Note: Rin-ne Volume 2 is, of course, the sequel to Rin-ne Volume 1. The review for Rin-ne Volume 1 is here. Otherwise, read on!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Manga Monday: A new rival for Rinne, and more souls to send on
Rinne battles soldiers, singers and a lovestruck teenager to put their souls where they belong in Rin-ne Volume 2.
Note: Rin-ne Volume 2 is, of course, the sequel to Rin-ne Volume 1. The review for Rin-ne Volume 1 is here. Otherwise, read on!
Note: Rin-ne Volume 2 is, of course, the sequel to Rin-ne Volume 1. The review for Rin-ne Volume 1 is here. Otherwise, read on!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
War and death cause dark magic to flourish
The Great War creates problems throughout both mundane and magical Europe in Mercedes Lackey's fourth Elemental Masters novel, Phoenix and Ashes.
While this is the 4th book in the Elemental Masters series, it is certainly accessible to first time readers of the series. While there are no real spoilers that I could tell, or anything beyond basic 'fantasy world magic' to know, there may be some that I missed, so be warned. Otherwise, read on.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Manga Monday: Black Jack may not have very many friends, but he'll do anything for the ones he has
Black Jack's skills are stretched to the limit treating children, presidents and even whales in Black Jack Volume 2.
Note:Black Jack Volume 2 is, of course, the sequel to Black Jack Volume 1. The Vertical edition is published not in chronological order, but in the preferred order of Osamu Tezuka, so spoilers are not generally a problem. The review for Black Jack Volume 1 is here. Otherwise, read on!
Note:Black Jack Volume 2 is, of course, the sequel to Black Jack Volume 1. The Vertical edition is published not in chronological order, but in the preferred order of Osamu Tezuka, so spoilers are not generally a problem. The review for Black Jack Volume 1 is here. Otherwise, read on!
Thursday, October 6, 2011
A bad decision gets a young man lost to North Korea for most of his life
There are some decisions that set the course of your life forever. Picking a major in college. Getting married. Quitting a job to follow your dream.
Then there are the less well thought out life changers. Dropping out of college to gold mine in World of Warcraft. That one-night stand. A drunk-dial to your (now former) boss.
Charles Robert Jenkins' poorly thought out decision probably trumps all of those. Stationed in South Korea during the end of the US' involvement with the Korean war, Jenkins hears that his unit might soon be transferred to the war now heating up in Vietnam.
Jenkins has always been the type to take the easy way out. In fact, he enlisted in the army because his father told him that he either had to get a job or join the military, and the military seemed easier.
Not liking the stories that he was hearing coming out of Vietnam, he comes up with a plan to get out of being transferred. He's heard that men who have defected to the USSR regularly get sent home in prisoner exchanges. He might spend a few years in Leavenworth, but that would be easier than the hell going on in Vietnam. So, one particularly drunken night, he walks across the DMZ and turns himself in.
Unfortunately, North Korea is a completely different animal that the USSR. Instead of seeing Jenkins' capture as a chance to get back some of their own men, they saw a golden opportunity to get information and train their spy program. So there Jenkins stayed.
For four decades.
So Jenkins hardly got the easy out he was hoping for. Although, in the world that is North Korea, he probably had it easier than many others. He never quite starved to death, for one. While the beatings were at times plentiful, from both the North Koreans as well as other American prisoners, he always recovered from them. He even found something of a love match with a prisoner kidnapped from Japan to work with the spy program as well. All in all, it could have turned out much worse for him.
Along the way, we get to see some of the truly bizarre customs and beliefs that are programmed into the lives of everyday North Koreans. The government does such a complete job of blacking out the media that the average citizen simply has no idea how different the world outside is. And those who do know what happens to them and their families if they show the slightest signs of dissent.
Even as you shake your head at the sheer idiocy of defecting to North Korea, to which Jenkins fully admits, there are moments to cheer for him as the underdog of the story. When he's assigned to teach English classes to future spies, he purposefully gives them the wrong words, out of a combination of amusement and spite. You can't help but cringe along with him when he's assigned a 'housekeeper' who lays down the law about how the house is going to be run. And you cheer at the end when he gets to teach his daughters about how the rest of the world lives.
The writing's simple, and it's a very quick read. It gives a unique and intriguing look into one of the most insular countries in the world, which would be hard to get anywhere else.
Highs: The writing's brutally honest in its self-reflection, which keeps the story from turning into a "look how hard my life is" mess
Lows: Parts of the narrative could have been cleaned up better by the editor of co-writer
Verdict: Material you won't get anywhere else, and short enough not to be boring
Further Reading: North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter, Pyongyang
Then there are the less well thought out life changers. Dropping out of college to gold mine in World of Warcraft. That one-night stand. A drunk-dial to your (now former) boss.
Charles Robert Jenkins' poorly thought out decision probably trumps all of those. Stationed in South Korea during the end of the US' involvement with the Korean war, Jenkins hears that his unit might soon be transferred to the war now heating up in Vietnam.
