Taste the Books: Review Morsels #75 Seanan McGuire. "Velveteen vs." Series (Reissue)

Intro

Hello beauties!

Welcome again to my own brand of mini reviews! I never thought I'd do minis, until I recapped a few of my long reviews in some digest post in 2014, and then guest-posted some shorties for a blogging event in 2015. And Karen from For What It's Worth started praising my short recs/recaps 😊. Just to be clear,  I'm STILL writing long reviews too - but for anthologies, shorter books or books that I didn't enjoy/don't have enough to say about, I decided to stick to minis, and I took to writing them also for novels that I can do justice to in a less wordy fashion, in order to ease my reviewing burden. In addition to that, I sometimes write minis for books I don't want/don't have the time to review in full at the moment, but plan on rereading and writing "proper" reviews for later. Lastly, just be warned - this feature is VERY random!

Note: all the mini blurbs (in italics) are of my own creation.

Velveteen vs. The Early Adventures by Seanan McGuire

(omnibus - includes Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots and Velveteen vs. The Multiverse)

Note: Here are the reviews I wrote for the first and second installment of Velveteen's adventures before they were reissued in a single volume. I originally rated the first volume 4.5 stars and the second 5 stars, and I decided to round up to 5 for this joint review.

★★★★★

VOLUME 1: VELVETEEN VS. THE JUNIOR SUPER PATRIOTS

A 24 y.o. former child-superheroine finds herself targeted by the corporate entity that used to own her (and other kids with powers) until she walked out on it at 18, and does her best to keep it at bay - with the aid of the toys she animates and a few unlikely allies - while saving (corners of) the world in the process.

***

An imaginative, fond yet subversive take on superheroes, in which children with powers (and their adult counterparts, if they make it that far) are corporation property, groomed to sell merchandising and to be exploited in multiple other ways. We meet Velma "Velveteen" Martinez in the present, six year after quitting her superheroine gig, when a small "mistake" puts her former guardians on her tail while she's trying to survive dead-end jobs and general bad luck. From here, McGuire intersperses Velma's new adventures with flashbacks of her child-superheroine past, weaving a world full of entertaining, epically humorous adventures and very human feelings and woes. Oh, and did I mention that the other superheroes (and magical creatures from other dimensions...like Halloween - ahem, Autumn - Land, because of course, that's McGuire for you 😂) are a riot?

VOLUME 2: VELVETEEN VS. THE MULTIVERSE

Superheroine Velveteen, animator of toys (and more) currently fighting evil in Portland, finds herself visiting a number of alternate realities or been visited by a number of their inhabitants, all while trying to maintain a love life, save an old friend, and break the corporate entity that owns superheroes once and for all.

***

This is much more organic than Book 1 (which sort of happened by accident after all, one story after another) and McGuire once more blew me away with her ability to create a new, original, completely self-sustained world out of age-old tropes, all while reversing/putting wild spins on them. (And did I mention, an inclusive world?). It's fun, yet heartbreaking. It's imaginative, full of twists (oooh, THAT one twist 🤯 😭) and quirky powers, but ultimately character-driven in true McGuire fashion - the one where you care for everyone and feel like you've known everyone for your whole life. The worst I can say about this installment is that there's a *cough* love triangle *cough*, but then again...it doesn't feel forced or icky. Also, if you're worried about my "Horror or Gore" label on Goodreads, this is violence/fighting superhero-style...not much blood to be seen. What else can I say - if you enjoy twisted seasons, rebranded fairytales, mirror mazes that offer you a glimpse into parallel worlds, parallel worlds themselves, silly yet endearing superpowers, women having one another's back, and justice coming at a price, you'll fall in love with Velveteen and her world(s).

Note: definitive review (due to time commitments, I've decided not to write full-length reviews anymore for short stories, novellas and anthologies, except in special cases or unless they're part of a series. Which these are, but not one that I started reviewing back when I used to write a full review for every book...).

