Ana is in the race of her life! The grand prize is Dr. Laslo's space
empire. But are her fellow racers trying to beat her or help her
win?
Mysterious media mogul megaquadrillionaire Dr. Laslo issues a challenge
to the best and brightest students in the Scholastic Federation to a cosmic
scavenger hunt. The grand prize – his vast empire. But the clues are
hidden across time and space, and only the best and brightest will be able to
find them.
Thirteen year old super studious Ana, on a scholarship at
Dalton Phillips Prep, is determined to win, for herself and her struggling
family back at home. She teams up with the school’s 2nd best student, the
eccentric alien shapeshifter, Zyxyx. But the stakes heat up when the competitors
from their rival schools enter the race—handsome Keio and the enigmatic
Ekene. Their behavior is confusing—are they competing against her or
trying to help? And why? Suddenly the competition becomes a lot more
complicated...
Ana and the Cosmic Race is a shojo comic (school romance aimed at female tween readers) from Papercutz under the Charmz imprint.
I really loved a lot of things about this comic. There's a romance element, true, but the first volume is full of strong female characters. There's also a cute slightly madcap sidekick (a shapechanging alien with 4 arms who's Ana's dorm roommate called Zyx), a mysterious gazillionaire (and in Willy Wonka style, he's giving his empire to the winner of the cosmic race), and a space academy full of supporting characters including Ana's potential love interests Keio Meida and Ekene Botha (see cover).
The art is charming and naive (in a good way), the action and plotting are fast paced. Yes, it's ridiculous and somewhat sappy, but it is shojo and my test audience (my daughter who is only slightly older than the target audience) absolutely loved it.
The creators also managed to sneak in some information/history along with the entertaining storyline. Thoroughly enjoyable!
Four stars
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.
