As far as I can recall, this is the first year since 2005 where I've hit my reading goals, and I chalk it up to a combination of the visibility of the widget and the magical powers of my big gift last year, a Kindle Fire.
I'm not going to bother trying to copy all the reviews I've done on Goodreads to good english right now, but I might do that later. For now, I'll just try to get back into the swing of things with a few mini-reviews of the last things I finished, five Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight TPBs. These were the books that sent me over the tipping point and helped me surpass my reading goal (forty-nine books) for 2012.
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I'm not going to try to sound all scholarly or like an actual reviewer up in here; Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight is like crack-laced popcorn to me, and it's impossible for me to be objective. The original teevee series meant a lot to me, and Season Eight feels like an extension of that series -- same cleverness, familiar characters, Monster-of-the-Week-style subplots with a Major Big Bad hovering over it all -- and I can't help but love it.
I don't know if non-fans would think as highly of it -- maybe having the characters' voices and mannerisms in my head already is an advantage? -- but I finished the first five TPBs in one night, and would have kept going if my library owned the others in the series.
(5/5)
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You (Season 8, #2) by Brian K. Vaughan
FAITH! I loved her storyline. The Giles-ness of it was an added bonus.
TOTALLY IRRELEVANT: some kid (I assume) drew ALL OVER this volume. I've never encountered this sort of stupidity in a library book before: at the beginning of the volume, the "artist" just lightly drew over already existing lines that indicated cleavage, but by the end of it s/he was adding nonsensical BOOBS!-related lines, adding nipples, etc. It was ridiculous. One of the hazards of borrowing library books -- better than finding food stuck between the pages, I guess.
(5/5)
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate (Season 8, #3) by Drew Goddard
Okay, the Dracula episode of the teevee series is one that I only half-watched, if that, so I don't get most of the Dracula/Xander interaction, and I'm kinda pissed that the cute relationship between Xander and Renee ended the way it did. I realize it made sense within the story but still, BOO.
(4.5/5)
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Time of Your Life (Season 8, #4) by Joss Whedon
I might have liked Time of Your Life a little better if I'd read Fray first. That whole storyline seemed confusing, then hand-wave-y, then rushed. Also I spent too many minutes trying to remember why I hated Kennedy so much. Maybe I should have rewatched season seven first, too.
I did enjoy the Big Reveal, though.
(4.5/5)
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Predators and Prey (Season 8, #5) by Jane Espenson
Predators and Prey . . . still good, but not as consistently likeable for me as the first four volumes.
I don't like Harmony. I have never found her as funny as the writers apparently do. The reality teevee show thing feels overdone; I just wish they could have found another way to get the anti-Slayer sentiment going. However, the non-Harmony-centric issues were pretty good, especially Safe and titular issue.
(4/5)