New Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity by Sean Ryan

New Suicide Squad Vol. 1: Pure Insanity by Sean Ryan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

Setting the world’s most dangerous super-criminals against the most insidious threats to national security: that’s the idea behind the elite black-ops unit officially designated as Task Force X. It’s perfect…on paper.

But the real world rarely goes according to plan. Threats evolve. Teammates turn on each other. Blood and betrayals flow like rivers. And that’s why Task Force X is better known as the Suicide Squad.

Vic Sage aims to change the equation. Replacing Amanda Waller as the puppet-master of Suicide Squad’s motley crew, he’s introducing wild cards like Deathstroke and the Joker’s Daughter to whip the existing team-Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Black Manta-into shape. But the world’s deadliest assassin and the Clown Princess of Crime have ideas of their own…and no explosive implants to keep them in line.

Can this new Suicide Squad survive-or will it implode before it even begins?

My Review:

I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting concept, one that intrigues me a little more than your standard run-of-the-mill superhero stories. We are introduced to a cast of “anti-heroes”, which is “ a central character in a story, movie, or drama who lacks conventional heroic attributes.”

We have a government agency running the program where they take the best of the worst villains and offer them something in return to carry out dirty missions that the United States does not want known they are associated with. Of course, the government agents are in a power struggle, which affects the mission, as are the cast of recruits completing attempting to complete the missions. In this volume, we have two missions, and two different crews, with few individuals supporting both.

Mission 1


Mission 2


Of course, nothing ever goes according to plan and a back-up plan must be improvised, which is just as disastrous, but entertaining. We have rogue villains, power hungry agents, jealous ex-girlfriends, big egos, mental disorders, injuries, traders, etc. I like the element of realism in many parts of the story, my favorite being when Not-Flash blows out his knee trying to run at warp speed to set bombs.



All in all, this was a decent story, which only has room for improvement, and on the heels of the announcement that there will be a movie coming out soon, Suicide Squad, this is sure to be a hit.

Read on June 17, 2015

Top Genres*: Sequential Arts/Graphic Novels, Sequential Arts/Comics
*According to Goodreads
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My ratings system
5 stars - I absolutely loved it
4 stars - Good book and would recommend
3 stars - Decent book, but wasn't spectacular
2 stars - Not good, but was able to finish it
1 stars - Did not finish (DNF) and I don't usually rate a book I haven't finished (just to be fair to the author)

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An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

Katherine V thought boys were gross
Katherine X just wanted to be friends
Katherine XVIII dumped him in an e-mail
K-19 broke his heart
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton's type happens to be girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.

On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun--but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl. Love, friendship, and a dead Austro-Hungarian archduke add up to surprising and heart-changing conclusions in this ingeniously layered comic novel about reinventing oneself.

My Review:

How many Katherines have you met in your lifetime? Don't worry about how many different ways to spell that name, I'd assume, you haven't met many. My mother's name is Catherine, and I have only ever met maybe 5 individuals with that name. The fact that Colin dated 19 Katherines baffles me, and the fact that he was able to get close enough to date them all was even stranger. What a silly concept! And to try to create a relationship theorem based on these encounters was just ridiculous. If it wasn't for the ending, and Hassan, this might have been rated a little lower.



Colin was a child prodigy, but is dealing with the fact that that does not necessarily translate into an adult prodigy. He was afraid of becoming a nobody. The entire story is spent with him being selfish, sometimes rude, and a little lot annoying. He had the potential to be the nerdy best friend we dream of when we think of Sheldon, but he completely missed the mark.



Hassan was hilarious and saved the story on many occasions. Despite being lazy with no aspirations, he was very mature in many of the situations that required it. In the end, he did pick up the pace a little bit as far as the direction his life could take. Lindsey was a decent character. She was profound enough to provide to the storyline, but she had just enough high school in her to make you cringe at times. It was a nice touch.



I'm sorry John Green, but I am just not a fan of your writings. No offense, but just because the world says I should like something, does not mean I will. I gave it a good go, but I doubt I'll be reading more from you in the future.

Favorite Quotes:

“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”

“I figured something out. The future is unpredictable.”

“Dude, you're such a geek. And that's coming from an overweight Star Trek fan who scored a 5 on the AP Calculus test. So you know your condition is grave”

“He liked the mere act of reading, the magic of turning scratches on a page into words inside his head.”

“They like their coffee like they like their ex-boyfriends: bitter.”

Read from June 09 to 12, 2015

Top 5 Genres*: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult/Teen
*According to Goodreads
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My ratings system
5 stars - I absolutely loved it
4 stars - Good book and would recommend
3 stars - Decent book, but wasn't spectacular
2 stars - Not good, but was able to finish it
1 stars - Did not finish (DNF) and I don't usually rate a book I haven't finished (just to be fair to the author)

View all my reviews