST ED HC PI

Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for February 22 2012

DARK HORSE COMICS

NOV110050 AFRIKA HC $15.99
NOV110044 CHRONICLES OF KULL TP VOL 05 DEAD MEN O/T DEEP & OTHER STORIES $18.99
DEC110075 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #9 MIGNOLA CVR $7.99
DEC110076 DARK HORSE PRESENTS #9 YEATES VAR CVR $7.99
OCT118164 KATSUYA TERADA THE MONKEY KING TP VOL 01 $16.99
OCT110057 OH MY GODDESS RTL TP VOL 20 $11.99
AUG110018 STAR WARS DARK TIMES OUT O/T WILDERNESS #4 (OF 5) $2.99
NOV110033 STAR WARS JEDI VOL 01 DARK SIDE TP $18.99