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woodendress's review against another edition
3.0
I saw this on another blog and was instantly drawn into the book because of the cover. The cover is amazing. The expression on the girl's face shows her distaste with having snakes for hair and she looks intense and angry. From the blog posting and the cover, it seemed like this book is based on mythology, specifically, Medusa. However, after reading it, that is both true and not true. Spoilers are below!
Tessa and her younger sister, Lulu, find that jealousy begins ripping them apart after Lulu begins dating Tessa's crush. Tessa becomes very jealous and feels like she is losing her best friend and the boy she liked and also sees her sister blossoming into a young adult and gaining attention. At the same time, Tessa is falling for a boy that everyone else thinks is weird and she hides this from her sister and friends. The story culminates in Lulu being killed after they go swimming in the flooded river and the aftermath. The plot was pretty heart wrenching, although I saw it coming once Tessa, Lulu and their friends went swimming.
The book is both graphic novel and prose. It goes back and forth, and the illustrations mirror what is happening in the story. The graphic novel solely focuses on the Medusa story, except Medusa is a high school student. I had trouble figuring out how the graphic novel matched the story, but then towards the end of the book, the illustrations reflect how Tessa feels about herself and her sister. The illustrations also appear to "begin" towards the middle of the prose. Once I understood how the Medusa plot line tied in with the main plot line, it became an effective way to tell the story, but it was a little confusing at first.
I was expecting a little more Medusa and mythology from the book, so I think the cover is a little misleading. The story is mostly Tessa and her feelings, especially her jealousy of her sister and is a coming of age story, albeit, a very tragic one. I did appreciate how Tessa does not really solve any of her problems and is still grieving over her sister at the end. The ending is open ended and the reader does not know what happens to Tessa after her sister dies and after her secret boyfriend rejects her. This can be tied into the myth of Medusa, as Medusa does not have a happy ending either. However, I wish the mythology had been more apparent in the prose.
Overall, I liked the use of Medusa as an exploration of a teen's coming of age, but I feel like this wasn't utilized as well as it could have been. The cover was misleading, not only in the plot, but I was also expecting only a graphic novel.
Tessa and her younger sister, Lulu, find that jealousy begins ripping them apart after Lulu begins dating Tessa's crush. Tessa becomes very jealous and feels like she is losing her best friend and the boy she liked and also sees her sister blossoming into a young adult and gaining attention. At the same time, Tessa is falling for a boy that everyone else thinks is weird and she hides this from her sister and friends. The story culminates in Lulu being killed after they go swimming in the flooded river and the aftermath. The plot was pretty heart wrenching, although I saw it coming once Tessa, Lulu and their friends went swimming.
The book is both graphic novel and prose. It goes back and forth, and the illustrations mirror what is happening in the story. The graphic novel solely focuses on the Medusa story, except Medusa is a high school student. I had trouble figuring out how the graphic novel matched the story, but then towards the end of the book, the illustrations reflect how Tessa feels about herself and her sister. The illustrations also appear to "begin" towards the middle of the prose. Once I understood how the Medusa plot line tied in with the main plot line, it became an effective way to tell the story, but it was a little confusing at first.
I was expecting a little more Medusa and mythology from the book, so I think the cover is a little misleading. The story is mostly Tessa and her feelings, especially her jealousy of her sister and is a coming of age story, albeit, a very tragic one. I did appreciate how Tessa does not really solve any of her problems and is still grieving over her sister at the end. The ending is open ended and the reader does not know what happens to Tessa after her sister dies and after her secret boyfriend rejects her. This can be tied into the myth of Medusa, as Medusa does not have a happy ending either. However, I wish the mythology had been more apparent in the prose.
Overall, I liked the use of Medusa as an exploration of a teen's coming of age, but I feel like this wasn't utilized as well as it could have been. The cover was misleading, not only in the plot, but I was also expecting only a graphic novel.
aburchard's review against another edition
3.0
Underneath the almost unbearable teenage angst, there is a clever story here. I don't want to give anything away, but it handles a lot of human emotions very well, especially towards the end. It almost points out how pointless and petty a lot of the former angst was, which I greatly appreciated.
dawnoftheread's review against another edition
4.0
http://www.unshelved.com/bookclub/2012-12-14#9781596436862
sngick's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. The alternating traditional and graphic chapters seemed disconnected from each other. I liked the mythology in the graphic chapters but felt students may need help seeing how the stories connect. The author does bring it together at the end in a way that made me want to go back and just read the graphic portion again. The story itself is sad, filled with a range of emotions. While it wasn't for me, I know many of my students will respond to the melancholy style.
orangerful's review against another edition
2.0
Wow, I was halfway through the book and just totally unsure of why it needed to be written. The prose story was annoying, with obnoxious girls who just want to make out with everyone (the kind of girls I could not STAND when I was that age) and then the graphic story was some weird medusa thing that was trying soooooo hard to be deep. Or something.
I gave up, I couldn't even bring myself to skim it. Too many other books on my desk to waste time with this.
I gave up, I couldn't even bring myself to skim it. Too many other books on my desk to waste time with this.
bosicbyi's review against another edition
4.0
Year of the Beasts by Cecil Castellucci and Nate Powell is about sisters Tessa and Lulu who are ready to go to the annual summer carnival for rides, food and boys! This summer turns out to be different, they experience jealousy which starts a course of tragic events, testing their relationship.
Year of the Beasts is a beautiful story that at first I had trouble getting into. I absolutely love the gorgeous art work of Nate Powell and once finally into the story everything made sense. I loved the connection with Greek Mythology and the characters were well written. This was a very powerful roller coaster of emotions! Cecil Castellucci and Nate Powell did a wonderful job
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group who provided me an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
Year of the Beasts is a beautiful story that at first I had trouble getting into. I absolutely love the gorgeous art work of Nate Powell and once finally into the story everything made sense. I loved the connection with Greek Mythology and the characters were well written. This was a very powerful roller coaster of emotions! Cecil Castellucci and Nate Powell did a wonderful job
Special Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group who provided me an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.
quietjenn's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. More interesting in theory, perhaps, than in execution.
emilyyjjean's review against another edition
4.0
This was a very interesting read, and did not turn out the way I thought it was going to. Very heartbreaking ending!
At first I was confused about the timeline shift between the text and the graphic novel aspects—but after getting to the end the two "separate" stories make much more sense.
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I'd be very interested in reading more books like this (novel mixed with graphic novel). Recommend any to me if you see this review and know of some others!
At first I was confused about the timeline shift between the text and the graphic novel aspects—but after getting to the end the two "separate" stories make much more sense.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'd be very interested in reading more books like this (novel mixed with graphic novel). Recommend any to me if you see this review and know of some others!
nerfherder86's review against another edition
3.0
Kind of a depressing book about a moody teenager. If you like that sort of book, you'll love this. :-) Fifteen year old Tessa's close relationships with her younger sister and her best friend become frayed when her sister starts dating the boy Tessa likes. And after something tragic happens, Tessa becomes a really emotional wreck. The story is half graphic novel, half prose, but the two intertwine by the end and you see what the pictures really represent--because the story is realistic, but the graphic novel part involves mermaids, a goat-boy, and other fantastical creatures in a high school setting. It's really weird til you get the hang of it.