littlemisslibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book so much! I will always read books illustrated by Katie O'Neill!
flowerranger's review against another edition
3.0
This was cute, especially the colours and art style! The plot however felt a little too fast paced and it lacked character development and relationship development between the girls. I still enjoyed it and would recommend!
mehsi's review against another edition
4.0
Received this book from Netgalley/publisher in exchange of an honest review. 3.5 stars.
Woot, this book was truly a Christmas gift (I wished for it to be on Netgalley some time ago, and then today heard my wish was granted + I was randomly selected to read/review the book).
I am a big fan of Magical Girls, which was one of the reasons why I really wanted to read the book. And we got magical girls galore here.
This book was just full of magic, hilarious situations, excitement, epic fights and much much more! There is a wide variation in the cast, which delighted me. Not always does it feel like it fits, but in this case? It fitted perfectly that the girls were all so different. I also loved all their powers, and the beasts they summoned. From unicorns to butterflies, we got all kinds of summons, and I loved seeing them pop up. Not always did the summon go right (the girls are still practising), but you can see the girls do their best.
Our main character was Zoe, and while I did like her and how she made great decisions, I wasn't all to happy that she quickly assumed the role of a leader. She is still new, learning her powers, but she immediately grabs the main role in the team. I think she should earn that one first, not just get it because she made a few good decisions.
I do hope we also find out more about Zoe's mom, she seems like an interesting character, and I would like to know more about her. What happened to her? Was she as good in the magic department as her daughter?
And I also got a whole lot of questions about why it is all girls (mostly) that get the powers. How the darkness started, and how it all works. Can people be healed? Can't they?
The twist near the end with the guy and the last cadet? I didn't see that one coming, and it was a great twist. Also glad to see it happen, as the cast could use a bit more of that kind in their group.
Sadly, I do have to scrap half a star on what happened in the last part of the book. All of the book is in perfect, gorgeous colours, except the last part. That one was totally done like someone forgot to colour in. It made the story less appealing, and it also confused me. It is truly a shame. I am not sure if it is my copy, or if it was just something that wasn't finished, but I hope that they will fix it in the retail version, otherwise I fear that more people might not like it. From colourful to drab and not lovely.
The art was great, and I loved the colours. They were vibrant, and they fitted the story perfectly, it made it all more sparkly and more fun to read the book. With vibrant colours like that, and such an artstyle you could clearly see it when characters turned dark, or when darkness popped up.
All in all, this is one book I would recommend to all.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Woot, this book was truly a Christmas gift (I wished for it to be on Netgalley some time ago, and then today heard my wish was granted + I was randomly selected to read/review the book).
I am a big fan of Magical Girls, which was one of the reasons why I really wanted to read the book. And we got magical girls galore here.
This book was just full of magic, hilarious situations, excitement, epic fights and much much more! There is a wide variation in the cast, which delighted me. Not always does it feel like it fits, but in this case? It fitted perfectly that the girls were all so different. I also loved all their powers, and the beasts they summoned. From unicorns to butterflies, we got all kinds of summons, and I loved seeing them pop up. Not always did the summon go right (the girls are still practising), but you can see the girls do their best.
Our main character was Zoe, and while I did like her and how she made great decisions, I wasn't all to happy that she quickly assumed the role of a leader. She is still new, learning her powers, but she immediately grabs the main role in the team. I think she should earn that one first, not just get it because she made a few good decisions.
I do hope we also find out more about Zoe's mom, she seems like an interesting character, and I would like to know more about her. What happened to her? Was she as good in the magic department as her daughter?
And I also got a whole lot of questions about why it is all girls (mostly) that get the powers. How the darkness started, and how it all works. Can people be healed? Can't they?
The twist near the end with the guy and the last cadet? I didn't see that one coming, and it was a great twist. Also glad to see it happen, as the cast could use a bit more of that kind in their group.
Sadly, I do have to scrap half a star on what happened in the last part of the book. All of the book is in perfect, gorgeous colours, except the last part. That one was totally done like someone forgot to colour in. It made the story less appealing, and it also confused me. It is truly a shame. I am not sure if it is my copy, or if it was just something that wasn't finished, but I hope that they will fix it in the retail version, otherwise I fear that more people might not like it. From colourful to drab and not lovely.
The art was great, and I loved the colours. They were vibrant, and they fitted the story perfectly, it made it all more sparkly and more fun to read the book. With vibrant colours like that, and such an artstyle you could clearly see it when characters turned dark, or when darkness popped up.
