Book Logging for the second half of March

[the_rck]

Case Closed 7 - I think I have to space these out a bit more. I get frustrated with the episodic nature of the story and am much more interested in character development and ongoing story than I am in the mysteries. There's very little character development at all, and reading several volumes (even two volumes) in close succession makes me feel cheated. Still, I love the fandom the series has spawned, and I want to know the canon. As long as the library has more volumes, I'll keep reading.

Chibi Vampire 2-4 - I'm kind of amused that the chapters here are called 'embarrassments.' That's a good term for them from the characters' point of view. The relationship soap opera element (primarily the lack of any sort of time line for resolution of problems) is wearing on me now. I want something to happen that isn't misunderstandings, relationships or wacky hijinks. The series still isn't setting off my general annoyance with vampires, but I'm wary that it might.

Claymore 2 - I'm still intrigued by this series. I've read a few comments on later volumes, so I have a better feel for the world, I think, than I necessarily would just based on the first two volumes. This volume seemed to me to still be doing set up, showing episodic stories in order to set the stage for bigger stuff. I do hope that it isn't all just grimness. I want some humor to leaven things and some arc plot, too. I want to go beyond attractive women killing demons.

Emma 6 - Ah, melodrama. Poor Emma. She really doesn't deserve any of this. I feel less charitable toward William who really isn't thinking about the people around him at all. I'm not saying that he's wrong to choose love, just that the way he's doing it doesn't make me give him many points for thoughtfulness and maturity. I feel very sorry for Eleanor, too, as she's done nothing at all wrong. She's perfectly nice. The only thing wrong with her is that she isn't Emma.

Now I have to wait for the library to get v.7.

Ex Machina 4 - I give up. I can't keep reading. The violence level is too high and too close to real for my anxiety to tolerate. Scott wants to keep reading, so it's possible I'll pick up a volume later or come back to this one, but right now, I can't. I need reading to give me spoons, not to take them.

Good Witch of the West 2-3 - I find myself curious about the novels this manga is based on. The author's notes make it sound like they're something that all readers are expected to know already. I like the main characters here, and I'm very curious as to what astronomy has to do with heresy in this particular setting, especially as astronomy seems to lead to highly coveted, potentially powerful, secret information. I'm also rather amused by some of the character names in v.3 which is set at a girls' school. I've not previously seen Vincent used as a girls' name.

Hunter x Hunter 15 - Not much happened in this volume. Lots of powering up and various villains doing things that our heroes don't really know about yet. Scott's decided that he's no longer interested in the series, but that may be because I've thrown so many things at him recently.

Kamichama Karin 6-7 - v. 7 frustrated me. It felt muddled. It answered a few questions but did so in ways that left me confused about what the answers meant. Some of that is probably explained by the fact that there's a second series, but... The whole thing is still terminally cute with most of the characters looking young enough to leave me feeling utter disbelief about the romances.

Kampung Boy - I hate this style of art. I have trouble figuring out what's going on or who's who. That aside, I enjoyed the book. It's the story of a boy growing up in rural Malaysia in the 1950s, and it's full of little details. I kept thinking that I'd have to remember this bit or that bit for later. I have, sadly, forgotten them all now. If I have time, maybe I'll go back and reread it before I return it to the library. It was a fast read.

Law of Ueki 4 - It's been a while since I last read any of this series. It took me a bit to remember what was going on, and I'm still not sure that I remember who all the characters are. I enjoyed the volume, but the story doesn't seem to have anything to really make it stand out as original. There's some charm in the super power of being able to turn trash into trees, and the author comes up with different ways for Ueki to use his power.

Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea - This short graphic novel is based on a seventeenth century Korean novel. It's definitely simplified (aimed at kids). I found the mix of explanatory text and graphic novel passages a tiny bit patronizing, but I'm forty. The story makes sense even for someone who, like me, knows very little about Korean history, but there are some elements that remind readers that this is not a European story. There are decent author notes-- including notes on clothing, hair styles and so on-- at the end and a limited bibliography. I can't say how accurate or abridged the adaptation is. It must be abridged, though, because it's very short.

