Book Review: Crystal Cadets

Book: Crystal Cadets by Anne Toole with illustrations by Katie O'Neill with color by Paulina Ganuchaeu

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

Zoe has always felt out of place; her foster parents are great and all, but she's long felt like something was missing. That is, of course, until she discovers a mysterious gem left to her by her birth mother and her whole universe gets flipped around! When the crystal grants Zoe mysterious powers of light she becomes the Diamond Cadet, and she's not the only one; suddenly she's meeting new friends who shoot flames and glowing green arrows. It's all fun at first, but when The Darkness possesses Zoe's foster parents her only choice is to join this wild group of action-hero girls, traveling the globe to defeat The Darkness and find a cure!



Rating: 3 stars

Review:

Crystal Cadets = Sailor Moon meets children/middle grade readers. This was a fun and cute comic that followed a group of girls who as the Crystal Cadets use gem power to stop the Darkness. The story opens with Zoe at school meeting three new girls Jasmine, Gwen and Olivia who stop her from being bullied. At home, Zoe celebrated her birthday and received a special gift from her foster parents. It was a journal from her birth mother and inside she found a hidden letter that also contained a diamond.

The next day at school, the Darkness was attacking. As Jasmine, Gwen and Olivia were trying to stop it, Zoe went home but found the Darkness was already there. It was controlling her parents and was trying to get her. Although, she was saved by the Cadets the Darkness left her parents in a state of unconsciousness. After finding out that Zoe had a gem, they took her and her parents back to the Crystal Cadet castle where they hope to one day cure Zoe's parents of the Darkness.

From there the girls along with Jasmine's older sister Nahla, who runs the control room, were trying to locate the other holders of gems before the Darkness could get to them. But standing in their way, was a girl name Emmy who seems to be able to control the Darkness.

This ends on a cliffhanger but also with a twist in regards to who the newest Crystal Cadet was.

Although, this was a fun and fast-paced story with a lot of action I felt like there wasn't enough time put in to actually develop the story. It went from one scene to the next without giving out a lot of information. And there was not a lot explanation about how the Crystal Cadets came to be other than they get their power from gems which were passed down to them. They then use their powers to protect the Earth from the Darkness. Their enemy the Darkness besides being too ambiguous almost seemed too big for them to handle.

I like the concept of the Crystal Cadets but the writing was lacking. With the story moving so fast you don't get a good sense of who the Cadets are that is besides Zoe. And speaking of Zoe, it was unbelievable that she went from newbie Cadet to assuming the leadership role. It didn't seem right especially since the group already had a very competent leader in Jasmine. I like Zoe but I thought the book focused too much on building her up instead of focusing on all the Cadets.

I like the artwork, it reminds me of Steven Universe and other similar cartoons on the Cartoon Network, Disney, etc..

Overall, this was a fun, easy-breezy comic that's geared towards children and middle grade readers. Kids will love the bright colors and action packed scenes and most likely will be looking to read more from this.

I believe this has been turned into an ongoing series and if the author would add a little more depth and slow down the pace a bit, I really think this would make an excellent series.