I received a free copy of this book.

The Narration: Neil Hellegers gives a great performance. I love his deep, slightly rough voice for Orso. He also doesa good job with various accents. His female voices sound feminine. Each character had a distinct voice. There were no recording or technical issues. 5/5 stars.

 Disclaimer: reviewing a pre-publication digital proof via NetGalley.

 

Ruby's mother is no longer functioning. Her dad's in prison. For killing her baby brother in a drunk driving accident. She's holding it together on the outside, not so much on the inside. When she makes a connection with innocent, sheltered, cult-raised Fox, she gets drawn into the supportive, seemingly open-minded and health-conscious public branch of a local cult. When she follows Fox into the inner enclave, things take a turn for the weird.

 

Extremely well-written story by a new-to-me author. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, and mostly requested the galley based on that awesome cover (isn't it cool? so atmospheric!) But there's a lot to like in the storytelling as well. Ruby's in a bad place, and the way the author explores her thinking and how she moves step-by-step deeper into the land of crazy is really illuminating.

 

While I think most of us would agree on how insane the choices Ruby and others in the book make, the reality is that people around us are pulled into real-world versions of this, and get drawn into radical thinking and extremist behaviours every day. I have friends who've gotten really into things like Landmark (a leadership program with cult-like practices), CrossFit (an example of extreme fitness trends that can inspire cultlike devotion, also see: SoulCycle) and even things like detox cleanses or mindfulness programs that ride the line of eating disorders and abuse. The relatability and plausibility of the characters that Wilkinson draws out is impressive. Many people - maybe everyone - are looking for answers, for meaning, for a way to gain control over their lives. This story explores how someone could, out of a place of brokenness and searching, go down a route they never would have imagined for themselves.

 

I love how this story conveys a sense of empathy. You learn about others, and maybe yourself, in a way that's engaging, fast-paced (it's not a preachy dissertation on the evils of cults or anything), solidly in-character (Ruby's perspective feels natural, age-appropriate, and allows for some great reveals and twists at the end), and balanced. You come away with a clear understanding of why people behaved as they did, even if that behaviour was absolutely insane. Potential trigger warnings for various things like debilitating depression/suicidal thoughts, abuse and eating disorders. There is some sexuality and language that might make this better suited for older teens and adults - parental guidance recommended - but it's not pronounced or explicit (e.g. there is weird sex stuff in the cult, but it's not salacious or described in detail).

 

Highly recommended read that bridges entertainment and discussion-group-worthy literature.

I always find naming something you create, or your band, or whatever 'Sublime' - or some aspect of that - a little bit gutsy.  Is it sublime?   Really?   Oh, well, I'll decide that, thank you very much.   Sublime, the band, makes music I like; I'm not sure I'd call it sublime, but I do like to rock out to Sublime. 

 

Still, I was, ah, a bit skeptical when it came to The Electric Sublime.   Would this hold up?   As a Humble Bundle title, I didn't know what to expect.  I like IDW in general, and liked enough of the titles to make this a steal even if I didn't like The Electric Sublime.   I quite frankly really wanted some of the D4VE issues, and The October Faction, and... well, let's just say I didn't really take a look at The Electric Sublime.   It was actually a cool title, and I thought it might have to do with something cyberpunk - especially with William Gibson's Archangel in the bunch, too - but even if not, well, I wanted the other things. 

 

It turns out I should have given The Electric Sublime a little more attention.   It's divinely surrealistic, a tale about dreampainters: those who paint and turn their paintings into reality.   When abnormal deaths occur, and the Mona Lisa starts winking, a pattern emerges.   Which means that Abigail Breslin, the director of the Beaurae of Artistic Integrity, gets involved.  She in turn gets Arthur Brut involved, although this type of dreampainting has destroyed his sanity already. 

 

There's more action than I expected, gorgeous art with a style that fits the bizarre, and intense, storyline, and I ended up loving these characters a lot more than I expected I would.   I have the third issue downloaded but the second issue is not downloading, and I want it, I want it right now. 

 

Okay, fine, I'll be patient and wait for it to download.   Can it be now, please?

Actual Rating 2.5

When you lose someone.
Lose. People say that a lot, when someone dies. I’m sorry for your loss.
It makes it sound careless, as if my brother were a door key or umbrella, left behind on the train.
And the worst part is, they’re right. I was careless. It was me. My loss. I lost him.

After the recent loss of her little brother, Ruby Galbraith is floundering, and her mum is having an even harder time functioning.

She stopped going to work and answering the phone, and pulled the curtains of her sorrow tightly around herself. She sat all day in the living room, staring at the TV and smoking cigarette after cigarette. Sometimes I’d come home from school and find her, vacant-eyed, with a perfect cylinder of as protruding from pale lips. I’d speak to her, tell her about my day and the outside world, and it would take minutes for the cylinder to tremble and collapse, spilling ash down the front of her dressing-gown.

She doesn’t talk about how she’s coping with anyone – with the school counselor, with her friends, with her mum – and the only way she can shut her brain off enough to sleep is by sneaking into nightclubs and dancing until she is exhausted.

I welcomed the dark, frenetic facelessness of the dance floor. Nobody stared at me with sympathetic frowns wrinkling their brows. Nobody offered understanding hugs. Nobody shifted their weight uncomfortably as they tried to work out what to say. On the dance floor, I wasn’t Ruby Jane Galbraith. I was just a body, jumping and writhing with all the other bodies. I wasn’t anybody at all.

And then she meets Fox, he sees her, he understands the dark hole that she finds herself in, and he gives her hope enough to start to pull herself back out.

