Death Vigil Vol. 1 by Stjepan Šejić

Essentially, if you like eldritch horrors and a more human “Death” figure, you’ll like Death Vigil. There’s a good amount of action and mythology with a dash of X-Men-style power mixing. Even a fun mystery to boot. Sejic’s art, as usual, is very good.

I think most of the character work is well done. I do feel like Clara’s fairly generic, though, as a POV-ish character goes. I am looking forward to seeing that Sejic does with her, in the event we ever get more Death Vigil. I love Mia to death. Snarky teen girls with big power-ups are my jam. I’m also definitely in favor of Sam and Bernie actually being a couple, rather than this “we only kiss when there’s trouble” thing they’ve got going.

But yeah, Death Vigil is fun and definitely worth a read.

In Other News

I just finished another OviPets Project! This one was based on the Armor Digimon: Pipismon. Pipismon took me about 5 months to complete.

Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

Well, I had barely remembered anything from Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern from when I read it at 12… I think I was 12, anyway. The librarian who recommended it to me was a little apprehensive because of the absolute nothing of a sex scene. Speaking of, the thing I did remember was Moreta and Alessan being a thing. The rest… not a lick of memory.

Oooofffff, this epidemic storyline hits differently now. I find it really interesting that Pern manages to do such a better job at getting everyone vaccinated than we seem to be able to do with much more advanced tech. I mean, this was Sci-fi from the 80s, so McCaffrey was clearly more hopeful and hadn’t experienced the ridiculousness that was COVID, but still… This is also the third storyline of the Pern chronology to deal with an epidemic. The last two were written well after this, but it is worth noting.

The speed at which this disease jumped species, even if they’re all Earth-ancestry species is super concerning… not that anyone has brought that up at all. Though maybe it was something the Colonists brought with them, jumped species to the cats, then was able to jump back fairly quickly… still really concerning and not talked about at all. Just waved away with a “it’s zoonosis.” Okay then.

First time in the chronology there’s actually a queen’s wing. That was fun to see. Actually, getting more with the queens was fun. I don’t remember Lessa, for example, having to sleep off the Hatching Grounds due to Ramoth clutching. So that was neat. I love Orlith.

I actually quite liked getting more info on Falls and the aftermath. Taking care of injured dragons is more interesting than Plagued ones or humans. Very glad Moreta was able to pass some of her dragon healing knowledge on.

What is it with Fort Weyr producing surly Weyrleaders?? Sh’gall, D’gan… wtf. Although the real curmudgeon of this book was M’tani of Telgar, so that’s a bit of a difference.

Not sure this late-introduced mystery of Rill needed to be a thing. Although what might have been a typo already gave away who it is… if it’s relevant in later books, chronologically speaking.

Anyway, Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern was a lot of fun. The characters were engaging, the pacing was good, and the ending was surprising.

Surprise Baby Review!

Adulthood Is a Myth by Sarah Andersen

I knew this collection was going to be 99% relatable and it was. I’m gonna go hide in a blanket pile with my books now. 

GoodReads Reading Goal

Happy New Year! Just wanted to note that, as it is January 1st, I have set my Reading Goal at 100 books. the last couple of years, I've read well over 100 books, so I feel this goal is achiveable, even without an injection of 20 anthologies. 😜

Also, my reviews for today and tomorrow are from 2024 and don't count toward this year's goal. ✌

Azumanga Daioh: The Omnibus by Kiyohiko Azuma

2024: So... Kimura-sensei has not aged well... not that his character was good to begin with, but... yeah. Kimura is gross. Yomi's weight obsession is... a thing. I think it's somewhat normal for high school girls to worry about that kind of thing, but I really wish we lived in a society where it wasn't a thing at all. Don't worry about your weight, ladies, you're still growing. It's fine.

Otherwise, Azumanga Daioh is cute and funny. Nice slice-of life manga. No stakes, no romances, just girls being girls. Relatively quick read, for such a large tome. I still really enjoy it and look forward to revisiting at some point down the line.

2017: Every bit as enjoyable as I was expecting. Nice little strips made for good bedtime reading. Funny, absurd, and just generally goodhearted. Super cute, too.

Legit the funniest page from the whole book.

