Natalie Riess is from a distant, unknown star. Her motives are unknown, but she seems to enjoy drawing food and making comics. She lives in Texas with her girlfriend and her girlfriend's cat.
KIRKUS-In this graphic-novel sequel, a human chef must battle her
way out of a murderous intergalactic cooking show.
Diving right in where predecessor Lights, Camera, Snacktion! (2016)
left off, this sequel finds Peony, an aspiring white earthling
chef, double-crossed and kidnapped from the cooking show Space
Battle Lunchtime. She's dropped onto the set of their sinister
competitor, Cannibal Coliseum, where the contestants could
literally become lunch. On the set, Peony meets one of her
challengers, the very pink, wide-eyed, manga-styled, and adorably
vicious unicorn Ariella Magicorn. As Peony tries to stay alive in
the cutthroat kitchen, her friends from Space Battle
Lunchtime-including the quietly intense, blue-skinned Neptunia,
whose affections for Peony have now blossomed into a
relationship-must save her before it's too late. Riess' candy-hued
charmer is like a recipe that incorporates myriad ingredients:
there's sci-fi elements, comedic action, a tentative and sweet
queer intergalactic romance, and, of course, the culinary aspect.
In less deft hands, this seemingly arbitrary assemblage could fall
as flat as a dropped soufflé, but Riess' offbeat sensibility and
inventiveness shine. Heavily awash in a spectrum of bubble-gum
pinks, this is a fun, fierce, and inventive tale that will appeal
to those seeking read-alikes for Noelle Stevenson's fan-favorites
Nimona (2015) and Lumberjanes.
A genre-buster, for sure, and a delightful mashup at that. (Graphic
science fiction. 12-adult)
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