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juushikaTitle: Garlic and the Witch (Garlic Book 2)
Author: Bree Paulsen
Published: Quill Tree Books, 2022
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 529,540
Text Number: 1940
Read Because: continuing the series, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Garlic is slowly changing into a human. I didn't like this as much as the first book, more for themes than execution. The art remains sweet and softly vibrant, the setting charming, the intentions heartfelt and graceful, particularly in the uncomplicated insistence on queer characters. But becoming-human feels weird in retrospect (so many questions: why make so many, why make them to be servants, why not tell them they were proto-people?), and, while I understand the parallels to adolescence for a middle grade audience, atypical characters becoming increasingly typical isn't a trope that speaks to me. Does this sweet little graphic novel warrant such nitpicking? Not really. I still breezed through it happily, and the character redesigns are fun. But I'd stick to just the first book.
Author: Bree Paulsen
Published: Quill Tree Books, 2022
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 529,540
Text Number: 1940
Read Because: continuing the series, hardback borrowed from the Timberland Regional Library
Review: Garlic is slowly changing into a human. I didn't like this as much as the first book, more for themes than execution. The art remains sweet and softly vibrant, the setting charming, the intentions heartfelt and graceful, particularly in the uncomplicated insistence on queer characters. But becoming-human feels weird in retrospect (so many questions: why make so many, why make them to be servants, why not tell them they were proto-people?), and, while I understand the parallels to adolescence for a middle grade audience, atypical characters becoming increasingly typical isn't a trope that speaks to me. Does this sweet little graphic novel warrant such nitpicking? Not really. I still breezed through it happily, and the character redesigns are fun. But I'd stick to just the first book.
