Review: The Awesome

The Awesome by Eva Darrows
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sometimes when I'm coming back from picking up lunch, I'll browse the newly returned/waiting to be shelved cart, looking for something fun and/or silly to read. Most of the time, it ends up being something from the graphic novel shelf, but this week, it was The Awesome, by Eva Darrows. I literally knew nothing about this book when I picked it up, except that it had a giant neon green skull with vampire teeth biting down on spalshy neon pink lettering shouting "THE AWESOME" at my eyeballs.

What is The Awesome? The Awesome is 17-year-old Maggie Cunningham, who is basically what you get if you take Buffy the Vampire Slayer, remove her super powers, and give her a foul-mouthed mother who spends her days teaching her daughter the ways of the monster hunter. She's teenage Simon Belmont with badass lady Van Helsing for a mother. In short, she's The Awesome, just like this book.

This book is equal parts monster fighting and teenage girl drama, which I'm sure isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it was really refreshing to read about teens who act like teens. Maggie swears, is a little uncomfortable with her own body, is a smartass even when she knows she shouldn't be, feels bad about it even when she can't bring herself to apologize, and, yes, has sexual feelings about other people her own age. Also, she kills monsters.

While this has a lot of strong parralels to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Darrows has done a good job making this her own thing. It's a hodge-podge of influences and different takes on mythologies, and it all comes together in a fun, ridiculous, pulpy stew.

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