I Read Three Books in a Day and I Disliked All of Them

  

Hey, everyone! Today I read three books. That's a huge feat. I was excited for that number, but not excited for the quality of what I read. I realized that it doesn't matter if you read a lot of books in one day because chances are not all of them are good. I've a few read-a-thons where I had good reading luck, but today showed me that is not always the case. My question for you is:

Is it better to read good books or to read more books? Which would you prefer a day of?

I Hope You Stay by Courtney Peppernell

1 star

Poetry is not often something I completely loathe, but this collection was one of the worst forms of “poetry” I have read. I am saddened to say that. I don’t like giving out 1-star ratings and I usually do anything I can do abstain from doing so, but the only thought going through my head while reading each and every page of I Hope You Stay was how much I hated the poems. The poems are short and consist of random thoughts or what I like to call inspirational quotes. Just because you can put it on a refrigerator and it’s two lines does not make it a poem. If you write it like it’s a poem, it does not make a poem. Poetry needs to have structure while also recognizing the constraints of structure and breaking them. Peppernell does not do that. In fact, many of her poems feel like diary or journal entries. It made me want to stop reading poetry which says a lot because I recently discovered my most beloved poetry collected (Tomorrow’s Woman-which everyone seems to hate). I am a black sheep poet critic. I like what everyone hates and love what everyone wants to tear apart. Oh well, I won’t be picking up Pillow Thoughts any time soon.

Whimsical Writing Scale: 1

Plotastic Scale: 1

Cover Thoughts: I adore this cover. It is beautiful and absolutely breathtaking.
Thank you, Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

*I Hope You Stay will be released on March 3, 2020* 

The Detection Club: Part 1 by Jean Harambat

2 stars

In this graphic novel, we follow famous mystery writers like Agatha Christie, G..K. Chesterton, and other classicists as they are invited to a private island where a man creates a robot named Eric who can solve any crime. But can the robot Eric solve the murder of his creator? This was a super quick graphic novel and it is the first part, so keep that in mind while reading. There is no conclusion, but an abrupt cliff hanger. I personally was not a fan of the art style. I found the pen strokes to be messy and I hated the font of the text. It made reading the galley on my computer difficult. I was not a fan of this graphic novel. It’s not a bad story. In fact, I kind of like following famous classic mystery writers solve a crime, but the exposition of the story takes forever and feels so drawn out. The pacing is off and the intrigue was not enough for me to want to always keep reading. This is an ode to the best in the business which is now a powerhouse genre today and people eat mystery, thriller, and suspense novels up like they are candy (Hi, I am one of them.), but this interpretation while good in meaning lacks in all of the great ways that the genre keeps the reader intrigued. The first part was not a hit for me, but it wasn’t a complete miss because I did read part 2. Overall, I would only recommend this graphic novel for die hard mystery fans who want to see their favorite authors commemorated on a page.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 2

Art Scale: 1.5

Plotastic Scale: 2

Cover Thoughts: I love the cover and think it’s fun, but the artwork does not really look as enhanced and pronounced as the cover does.

Thank you, Netgalley and Europe Comics, for providing me with a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review.  

The Detection Club: Part 2 by Jean Harambat

1.75 stars

This is the follow-up to part 1 of the graphic novel concept The Detection Club which follows a club of classic mystery writers (Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, John Dickson Carr to name a few) as the solve the murder of the odd man who created the mystery-solving robot Eric. This was at times better than the first book and at other times worse than its predecessor. I am not sure how I feel about it. I kind of greatly disliked it. The reveal was a typical: it wasn’t what you thought because it was really this all along trope. I was disappointed. I hoped the conclusion would end on a bang while also praying it would abstain from being overly racist. It still held those racist tones of old mystery novels, but I’m just glad that it wasn’t a red herring from one of the Ten Commandments of what not to do as a mystery writer that was introduced in part 1. The conclusion was kind of boring and I did like the death of the character and the reveal, but it was a huge cop-out because it wasn’t(view spoiler) I was still not a fan of the art style. There was one really cool drawing of the club standing over someone they knocked out who they thought was the killer and that was a wicked image, but everything else was pretty meh for me.
Overall, I am not sure if I would recommend this graphic novel series. The idea is fun, but the execution leaves much to be desired.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 1.5

Art Scale: 1.75

Plotastic Scale: 1.75

Cover Thoughts: If only the tone matched the epicness of this cover.

Thank you, Netgalley and Europe Comics, for providing me with a copy of this graphic novel in exchange for an honest review. 

Have you read any of these novels are plan to? Let me know your thoughts on rapid reading down below in the comments!