Hello! I am so excited to be participating the Fantastic Flying Book Club (FFBC) book tour for Gotham High, a fresh and fun new graphic novel by Melissa de la Cruz (illustrated by Thomas Pitilli). This was the *perfect* escape read during coronavirus quarantine! Check out below for the synopsis, my take on the book (SPOILER-FREE as always), some favorite quotes, and more info about the blog tour! Also, go check my Instagram page today for a special photo featuring this lovely book. The illustrations are awesome.

Title: Gotham High (Amazon, Goodreads)
Author: Melissa de la Cruz
Illustrator: Thomas Pitilli
Genre: Graphic Novel, Superheroes, Young Adult
My Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Synopsis:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Alex and Eliza and The Witches of East End comes a reimagining of Gotham for a new generation of readers. Before they became Batman, Catwoman, and The Joker, Bruce, Selina, and Jack were high schoolers who would do whatever it took–even destroy the ones they love–to satisfy their own motives.

After being kicked out of his boarding school, 16-year-old Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham City to find that nothing is as he left it. What once was his family home is now an empty husk, lonely but haunted by the memory of his parents’ murder. Selina Kyle, once the innocent girl next door, now rules over Gotham High School with a dangerous flair, aided by the class clown, Jack Napier.

When a kidnapping rattles the school, Bruce seeks answers as the dark and troubled knight–but is he actually the pawn? Nothing is ever as it seems, especially at Gotham High, where the parties and romances are of the highest stakes … and where everyone is a suspect.

With enchanting art by Thomas Pitilli, this new graphic novel is just as intoxicating as it is chilling, in which dearest friends turn into greatest enemies–all within the hallways of Gotham High!

My Review:

I haven’t read a lot of graphic novels, but this one was totally awesome, so now I think I am a convert! I love origin stories, and this one really sucked me in. Morally gray characters? Check. Feisty female lead even though it’s a Batman book? Check. Really great banter and dialogue? Check and check. I loved the mystery at the center of the plot and was sucked right in by Selina’s gritty character, Bruce’s brooding air of mystery, and Jack’s vivacious personality.

Aside from all those virtues, the plot of this book is twisty and turny, and it is so neat meeting side characters (Poison Ivy was so awesome). The book is self-aware too. One of my favorite scenes (not a spoiler, I promise) involves Bruce and Jack playing Fortnite as Batman-esque and Joker-esque characters. They just had so much fun with the world and lore of Gotham City, but giving everything little contemporary and specifically high school twists. It’s all very well done.

I actually read the whole book in one sitting, which is a pretty amazing feat given all the distractions in my house at the moment (a husband, two tween-aged daughters, and a nosy dog). The only reason it’s not five stars is that I just wish it were a little longer and meatier, but that is probably the format (being a graphic novel and not, say, a novel novel) and probably how it should be. If you are looking for a great escape and you like superheroes and origin stories, then I highly recommend reading this one. Also, I have never written any of Melissa de la Cruz’s other books, but the writing in this is great, so now I think I’ll have to add her whole backlist to my TBR shelf.

Favorite Quotes:

“‘You gonna keep folding? Go big or go home, man.’
‘Why would anyone go big if they could go home?'”

“‘Interested in the photography club, are you?’
‘I’m not not interested.’
‘I like a guy who speaks in double negatives.’
‘What else do you like?’
‘Wouldn’t you like to know.’
‘I wouldn’t not not want to.'”

“But Bruce without guilt is like peanut butter without jelly. Or Gotham without crime, is more like it…”

“In my opinion, a triangle is a perfect shape. Why does a girl have to choose?”

 

About the Author: Melissa de la Cruz

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series and the semi-autobiographical novel Fresh off the Boat.

Her books for adults include the novel Cat’s Meow, the anthology Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys and the tongue-in-chic handbooks How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less and The Fashionista Files: Adventures in Four-inch heels and Faux-Pas.

She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa grew up in Manila and moved to San Francisco with her family, where she graduated high school salutatorian from The Convent of the Sacred Heart. She majored in art history and English at Columbia University (and minored in nightclubs and shopping!).

She now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, where she lives in the Hollywood Hills with her husband and daughter.

Blog Tour Schedule:

  

Giveaway:

Prize: Win a copy of GOTHAM HIGH by Melissa de la Cruz & Thomas Pitilli (US Only)
Starts: 7^th April 2020
Ends: 21^st April 2020
To enter, click here.