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Bright World #1
by Stan Stanley
The Hazards of Love follows the story of a queer teen from Queens who makes some mistakes, gets dragged into a fantastical place, and tries to hustle their way back home.
Amparo's deal with the talking cat was simple: a drop of blood and Amparo's name to become a better person. Their mother and abuela would never worry about them again, and they'd finally be worthy of dating straight-A student Iolanthe. But when the cat steals their body, becoming the better person they were promised, Amparo's spirit is imprisoned in a land of terrifying, flesh-hungry creatures known as Bright World.
With cruel and manipulative masters and a society that feeds on memories, Amparo must use their cleverness to escape, without turning into a monster like the rest. On "the other side," Iolanthe begins to suspect the new Amparo has a secret, and after the cat in disguise vanishes, she's left searching for answers with a no-nonsense medium from the lesbian mafia and the only person who might know the truth about Bright World.
"The worldbuilding is magnificent; the Bright World is appropriately rich in color and full of macabre and creative details. The characters are fully developed and intriguing, some complex and full of secrets, others that appear to be the creatures of nightmares...A noir fantasy—part adventure, part love story, all the way spectacularly creepy." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Stellar, expressive art, featuring angular, dramatic linework, and an engaging narrative with solid nonbinary representation and well-developed characters bring this fantastical story to life. Scenes of Bright World burst with rich colors...This fantastical, stunning tale shines in both story and artwork; a must for libraries serving teens." - School Library Journal (starred review)
"This rich, fantastical story is brought to life with Stanley's vibrant colors and wonderfully bold lines in artwork that is a joy to look at. The cruelty of Bright World will keep readers fully invested in Fawn's struggle to survive and retain their identity, and the specifics of their nonbinary gender identity, a topic of conversation among several characters, are handled with respect and fidelity." - Booklist (starred review)
This information about The Hazards of Love was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stan Stanley makes comics that are sometimes creepy, sometimes funny, but always queer. She's been making comics since she was in high school and has continued doing so throughout various science-related careers when she was supposed to be doing science. Instead, she created Friendly Hostility, The Hazards of Love, and her online journal comic, Stananigans. The Hazards of Love is heavily influenced by the ephemera of the Mexico in which Stan grew up, though she now finds herself in NYC among a lovely crew of weirdos. She lives with her spouse, a large cat, and a larger collection of bones.
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