Read right to left. The pair of strips go up to down.

 

Sunstone, Volume 8: Mercy by Stjepan Sejic

I thought that this was the volume I'd be completely new on, but it's not. It is however, really good. Volume 8 contains the stories of breakups and how they got there. It's heartwarming and heart-wrenching. The art, as ever, is gorgeous.

Ally and Alan remain some of my favorite characters. I really feel for Anne, even though I've never really liked Laura. Anne's analogy to papering over cracks was not something I expected to hit me so hard... but that's some personal stuff that doesn't color my enjoyment of the story.

Sunstone: Volume 5-7 by Stjepan Šejić

Volume 5

Well, this one is the “end” of Lisa and Ally’s story-arc. It’s very satisfying. “Our story” had me in tears, not gonna lie. Fuckin-A. I wasn’t expecting to be in tears, given I’ve read this before, but man… “Our Story” is just awesome.

I feel like Lisa’s plan to write her feelings to Ally was a good idea, just definitely flawed in the execution. After all, it took Anne explaining to Ally about the texty subtext for Ally to get it. And that was only because Lisa explained it to Anne during that apology.

But yeah, Volume 5 was really good. I love the story and the art.

Sunstone: Volume 1-4 by Stjepan Šejić

So, as you will shortly find out, I have been reading Sunstone since I stumbled across Stjepan Sejic's DeviantArt page. So, like, years. I didn't really feel like I had the disposable income to purchase Sunstone when it originally came out, so I just kinda stuck in on a wishlist so I wouldn't forget to purchase it at some point.

Cut to two years ago when I semi-jokingly sent a link to my boyfriend when he asked what I wanted for Christmas. Volume 1 was one of the things he decided to buy me. Now that I had a physical copy of Volume 1, Sunstone went on my "To Read Physical" List.

Cut to now... I have finally purchased all of Sunstone that is currently out and will be reviewing them as I read. That said, these reviews are all pretty short and I've been devouring these things again... so you get multiple reviews in a post.

Enjoy.

Volume 1

2022 Review: I love Sunstone. Have loved it ever since I stumbled across Sejic’s DeviantArt page. I have nothing insightful to say. The art is beautiful and the story is great.

2024 Review: This time around, I really resonated with Ally’s loneliness. I remember living alone and loving it but occasionally that empty house thing just hits and… yeah.

Still holds up really well and I can’t wait to dive back into the rest.

The Sandman: Book Five by Neil Gaiman

Midnight Theatre: Despite the pretty cool cover and the interesting enough art, I was very “meh” on this one. Not my style, really. All mystery and blackmail and exactly one semi-interesting character.

The Dream Hunters: Yoshitaka Amano’s art is frigging gorgeous. I love it, so so much. Seeing The Dreaming rendered this way is just amazing.

The story was fantastic as well. Gaiman’s very good at that old-school, fairy-tale vibe. This had it in spades.

Endless Nights: Feeling mostly “meh” about this little series. I do appreciate short stories, but reading them one after the other like this just isn’t my jam.

Green Lantern Lady falling at complete random for her own sun was… stupid. Hate it. I did think the art was really nice, though.

Not gonna lie, I skimmed most of Despair’s chapter. Just don’t need that shit in my head right now. Did not understand what was going on in Delirium’s bit, either. So there’s that.

In Other News

It's Eclipse Day!

I was lucky enough to be in the path of totality. It was so cool.

Image taken with my iPhone

The Sandman: Book Four by Neil Gaiman

Did I procrastinate the heck outta reading this one: Yes. Was It really Good: Yes. Did it get me through a rough couple of work days: Also yes. This collection is largely about endings and it does definitely invoke the feeling of a proper end.

The Castle: I like it a lot. Reintroduction to the “main” characters from The Dreaming.

The Kindly Ones: Interesting for Loki and Robin Goodfellow to be teaming up. I feel like a lot of this was interesting. There’s some closure for some long-running story lines. There’s plenty of action. I feel like Lyta’s story was a but confusing, to be completely honest. But yeah… otherwise pretty good.

The Wake: Beautiful art. Love it. Pretty awesome wrap-up of the series.