All in all, this is one book I would recommend to all.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
lolasreviews's review against another edition
3.0
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review
Crystal Cadets is a fun and cute graphic novel aimed at a Middle Grade audience, but as an adult I enjoyed it as well. It has beautiful colourful artwork and it was a fun and quick read. On the other hand I also felt it fell a bit flat, some scenes felt a bit rushed or the pace or time jumps could be a bit jarring. The story was entertaining, but it stayed a bit shallow and lacked depth. I wanted more out of it.
The story follows Zoe, she's a bit shy and get's bullied then some exchange students save her and once she get's home she learns she's adopted and get's a letter and a crystal from her mom. Then she finds out there is the darkness and the crystal cadets has to fight it. They rush off in search of other cadets and fight enemies. The concept was fun. There are girls with different powers, who all have a crystal that gives them powers and they search for the few missing cadets, while battling evil.
The characters where all nice, but I never felt like there was time to get to know them, the pace goes really fast and there's no time for extra conversation or relaxing and getting a feel for them and their daily life. They seemed like a fun cast of characters, but it was hard to get to know them well or get a feel for their personalities.
The artwork was pretty. The colours where bright and the I enjoyed watching the story play out. I did have some trouble following the right order at times as I am more used to reading manga's, which go from right to left instead of left to right. In the are there were a few uncoloured pages and that made me realize how much the colour added to artwork. The colours definitely made everything come more alive and brought colour and life to the pages.
The magical powers thing was fun, but never really got explained. They have crystals, but some have elemental powers, the other has arrows and Zoe has crystal dust. It just seemed a bit random. And then they all had a big pet like familiar. The world building didn't seem to make much sense and nothing got explained. We get a bit of background about the crystal cadets and how the powers get passed down, but that's about it. Then the whole concept of the darkness stayed really vague and to me it just didn't fully make sense. It also seemed weird they had to fight the darkness, while it was also mentioned they couldn't really fight it unless they eliminated the source, which wasn't something they could destroy with their powers, so why are they fighting it? It also seemed like a convenient way to have something dark and evil for them to fight against, without it really making sense or having an explanation or goal.
To summarize: Crystal cadets was a fun graphic novel, but it didn't hook me enough to really get invested in the characters, story or world building. The artwork was really pretty and colourful and it made the story come alive. The pace felt a bit rushed and jarring at times. I wished there was a bit more explanation and time to get to know the characters. The world building stayed pretty vague and didn't make much sense, especially the whole darkness thing they where fighting. I did enjoy it, but I am not sure if I would continue the series.
Crystal Cadets is a fun and cute graphic novel aimed at a Middle Grade audience, but as an adult I enjoyed it as well. It has beautiful colourful artwork and it was a fun and quick read. On the other hand I also felt it fell a bit flat, some scenes felt a bit rushed or the pace or time jumps could be a bit jarring. The story was entertaining, but it stayed a bit shallow and lacked depth. I wanted more out of it.
The story follows Zoe, she's a bit shy and get's bullied then some exchange students save her and once she get's home she learns she's adopted and get's a letter and a crystal from her mom. Then she finds out there is the darkness and the crystal cadets has to fight it. They rush off in search of other cadets and fight enemies. The concept was fun. There are girls with different powers, who all have a crystal that gives them powers and they search for the few missing cadets, while battling evil.
The characters where all nice, but I never felt like there was time to get to know them, the pace goes really fast and there's no time for extra conversation or relaxing and getting a feel for them and their daily life. They seemed like a fun cast of characters, but it was hard to get to know them well or get a feel for their personalities.
The artwork was pretty. The colours where bright and the I enjoyed watching the story play out. I did have some trouble following the right order at times as I am more used to reading manga's, which go from right to left instead of left to right. In the are there were a few uncoloured pages and that made me realize how much the colour added to artwork. The colours definitely made everything come more alive and brought colour and life to the pages.
The magical powers thing was fun, but never really got explained. They have crystals, but some have elemental powers, the other has arrows and Zoe has crystal dust. It just seemed a bit random. And then they all had a big pet like familiar. The world building didn't seem to make much sense and nothing got explained. We get a bit of background about the crystal cadets and how the powers get passed down, but that's about it. Then the whole concept of the darkness stayed really vague and to me it just didn't fully make sense. It also seemed weird they had to fight the darkness, while it was also mentioned they couldn't really fight it unless they eliminated the source, which wasn't something they could destroy with their powers, so why are they fighting it? It also seemed like a convenient way to have something dark and evil for them to fight against, without it really making sense or having an explanation or goal.
