The title of his first book sounds kind of like a comic, right? There's a reason for that, but I don't want to give it away just yet. You might be wondering how I came about this book, especially when the last book I mentioned as an influence is on Arthurian Legend. Well, one day I was at the public library and was choosing a few good books to read for the next week or so (I go through books rather quickly, for example: I read Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park in one day) I also knew it would be a while before I got to go to the library again. I perused the "young adult" section of the library and saw a large hardcover book with a shiny red cover. Red is actually not my favorite color, but the book looked big and it was shiny... it also looked BRAND NEW. As I read it the pages still felt crisp on my fingertips, I guess the only time the book had been opened was to put the plastic sleeve on it so the cover would remain shiny. So that's the story of how I found the book, the title was intriguing, although the cover art was... it definitely left me wondering what the plot was, and it succeeded in getting me to read it. Also, I was probably in my freshman or sophomore year of high school when I read this book, which feels like it was forever ago right now.
Anyway, this book.
Without giving away much of the plot, I'll attempt to explain why this series is very near and dear to my heart. The male protagonist, known as "fanboy"/"Fanboy", displays a lot of what I sort of felt both growing up and going through a transition within a transition. He considered himself weak and scrawny, just an unknown face within a crowd. For me, that was awesome! I LOVED IT! Like him, I didn't consider myself someone extremely important within the social strata of high school, but don't get me wrong I did not have low self-esteem. Fanboy is the one who got me interested in comics and superheroes again, because girls aren't supposed to like that stuff, right? (Again, ha!) But like him, even with all the ridiculous ideas of trying to fit in and be all about appearances, I had a goal and a dream. That dream pushed me to forget about what everyone else had to say about high school, although I did have my own challenges, and reminded me to walk my own path. ("Take the road less traveled by, leave this city of fools") Fanboy, he embodied what a lot of the more meek and shy kids go through during high school, but he was also the smart kid who was shy and awkward. I think that's what I liked most about Lyga's story, he made the characters very relatable (maybe fanboy was a reflection of him?) So we have fanboy, the shy, awkward, endearing, geeky, artist kid and then there's Kyra.
Oh Kyra. How can I even begin to explain what she means to me? I guess the beginning would be a good place to start. A very good place to start. Kyra embodied who I wanted to be, and partly who I was at the time. In the words of a friend she is a badass. That's definitely what she embodies. But at the same time, the reader gets to see she always means well and has a tender side. In fact, Kyra was always thinking, and we get to see some her thinking in the book. My favorite part is actually when she tells fanboy about girls' anatomy. I remember laughing and cheering for Kyra when she said: "Guys.... You guys are are stupid about it. I mean, they can be pushed up. Or padded. Or pushed together." and "Maybe I don't like guys who are drooling idiots. Maybe I don't like guys acting like I'm in heat or something."
That entire scene stood out to me, and anytime I think of the book, that's what I think of. Like Kyra, I didn't believe that girls and women should have to use their bodies to attract the attention of someone. Nor did it benefit the woman. Kyra said a lot of what I already believed in, she was just able to phrase it in a way that was a lot more direct than I could have ever thought of. Although Kyra was tough, she was able to help fanboy become a stronger and better person; and like him, I became stronger. Maybe too strong... I remember going through high school with a very tough exterior that I'm trying to work on now to soften. Not to say that this book is what made me all super tough, I'd began building up my walls years before then. To this day I still have a hard time letting myself express what I feel.
After finishing Astonishing Adventures, I decided to buy myself a copy, and ended up buying a copy for a friend as a gift as well. Our copies are paperback, so they are blue although still shiny!
I don't think Lyga had intended to write a sequel since AA ends with a bit of a cliffhanger ending, but it worked. So, about a year ago or so, I found out his sequel was being published. I was soooo excited to read it!!! (He's also written two other books, but I have not read them yet. YET.) I did find it at my local bookstore, but did not have the money to buy it for myself, and the library didn't have it in yet. Then, over the summer I found the book again at Borders. Since Borders was closing and most of the books were relatively cheap, I bought it at about a quarter of the price and was able to get a few other books as well. I was still taking summer classes when I bought the book, so I had to wait an entire agonizing two weeks to read it. I read it in one day, one sitting. Goth Girl Rising made me tear up, the first book to ever do that. (And I read the entire Harry Potter series already, which had made friends of mine cry.) It also made me love Kyra even more. I loved that Lyga allowed the reader to get more insight on Kyra, in her own voice and on her own terms... that's how she likes to work. I loved being able to know what she felt and thought in the present, but also what she said in the past that made her behave in a certain way now. I think one of the biggest ideas Lyga presented through Kyra was her relationship with her friend Jecca. It's not expected, almost surprising to read, but in the end it's really cool to see how Kyra wraps her head around that relationship. Hahaha, like I said earlier, I can relate to her a lot more than I thought would ever be possible. I laughed, I cried, I gasped, I giggled, I felt her anger, her frustration, and something else. Kyra is told something by her therapist, and it was... I can barely describe the feeling. I knew the therapist was right, he was a lot right... and her way of analyzing what he said was logical to me. It made sense, and the ending is beautifully done.
Lyga was able to take two characters with different viewpoints and make them relate to just about anyone, Kyra and Fanboy contain elements of each person. And in the end, they both made me grow a bit, they gave me insight on myself, they gave me insight on others, and they made the world appear a little more real, a little more loving, a little more harsh, and they made the world make sense... even if it was for a short period of time. It feels strange trying to explain why these books were so important, and still are, to me. I know it's fiction, and for some strange reason it feels like I'm writing this more for myself than for others. Maybe it's because I'm not entirely sure who is reading, and whether you deem this important. All I can say is that these books are awesome, but I don't know if everyone should read them. After all, my taste in books is common and strange at the same time, and I don't regret reading this series at all. Even if they send my mind spiraling.