Exiles: Interesting art style. The brushy-ness of it definitely brings and other-worldly feel. I’m really not sure what to make of the story. It’s very philosophical.

The Tempest: I think it’s interesting that this story was in the collection after “The Kindly Ones” and “The Wake.” Almost like a meditation on the ends of things, featuring Dream 1.

The Last Sandman Story: Wildly different and evocative art than the rest of this collection. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Favorite Line

"Most people don't realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?" - Lucien

The Sandman: Book Three by Neil Gaiman

Fear of Falling: Meh

The Hunt: Really liked this one.

Soft Places: I liked the concept of Soft Places. Kinda fun.

The Parliament of Rooks: Chibi Dream and Death are adorable. I enjoyed this one.

Brief Lives: Ultimately, Brief Lives is a meditation on change. I think it does a good job getting there. The characters throughout are some of my favorite since the first story arc. I do love me some Gaiman Old Gods. Delirium is quite delightful, and yes, I will be sticking with that semi-pun. I’m glad she got her closure.

Ramadan: I quite like the art in this one. The story, too, is pretty good. Kind of a “be careful what you wish for” thing.

World’s End: I really like the art for Cluracan’s story. “Hob’s Leviathan” and “The Golden Boy” were probably my favorites of this set. The concept of the Inn is neat.

Favorite Lines

"It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt." - Dream

"You shouldn't trust the story-teller; only trust the story." - Vassily

 

Cover Art Preceeding "The Parliament of Rooks"

This just amused me

The Sandman: Book Two by Neil Gaiman

As this is essentially an anthology, my review will follow my anthology review format: each story gets its own little review.

Season of Mists:

Love love love the Endless descriptions.

Always a fun time seeing gods and such all coming together. Shared universes are such fun. I feel like Dream’s way of getting around actually handing the key to Hell over to anyone is neat. Didn’t really seem like he had much of a choice, but yeah.

Thermidor:

So… is this Orpheus THE Orpheus? Interesting fate, to end up as just a head.

August:

Ehhhh… no notes on this one.

Three Septembers and a January:

Also a lot of meh. I think the premise was good, but yeah… not my thing.

A Game of You:

Fun fun returning characters! I really did want more from Barbie’s dreams and I’m happy to be getting it.

I really enjoyed Thessaly, of all the characters. She’s neat and I want to know more about her.

I was really engaged with this story. It’s pretty awesome.

The Song of Orpheus:

Semi-interesting retelling.

The Flowers of Romance:

Drastically different art from the rest of the collection. Kinda cute, I guess.

Death: A Winter’s Tale:

Also drastically different art. Death musing about herself.

How They Met Themselves:

Much shrugging.

Favorite Lines

"Go Back? I don't know. I think Hell's something you carry around with you. Not somewhere you go." - Charles Rowland

"People may not be ready for my gift, but they get it anyway. The Sunless Lands are far away, and the journey is hard, and most of you will be glad of the company of a friend. At the End, each of us stands naked. At the End, each of us stands alone." - Death

The Sandman: Book One by Neil Gaiman

I am honestly not sure about how to go about writing a review of this. A majority of the book is one full story, but then there are a batch of semi-unrelated other stories at the end -- most of which have been adapted in the Netflix series The Sandman. I have written a review of the show HERE. If I remember correctly, it's mostly me gushing about how good it is. The source material here is just as good, even if I'm not a giant fan of the art.

I really did enjoy my reading experience, finishing most of it over a day. Particularly striking was the "Waiting for the End of the World" bit, following Dream retrieving the Ruby. I definitely enjoyed that more here than I did the Netflix episode depicting it.

The only other note I have is that I wish the issue titles were included in a more prominent place, in addition to the covers. Some are included in the art of the comic itself but I really had to search a couple times.

I'm really looking forward to the next volume and stories I haven't previously experienced.

Favorite Lines

"People think dreams aren't real because they aren't made of matter, of particles. Dreams are real but they are made of viewpoints, of images, or memories and puns and lost hopes..." - John Dee

"The only reason people die, is because everyone does it. You all just go along with it. It's rubbish, death. It's stupid. I don't want nothing to do with it." - Hob Gadling

"Thing need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot." - Dream