review: ms. marvel, vol 1: no normal

Collects Ms. Marvel (2014) #1-5, All-New Marvel Now! Point One (Ms. Marvel story).

Marvel Comics presents the all-new Ms. Marvel, the groundbreaking heroine that has become an international sensation! Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City - until she is suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the all-new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! As Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to handle? Kamala has no idea either. But she's comin' for you, New York! ~ Goodreads

Source: Amazon Kindle Unlimited




Review: 

A few things to keep in mind before you read this review…I’m not a comic book/graphic novel/manga reader (this is only my 3rd one), and I’m not a huge super hero movie fan so my knowledge of the Marvel universe and such is limited. As a fan of those things – you could have a very different opinion.

While there's nothing groundbreaking with Ms. Marvel as far as super hero origin stories – a strange event (in this case an ominous fog) leads to new powers, a sidekick/potential love interest who knows her secret/helps with costume, how to balance family and being a secret super hero - the writing is wonderful, warm and funny. I was giggling so often and that was so unexpected.

I could totally relate to young Kamala and her wanting to break free of parental constraints and desire to be someone different in order to be popular. She initially desires to be the stereotypical female superhero - white, long blond hair, revealing costume - what she considers the standard for beauty - but then settles into the best version of Kamala as Ms. Marvel instead of a mini Captain Marvel clone.

A+ for diversity - Kamala is a Muslim American, gender swapping the roles where she saves the boy and I adore Kamala's family including her smothering mother, dad who struggles to see her side of things and slacker brother.

It was super easy for this novice comic book reader to follow the story and I loved the art work – although whenever a panel shows a faraway view the characters look more cartoonish and less defined and while it's an artistic choice - it was unnecessary and odd. A few times I didn't even recognize the characters.

I was a little lost as to references to the Marvel universe (I had never even heard of Captain Marvel lol) but it wasn't too big of a deal. Ms. Marvel can stand alone and was a great entry point for me.

Ms. Marvel really took me by surprise with how relatable and heartfelt the story and characters were. Volume 1 ends with the introduction to the Big Bad and I quickly downloaded volume 2.

If you have Kindle Prime or Unlimited Volume’s 1&2 are both available with your subscription.

friday fast 5

1.

A Christmas Zombie Musical!

ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE 

This looks hilarious and early reviews call it a cross between Shaun of the Dead and Glee.

2.

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal

I’m trying to use more of my Amazon Prime benefits and read graphic novels – Ms. marvel is on Kindle Unlimited so two birds – one stone and all that.

Goodreads

3.

Welcome back!

One my fave blogger peeps, previously known from her blog, Books, Sweets & Other Treats, had taken some time off to do the whole family thing and is back with an all new blog called:

“Do You Dog-ear?”

Catchy – right? L and I had a lot of fun times navigating ALA, BEA (a few times). L is of the person from the now infamous BEA biting incident lol 

Missed you and glad to have you back L! 💖

Go check her blog out! 

4.

More book-ish progress

I cleared out my physical arc's - still not caught up on the reviews though for them though - but I achieved another milestone.

0 books to to review on Netgalley!

Now, my big challenge is still that physical TBR pile. I. Can. Do. It!

5.

Sir Sly – Run

Have to sneak in a little music for your weekend….

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Monday Mini's: Wolf by Wolf Duology by Ryan Graudin

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Best Horror Books

Review: His Convenient Husband by Robin Covington

October Pick Your Book Giveaway!

Happy TGIF!

What should I be reading, watching, listening to this weekend?

tell me something tuesday

Tell Me Something Tuesday is hosted by Rainy Day Ramblings and discusses a wide range of topics from books to blogging.

I’ve tried to branch out a bit with my reading this year. TBH – I like what I like - and when I veer from that it doesn’t usually end well but I did find a few reads that were out of my comfort zone that I enjoyed in 2017.

Question: What were your favorite surprise reads of the year?



In Memoriam by Nathan Burgoine – In Memoriam was only 46 pages long but is a story that has stayed with me. It’s about a man dying of brain cancer and is trippy, non linear (something I usually hate) and surprisingly funny. I wasn’t expecting something so emotionally intense from a novella. My review



Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1 No Normal by G.Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Jacob Wyatt – I have found graphic novels to be difficult to navigate and follow in the past but Ms. Marvel was a joy to read. Great story, characters and illustrations. I’ve since downloaded vol. 2 and it’s spurred me to try a few other GN’s. My review



Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig – I don’t read – or enjoy- many thrillers/mysteries but I loved this one! Flynn was a such a relatable MC and his coming of age story combined with a touch of romance and mystery was the perfect balance for me. My review



All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells was sci-fi that I could understand and have fun with. Murderous robots with feelings and snarky dialogue, nefarious plots and betrayals FTW. Goodreads



Agents Irish and Whiskey trilogy by Layla Reyne – Another genre – thriller/suspense – that I don’t usually enjoy but this series had me hooked and I binge read the whole thing in a few days. My series review

What 2017 reads took you by surprise?

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Playing topic catch-up - Favorite book to movie adaptations & Graphic Novels

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. 

It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life  and me) 

Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.

If you would like to join TMST and receive periodic emails of upcoming topics, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. TMST is a laid back meme – join in or opt out depending on your interest in topics or schedule.

Sorry I've been MIA for a bit. As most of you know, we had to put Figgy to sleep last week. I knew it was coming and I could not be more at peace with the decision or how it worked out (he lived 17 years! and got to be at home, on the deck, out in the sunshine - his most favorite place for it) but it's still hard and an adjustment so my blogging and reading roll came to an abrupt halt. (Thank you so much for all the kind words 💗 on Twitter and IG)

I'm playing a little catch-up today with TMST and hope to finish reading Roxy this week. I'm planning to do a WTF Did I Just Read? themed review post for 3 WTF books lol & a mid-year post about my audiobook challenger progress.

July 5th: Which book turned into a movie is your favorite? 

Answer: I rarely watch movies/tv that are based on a book I have read. It totally ruins what I have pictured. I have Robert Pattinson burned in my brain as Edward Cullen now. He did a fine job but that wasn't what I pictured & I can't unsee it. And don't even get me started on poor Jasper and Carlisle. 

So, now I either watch OR read - not both. Or I see the adaptation years later so I barely have a memory of it anyway.

A few of my favorites are Love, Simon and Heartstopper (that's a Netflix series though). I had read both years ago so it felt like it stayed true to the book/graphic novel but if it strayed - I'll never know and I enjoyed both.

I've also seen the Harry Potter movies and liked them enough. I had read the books but I was never a HUGE HP fan (sorry!) so I didn't care & I refuse to watch The Hunger Games because that is not my Peta and I don't want it ruined for me. 

July 12th: Do you read graphic novels? Why or why not? 

Answer: I do, a little bit anyway. I started after reading Greg's reviews of a few that were part of Kindle Unlimited so that was a nice (cheap/free) way to give them a try. I've read a few issues of Ms. Marvel, Saga, Lazarus, The Walking Dead, Pashmina, Raven, Alex & Ada and Heartstopper.

If you have Hoopla, that's another great way to try them out. I wouldn't say I'm hooked on the format But I've enjoyed what I've read so far.