Natalie Riess

Peony has been hired to cater a party held by a semi-deity space empress. Great news! Unfortunately, while she's handling the desserts, her former Space Battle Lunchtime rival, Melonhead, is handling the meal. But they're both professionals. Surely they can handle one party without problems?

Then the space empress falls over dead while eating one of Peony's desserts...and for some reason Neptunia is the one instantly considered a suspect by the empress's guard (who happens to be Neptunia's show more sister). Peony somehow has to find the true culprit in order to prove her girlfriend's innocence and save her catering business.

I'll start by saying that a person could easily read the first couple volumes of this series and then stop there. There's a complete story there, as well as a reasonably satisfying ending. Even so, I'm glad I took the time to hunt down and read this volume. It was great to see Peony and Nep again. This volume had so many "Nep is head over heels for Peony" moments - my joy, it was great. I love it when badass fighter romantic leads are stupidly in love with their less badass partners.

All in all, this was a delightful read.

Additional note: I really like the space empress's design.

Extras:

Examples of Riess's color scripts, a few concept sketches, and a couple cute full-page illustrations of Peony and Neptunia.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Goodreads Giveaways. Content warning for scenes of violence and death, including death during childbirth.)

Brave Fireheart - who we first met as a discontented kittypet in THE PROPHECIES BEGIN #1 - continues to protect the Thunderclan - and its leader, Bluestar - with courage, compassion, and ferocity. His suspicions about Bluestar's deputy, Tigerclaw, continue to grow, even as Fireheart warns his friend Graystripe show more against pursuing a romance with a cat from a different clan. Now full-fledged warriors, Fireheart and Graystripe take on apprentices of their own - but when Tigerclaw's traitorous machinations nearly cost Cinderpaw her life, Fireheart must come to terms with losing his acolyte. And when tragedy befalls both the River and Thunderclans - in the form of a flood and a fire, respectively - the wild cats learn the value of community and cooperation. Likewise, Blueheart's decision to grant refuge to Yellowfang pays off in ways even she could not have expected. Yet, by story's end, Blueheart is losing her faith in the Starclan, setting up a pretty dramatic cliffhanger.

I haven't yet read Erin Hunter's WARRIORS series - so many books, so little time! - so I can't say whether the graphic novel adaptation is true to the original. Since it encompasses the third and fourth books in the series - FOREST OF SECRETS and RISING STORM - I imagine some things got cut out. That said, I feel like Riess and Goetter did an excellent job condensing it down to 256 pages of illustrated narration. The artwork and storytelling are equally lovely, and I found myself brought to tears on more than one occasion.

Who knew I'd grow so emotionally invested in a group of free-living, anthropomorphized, fictional cats, and their Shakespearean existence? (Probably anyone who read my review of WATERSHIP DOWN, lol.) show less

-- 3.5/5 stars, rounded up to 5 where necessary --

Erin Hunter's WARRIORS series has been languishing on my TBR list for ages now, mostly because there are so many books and spin-offs in the series that I don't know where to start. So when I saw that the series was getting the comic book treatment, I jumped right on it. The first graphic novel in the series, THE PROPHECIES BEGIN #1, manages to condense the first two novels in the series (INTO THE WILD and FIRE AND ICE) into one graphic novel. show more Since I haven't read the source material, I can't say how loyal it is to the original, but Riess and Goetter seem to have done a commendable job.

The story follows Rusty, a fiery red kittypet who longs for more (already relatable AF). Though he has a good, safe life in his nest of twolegs, Rusty is drawn to the forest. When he finally trusts his instincts and ventures into the wild, his life is forever changed: he's welcomed into the Thunderclan as an apprentice (Firepaw) and, eventually, a full-fledged warrior (Fireheart). Living in one of the four wildcat clans - there's also Riverclan, Windclan, and Shadowclan - isn't always easy, but it is rewarding.

