Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Entertaining
Review: "Flyboy" was a good read. The story moved along nicely until the ending where it feels rushed. I'd desribe the feel of the book as quirky and goodnatured, as are the socialy motivated stunts the superheroes pull. The main hero's sympathy is, by the way, heavily with the left wing. If that sort of thing turns you off, you might be irritated (Most of the political declarations are pretty unsubtle). If not, it's a fun book. (There are several darker sub-plots though. Both those and the lighter ones are left dangling in a few cases however. Nothing was left open enough to the point where it ruins the book but it would have been nice to have some of them wrapped up.)The casual dialogue does feel kind of stilted, until I tried to imagine it as bantering between my own friends. It works then - it DOES sound very much like some of the exchanges you hear between, say, university aged friends. Unfortunately without the tone to back it up, it doesn't come across as well on paper. Still, there were some nice witty bits. And it has the first four lines of the North American Sailormoon themesong as an epigraph. That alone convinced me to take a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Munroe up and away
Review: Anyone with a sense of adventure should read this book! This as well as Munroe's other two books are three of the BEST books I have ever read!
Rating:
Summary: Can a Fly Make for a Comforting Action Figure?
Review: Aspirations of superpowers in small children are nothing new. One little boy thinks he cam fly. Another little girl thinks she can fight evil. A little boy thinks he can turn into a fly. A little girl... Wait. A fly?
Jim Munroe's Flyboy Action Figure Comes with Gasmask begins an average story about an average guy named Ryan who lives with his average roommates and is an average student and does a below-average job of picking up women. One day while at his regular haunt - the coffee house - Ryan gets up the nerve to ask out Cassandra, the waitress he has been admiring from afar.
Cassandra is less than average. She used to play in a famous punk rock band. She is an ardent feminist, sometimes lesbian and single mom. And she can turn invisible.
Average Ryan might be intimidated by this fact if it weren't for his own ability to turn into a fly. That's right, a fly. In Flyboy, Ryan discovers early on in childhood that he can indeed turn into a fly.
Now before you go off assuming that this is some modern-day remake of David Cronenberg's 1986 hit The Fly, know that in this tale boy meets girl and girl does not shoot boy as he turns into some grotesque creature. In fact, Flyboy is only a small part science fiction, believe it or not.
When a girl who can turn invisible meets a boy who can turn into a fly, there is no other choice than for the two to become superheroes.
Right?
If those argument is not a reasonable one to you, than neither will be most of the plot of Flyboy. However, if you can accept this shaky premise, then Flyboy makes for what is actually a sweet, though quirky, story.
Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining and definitely recommended, but...
Review: If there were 4.25 stars available, I definitely would have rated this book with that. It's very enjoyable, fast-moving, funny, with just enough indie/pop-culture stuff to be credible, but not come off as trying too hard.
The narrator is interesting enough, well-developed and quite likeable. The other characters are as well.
I couldn't help thinking, though, that Lilith had the more intriguing outlook and background. Which, of course, is the whole idea here. Is she really a demon? Was all the satanic stuff for real? What was it like growing up with her parents? What's the history of that language? The nuggets we got through Kate's eyes only made me want more -- from Lilith rather than Kate.
It made me think about what this book would have been like if it had been told through Lilith's pov. (Of course, right there you'd loose the blog-construct, but, I'm not entirely sure that would have been a bad thing). I don't remember thinking like this way for any of his other books -- as in, hmmm..I wonder what Flyboy would have been like if we were in Cassandra's head instead of Ryan's...?
That nit-pick aside, it's still a fun, interesting read and well worth picking up.
Rating:
Summary: Non-Stop Goodness
Review: Mr. Munroe's book is close to perfect. His characters are true-to-life, the plot is original and fun, and his style is addicting (I read the book in a day). I find the idea of superheroes taking on everyday bad guys (cigarette bill-boards and bawdy newspapers) simply brilliant.
The love story is realistic and touching, without being sappy. And the sub-plot (Hero's mom getting cancer) is also handled brilliantly.
Just an all around good book.
Rating:
Summary: Fun but lacking feeling
Review: Munroe's first novel is a fun exploration of the life of a super-hero in a fairly real world setting. Instead of fighting ultimate evil, Flyboy and Ms. Place use their powers to make strong political statements in their city of Toronto. Instead of focusing on action on plot and action, Munroe wisely chooses to use superpowers to explore the unique aspects of the two main characters. The powers relate, for the most part, fairly well to the mind set of these two people. But despite not being too plot driven, the story does move pretty quickly. There are lots of fun moments within the story, and anyone under 35 or so will find it fun (many over that age will like it, too). Muroe's biggest failures in this are with the ending and with a sidestory. Ms. Place uses her powers in a marvelous way that we never get to see, which was quite a let down for the reader. There is also a sidestory of the narrator's mother dying of breast cancer; this is worked in so slightly I doubt it's importance when it resurfaces towards the end. While a fun work, it missed in hitting me between the eyes with feeling.
Rating:
Summary: A small story spread across north america
Review: One of Jim Munroe's strengths is his connection with artists - ones who are trying to make it on the edges of society. This story focuses on four of them, one of whom might actually be evil.
Another of his strengths is his realistic grasp of the power of technology - the book takes the form of a series of convincing blog entries by Kate, whose roommate behaves very strangely indeed.
From this "small" story focusing on four people comes large ideas about dichotomies that we have all accepted and take for granted, among them rich/poor and good/evil.
Much less sprawling than his last work, "everyone in silico," "An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil" brings a lot of depth to its characters and their travels. Jim Munroe once again shows us the potential inherent in all of us, and the possibilities brewing in artist communities everywhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible!!!
Review: The author of this book took a bad idea and wrote an even worse book. read at your own risk. The characters are disagreeable, and the writing is disgustingly simplistic.
I have the feeling the author wrote this book for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, this was recommended to me by a friend. I hope to spare you do not buy or read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but..
Review: This book had me mesmerised from the minute I started reading it.. it's intellegence with an immature voice, which is an odd combination, but, strangely enough, works with the bizzarre plot. It also has a sense of humour as strange as its plotline, with some dark notes that keep it from completely being a comedy book. I, overall, loved it.. or, what I read of it.
Which brings me to why I gave it three stars instead of five.
I am fourteen years old, and found this in the public library (I read mostly from the adult section.) I had gotten SO into the book, when.. well, you know how most books, when it gets to a sex-scene, cut off right before "it" starts? Well, this book didn't. I immediately put it down (what, you thought I'd be so immature as to keep reading something NC-17, at my age?) And, unfortunately, never got to finish the book. (I WOULD have skipped over that part, but my Mom would KILL me if she found out I kept reading a book that had that in it. Yes, she is nosy enough to find out.)
Moral? Great story for adults to read, but kids an' underage teens, STAY AWAY.
Rating:
Summary: Bzzzz. Bzzzz.
Review: this kooky book drew me in with it's animated political plot. punk rock girl with super powers and a shy guy with the ability to be the fly on the wall we all want to be. they find each other in love and band together to rid the world of the injustices we all know are out there. the book never loses it's flavor but sometimes the momentum. a quick, enjoyable read.
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