Megan's Updates

"Thanks to DC & NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Now, I will concede I have been a long-time Teen Titans fan so it's fair to see my review as biased, but hear me out! I have a ton of qualms about this book, unfortunately. I love Kami Garcia's Raven & Beast Boy series as well as the other Young Adult-geared Graphic Novels that DC has been pumping out lately, but this one is the worst I've read by far for a multitude of reasons.

The art: It kept flip-flopping at some points. Kory was perfectly drawn in every panel and the eventual villain (no spoilers) was drawn very well too! Everyone else was kinda...off. Especially Mandy, but it might just be I don't like her hairstyle at all, ha. Sometimes she looked outright terrifying in the art, not sure why.

Mandy: Uh...I'm going to be as nice as I can but Mandy is an outright mean person. Now, I can understand her being frustrated by idiot kids always harping on about Starfire's popularity, but except for one kid, everyone was pretty chill. They were usually saying stuff like "Hey, please tell your mom thanks for saving Chicago!" As a result of people asking her about her mom, she decided to be mean to every single person she meets. I know she's a teen and all but...like...why be mean to everyone? There's a reason she only has one friend in this entire book...she's nasty to everyone else. It's not fun to read about a really mean protagonist that thinks it's cool to hate everyone. I really haven't read such an awful protagonist in a while, so this was hard to get through...

Starfire: Really sweet much like her cartoon counterpart, I didn't really have any complaints about her. I absolutely loathed how mean Mandy was toward Starfire, she was a pretty decent mom throughout the book but Mandy acted like she was terrible. Not to mention, Starfire is dating since she's a single mom and Mandy is really mad at her for that but it doesn't get expanded on and her own daughter slut-shames her as a result. So lovely to read about for one of my favorite superheroes....I say, dripping with sarcasm.

The writing: Mandy's frustrations are understandable but never really...expanded on throughout the book. She doesn't want to go to college. She tries taking the SATs but gets so nervous she leaves. It seems like she has anxiety about testing in general, not necessarily the SATs specifically? So, toward the end, she ends up studying for an SAT retake anyway.....I thought she didn't want to go to college? The core point of her conversations with her girlfriend and best friend involves her choice to not go to college but it seems like she does a heel face turn and decides to study anyway? There were decisions throughout the book that really confused me logically because of how it was presented earlier in the book.

The romance: It was sweet at some points but it was really hard for me to believe because like I said before, Mandy's a total jerkwad. Mandy's only likeable with the girlfriend which is sweet but it's hard to appreciate the LGBTQ+ elements when Mandy is an extremely unlikable protagonist. The girlfriend didn't have much depth either, so that didn't help.

In conclusion, I would just recommend reading DC"s other graphic novels such as Kami Garcia's "Raven" & "Beast Boy" series for the Teen Titans crumbs and "Poison Ivy: Thorns" for the better LGBTQ+ rep, not to mention, all three of these titles have a more likeable protagonist that is far more fleshed out compared to Mandy.

This book was absolutely disappointing and it's a shame considering Starfire/Koriand'r is a fantastic hero and Teen Titan, how in the name of X'hal is Mandy related to her? "