Rusty has joined his free-living cousins during a time of great tumult, however: as the winter stretches out, fewer kits are being born; in turn, the clan has fewer warriors with which to defend their borders. Human encroachment and pollution mean less food for everyone. And the fierce Shadowclan has become beholden to a tyrant, even as a traitor threatens the Thunderclan from within. All the while Rusty is haunted by dreams - or are they prophecies? - sent by the Starclan.

It turns out that the lives of wildcats are a lot like our own, filled with drama, conflict, and betrayal - not to mention, friendship and love. The storytelling is great, and the artwork, just lovely. If I had only one complaint, it's that it's sometimes difficult to keep all the characters straight. There are some naming (and renaming) conventions that I picked up on about halfway through the book; it might have been helpful for the authors to spell out the rules in a preface. A character guide would have been handy too. show less

The little cafe Peony works at gets a strange new customer, a woman who looks a bit like a frog. The woman, Zonda, suddenly has to get a new contestant for her cooking show, and Peony seems like the best available choice on such short notice. Peony agrees to go with her, not realizing that Zonda is really an alien and that the cooking show, Space Battle Lunchtime, literally has viewers all over the galaxy.

Contestants on SBL are given mystery ingredients that they have to turn into foods show more (savory or sweet) the judges will like. Peony is the first human who's ever been on the show, the ingredients and kitchen tools are completely unfamiliar to her, and she doesn't even know how to use her kitchen appliances. Still, she'll try her best (and Zonda will get fired if she doesn't). Unfortunately, her best might not be good enough as one of her fellow contestants tries to sabotage her and the others.

I bought this after I heard that it was cute and had a sweet potential f/f romance in it. And, oh, I loved it. The colors are bright, pretty, and fit the overall feel of the story well. I enjoyed the artwork, and the story itself was a lot of fun. I've already flipped through the volume a couple times since finishing it, just to pore over some of the panels more.

Peony was so determined and sweet. She made it through the first few rounds not just because she was good at baking, but also because she was good at making friends. I enjoyed seeing what she and her fellow contestants would manage to come up with, and the little moments of drama on the show were fun. Chef Melonhead had been on the show before and really, really wanted to win, enough that he didn't particularly care how obvious his attempts to sabotage the other contestants were, but his lack of ability to get along with others also caused him problems in the end.

My favorite dramatic moment on the show was probably the bit where an effort to sabotage Peony accidentally resulted in sabotaging another contestant. I probably shouldn't have laughed at what happened to the poor judge, but I couldn't help it. Here's hoping they get hazard pay.

The potential romance between Peony and Neptunia was incredibly sweet. They first met when Neptunia caught Peony as she was about to trip and fall, and it seemed like pretty much every scene had at least one little moment where one or the other of them got to blush over something. Whereas Peony was sweet and friendly, Neptunia was quiet, serious, and not immediately inclined to trust Peony. Peony and Neptunia's reactions after the teamwork portion of the show were wonderful. I have little hearts drawn throughout my notes for this volume, and almost all of them are for a Peony + Neptunia scene (one is for Peony's cute costume).

Overall, this was light and fluffy fun, the occasional mentions of SBL's rival show, Cannibal Coliseum, notwithstanding. There were so many fun little details, like the SBL crew's “to do” lists, characters' reaction shots, and the octopus-like camera operator. My only regret about reading this volume now is that the second one isn't out yet and this one ends in a cliffhanger.

Extras:

- One-page backstory comics. There's one for Neptunia, Melonhead, Jacques, Owline, Meatabax, and Cherisa. I loved these, although I wish one had been included for Peony too. My favorite was the one for Jacques. Little crustaceans eating with chopsticks, so cute.

- A couple pages about Riess' comic creation process.

- A page of cover sketches.

- Space Battle Lunch Bugs – a reimagining of the main characters as bugs, mostly (I think Zorp is a sea urchin).

- A page of color illustrations of space foods. My favorites are the pizza orb and the gelatin thing.

- A one-page comic of the main characters answering the question “how do you like your coffee?” Peony is still adorable, and Neptunia is still disinclined to chat.

- One page of random sketches.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less