#BookReview YUANYUAN’S BUBBLES by CIXIN LIU – Graphic Novel #4

ABOUT THE BOOK

The fourth in a new series of graphic novels from Hugo Award-winning author Liu Cixin and Talos Press

Ever since she was a child, Yuanyuan always dreamed of blowing big bubbles. But her father worries about her fascination—he wants Yuanyuan to be as responsible and devoted to a calling as her mother was. As an adult, Yuanyuan creates a multimillion-dollar business out of the technology she developed for her doctoral thesis. But she still dreams of blowing the biggest bubble she can. When his daughter uses her high-tech methods to blow a bubble big enough to envelop a city, Yuanyuan’s father thinks back to the dreams he and Yuanyuan’s mother chased when they were young. In the end, Yuanyuan’s bubbles bring her father’s dreams to life.

The fourth of sixteen new graphic novels from Liu Cixin and Talos Press, Sea of Dreams is an epic tale of the future that all science fiction fans will enjoy.

PUBLISHED BY HEAD OF ZEUS

PURCHASE LINK

Blackwell’s

MY REVIEW

This is a beautifully illustrated book, that tells the story of Yuanyuan and her obsession with bubbles! She dreams of blowing the biggest bubble, but her father is always there in the background to puncture her dreams. A classic tale of a realist vs a dreamer. Their city is dying, times are tough but there’s something about Yuanyuan that keeps her dreaming and, like her mother, she won’t let up on her dreams of finding a way to use her bubbles to save the world. Her mother died following her dreams so you can understand her father and his attitude towards her vision and her pipe dreams. The illustrations are stunning! They are a beautiful earthy tone throughout that really connects with the story and really amplify the message of hope v despair. It’s a beautifully simple story that I adored and I look forward to reading more from this series as the pictures really do help add depth to the story. ★★★★★ My thanks to the team of Head of Zeus for the advanced reader copy in return for a fair and honest review.

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Thornhill by Pam Smy #bookreview

THE BLURB

Parallel stories set in different times, one told in prose and one in pictures, converge as Ella unravels the mystery of the girl next door.

1982: Mary is a lonely orphan at the Thornhill Institute For Children at the very moment that it’s shutting its doors. When her few friends are all adopted or re-homed and she’s left to face a volatile bully alone, her revenge will have a lasting effect on the bully, on Mary, and on Thornhill itself.

2016: Ella has just moved to a new town where she knows no one. From her room on the top floor of her new home, she has a perfect view of the dilapidated, abandoned Thornhill Institute across the way, where she glimpses a girl in the window. Determined to befriend the girl, Ella resolves to unravel Thornhill’s shadowy past.

Amazon UK

hive.co.uk – buy online and support your local bookstore

Book Depository

MY REVIEW

I would have known nothing of this book if I’d not watched the review video of Savidge Reads via BookTube, so i’m extremely grateful for this book being bought to my attention as I adored it!

Wow! Through a stunning mix of beautiful black and white illustrations, often in the form of just black pages, and diary entries from 1982, the world of Thornhill past and present is brought to life in amazing fashion by Pam Smy.  

At the heart of the story is the sad story of Mary who in 1982 was a resident of Thornhill, and was suffering an amazingly lonely life, and being bullied, but she got through every day through by making puppets and creating a safe space for herself with them, to escape the bleak world outside her door.

In the present, we get the story of Ella who moves into a house with her Dad that overlooks Thornhill which has been left as a no go zone whilst they decide what to do with the site.  Her story explores a connection that Ella feels with Mary.

This is a creepy, chilling, haunting and powerful story aimed at readers of all ages. A must read!!