Jenkins has always been the type to take the easy way out. In fact, he enlisted in the army because his father told him that he either had to get a job or join the military, and the military seemed easier.
Not liking the stories that he was hearing coming out of Vietnam, he comes up with a plan to get out of being transferred. He's heard that men who have defected to the USSR regularly get sent home in prisoner exchanges. He might spend a few years in Leavenworth, but that would be easier than the hell going on in Vietnam. So, one particularly drunken night, he walks across the DMZ and turns himself in.
Unfortunately, North Korea is a completely different animal that the USSR. Instead of seeing Jenkins' capture as a chance to get back some of their own men, they saw a golden opportunity to get information and train their spy program. So there Jenkins stayed.
For four decades.
So Jenkins hardly got the easy out he was hoping for. Although, in the world that is North Korea, he probably had it easier than many others. He never quite starved to death, for one. While the beatings were at times plentiful, from both the North Koreans as well as other American prisoners, he always recovered from them. He even found something of a love match with a prisoner kidnapped from Japan to work with the spy program as well. All in all, it could have turned out much worse for him.
Along the way, we get to see some of the truly bizarre customs and beliefs that are programmed into the lives of everyday North Koreans. The government does such a complete job of blacking out the media that the average citizen simply has no idea how different the world outside is. And those who do know what happens to them and their families if they show the slightest signs of dissent.
Even as you shake your head at the sheer idiocy of defecting to North Korea, to which Jenkins fully admits, there are moments to cheer for him as the underdog of the story. When he's assigned to teach English classes to future spies, he purposefully gives them the wrong words, out of a combination of amusement and spite. You can't help but cringe along with him when he's assigned a 'housekeeper' who lays down the law about how the house is going to be run. And you cheer at the end when he gets to teach his daughters about how the rest of the world lives.
The writing's simple, and it's a very quick read. It gives a unique and intriguing look into one of the most insular countries in the world, which would be hard to get anywhere else.
Highs: The writing's brutally honest in its self-reflection, which keeps the story from turning into a "look how hard my life is" mess
Lows: Parts of the narrative could have been cleaned up better by the editor of co-writer
Verdict: Material you won't get anywhere else, and short enough not to be boring
Further Reading: North Korea Kidnapped My Daughter, Pyongyang
Monday, October 3, 2011
Manga Monday: Can Kosaku live up to his potential as a boxer if he keeps binge eating?
It takes a lot to get me to read a sports manga. For every Hikaru no Go or Initial D, there are dozens of other, terrible shonen sports manga out there that are eminently forgettable. But Rumiko Takahashi hasn't lead me wrong yet, so I tried to keep an open about her boxing manga One Pound Gospel.
It's a terribly odd premise. In one corner, we have Kosaku Hatanaka,. A boxing prodigy who has quite a bit of raw talent paired with the devil's own luck, his only downfall is a binge eating problem like none other. Forced to starve himself before each match to make weight, he's lost his last four fights simply because of his weakness for food.
In the other corner is Sister Angelica. A young novitiate, Kosaku has been going to her church for confession and to ask for help with his weakness. Partially out of the caring that nay nun would have for a down-on-his-luck member of her flock, and perhaps a bit because of her soft heart, she takes him on as a personal case, helping him resist the temptation of street food that lines the roads he jogs down.
We also see a lot of Mudoka, Kosaku's coach. An old man with a bit of a heart condition, he started getting his hopes up with Kosaku when he won his first match to be a pro so young. He rather seems to regret having taken on a boxer with no willpower. With his heart condition, the rest of the members of the gym are constantly concerned about his well-being when Kosaku has to weigh in before a fight.
As much as I like Rumiko Takahashi's other series, and as much as Kosaku reminds me of Godai from Maison Ikkoku, this series gets off to a rather rocky start.
The chapters are fairly formulaic, with the first one or two chapters of a story arc establishing the new opponent and setting Kosaku up to fail at keeping his weight down. Then comes the match, where he either fails because he gave into temptation, or succeeds with the help of Sister Angelica. Admittedly, that's the basis of just about any sports manga, but I did expect more character development of our two main characters. I'd love to see more of Sister Angelica's life at the convent, or before she took her vows, and perhaps Kosaku before he joined up under Mukoda.
Alas, it's a shonen sports manga, so perhaps this is all we can expect. Still, with likable characters and a relatible premise of overcoming weaknesses, there are still a few things to like in this manga.
Highs: It's cute to watch Angela and Kosaku interact when they're walking down the street together
Lows: Just not enough of the characters' backstory
Verdict: If I'm going to read a sports manga, I suppose I could do worse than this
Further Reading: Maison Ikkoku, Initial D
It's a terribly odd premise. In one corner, we have Kosaku Hatanaka,. A boxing prodigy who has quite a bit of raw talent paired with the devil's own luck, his only downfall is a binge eating problem like none other. Forced to starve himself before each match to make weight, he's lost his last four fights simply because of his weakness for food.
