#33, 34 Ghostbusters/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1 & 2)
Okay, I'm a total nerd and as soon as I saw that my library had these crossover comics, I HAD to borrow them. I've been a Ghostbusters fan since I was a kid - I totally had the toys, watched the movies, loved the cartoon series, drank enough Ecto Cooler to fill several Olympic sized swimming pools, even went as Venkman (complete with Stay Puft) for Halloween this year. And I've been a TMNT fan since the movie came out in 1990 - Raphael is my spirit animal. These comic did not disappoint. The characters rang true and while I apparently missed a lot that happened in other comics I had no idea existed, it was easy to follow. (Apparently both Egon and Donatello have died and come back at points, they get to bond over this. Also, we meet the Turtles' very human mother, because apparently they are reincarnated Japanese warriors or something?) Anyway, it was a fun romp that I never expected to see happen, and I loved every moment of it.
#35 The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan
A sequel series to Percy Jackson, this series introduces new demigods and the Greek gods in their Roman forms. Jason, named for the original Jason of the Argonauts fame, wakes with no memory of who he is or why he's thrown into a school group he's never met before. Camp Half-Blood takes him in, but the problem is, Greek (all of the campers at Camp Half-Blood) and Roman (of which Jason is) demigods usually hate each other. But then a new quest begins, as the defeat of Cronus in the original series is only just the beginning of a deeper, more insidious plot to destroy Olympus and the gods. Meanwhile, Percy Jackson has also gone missing...
My family and I are glad to be back in the world of gods and monsters. My kids aren't wild about the inclusion of the Roman stuff (I also much prefer the Greek), but we're all having fun anyway. Personally, I like the Percy series better for a few reasons, mostly surrounding the point of view. In the Percy books, the story is entirely told from Percy's POV, entirely in the 1st person, complete with fun chapter titles. In this series, we constantly change 3rd person POVs between 7 demigod heroes. And in this book, that POV changes with every chapter, making it feel a bit disjointed. We're in the second book now and luckily, that problem had been rectified and we are getting a few chapters in a row seeing the world through each character's eyes.
#36 So This Is Love - Elizabeth Lim
Not my favorite twisted tale, not my least favorite. Here, Cinderella never gets to try on the glass slipper and her stepmother tries to sell her as a slave. Cinderella escapes, only to find a friend who gets her a job working in the palace, as the attendant to the Prince's demanding aunt. But while Cinderella fears that Lady Tremaine may still find her, the real villain is lurking within the palace itself.
I felt like this book was rushed. Characters move too quickly - Cinderella barely gets to know the dutchess and the demanding woman decides to take a liking to her, for example. And while it's fun to see someone other than Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drisella as the villains, they do show up in the book. But when they do, they are barely more than afterthoughts meant to remind you that this is the Cinderella of the Disney movie we all know. They are wasted, with less impact and depth than a piece of wet cardboard. Overall, I felt let down at the end of the book.
