The corny teenage wish-fulfillment fantasy stuff works ok. The murders and bigger mystery situation just flop flat.

One of those books where the beginning is drawn in a different style than the end, and I have to keep flipping back a few pages to work out which character is which cause too many of them look the same. Better editing in general would have helped for flow, focus, pacing, and clarity. It's mighty clumsy as a narrative.

There's some good scenes and dynamics for sure. I'm confident Liz Suburbia will make better books in the future.

(Sidenote: I feel a heavy Jaime Hernandez influence on the visuals, but the drawing style and panel layouts are unlike his. It's in the text balloons, lettering, and the spotting of the blacks. And I think that's super interesting.)

UPDATE: I just went back and looked at the beginning of the webcomic the novel was redrawn from. Huge change in drawing style, and while the earlier version is not to my taste, it's totally skilled/accomplished. It's also somewhat clearer, in terms of understanding the action and characters. But it's also a weirdly missed opportunity—redrawn as almost a panel-for-panel transcription instead of improving and editing it. I don't get how anyone would think it's worth it. (Also now I guess this is a big wrinkle to my earlier wondering why the drawing style in the book wavers.)