A jolt somewhere inside me made my knees weak. It had been a long time since I’d felt anything. For the briefest of moments, a spark flared in the darkness.
The boy’s eyes were soft and brown, and full of concern and… recognition. I had the oddest feeling that he’d been waiting for me. That we’d been waiting for each other.
‘He’s looking at you,’ said Minah. ‘The hot wild angel boy is looking at you.’

But he’s only in town for a short time, and has to return to the Institute where he lives… He asks Ruby to go with him. He’s not ready to lose her already, and she’s not ready to let go of the one person who has made her feel… anything since her brother died.

Maggie elbowed me in the ribs. ‘You’re going to hear some crazy stuff over the next few days,’ she said, her voice low. ‘Some of it is pretty extreme. Just… go with it. It’s easier than making a fuss. I find it helps to understand it all as a kind of metaphor for life, you know? It’s like the Bible. All the woo-woo is there to help us to process those ideas.’
‘Right,’ I said, feeling suddenly nervous.

So she ends up at the Institute of the Boundless Sublime, where a man who likes everyone to call him Daddy and claims he’s thousands of years old gives her a new name and tells her she’s extraordinary.

The Scintilla will come and light the way for us. The Institute of the Boundless Sublime will rise above all. The Quintus Septum will be vanquished, along with all their pathetic meat-followers. We shall rule the planet, gods of light and science. You, my children, will receive riches and power beyond your wildest imaginings.
And I will be everyone’s Daddy.

There are all kinds of new rules to learn and the institute – about food, and possessions, and romantic feelings – and what might seem, at first, to be a gathering of like-minded people working towards a common goal, is quickly revealed to be something rather more sinister.

Daddy says they’re free to leave at any time, but does he really mean it?


The rest of this review can be found HERE!

I've written this review assuming that anyone reading it has either read the previous volume in this series or doesn't care about spoilers for past volumes. You've been warned.

Okay, so this volume basically has four separate stories. First, Sato is bummed because he's going to be forced to go on a family trip from Christmas to the start of the new year. Yoshida accidentally upsets him and then meets an old man who may or may not be Santa Claus. In the next part of the volume, Machiko, the student council president, comes up with a plan that she thinks will guarantee her a spot next to Sato at a warm kotatsu. After that, readers get to see where things stand between Azuma and Nishida. Sato proves to be more helpful than I expected. The volume wraps up with a class field trip, which is particularly special because it's Sato's very first field trip ever.

This is the first full volume since Sato told everyone that he and Yoshida are a couple. The first story, with the strange possible-Santa (okay, not really Santa, although Yoshida and Sato did manage to get a Christmas miracle) was a bit odd, but I loved how bummed Sato looked that he and Yoshida weren't going to get to spend that time together. I found Tanaka's artwork, which exaggerated his feelings by making him look particularly haggard and shadowed, to be surprisingly funny (and cute?), I think because the Sato of several volumes ago would never have shown so much of his true feelings in public.

Technically the next part of the volume, with all the girls fighting for the right to sit with Sato at the kotatsu, wasn't much different from any of the past “girls fighting for the right to be with Sato” stories. This difference, this time around, was that neither Sato nor Yoshida had to hide their feelings for each other. Sato gesturing for Yoshida to come sit with him while everyone was distracted was a lovely moment.

As for the bit with Azuma and Nishida, I'm not sure what to think of those two. If they became a couple, it would keep Nishida out of Sato and Yoshida's way, but they're so awkward together. Azuma can't seem to find a happy medium in his behavior towards Nishida – either he throws himself at him too forcefully, or he pulls back too much. Sato's advice to Azuma worked surprisingly well, but I'm not sure he'll be able to identify the right time to switch gears.

The field trip was the best part of the volume. I found myself smiling through almost the whole thing. Sato's open enthusiasm for the trip was a little weird after so many volumes of him trying to look as cool and calm as possible, but it was still fun to see. So much of this part was ridiculously adorable: Sato's anticipation of the trip, Yoshida enjoying Sato's anticipation of the trip, and the way all their classmates reacted. The girls managed to rein in their jealousy for once, just so that Sato could have a “nice and typical field trip.” Well, as typical as possible considering that girls from other schools all wanted Sato too.

As far as Sato and Yoshida being a couple went, most of the characters seemed to have either accepted it or decided not to think about it too much (it was tough to say, although at least no one went around saying “__ sure is a great guy! Even if he is gay!” the way they did with Nishida in volume 4). The school's boys were disappointed that Sato dating Yoshida didn't mean the girls had given up on him. The school's girls were just as determined to get him to themselves as ever, and yet they forced themselves to hang back during the field trip so that Sato could enjoy it with Yoshida. The most awkward moment came when everyone was about to go to sleep for the night (everyone in sleeping bags in the same room, girls in one room and boys in another) and Makimura ordered Sato and Yoshida not to “get it on” while he was sleeping nearby. Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, not even Sato had thought about doing anything until Makimura brought it up.

I really liked this volume. Sadly, I have now read all the volumes in this series that I had on hand. I definitely plan on buying more in the future.

Extras:

• A 2-page Torachin and Yamanaka update. I really could have done without this update, because I've gone from rooting for this pair to hoping that they break up (Yoshida agrees with me). Yamanaka should be in jail. He drugged Torachin and dragged him to a love hotel. Thankfully Torachin managed to get free and beat the crap out of him.
• A 6-page field trip extra. This shows a little of what was going on while Sato and Yoshida were off having fun. Yamanaka tried to cheat on Torachin (OMG, those two are the worst couple), and Azuma spent the whole time searching for Nishida.
• One color illustration of Nishida and Azuma.

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)