Friday, July 5, 2024

Maelstrom: a Prince of Evil

By Lorian Merriman
Henry Holt and Company, 2024. 236 pages. Young Adult Comic.

Maelstrom is a half-demon prince pining for a place in history. (Honestly, he's just bored and searching for a way to pass the time.) Twigs is the young, prophesized Hero of Virtue fated to face him--or so we've been told... But Maelstrom's mother, regent to the throne and a powerful necromancer, is determined to keep an iron grip on her domain. Bemoaning his lost destiny, Maelstrom teams up with the Hero to stop his mother and forge a new destiny for himself. What Twigs doesn't know is that Maelstrom has a cunning plan to build his own epic legend and double-cross Twigs at the perfect moment...

I was a little hesitant when I first picked up this book because I wasn't sure if it would be an enjoyable book.  I'm very happy to report that I was wrong!  The vibrant color scheme changed slightly throughout to match the mood of the fast-paced plot, and the well-developed characters gave the book a life of its own.  With gentle and subtle life-lessons and an engaging storyline, Maelstrom is a fun coming-of-age story you'll want to read in one sitting!

If you liked Maelstrom: A Prince of Evil, you may also like:
 
By Katie Cook
Ten Speed Graphic, 2024. 399 pages. Young Adult Comic.
 
In the grand scheme of the worlds at large, Callie thinks she's nothing special. Sure, she's friends with the ghost of a radish and her dad owns a magical antique shop--but she's spent her life in the human world. Her dad won't let her join him on his collection trips in the magical realm "for her own protection", so she's only caught glimpses of that world through the gates of the town where her father's store is. On her seventeenth birthday, Callie goes home with her friend Declan to find her home in disarray and her dad missing. Signs of a struggle point to the portal to the magical realm and when there are signs, you follow them. Now it's up to Callie, Declan, and Radish to band together and bring him home. As they face creatures good and bad, and all sorts of adventure, Callie and Declan may just find out that they are both special in their own ways after all.

By Hamish Steele
Union Square & Co., 2023. 203 pages. Young Adult Comic.
 
Follows the lives of Barney, his best friend Norma, and a diverse group of employees at the Dead End theme park as they deal with demonic forces, time-traveling wizards, and scariest of all--their love lives.

ERB

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