To summarize: Crystal cadets was a fun graphic novel, but it didn't hook me enough to really get invested in the characters, story or world building. The artwork was really pretty and colourful and it made the story come alive. The pace felt a bit rushed and jarring at times. I wished there was a bit more explanation and time to get to know the characters. The world building stayed pretty vague and didn't make much sense, especially the whole darkness thing they where fighting. I did enjoy it, but I am not sure if I would continue the series.
bookscrystals93's review against another edition
2.0
While my previous read could definitely be enjoyed by readers both young and old, Crystal Cadets is definitely more for younger readers. This is something I would have enjoyed when I was younger but just couldn’t really get into it as an adult. I’m giving this two stars because I do enjoy Kay O’Neill’s artwork.
markwillnevercry's review against another edition
fast-paced
2.0
I wanted to read this book for a bit, since it is drawn by Kay O'Neill, but not written by them. I did not really like this book, it went on really fast speed, I do not agree with the notion, that diamond should be the leader of the group and to "win" they should concentrate their energy on her. However, it was nice to see that not all cadets are girls, which seems to be a new thing in that story (is this going to be like a hint that there is going to be a trans character?). But yeah, it was not very good. I will not be continuing with the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Minor: Police brutality
eleanorlouise94's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
haia_929's review against another edition
4.0
This is a trimmed down version of my review, to view the full review visit The Book Ramble.
I received a copy of this book from Lion Forge on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Zoe feels out of place in every situation, she doesn't know where she comes from, and suddenly strange things are happening around her. One birthday her parents give her a letter from her birth mother that tells her she is from a long line of Crystal Cadets, defenders of the Earth against the darkness. She meets group of girls all like her who control different crystal powers and together they must find the rest of the Crystal Cadets and protect the world from the encroaching darkness.
This series is so cute!! I adored the story it was cute and all about these girls growing and learning to control the powers they've inherited. The art was also super adorable! It was unfortunate that the ARC didn't have fully coloured pages at the end, but that just means I'll have to buy the book to enjoy the rest of the adorable art.
The story is particularly focused on Zoe, but you get to know and love the other girls in the group too. It would be nice if the series continues to get to know the other girls a little more, establish some more background for them. It would also be great to know more of the history of the Cadets, because there is a lot that could be done with it which was left untouched in this book.
I found the relationship building a little rocky, just because it was kind of rushed, but I think there's potential for a lot of really strong friendships being built. The writing on this series would definitely convey that really well because it's strong writing. I think we see some good relationships between Zoe and some of the other girls but there is a lot of room for more growth.
The art was absolutely lovely, so adorable! I think the style was perfect for the age range and the target audience of the book. The colours were gorgeous and really worked well to convey the magic of the crystals throughout the book. I would love to see more from these illustrators and from the series as well.
I would highly recommend this book, and would love to see more in the future.
I received a copy of this book from Lion Forge on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Zoe feels out of place in every situation, she doesn't know where she comes from, and suddenly strange things are happening around her. One birthday her parents give her a letter from her birth mother that tells her she is from a long line of Crystal Cadets, defenders of the Earth against the darkness. She meets group of girls all like her who control different crystal powers and together they must find the rest of the Crystal Cadets and protect the world from the encroaching darkness.
This series is so cute!! I adored the story it was cute and all about these girls growing and learning to control the powers they've inherited. The art was also super adorable! It was unfortunate that the ARC didn't have fully coloured pages at the end, but that just means I'll have to buy the book to enjoy the rest of the adorable art.
The story is particularly focused on Zoe, but you get to know and love the other girls in the group too. It would be nice if the series continues to get to know the other girls a little more, establish some more background for them. It would also be great to know more of the history of the Cadets, because there is a lot that could be done with it which was left untouched in this book.
I found the relationship building a little rocky, just because it was kind of rushed, but I think there's potential for a lot of really strong friendships being built. The writing on this series would definitely convey that really well because it's strong writing. I think we see some good relationships between Zoe and some of the other girls but there is a lot of room for more growth.
The art was absolutely lovely, so adorable! I think the style was perfect for the age range and the target audience of the book. The colours were gorgeous and really worked well to convey the magic of the crystals throughout the book. I would love to see more from these illustrators and from the series as well.
I would highly recommend this book, and would love to see more in the future.
chobanichai's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0