Mariko TamakiI Am Not Starfire

I never want to stop my kids from reading a book, but I'm always sure to read everything they do and discuss the story, characters, and what they can learn from it.This book serves as a really good cautionary tale, because sometimes you need to see what doesn't work in order to learn what does.The disrespect shown to Starfire is over the top, and she's treated not as a complex character but as a dartboard guilty more for her identity than her choices in life.The main character is unlikeable, bitter, and terribly one-dimensional. I know she's supposed to be a "horrible teen" but I've never come across an actual human with such detestable traits. She attacks everyone around her, sees conflict everywhere, and has no redeeming motivation. Her character arc is to become an even worse person. She is a cipher that you can only understand when taken out of the story and applied to modern ideological dogma, which is a complete and utter failure from a storytelling point of view.This is a tumbler rant with illustrations.One star for the actual book, two stars the teachable moment.

Super unlikable and unrelateable character, she seems to blame alot of things on her mom for no reason. I would not recommend this title.

Story is basically glorified fan fiction self-insert. This graphic novel is a magnum opus of why the comic industry if failing. This "Young Adult" book has the main character swearing and giving the middle finger to everyone. This book probably sold 100 million copies Manga.

With an art style more in line with Blue's clues and an obvious lack of effort, there is an attempt at making the art appear to be worth the paper it's printed on with vibrant colours behind a dark and brooding, and all around unlikeable character. I struggled to push through with this story and that should NEVER be the case with a GN. I recommend you take your money and set it on fire. It'll be visually more entertaining and the plot will make more sense, with a significant reduction in time wasted. The apparent point to the story is "be a garbage person and your dreams will all come true, and everyone will love you in the end"????TL;DR:Piss poor art qualityUnlikable protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters.Genuinely unlikeable story arc for all characters. The supporting staff seems to only exist to prove to the protagonist that trashy behavior should be rewarded? I don't get what the point of the story is.

You know the scene-turned meme of Steve Buscemi saying "How do you do, fellow kids?" This book is that.While I loved the overall theme of challenging personally and familial identity/ expectations, it felt incredibly forced, corny, and top-tier cliché. Also, to preface, I have no issue with DC's YA novels existing within their own universe outside of canon continuity. However as a stand-alone novel this just didn't read well.Just about every aspect of the story was unbelievable and I couldn't buy into the character dynamics. The 'love story' aspect was unnecessary, forced, unrealistic, and I totally couldn't buy into one character's explanation of their actions; it felt like a cheap cop-out and a lie that we're just supposed to believe. I could keep going but honestly, I just don't recommend this novel.Poison Ivy Thorns, great YA book. Teen Titans: Raven/ Beast Boy, phenomenal books for everyone, even og Teen Titans fans. Swamp Thing Twin Branches, solid book.If anyone is able to change my mind please do. Again, general theme is appreciated, execution was poor. Even existing in its own universe outside canon DC continuity.

For months I had been hearing about how bad this book was going to be and how unlikeable the main character was. I decided on a whim to buy this book a few days ago to buy this book because I like a good underdog story and I wanted to see how the story would play out. It turned out to be just as bad as I thought it would be. I enjoyed the art direction but, the writing was horrendous. I mean, aside from doting on her cockatoo, the main character, Mandy has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. She doesn’t have her mother’s looks, no powers and she treats everyone around like total garbage. Her best friend that has stuck up for since the seventh grade? Garbage. Her mom, that is always concerned about her well being and making sure that she has everything she needs? Garbage. The only person that Mandy treats nicely is her love interest and that’s until she overreacts over a picture her lady friend took with the Titans, who Mandy also treated like garbage. The whole book is basically Mandy throwing a temper tantrum because she doesn’t have powers like her mother and when she does finally get them all of the sudden she starts acting like a real human again. We don’t really get to see any superhero action until page 133 because the story is focused on Mandy’s self loathing of everything including herself.Then when we do get to the superhero bit, it feels shoehorned because her aunt Blackfire shows up and wants to kill her because she is an heir to the throne of Tamarin which she knows nothing about. The actions sequences are super rushed as is the resolution of the story.Overall, this is a not recommend.

I've been wanting to read this one for a while. I love different takes on superhero characters and different angles to the stories. Some of the reviews for this one have been brutal but I really don't understand why.For one thing, it was nice to see some LGBTQ+ characters that weren't there to just be window dressing or comic relief. They were an integral part of the story itself. I loved that and it's about thing that started happening in graphic novels.I also liked that they made Starfire in to a character that wasn't as pure/perfect as writers tend to make her. She was flawed, she made mistakes and that, to me, made her in to a much more interesting character.As well as having bravery and superhero action at the heart of the story, it's more than that. It's about finding your own path in life, finding your own identity and subverting other people's expectations of you. I loved the character of Mandy. She's not perfect. She's a bit of a dick sometimes, she's selfish but she's also trying to find where she belongs in the world as the daughter of a world famous superhero.All in all, this was a really fun and interesting story. One that I will happily read again.The art, I loved it. I know it won't be to everyone's tastes but I really liked it. It gave a sense of comfort and fun so that when the shit did hit the fan, it hit a lot harder. I liked that approach to it all. If this had been drawn in the clean, clinical way that a lot of comic books are done these days, that would have been lost.Well worth picking up.

A fantastic story with beatiful illustrations. My two daughters absolutely loved it (aged 11 and 14).

I loved this, I feel if you’ve ever read Leah On The Beat you’ll love this it’s such a good series for queer poc and for plus size girls. It’s sweet and fun and I love Mandy’s story.

The art is absolutely stunning - I dont know why we don't have more of this style in comics, its so much more engaging than traditional pen and ink style. I loved Mandy too, its so validating to see a character who looks like you in a comic! However the story was a little unbelievable, especially if youre a star fire fan.

An excellent coming of age tale, written with emotional authenticity and coupled with gorgeous artwork.