Seconds: A Graphic Novel HC
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: July 15, 2014
Price: $25.00
Creator: Bryan Lee O'Malley
Format: 336 pgs., B&W/Color, Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-3455-2937-4
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 4 Stars out of 5
 
O'Malley has just proven that he can write something truly intriguing outside of his Scott Pilgrim series.  His earlier Lost at Sea was good, but this is better.  Imagine a story halfway between the cartoony chaos of Scott Pilgrim and the semi-magical world of something like Neil Gaiman's Coraline, and you'll get some idea.
 
Katie is a chef, and a good one, with a good reputation at a nice restaurant.  Like many talented chefs, though, her dream is to have a restaurant that is truly hers, something to reflect her own ideas, her own dreams.  She is held back by a combination of circumstances and her own mistakes.  So, when she is suddenly offered the power and the chance to rectify one of those mistakes, the temptation to abuse that power is too much for her.  As she hits a slippery slope of abusing the apparent magic, things get worse for her and everyone around her.
 
The cartoony artwork keeps the story from being too grim, although readers unfamiliar with O'Malley's work may find some of it to be distracting.  Still, this is so different from his earlier work that it may draw new readers.
 
Teens and adults will enjoy this.  Very mild sexual situations and some surreal violence, but nothing graphic.
 
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California