Wednesday 4 August 2010

The Drained Brains Caper - Early Book Review


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The Drained Brains Caper (Chicagoland Detective Agency #1) by Trina Robbins, illustrated by Tyler Page

What is it about:
Raf knows Megan is trouble from the moment she steps into his mom's pet food store asking for a tarantula. But there's one thing you can count on in Chicagoland: weird things happen several times a day.
Megan is a vegetarian, manga-reading haiku writer. She definitely doesn't fit in at Stepford Academy, her new summer school. The other students are happy to be in class. Too happy. And everyone looks and acts exactly alike. That's weird.
Megan is determined to dig into Stepford's secrets, but soon she's in way too deep. Raf may be the only human being she knows who can help. But with zombified students, very mad scientists, and the school psychiatrist on their trail, they're going to need a whole lot more help.
We did say that Chicagoland is weird...


What did I think of it:
This is a comic meant for ages 9-14, which is clear from the straightforward storyline, but it's certainly funny enough that it's entertaining for older age groups too. I really liked Megan, she's a quirky character and shares my love for Haiku. I did have a small problem with the drawing style. In some things it resembles Manga, but in others it is very lifelike and that didn't fit together in my opinion. Megan's head for example is drawn in a Manga style and I would have expected a small (unrealistic) body to go with it, but instead the body had normal human proportions which made it feel weird for me.

Why should you read it:
If you like reading Manga-like comics you might enjoy this.

The Drained Brains Caper (Chicagoland Detective Agency #1) will be released on September 1st

* I got this book for review from the publisher through Netgalley

1 comment:

vvb32 reads said...

hey that's neat that net galley has manga-like comics. i'll have to check into that. i just joined.