Review: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: A Spoon Too Short

30027064Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: A Spoon Too Short (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: A Spoon Too Short #1-5) by Arvind Ethan David, Ilias Kyriazis (Contributor)

After the many and conflicting versions of the legendary Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams created Dirk Gently: a detective with a belief in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things, a troubled relationship with the laws of probability and quantum physics, and a love of cats and pizza.
After the events of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea Time, but prior to the detective s relocation to California in The Interconnectedness of All Kings, Dirk finds himself investigating a bizarre case of poaching, dumbstruck tourists, and the inner membranes of a rhinoceros nose.” Goodreads View.
Expected publication: September 20th 2016 by IDW Publishing
* * *

My Thoughts: I’m a big Hitchhiker’s fan, the original books, TV and movie adaptations, I love it all! I have attempted to read Douglas Adam’s first Dirk Gently novel, but I only managed to get the first three chapters in. I tried reading it during a rather stressful time and always vowed to try again one day. So when I saw Adam’s Dirk turned into a graphic novel on NetGalley, I couldn’t not give it a go – interconnectedness and all, I was meant to read this graphic novel 😛 :-). Thank you to IDW and Netgalley for a copy to read and review.

The time jumps from Dirk as a child and as an adult, and both story lines were interesting and easy to follow. In the end Dirk solves the case, but we are left with some loose ends to make as curious about the next edition. I will definitely be keeping my eyes out for the next Comic installment of Dirk Gently. I won’t saw much about the case Dirk works on throughout the story arch, no spoilers, but I quite enjoyed it. It was a fast and fun read.

The art work was crisp, clear and easy on the eyes and there were sprinkles of humor the whole way through the story. I felt Dirk worked really well in the graphic novel median. FOUR “I really liked it” STARS.

Four Stars

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

24840459Rot & Ruin, Vol. 1: Warrior Smart by Jonathan Maberry (author) & Tony Vargas (Illustrator)

Graphic Novel /Comic Book – Paperback, 120 pages

Published May 5th 2015 by IDW Publishing (I won a copy through Diamond Distributors)

Synopsis mk3

Brand-new adventures set in the world of Rot & Ruin!

Written by New York Times best-selling author and multiple Bram Stoker award-winner, Jonathan Maberry, this all-new storyline continues events from the award-winning series of novels.

We meet Benny, Nix, Lilah, and Chong as they travel through the Sierra Nevada mountains just one faltering step ahead of zombie hordes and one giant leap behind the plane flying through the sky that set them on their journey of discovery.

+Goodreads button

My Thoughts mk3

I’ve never read any of the other Rot and Ruin books and to be honest I wouldn’t have read this book hadn’t I won it – but I’m glad I did as I mostly enjoyed it.

The first page sets up the universe, giving us sufficient background on the characters and their world. By the second page you’ve got a feeling for these likable kids and the story can take off at a fast pace, which it does really well. I didn’t feel I was missing anything by not reading the previous books.

We follow Benny Imura, his girlfriend Nix, his best mate Chong and Lilah the girl they found living out in the forest on her own, as they scrounge for supplies and dodge and slash their way through the hordes of zombies while trying to track down where the plane they saw came from.

The story is pretty standard until they stubble access the creepy farmer John and his baby farm. I’m not going to say anymore then “it” made me really psychotic thriller uncomfortable, but “it” made the story – if that makes sense.

I’m not a big Zombie fan. I love me some evil bad guys, demonic cults and mythological beasts – but I’ve never been on the Zombie band wagon.

I would say that over all I enjoyed this compendium more than the first eight Walking Dead’s combined – sorry that’s all I’ve got to compare it to – I made it through the first eight of The Walking Dead books by Robert Kirkman. I decided to give the Walking Dead a try as I really enjoyed what I’d read of Kirkman’s Outsiders (demonic possession) series.

I think zombie loving teens (and any zombie fans in general) would eat up this take on a YA Zombie Apocalypse Graphic Novel – Hey! Zombies just aren’t my thing and I’m still giving it a three stars, so that should say something.

3sAuthor’s Links mk3

Twitter – https://twitter.com/jonathanmaberry

Website – http://www.jonathanmaberry.com/ 

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/72451.Jonathan_Maberry