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Nataliya's Reviews > Paper Girls: The Complete Story
Paper Girls: The Complete Story
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What the holy neon-colored mullet-wearing timelines have I just read?
Time travel, interdimensional time wars, weaponized pterodactyls and random cameos from giant maggots and warring transformer robots, chain-smoking preteens. Time machines in basements, Apple church cult riding quetzalcoatluses, (d)evolved futuristic English which was actually fun to decode. All led by a cast of four 12-year-olds from 1988 Cleveland, Ohio, the titular paper girls whose crazy adventures start on a paper delivery route that gets interrupted by deformed futuristic ninjas and abandoned house basement time machine leading to trails of blood and possibility of the universe collapsing.
But those little brats made fun of a Smart Car. “The size of Hot Wheels”.
Well, yeah. We didn’t need to get personal here now, did we??? 🚙🚙🚙
It’s neon-colored and full of terrible 1980s hairdos (seriously, 1980s, what happened there?), often deliberately confusing and a bit frenetic in rushing from one timeline to another. From 11,000 BCE to the literal last moments of life on our planet, the multidimensional time rifts are ready to take you anywhere except the much necessary 1988.
Yeah, time travel is complicated.
Like any self-respecting force featuring kids on the brink of adolescence, it deals with coming of age, loss of innocence and developing friendships.
Yeah, friendships are complicated, too. Especially those quick and intense preteen friendships when a few days together makes it seems that you’ve known each other forever. But they are the best.
And despite those Smart Car dissing antics, it ended up being confusingly, neon-brightly fun, even if a few plotlines made little sense to me. It’s not “Saga”, but I still happily stayed up past 1 am to finish it.
4 stars for sheer entertainment. And please, dear universe, never let me end up with a mullet.
—————
Recommended by Dennis.
'I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?'
- Stephen King “The Body”
Time travel, interdimensional time wars, weaponized pterodactyls and random cameos from giant maggots and warring transformer robots, chain-smoking preteens. Time machines in basements, Apple church cult riding quetzalcoatluses, (d)evolved futuristic English which was actually fun to decode. All led by a cast of four 12-year-olds from 1988 Cleveland, Ohio, the titular paper girls whose crazy adventures start on a paper delivery route that gets interrupted by deformed futuristic ninjas and abandoned house basement time machine leading to trails of blood and possibility of the universe collapsing.
But those little brats made fun of a Smart Car. “The size of Hot Wheels”.
Well, yeah. We didn’t need to get personal here now, did we??? 🚙🚙🚙
It’s neon-colored and full of terrible 1980s hairdos (seriously, 1980s, what happened there?), often deliberately confusing and a bit frenetic in rushing from one timeline to another. From 11,000 BCE to the literal last moments of life on our planet, the multidimensional time rifts are ready to take you anywhere except the much necessary 1988.
Yeah, time travel is complicated.
Like any self-respecting force featuring kids on the brink of adolescence, it deals with coming of age, loss of innocence and developing friendships.
Yeah, friendships are complicated, too. Especially those quick and intense preteen friendships when a few days together makes it seems that you’ve known each other forever. But they are the best.
'I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, did you?'
(Because quoting Stephen King when it comes to preteen friendships is always appropriate)
And despite those Smart Car dissing antics, it ended up being confusingly, neon-brightly fun, even if a few plotlines made little sense to me. It’s not “Saga”, but I still happily stayed up past 1 am to finish it.
4 stars for sheer entertainment. And please, dear universe, never let me end up with a mullet.
—————
Recommended by Dennis.
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Dennis
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Jul 31, 2022 08:24PM
So, you made up for initially forgetting it by quoting King twice? 😂
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Dennis wrote: "So, you made up for initially forgetting it by quoting King twice? 😂"Overcompensation 😆
It was too good of a quote to not use many times,
Yep, the whole kitchen sink. I binge read this and thought it was senseless fun, in the best way. It also reminded me a bit of the Illuminae books.
Nataliya wrote: "Dennis wrote: "So, you made up for initially forgetting it by quoting King twice? 😂"Overcompensation 😆
It was too good of a quote to not use many times,"
Clearly 😂
Doc. wrote: "Yep, the whole kitchen sink. I binge read this and thought it was senseless fun, in the best way. It also reminded me a bit of the Illuminae books."Yes, it has everything, doesn’t it? And it’s a lot of fun, even if half of the time I had to stop and go - “Huh?”
Dennis wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Dennis wrote: "So, you made up for initially forgetting it by quoting King twice? 😂"Overcompensation 😆
It was too good of a quote to not use many times,"
Clearly 😂"
There may have been a point in time when I kept trying to sneak in King and Pratchett quotes everywhere. 😂
Barbara K wrote: "Super review, Nataliya!"Thanks, Barbara!
Nataliya wrote: "There may have been a point in time when I kept trying to sneak in King and Pratchett quotes everywhere. 😂"You mean like last week?
Dennis wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "There may have been a point in time when I kept trying to sneak in King and Pratchett quotes everywhere. 😂"You mean like last week?"
Pretty much 😆
Did it ever occur to you that this is actually being written in 1986 but somehow the book itself fell into the time machine?
Left Coast Justin wrote: "Did it ever occur to you that this is actually being written in 1986 but somehow the book itself fell into the time machine?"😳😳😳
The multiverse may be in danger. Preteens to the rescue!
Mir wrote: "Are you watching the show?"I will be! I’m on a weeklong vacation now, but after that I definitely will!
I just finished Season 1. Definitely engaging. I've added the book to my To Read pile.
Bruce wrote: "I just finished Season 1. Definitely engaging. I've added the book to my To Read pile."Glad to hear that!
This sounds totally bonkers. I'm adding it. Great review Nataliya!
Federico wrote: "This sounds totally bonkers. I'm adding it. Great review Nataliya!"Thanks, Federico! It’s not perfect and certainly has some plot holes, but it was so much fun that it’s worth it.
Oooooo okay if you enjoyed this I need to finally read this as well. Great review, have you started watching the show at all?
s.penkevich wrote: "Oooooo okay if you enjoyed this I need to finally read this as well. Great review, have you started watching the show at all?"Thanks, Steve! I haven’t started the show yet but I plan to. Have you?
Fine review. Fwiw, my takeway is it's probably best to read them together, in one volume as you did. Second best option, I believe it's available in 2 collections. Me, I'm on vol. 4, reading them one at a time, (the only way I can get them from my library).
Ray wrote: "Fine review. Fwiw, my takeway is it's probably best to read them together, in one volume as you did. Second best option, I believe it's available in 2 collections. Me, I'm on vol. 4, reading them o..."Im glad I read it all in one sitting then. I think I’d rather do that with any series. Waiting for Saga is so annoying right now, and I know I’ll forget enough between volumes for it to make a difference.
Yeah, the 80s were godawful. I have a lot of memories of godawful keyboard pop, but when I recently watched "Bad Manners" for the first time I realized how much of the fashion I'd blacked out.
Kevin wrote: "Yeah, the 80s were godawful. I have a lot of memories of godawful keyboard pop, but when I recently watched "Bad Manners" for the first time I realized how much of the fashion I'd blacked out."Yes, 80s fashion was … ahem … interesting.
