4.5 stars

Introduction:

YAY! NetGalley has sent me the final volume to Howard Shapiro’s hit series “Forever Friends Trilogy” called “Hockey Karma” and I must admit that after I read this graphic novel, it was a worthy conclusion to this series!

What is this story about?

In this volume, Jeremiah “Jake” Jacobson is now thirty-two years old and is known as being the best hockey player in the world. Unfortunately, because Jake is getting older now and he is starting to lose his edge, especially to new and upcoming star teammate Barclay Pedersen, his family life and career is starting to rapidly come apart. Meanwhile, Tom Leonard has got his own issues to deal with as he is trying to get a project that would help improve their city off the ground. But Jake refuses to help out with the project due to dealing with his addiction to some medical pills to keep him in the game and Tom is wondering if he would ever get the project off the ground. Also, Tom’s old high school crush, Jaelithe returns to town and Tom rekindles his relationship with Jaelithe and the two are thinking about staying together. But unfortunately, Tom will soon discover that he may have to sacrifice his current lifestyle just to maintain a long-lasting relationship with Jaelithe.

Will Jake be able to get his life back together and will Tom soon discover what he really wants for his future?

Read this graphic novel to find out!


What I loved about this story:

Howard Shapiro’s writing: Howard Shapiro’s writing continues to amaze me in this volume as all the characters are written extremely well and I just enjoyed the character development that each character goes through in this story. I loved the way that Howard Shapiro portrayed Jake’s condition as he is still recovering from his alcoholism from the last volume, only this time, he is dependent on pain medication and it realistically shows that even though Jake is trying to get help for his dependence on drugs, he is still struggling with trying to overcome his drug addiction. I also enjoyed the relationship shared between Tom and Jake as Tom is still trying to help Jake become a better person by helping him deal with his drug abuse and trying to help him mend his relationship with his family. I liked the way that Howard Shapiro also gave some focus to Tom in this volume as we finally get to see Tom have some of his story arcs resolved in this volume (him reuniting with his high school band “The Stereotypical Freaks” and him trying to rekindle his relationship with his high school crush Jaelithe) and I enjoyed seeing how much growth Tom goes through when he reunites with his old high school friends.

Andres J. Mossa’s artwork: Andres J. Mossa’s artwork is extremely gorgeous in this volume as all the characters are drawn realistically and seem to glow off the pages. I also loved the fact that Andres J. Mossa’s artwork is much more detailed in this volume than in the previous volumes as it greatly reflects the growing maturity in the stories and as the stories become more mature, the artwork becomes more detailed and realistic in tone.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I gave this book a four-and-a-half-star rating was because I felt that pacing was a bit too slow in some places and there was a lot of dialogue going on in this book that sort of slowed down the story a bit. I often had to speed through the dialogue just to get to the meat of the story and I kind of wished that some of the heavy dialogue was trimmed a bit so I could get to the more essential parts of the story.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Hockey Karma” is a great conclusion to Howard Shapiro’s “Forever Friends Trilogy” that really cemented the importance of true friendship and I hope to see more works from Howard Shapiro soon!

As this trilogy of graphic novels comes to an end, I find myself longing for more from the author, but knowing the story is done. I think he did a great job wrapping it up and bringing a teen friendship story full-circle. Istarted reading because I love bands and the way the author wrote the soundtrack and kept reading a sports graphic novel for the same soundtrack and the friends.

Book – Hockey Karma (Forever Friends Trilogy #3)
Author – Howard Shapiro
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 160
Cover – Great!
Would I read it again – Maybe
Genre – Young Adult, Comic, Sport


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


Again, I find myself missing that real emotional connection of book 1. Maybe it's because there is so much of the story dedicated to Jeremiah that it didn't feel as great, but I definitely felt that there was something missing.

The story was a great continuance of the previous book, but after reading it, book 1 feels more like a prequel than a start; it didn't connect with the later two books as much as I'd hoped. I had thought maybe they would all be about this gang of rock loving friends, but Tom's friendship with Jeremiah was interesting enough to carry this story, especially with the added drama.

It was great to see some of the old characters back again, to have that realism of not staying in touch with high school friends and wishing you had. It was also nice that Tom was able to manage both while keeping his current friends, without anyone feeling alienated.

Again, the story managed to pack some pretty serious topics into a young adult story, without overdoing it or crossing the line into adult material – relationships, death, drug abuse etc. They were all handled sensitively and made a real impact. I also love that Tom really focused on his entrepreneurial work, which Jeremiah introduced him to.

For me, books 2 and 3 are the perfect fit together, with a great ending. But, book 1 will always be my favourite, despite how good the other two are in their own right. I do love a good Hockey story, so this one really played on that part of me that loves the sport, while maintaining the story and characters that had begin in the previous book.

Jeremiah Jacobson is a 32 year-old hockey player. He has back problems and his game is suffering from it. Everyone can see that he is close to retirement. He starts taking a lot of pain medication, so much that he forgets to spend quality time with his wife and children. His friend Tom Leonard wants him to look over a plan he has to improve their neighbouring city, Bump City, but Jeremiah keeps forgetting. Meanwhile, Tom is having his own romantic issues. He is dating his high school crush, Jaelithe, but she lives across the country in Pittsburgh. Tom goes back to a high school reunion and is reunited with his old bandmates. Jeremiah has to deal with his new drug problem, while Tom has to decide what to do with his new relationship.

I loved this graphic novel! It's the third and final part in the Friends Forever series from Howard Shapiro. This one is definitely my favourite in the series. I love that it brings together the points from the first two books. I didn't see as much of a connection between the first and second books, but this one brings back all of the characters from the series in a reunion.

The only part that was a little confusing was determining which character was which while they played hockey. Since they were all wearing helmets, I couldn't tell which character was speaking at first glance.

I really enjoyed this series. This third book was a great conclusion to this heartfelt series.

This review will be posted on my blog on June 2, 2017.

Now we're talking. We got to see all of the old gang in this one...even Jacoby!

I enjoyed this third installment in the series, and like that the end was left open for more. I also like the way the characters have aged and where they've ended up. It was good seeing Tom finally step into his own...and Jeremiah figuring out he was more than hockey.

I really enjoy this series, and this one is no exception. The story focuses on male friendship and this is often a rarity for books that I read so by reading these is quite refreshing for me. I really enjoyed the characters too and found that the artwork was colourful and was really nice. I really recommend this series.

The story is simple but interesting, sort of like the first book.

It mentions important topics as well: homelessness, feminism, death of loved ones, etc.

There are moments in which they talk about things that happened in the first novel of the trilogy, something that didn’t really happen in Hockey Saint. The fact that they mention Jacoby was, at the very least, nostalgia-inducing, it felt as if I had read Stereotypical Freaks years ago instead of a few hours prior.

The characters in this novel were the same as Hockey Saint’s, which means they weren’t that great.

The art seemed a little bit more detailed, which is a great thing.

This book featured, just like the others, ‘Recommended Listenings’, a detail that I have grown to love.

I still think the first book was the best of the trilogy, but that doesn’t mean that this one is bad.