Lickiss, Rebecca. Never After - I suspect that this book is more amusing for those who know a lot of fairy tales because those who don't won't necessarily catch all of the lurking references. I liked Princess Vevila. If I'd been her position, I suspect that I'd have been as angry and stubborn as she (though not so energetic). The nature of the curse on the castle and on the wizard also amused me. There were points when I felt like something-- I'm not sure what exactly-- was missing. Maybe depth. This wasn't a story for massive character development or convoluted schemes that come to fruition ten years later. A good bus read.

Mar 10 - Okay, so I did go back to read this one. I decided that I might as well. It had backstory for the thief guy whose name I always forget and the usual (mandatory?) fight scenes. More people showed off their new magic items. No surprises.

Mugen Spiral 2 - Knowing that there are only two volumes of this, I rather hoped for story resolution. Sadly, there was none. Yayoi, Ura and Hakuyo just continue on in sitcom style. My guess is that the author hoped to be able to continue the storyline. I simply can't imagine deliberately leaving such major plot threads dangling otherwise (and I don't think it's lack of craft).

Naruto 28 - Poor Gaara. Now I really want to see what comes next. Makes me wish I could handle scanlations without my eyes rebelling.

Neff, Henry H. The Tapestry - First off, I enjoyed this book. Bear that in mind as you read the rest of what I have to say. Second, this book's setup is something like a bastard offspring of Harry Potter and So You Want to Be a Wizard. That is, the main character ends up at a magic school that's training people to be magic users who can try to keep Evil from taking over the world by dedicating themselves completely to that goal. Third, it's not only the first in a series but also reads like it has pieces missing. There are dozens of characters and only a very few got enough text (or showed enough personality) for me to remember who they were three pages later. The ones I remembered, I really remembered, but most of them blurred together. I had the feeling that there were events that ought to be there but that had been edited out in order to keep the book from running more than the 414 pages it does.

I did like the way that the classes were handled in the school. The kids had to do standard subjects and magic. The narrative showed that as exhausting and requiring a lot of dedication and hard work. They had gym class twice a day, which makes sense if you're training kids possibly to be field agents in the future. The kids also each ended up responsible for the care of one particular magical animal (one that picked them rather than that was picked by them), some sentient and some not. That was described as a lot of work, too.

Negima 8-9 - The crushes that the girls have on Negi edge dangerously close to squick territory for me. I mean, he's ten, and most of them are something like fourteen. Yes, he's a teacher, but... um. At least we got a little more of Negi's backstory here and a bit more about some of the girls. There are too many girls for me to remember who's who, I'm afraid. I end up having to wait to see what their special abilities are (if any) again in order to remember them. I kind of think that I'd like the series better if it weren't about Negi but rather focused on his students.

O-Parts Hunter 3-7 - This series has enough commonalities with Naruto that I rather agree with Scott's speculation that the authors (who, according to Wikipedia, are twin brothers) either had a childhood game involving certain plot elements or challenged each other to create different stories using some similar basic elements. The fundamental plot similarity is that Jio, the main character in this series, also is an orphan who can't remember his parents and who is hated by many people due to the powerful demon locked in his body. (There are other common elements, too, but that's the big one.)

These volumes follow Jio and Ruby as they search for more O-Parts and more information. Jio wants 'world domination' (one gets the impression that he's not really sure what that means), and Ruby wants to find out what happened to her father. Along the way, they pick up another boy, Ball, and a rather unreliable mentor figure. There's some sort of bizarre stuff going on about really powerful O-Parts (think magic items) and the Kabbalah and reverse Kabbalah, but not enough detail has come out yet for me to really be clear about it.

I do recommend the series if it sounds like the sort of thing that's to your taste.

