Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson (review)
2024; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 77; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2024.a919464
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Blood groups and transfusion
ResumoReviewed by: Blood City Rollers by V.P. Anderson Meg Cornell Anderson, V.P. Blood City Rollers; illus. by Tatiana Hill. Labyrinth Road, 2024 [192p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780593485699 $21.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9780593485712 $13.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780593485729 $8.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 6-8 Thirteen-year-old Mina Murray may have been training to skate in the Olympics since she was three, but it has always felt like her mother's dream, not her own. Not that getting kidnapped by a gang of underaged vampires was Mina's dream, either—or being forcibly drafted into their Paranormal Roller Derby (PRD) team, the Blood City Vamps, as their mandatory human jammer. Mina is put to task by a team of morbid, waggish, and chaotic vamps just to survive their supernaturally rough-and-tumble bouts. The (figurative) stakes are high, as the team's defeat would result in losing their league/coven status and getting kicked out of the paranormal community altogether. Mina also wants to impress the dreamy team captain, a tough girl from the Viking Age going by the derby name Val Halla—which brings plenty of drama and track-side pain from the bitter Bella Ghostly, Val's ex and Mina's biggest naysayer. This hybrid-genre graphic novel rolls by on raucous wheels, its anarchic and camp tone perfectly suiting Mina's coming-into-herself as a rebel in the queer community of paranormal-derby. Hill's energetic, bubbly cartoon art style, expertly [End Page 240] blending the vivid, saturated neon of retro roller rinks and pulp fiction covers alike, likewise captures a spooky, sporty, and punk-rock queer aesthetic. The ensemble and main plot can sometimes feel overburdened with too many details and characters, but the book is engaging and gender-expansive, and romantic leads Mina and Val are satisfyingly developed. Defiant and joyful alongside Cristian Castelo's Wild: Or So I Was Born to Be and Victoria Jamieson's Roller Girl (BCCB 4/15), this graphic novel just might be your library's next jam. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Referência(s)