'Collected and in color for the first time, The Hazards of Love follows the story of a queer teen from Queens who makes some mistakes, gets dragged into a fantastical place, and tries to hustle their way back home.
'Amparo's deal with the talking cat was simple: a drop of blood and Amparo's name to become a better person. Their mother and abuela would never worry about them again, and they'd finally be worthy of dating straight-A student Iolanthe. But when the cat steals their body, becoming the better person they were promised, Amparo's spirit is imprisoned in a land of terrifying, flesh-hungry creatures known as Bright World.
'With cruel and manipulative masters and a society that feeds on memories, Amparo must use their cleverness to escape, without turning into a monster like the rest. On "the other side," Iolanthe begins to suspect the new Amparo has a secret, and after the cat in disguise vanishes, she's left searching for answers with a no-nonsense medium from the lesbian mafia and the only person who might know the truth about Bright World.'
The Hazards of Love is a popular web comic that's been brought to print for the first time, now in bright colour. The book follows the non-binary teen Amparo, a kid who's something of a troublemaker, but doesn't want to be a 'bad' kid. When a strange talking cat climbs into their bedroom one night and offers them a magic wish Amparo thinks that this might be their chance to finally change their life. I mean, why work on yourself and put the effort in when a talking cat can just magic you into a better person right?
Unfortunately for Amparo, this cat's a bit of a liar, and after making the deal the cat takes on Amparos form and steals their name. Amparo now finds themselves unable to speak their own name, and unable to affect anything in the world. Worse still, they're suddenly drawn into the strange Bright World, a place outside of regular reality filled with monsters and bizarre creatures. Here Amparo has to find life as an indentured servant to avoid getting eaten by some of the more nefarious denizens of Bright World, whilst trying to figure out if they can break free from this strange place and get back home.
Meanwhile, the cat that's now posing as Amparo seems to be holding up their end of the bargain, in a sense, and is being a better version of Amparo; it's even managed to win over the smart and pretty Iolanthe, starting a relationship with her. But Iolanthe senses that there's something not quite right about Amparo, and wants to get to the bottom of it.
At first I wasn't sure what to make of the story, The introduction to Bright World was a bit confusing, with talk about licenses and sponsors for humans, the whole thing felt a bit clustered, but after a while, a few issues in, the book became a lot more enjoyable and easier to read. I think this was because Stanley stopped trying to give the reader all of the information, like the previously mentioned scene where the laws for humans were being explained, and just allowed the story to unfold naturally. Things flowed better allowing the reader to discover things with Amparo, and making the quest to get these answers part of the journey.
I think that it also took me a while to get to the point where I liked Amparo, and sound them a bit off-putting to begin with. They're very full of themselves, and they definitely think they're smarter than they are, which leads to them getting knocked down a few pegs during the book. They seem to assume they're the smartest in the room, and think that their plots and plans to get back home are going to work, and them learning to fail a few times definitely makes them a more relatable and enjoyable protagonist.
One of the biggest of these learning mistakes comes in the form of Amparo thinking they're being clever by getting themselves employed by El Ciervo, something that backfires for them quite a but. I especially enjoyed the book once El Ciervo entered the narrative. One of the more frightening inhabitants of Bright World, this creature takes the form of a black skinned human with the head of a deer. They're deeply unsettling due in part to the reader often being unable to discern their emotions or their intentions just by looking at them, but also because of his quiet calm and calculating nature. They seem like one of the more human, more relatable creatures from Bright World at times, whilst at others they're so predatory and evil that they're the stuff of nightmares.
The relationship that forms between Amparo and El Ciervo is fascinating, with the creature seeming to show genuine consideration to the teen at times, correcting their use of pronouns when they first meet, and seeming to care about Amparo's gender expression and comfort; yet other times he'll be brutal to them, doing completely inhumane things. Despite the book being about Amparo and their journey to get back home, this relationship is what grabbed me the most, and became the thing I loved best about the book.
The overall plot, of Amparo finding a way back to their normal life, doesn't get to move forward too much in this volume, but that never felt like a bad thing, as Stanley did so much world building and character development that the book was still packed with content. I'm eager to read more, to find out what happens next, the only question is do I wait for the second volume, or do I go and start reading the web-comic so that I can find out quicker?
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