One Piece 15-16 - I'm not sure I can come up with anything to say about these beyond that they're silly. The characters are over the top. The situations are ludicrous. I can always pick one of these up without being afraid that I'll have anxiety trouble. In spite of the pirates and evil, evil villains.

Ouran High School Host Club 9 - I knew I should have logged this immediately. Now I've forgotten what happened. Well, not so much what happened as which bits happened in this particular volume. I think it mostly focused on the twins, but I'm not certain.

Ranma ½ 34 - Ranma's mother finally finds out his secret. I was hoping that would happen much earlier because I was tired of the slapstick routines involved in hiding things from her. Off course, I get tired of that sort of thing very rapidly, so I've no idea why I read this series. Well, I do. It's not generally stressful as long as I don't think too hard about the holes and real world stuff. It's funny in small doses. I was (last year) writing a fic about a couple of the characters and set out to read the whole series (I was delayed by some missing volumes. Now that the last of them is available to me, I'm so close to the end that I feel like I should finish).

Rave Master 20-22 - This series is odd in that it's not a series of fights against bigger and bigger Big Bads. Instead, it's a series of digressions that aren't digressions along the way to the final confrontation with the Big Bad. The digressions keep revealing how the big confrontation is bigger and more important than it seemed to be before and more factions who care about it or want to influence it or disrupt it for various tangential agendas. I think we're now up to saving the universe from being eaten, but I'm not completely sure. I'm not keeping track as long as I keep having fun.

Red River 8 - I have a little difficulty believing that Yuri wouldn't recognize the name Ramses. Isn't that one of the names that even those who know little about Egyptian history recognize? I could deal with her not knowing what would happen to the Hittite prince (just. I liked him and wished for better), with her not recognizing the name of that particular queen of Egypt, but... Still, she is showing a bit more sense occasionally. Of course, she usually then turns around and does something foolish as if she has to balance it all out.

Sanderson, Brandon. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians - I was terrified that this book wouldn't live up to my hopes. I'd seen a few book log entries praising it and was as apprehensive as expectant. Well, I loved it. I snickered. I told cherydactyl to suggest it to her older daughter. Then, after I finished reading it, I shoved it at Scott and said, "Read this."

Part of the fun is that I do still think of myself as a librarian in spite of not having the degree and never having had the job title. The notion of an evil conspiracy of librarians running the world amuses me in itself. This story has an engaging voice. It's told in first person by the title character, and he spends almost as much time commenting on the story as he does telling it. (If you pick up the book, try the first couple of pages and don't like them, don't bother with the rest. The style remains consistent, and if you don't like the style, the story won't carry things.)

I also find the idea of superpowers that sound pathetic or even unfortunate being quite useful amusing-- The power to trip. The power to say things that make absolutely no sense. Things like that. Alcatraz's grandfather has a Talent for being late, for example. He can arrive late for bullets fired at him. Of course, he also arrives late for things he wants to be present for, and people working with him have to worry a lot about schedules.

Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil - I picked this up from the library because I loved Bone. My feeling on this one is that it's the start of a story that could be good. I'm not sure that I have much else to say. Origin stories generally bore me because they retread old territory. I want to know what comes next. I liked the characters, and I'd like to see how a kid with superpowers would grow up.

Tenshi Ja Nai 7 - As I compare this to W Juliet, I find that the hero here looks much more like a guy in drag than the hero in W Juliet does. The guy-ness is more profound in scenes with the heroine, too. The impersonation here also doesn't have a projected end point. Until the hero's father recovers (which he may never do) or dies, the hero has to keep earning money to pay his medical bills. There is no time when the characters can expect things to change and become normal. That changes the tension of things, making for more potential angst.

Trinity Blood 5 - I think I want a better explanation of the backstory and politics of this world. I think the backstory for our hero will come in tiny pieces (some came in this volume), but I don't mind have that come slowly. I want backstory that involves things like the structure of the Church and the social hierarchy among vampires and the politics of the Inquisition. I like to think that all of that would make sense if I had all the pieces. It might, but I haven't gotten enough information to guess. This might just be another case of "well, for the story to work, that has to be true..."

