Goth Girl Rising
(Libby/OverDrive eBook)

In this sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (2006), Lyga dives with typical boldness into the complexity of teen emotions and, for the first time, the female perspective, starting with the first lines: Before she went and died, my mom told me to stop bitching about my cramps all the time. This time, it's Goth Girl, or Kyra, who narrates. Back home after a depressive breakdown and months spent in a psych ward, she pours out her anger: at Fanboy, who has serialized the comic she'd helped develop during their attraction-charged friendship; at her father, whose smoking she links to her mother's fatal cancer; and at a general culture that encourages women, including her teachers, to exploit their sexuality, even as she struggles to understand her own attractions to both boys and girls. Instant messages, grief-soaked poems, and letters to her hero, Neil Gaiman, add more angles to Kyra's raw, furious, heartbroken narrative. More than the meandering story line, it is Kyra's wholly believable questions and her forceful voice that will stay with readers.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2009 Booklist

Lyga returns to the characters and school from The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, this time writing as Kyra, just released from a mental hospital. Kyra is mad at her dad for committing her, at friends who copy her new all-white clothes look and at a "hypocrite" teacher who espouses feminism but uses her body for attention. She focuses her anger on Fanboy, who played a role in her hospitalization and then ignored her for six months (meanwhile, publishing his comic in the school literary journal and becoming more confident and popular). But even as Kyra plots revenge, she realizes she has other feelings ("God, I just want to tear his head off. And throw him down on the bed"). Her revenge plans never seem fully credible, but Kyra remains a fierce, unstoppable character. Readers will love getting her side of the story, whether she is raging about sexism in letters to her hero, writer Neil Gaiman, or finally figuring out that the person she needs is "someone who appreciates not just what you do, but how you do it." Ages 14-up. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Six months have passed since the events of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, and Kyra (the eponymous Goth Girl) has been released from the mental ward of a hospital after her latest suicide attempt. She has no trouble falling back in with her old friends Jecca and Simone, and while Fanboy also seems genuinely pleased at her return, she resents his lack of communication while she was away. She resents it so much, in fact, that she secretly plots his downfall. But even as she seeks revenge, she must come to terms with her past (the death of her mother and its effect on her family) and her sexual identity (what to make of those occasional make-out sessions with Jecca). Lyga takes his time resolving these strands, and not always convincingly (the revenge subplot hinges on a misunderstanding, while the sexuality subplot seems like a convenient place for Kyra -- not to mention her oversexed friends -- to wait while she sorts out her feelings about Fanboy), but his voice is so believable and his characters so distinctive that readers should be captivated nevertheless. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

After six months in a mental hospital, Kyra, the newly shaven-headed heroine of The Astonishing Adventures of Fan Boy and Goth Girl (2006), has only one plan: to exact embarrassing revenge on sweet, loyal Fan Boy for not contacting her while she was away. His status at school has risen since she left, and now his graphic novelpublished in the school's literary magazinehas made him a legend. This, of course, only augments her eagerness to spill his secrets. Lyga's latest is more character sketch than story. Kyra may be traumatized by her mother's death and furious at her dad for sending her away, but her anger doesn't feel strong enough to fuel her determination to take Fan Boy down, in the absence of a logical rationale. She's definitely confused, but she doesn't seem heartless. Plus, Fan Boy's dog-like devotion to her makes her look like an even bigger jerk. Still, goth teens and fans of the first novel will be drawn into the darkness that is her life. (Fiction. YA) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In this sequel to The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (2006), Lyga dives with typical boldness into the complexity of teen emotions and, for the first time, the female perspective, starting with the first lines: "Before she went and died, my mom told me to stop bitching about my cramps all the time." This time, it's Goth Girl, or Kyra, who narrates. Back home after a depressive breakdown and months spent in a psych ward, she pours out her anger: at Fanboy, who has serialized the comic she'd helped develop during their attraction-charged friendship; at her father, whose smoking she links to her mother's fatal cancer; and at a general culture that encourages women, including her teachers, to exploit their sexuality, even as she struggles to understand her own attractions to both boys and girls. Instant messages, grief-soaked poems, and letters to her hero, Neil Gaiman, add more angles to Kyra's raw, furious, heartbroken narrative. More than the meandering story line, it is Kyra's wholly believable questions and her forceful voice that will stay with readers. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

Lyga returns to the characters and school from The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, this time writing as Kyra, just released from a mental hospital. Kyra is mad at her dad for committing her, at friends who copy her new all-white clothes look and at a "hypocrite" teacher who espouses feminism but uses her body for attention. She focuses her anger on Fanboy, who played a role in her hospitalization and then ignored her for six months (meanwhile, publishing his comic in the school literary journal and becoming more confident—and popular). But even as Kyra plots revenge, she realizes she has other feelings ("God, I just want to tear his head off. And throw him down on the bed"). Her revenge plans never seem fully credible, but Kyra remains a fierce, unstoppable character. Readers will love getting her side of the story, whether she is raging about sexism in letters to her hero, writer Neil Gaiman, or finally figuring out that the person she needs is "someone who appreciates not just what you do, but how you do it." Ages 14–up. (Oct.)