skittyrreads's reviews
295 reviews

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood, Vol. 3 by Hirohiko Araki

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

What a conclusion to Phantom Blood! While the panel framing and movement can make battles hard to track, the art itself more than makes up for it (shout out that beautiful two page spread of DIO and basically all the DIO art LMFAO).

It's crazy to go back and think about just how much this first arc sets up in terms of literally everything the series is and it knocks it out the park- the tone and pacing is crazy similar to the latter half of the series and my God it is so camp. 

Jonathan literally is every JoJo in a way, all their heroism comes from him, in the same way every villain is in a way attached to DIO (not Diavolo but he sucks so who cares). And shout out Erina, people don't love the women of jjba but I do and it starts with Erina, thank you queen for the Joestar line.

Also I totally forgot Strazio comes back in part 2 and seeing (spoilers here) baby Lisa Lisa is crazy! Ending still gets me, love how much it sets up how later parts will end, even the second JoBro William Zepelli dies (that man is addicted to JoBro deaths its not even funny.)

Galatea by Madeline Miller

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Yeah this was fine. 

Powerless by Elsie Silver

funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

THIS WAS SHIT!!!!!! Girl Elsie you dropped the ball here! Boring, bland, blah. Least Harvey's dumbass entertained me, when's his book???

Also the cousins stuff was weird.

House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.

A bit all over the place? Also the prose was weird and contradictory and repetitive.

Rouge by Mona Awad

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

It's a worse Lunar Park. Not that that's inheritly a bad thing, I love Lunar Park. Beautiful prose overall but it needed to be shorter and the "romance" needed more time imo. Still a fun time however.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood, Vol. 2 by Hirohiko Araki

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Phantom Blood really picks up so well in this volume- even this early on you can feel the style both in artwork, panelling and storytelling Araki wants to go for. I adore the art and character design here, and by fuck does Araki know how to panel. Hamon is interesting and I think it's used for just long enough to where it doesn't get boring- and I really like how it's introduced through Mr. Zepelli who if you know anything about the series that name is extremely important and iconic. 

Fights where majorly improved here and again I adore every DIO panel with my life. Speedwagon also cracks me up so bad, the biggest jobro hypeman to ever exist. Fuck I love jjba.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood, Vol. 1 by Hirohiko Araki

adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

And thus starts my entire reread of JoJo's and man, did I forget how boring Part 1 is 😭😭. I kid but you can tell that this is the beginning of a long, vast saga that absolutely does not start the way it continues. Phantom Blood is very much influenced by its time, and it's really nice to see how Araki grows and develops both as an artist and a writer.

The plot is basic but it still has a unique JoJoness about it- Jonathan is iconic because he's the first Joestar we see and he's a model for all the rest of them. And Dio is maybe one of if not the most iconic villain of all time- it's him who starts the plot and for him to be so good in a series with amazing villains? Just shows how good Araki was from the beginning. 

Phantom Blood is very unique as its short and has a very different plot/artstyle, but it's still worth it even if I find it a tad formulaic or boring (although that might be because i've read Phantom Blood 4 times now.)

Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What the hell. Fonda Lee you're sick and i'm billing you for my emotional damages. Genuinely insane book- the time skips where crazy I won't lie but also 😲. No words. Also i'm gonna end my shit.

Jade War by Fonda Lee

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is such a marked improvement over Jade City it's almost unreal- I kinda don't have much to say it was THAT good! Really liked the plot here more, loved the characters as per. Wen, Shae and Anden my beloveds 🫶. I will say that ending? CRAZY!!!!!! I feel like Fonda Lee was dragged down by all the set up required for the world/characters/plot in Jade City, whereas there's little to no set up required here and it for sure pays off- I suppose it's worth it for Jade City to be the way it is for Jade War in order to be this good. Also can't believe Kehn died and BERO DIDN'T I HATE THAT FUCK SO MUCH PLEASE FONDA LEE KILL HIM JUST KILL HIM I HATE HIM SO MUCH PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE-

Jade City by Fonda Lee

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was hella entertaining- I ❤️ mafia stories and anything mixed with urban fantasy is always a win to me. Excellent worldbuilding and the Jade magic system is super easy to understand and adapt too. Shae is my number 1 however and if anything bad happens to her i'm emailing Ms. Lee all my therapy bills. Also badass female villain? Yes please! And a side note, FUCK. BERO.