Tsubasa 14 - I'm not sure I could have pursued the feather in this volume without being distracted by the Books. I mean, the feather would still be there after I browsed a little, right? And I couldn't very well browse after getting the feather.

Tsubasa 15 - It's been so long since I read any of X that I don't remember who most of these people are. Well, I know their names, but I wouldn't recognize them without names attached (and sometimes am not sure of anything but that the name goes with a character from X). I suspect that my poor memory for that sort of thing is robbing me of a lot of the crossover fun in this series.

Utopia's Avenger 4 - I checked the TokyoPop website, and they have pages of this title available to preview. I'm still kind of puzzled as to what I like so much about this. Well, apart from the fact that I have a Thing for guys with arms that have defined and not overly bulky muscles. At any rate, in this volume, we get more information about our hero and his secret organization. Plotting revenge for years, protecting a powerful artifact that everyone wants, yes, hitting plot points.

W Juliet 13 - The Christmas Eve date is filler. Fun filler but still. The audition was important, but Ito being sick for it felt kind of artificial to me. I do like the idea that she's still learning. The final bit, the family vacation, was the most important part of the volume for me. I was wondering how the story would handle Ito's family figuring out who Ito's boyfriend really was would go.

W Juliet 14 - The ending of the series didn't disappoint. Ito and Makoto had to deal with siblings, parents, former classmates and all of that. None of the steps were overly easy, but they also weren't complicated for the sake of angst. I wouldn't call this series deep, but it was fun, and it didn't set off my anxiety the way so many similar series do. (I find that the more realistic a series is the more it can make me panic.)

Wein, Elizabeth E. The Lion Hunter - I may try this one again when I can have the sequel in my hands, so that I can ease my anxiety by seeing how it all ends. As it was, I managed to read about the first thirty pages and the last twenty. Judging by those, the break between books is more like the break between two parts of one book in that there's no resolution at the end of this volume. I couldn't face the rest of the book because I could tell it was going to crank my anxiety immensely high with no relief at all. It's possible that I might be able to handle it in a week when other things weren't ratcheting the stress up, but I'm not sure that I want to read anything for the next year or two that costs me spoons. I'm sad because I wanted to like this book and wanted to read it. I want to read things set in Africa, particularly things set in periods like this that I know almost nothing about (and that don't carry the Doom, Doom, Doom of the colonial and post-colonial periods).

xxxHolic 10 - I need to reread this series at a point when I have all the available volumes in hand at once. I've lost track of what I know from spoilers and what's actually happened in the volumes I've read. I've also lost track of who some of the supporting characters are (this is a perpetual manga problem for me as I follow so many different series and take months between volumes in many cases). My main comment on this volume is that Watanuki is frustrating because there seem to be a lot of things he chooses not to allow himself to think about.

xxxHolic 11 - Reading this in close proximity to v.10, I could definitely see puzzle pieces. I'm not sure of the frame, but I think that answers might be coming soon. Maybe. Of course, this is CLAMP, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

YuYu Hakusho 10 - I find myself kind of glad that gap in my access to this series (the library only recently acquired v.10 and the other volumes after it) occurred in the middle of a big series of fights. I can recognize the members of the team and rebuild my sense of their interactions without feeling that I'm missing something that would help me understand subtle plot points. I may be missing stuff, but it generally doesn't have a large impact on my comprehension overall.

Zatch Bell 9 - Zatch and whatshisname (our human hero) are really and truly insufficiently paranoid. They don't *expect* to get attacked in spite of the events of the previous eight volumes and in spite of knowing that they're engaged in a there-can-be-only-one! fight for power and are considered soft targets. This volume brought a little more information about the shadowy villain who I expect will be a big factor later on, with lots of revealed backstory.

As usual, I'd love to talk about these if anybody else has read them or has questions about any of them.