In the other corner is Sister Angelica. A young novitiate, Kosaku has been going to her church for confession and to ask for help with his weakness. Partially out of the caring that nay nun would have for a down-on-his-luck member of her flock, and perhaps a bit because of her soft heart, she takes him on as a personal case, helping him resist the temptation of street food that lines the roads he jogs down.
We also see a lot of Mudoka, Kosaku's coach. An old man with a bit of a heart condition, he started getting his hopes up with Kosaku when he won his first match to be a pro so young. He rather seems to regret having taken on a boxer with no willpower. With his heart condition, the rest of the members of the gym are constantly concerned about his well-being when Kosaku has to weigh in before a fight.
As much as I like Rumiko Takahashi's other series, and as much as Kosaku reminds me of Godai from Maison Ikkoku, this series gets off to a rather rocky start.
The chapters are fairly formulaic, with the first one or two chapters of a story arc establishing the new opponent and setting Kosaku up to fail at keeping his weight down. Then comes the match, where he either fails because he gave into temptation, or succeeds with the help of Sister Angelica. Admittedly, that's the basis of just about any sports manga, but I did expect more character development of our two main characters. I'd love to see more of Sister Angelica's life at the convent, or before she took her vows, and perhaps Kosaku before he joined up under Mukoda.
Alas, it's a shonen sports manga, so perhaps this is all we can expect. Still, with likable characters and a relatible premise of overcoming weaknesses, there are still a few things to like in this manga.
Highs: It's cute to watch Angela and Kosaku interact when they're walking down the street together
Lows: Just not enough of the characters' backstory
Verdict: If I'm going to read a sports manga, I suppose I could do worse than this
Further Reading: Maison Ikkoku, Initial D
Thursday, September 29, 2011
You can't run away from your family, especially when there's magic involved
All Diana Bishop really wanted was a normal life as an academic. Gaining tenure at a prestigious East Coast school and getting to go back to Oxford to study their alchemical texts was a dream come true, born of years of dedication and hard work.
Unfortunately, having been born the last female heir to the Bishop line of witches causes its own problems. And when a truly ancient vampire appears right at Mabon (the autumnal equinox festival), problems are going to arise.
This is where we meet Diana and Matthew in A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Diana has been refusing to use her innate magical gifts, to the point that she keeps a mental list of the handful of times she resorts to it a year. When she gets caught in a moment of weakness using magic to get a book down at the library, she feels the eyes of a vampire on her.
That vampire would be Matthew. An amazingly old vampire, with a rather motley crew of family members behind him, his every action has layer upon layer of motive beneath the surface.
Unfortunately, these two magical beings find themselves drawn to each other, both out of a reluctant love, and for protection. For when the governing body of the supernatural world finds out about their relationship, they will do whatever it takes to separate them.
It also doesn't help that Diana appears to be a magical key of sorts needed to unseal a long lost codex explaining the origin of magical beings. Or that each group of beings thinks that the codex will give them the power of life and death over the other two.
As a paranormal romance, some will find it wanting. Matthew gets very overprotective – and sometimes possessive – of Diana. It makes perfect sense that a man raised centuries before the idea of woman’s liberation would act in this way, but some will not be able to see the actions for what they are. Others will be offended that Diana ends up relying on Matthew so much instead of finding her own way out of every situation. Some may even find the will-they-won't-they throughout the book maddening. I won't necessarily disagree with any of these points of view, but I don't think that they detract from the story at all. In fact, I would think that dating a person from a culture so different from one's own would by definition cause many of these problems. Can you really blame a person born so long ago for being a bit old-fashioned?
In all, Deborah Harkness has re-imagined the vampire-witch-demon triumvirate in a fascinating way. The history and settings feel meticulously researched, and if the science aspect is a little cloudy, at least she tried to rationalize some of the magic. And it does make a certain sort of sense that the intelligent, long-lived beings among us would have a fascination with the evolution of science over the centuries.
Overall, though, it was much more the 'paranormal romance' than the 'horror' section placement that a certain chain bookstore gave it. A Discovery of Witches ought to please those who prefer their vampires to be of the intelligent, but not sparkly, variety.
Highs: Matthew's 'family' back home is absolutely spellbinding to watch interact with each other.
Lows: It's a flaw of most romance books, but being in love really shouldn't give a person leave to be as self-centered as many heroines end up.
Verdict: The last chapter leaves me eagerly anticipating the next book in this series, due out next year.
Further Reading: Soulless, The Society of S
Monday, September 26, 2011
Manga Monday: How can a kitten get lost so quickly?
Chi finally figures out how the doggy door works and gets to really explore the neighborhood in Chi's Sweet Home Volume 5.
Chi's Sweet Home Volume 5 is, of course, the sequel to Chi's Sweet Home Volume 4. The review of Chi's Sweet Home Volume 1 is here and the review of Chi's Sweet Home Volume 4 is here. Otherwise, read on!
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