Suddenly, in 2018, TWO new Sonic story books were released.
They are "Sonic and the Tales of Deception" and "Sonic and the Tales of Terror". Each small easy-reading book has 3 different, unrelated stories inside. There is not art on every page, but each book does have a few illustrations, as seen above. These are always done in shades of blue. The art is NOT Archie and is NOT all just stolen/modified stock art. (Bears mentioning because this was generally the case with previous books) Each book is about 7 dollars.
You can buy these on Sonic Books Amazon, or, by going to Target in 2018. (They are there both in store and online) Books are both inexpensive to collect, and easy to keep, making these a decent target to expand your Sonic stuff selection.
Book Mini Review:

The art: Kudos for not being a re-run. That said...the art is often confused between modern and classic. Sonic, Tails & Knuckles could be drawn classic style, while Amy only appears in her modern dress. Tales of Terror is illustrated by Spaz! of Archie Sonic fame, but it is not so much in his "usual style". Tales of Deception is illustrated by Ian McGinty. The page above with Rouge appears, although she isn't mentioned in the story. So, the art got a little bit uncoordinated. You can also spot Knuckles with fingers...

The plots: Tales of Deception - Somewhat preposterous stories like Knuckles is invaded by really small bees & Sonic has to shrink and enter him to defeat the bees. But like...I guess he's pretty hollow inside or something?
Eggman figures out 1 noise only Sonic can hear, and somehow this can mind-control him so the gang must consult Shadow on how to defeat him.
A "future Sonic" shows up with a device that can mess with Sonic's shoes to try to steal Tails'....plot device. (No, literally...it's literally a device to fuel the plot and that's all it is! The story even acknowledges that Tails has no idea what he's building. It's almost like Big went fishing and caught a literal Red Herring fish.)
Tales of Terror- Preface: Action game heroes and PG ratings are NOT SUITED to anything to be called 'terror', so you know this isn't going to live up to its name at all.
A meteor spills mind control goo on the heroes so Sonic & Tails have to figure out how to stop super-strong Cream & Cheese (and Big) from fixing the meteor & controlling the world.
Eggman brings back an egg boss & Knuckles' discovers some ghosts that bore into his face & that is painful. Eggman might die?
Return of the Werehog: Because the werehog & the Dark Gaia things are scary, it makes a breif return for 1 story.

Characterization: It's ok.
There's nothing spectacularly good or bad about the character portrayls here. It's pretty standard / expected for stories that are that short & forced to have odd themes that don't really go well with the universe.
Are they better than previous offerings?
Yes. They're longer, with more plot. The art is better though-out. They're not 'for babies' & they're not a re-hash. You can't instantly guess what's going to happen, either.

You can get these AND 'look inside' at Amazon.