Velveteen vs. The Consequences of Her Actions by Seanan McGuire

(omnibus - includes Velveteen vs. The Seasons and Velveteen vs. Life)

Note: Here is the review I wrote for the third volume of Velveteen's adventures back when no one (author included) knew if the series would have been allowed to continue; such review was slightly revised, mainly to accommodate the existence of a fourth volume. After that you'll find my review for the fourth and last (I guess) volume, released for the first time in this omnibus edition. I originally rated the third volume 4.5 stars, but I decided to round up to 5 for this joint review.

★★★★★

VOLUME 3: VELVETEEN VS. THE SEASONS

Still reeling from her fight with The Super Patriots, Inc., superheroine Velveteen fulfills her promise to serve Winter, Spring and Autumn for a trial period, and is forced to give up on her humanity in more than one sense while doing so - until her trials end and she realises that they cost her (and someone else) more than she could ever imagine.

***

While the concept is fascinating and the body horror is top-notch (without being gory or repulsive - you'll understand if you read the book), I expected Velveteen's adventures as the Seasons' servant to be more exciting and meaningful, not to mention fleshed out. As a matter of fact, the real excitement, for me, started when she got home after her trials, found a world both gone sour and retconned (at least for what concerns a small, yet not-so-small detail), and banded with her friends to try and make things right again. Which poses another problem, because this made for a huge detour from the titular Seasons plot, and wreaked havoc on the overall structure. Then again, I'm not sure I would have liked to spend more time in the Seasonal Lands, since Velveteen's servant duties came off as a bit mundane and nonsensical. (Plus I'm not sure why the Seasons' embodiments/monarchs/keepers would make her life there miserable if they hoped she'd choose to stay in their lands at the end).

I loved hanging out with the gang again, and I found the social commentary to be spot-on (especially in light of the Roe vs. Wade debacle - don't take anything for granted, always keep your guard up, they'll start with a finger and in time they'll devour your whole body), and I was excited to get the chance to explore more of the multiverse/multiple identities of our cast, and I appreciated that even with gods bending the rules, there aren't easy ways out.

VOLUME 4: VELVETEEN VS. LIFE

Having barely recovered from her experiences in the Seasonal Lands, superheroine Velveteen has her hands full with old and new enemies/frenemies - but what's that, really, compared with trying to bring your friends back from [redacted] and figuring out who you want to grow up to be?

***

The final story arc of the series, while not particularly cohesive (we still get "monster of the week" episodes - ahem, stories), mostly centers around Velveteen coming to terms with her past and finally daring to imagine a future that fits her - or you might say, accepting that she's entitled to have one. Mind you, it's not all philosophical - the blend of humour and action with a healthy dose of friendship and a sprinkle of romance is still strong and entertaining - but McGuire deftly puts the "human" in "superhuman" by having both Velveteen and her friends experience growing pains that, while being unique to these magical individuals, strongly resonate with the reader. It's a joy to see these characters embrace/make peace with their magical self while reclaiming their story and learning how to rewrite their narrative, so that they can be more than superheroes or season/fairy tale archetypes (this is especially challenging for the Princess, a trans woman who found love and acceptation in her mythical role, and has to devise a way to write her own happily-ever-after without breaking character, lest the magic rejects her...not for her transness of course, but for deviating from the script. For the record: the Princess ROCKS). Last but not least: all the loose threads from the previous stories get addressed and tied up satisfactorily, and we even get a glimpse of the aforementioned future (or, a possible one) for all our players, even the secondary ones - with the only exception of Jory, who's always been more of a plot device than an actual character, and in the end gets forgotten altogether. Speaking of which, the only other thing I didn't love was how easily - even anticlimactically - a certain plot point was resolved (Velveteen vs. Uncomfortable Resolutions, I'm looking at you), but it wasn't a dealbreaker for me. Ultimately, the Velveteen vs. series is the superhero-meets-fairy-tales-meets-seasonal-magic series we didn't know we needed, and even if you aren't a die-hard superhero fan (which I for one am not), chances are you'll fall in love with its familiar, yet totally quirky universe(s).

Note: definitive review (due to time commitments, I've decided not to write full-length reviews anymore for short stories, novellas and anthologies, except in special cases or unless they're part of a series. Which these are, but not one that I started reviewing back when I used to write a full review for every book...).

So, have you read/are you planning to read any of the above? And if you have, what do you think of them? Do you post mini reviews? Do you like to read them?