I.D. is a dystopian tale, analysing perceptions of identity through three characters considering a body transplant as a solution to their problems. The graphic novel itself is quite short at 84 pages and reads much like a short story, honing in on the turbulent times these characters are living in, and the difficult decisions they are making about their future and identities. Their initial meeting is supposed to be brief, a short meeting in a coffee shop to meet the others considering the body transplant; however fate, circumstance, and the universe force them to spend more time together than anticipated.

I.D. begins mid-sentence of the three meeting for the first time. They don’t know the other’s backgrounds, and nor do we. We are introduced to the characters the same way the characters are introduced to each other. As the graphic novel is so short, little is revealed about the characters as the story progresses; however we are presented with a short snippet of their lives and their reasons for considering the body transplant. We’re forced to focus on the characters in that present moment, on the immediacy of their reactions, thoughts and feelings about their planned transplants, rather than extensive character development. It’s an approach that’s true to life, in the sense that you don’t get an automatic backstory for every person you encounter in life, you meet them at a specific time in their life and can only gather what they choose to reveal. It’s an interesting approach and definitely one to make you think.

The characters include Noa, a Trans man, Mike, an ex-convict, and Charlotte, a seemingly bored woman with a history of depression. They’re thrown together through their mutual consideration of the body transplant. Their interactions are humorous, as are their contrasting personalities. Whilst they are only together for a short time, we get a real sense of their personality thought their actions, which is emphasised through Rio’s amazing art and attention to detail.

The entire graphic novel is completed in shades of red. Whilst this is sometimes a little confusing during some of the few action scenes, it works well. The hues of red depict a sense of mystery and urgency, making this graphic novel feel really unique. If there’s one thing I absolutely loved, it’s the layout of this graphic novel. Rios overlays the wider image with smaller and cleverly placed boxes, often in sequences of squares and circles, depicting smaller details, especially facial expressions, through which we learn a lot about the characters. They give little inklings of their personality and inner workings that otherwise go unexpressed.

Whilst this graphic novel does not go into huge detail, it also throws up some questions about the ethics of procedures by big medical corporations and meshes a largely unexplained and unexplored dystopian and sci-fi setting with questions of identity. I.D is a brief but interesting read.

The booktubeathon has come to an end. I read a total of three books, a total I am very okay with. It's not the seven I had planned, but when does life ever go according to plan? In fact, I'm pleased to have just finished a single book!

The books I read:

Today I'm sharing some secrets. The secrets behind how I made it to every one of my 9ams, on top of a two hour commute. And on top of that, I had another lecture at 10am, a break and then a one hour seminar. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty grueling. Some days (let’s be real, most days) I was super tired and running on less than six hours sleep, but I made it, and made it out alive. Here’s how I did it, and how you can to.

Some things you’ll need: 

An alarm clock, the will to resist the snooze button, determination, motivation, perseverance, preparation, snacks and maybe some coffee or an energy drink (or two)

Motivation – You have to have the determination to do it. My motivation was essentially that I knew I had to stop myself from snowballing into bad habits. I knew if I missed one lecture, I could easily start making excuses for missing subsequent lectures and I didn’t want that to happen. I knew I could snowball easily, so I put in the effort to make it to every single one.

Alarms – DON’T press the snooze button. I know how tempting it is, especially when you’re waking up super early in the winter and it’s still dark outside. In my experience, snoozing just makes me feel even more tired, and makes it so much harder to fully wake up and get going.

Preparation – I feel like a mum saying this but prepare everything the night before. That means planning, preparing, and making your breakfast and lunch the night before, putting everything you need in your bag so you can literally just pick it up and go in the morning, planning what clothes you’re going to wear. Pack it all before you go to sleep so you can get as much rest as possible and so you don’t have to rush around in the morning whilst you’re tired, groggy, and probably sleep deprived. Pack some snacks to keep you going and some music to lift your soul and mood.

Get to sleep early and get ready for your early morning. I know I slipped up a couple of times experienced some regret whilst I was  struggling to stay awake during my lectures and suffering through my day, but I made it out alive.

It’s not all bad though. One of the ultimate perks of being up early is seeing the sunrise. The amalgamations of pinks, oranges, purples and blues never cease to amaze me, it’s always pretty and pretty amazing to witness. After powering through such long days, I’m pretty sure I’m invincible, or at the very least, can do anything I set my mind to.

This year, I've read about four whole books and started but not completed a countless number. Seriously, there have been so many. I miss reading and feeling enthusiastic about books, so I've decided to participate in the Booktubeathon!

The Booktubeathon, is a readathon with challenges, giveaways, twitter sprints and a whole load of other book related goodness, which celebrates books and discussing books on the internet (and also reading as much as possible in a week.) Ariel's video tells you everything you need to know, so check it out if you're interested because let's be honest, Ariel can explain it all better than me!

The readathon runs for a week, starting July 18th and runs to the 24th, and seems like the perfect way to inject some much needed reading into my life. Whilst I don't make booktube videos (or any videos for that matter... yet) I'm a pretty big fan of booktube and seeing all the TBR videos pop up has infected me with booktubeathon fever.


To make things interesting there are some reading challenges, which I of course, am going to try my best to complete. Challenge accepted as the memes would say.

The 2016 Reading Challenges:
1/ Read a book with yellow on the cover.
2/ Read a book only after sunset.
3/ Read a book you discovered through booktube.
4/ Read a book by one of your favourite authors.
5/ Read a book that is older than you.
6/ Read and watch a book-to-movie adaptation.
7/ Read seven books.

My very last minute to be read list for the booktubeathon! 

I've been obsessed with this game recently. Partly because cute little animal clients, partly because I've been ill, and partly because there's a lot of designing.