Books

Club Dead, Dead as a Doornail, Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
Christopher’s Ghosts by Charles McCarry
Your Two Year Old: Terrible or Tender by Louise Bates Ames
Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Sally Lockhart Quartet by Philip Pullman
Irish Trilogy by Nora Roberts

Manga & Graphic Novels

Sand Chronicles #5
Moon Child #1-3
Skip Beat #18
Two Flowers for the Dragon #1
Ultimates #1
20th Century Boys #2
High School Debut #9
Otomen #2
Fire Inspector Nanase #2
Lapis Lazuli Crown #1
The History of West Wing
Name of the Flower #2

While stranded in Illinois with only one book that I don’t much feel like reading, I snagged Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart books from my little sister’s room and read them in a few days. The adventures of an atypical Victorian heroine in a gritty version of London were extremely entertaining.

The Ruby in the Smoke

The first book in the series begins with the sentence “Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man.” I defy anyone not to be curious about Sally after that opening line. Sally’s father has just died and her unconventional upbringing has left her to be remarkably intelligent when dealing with accounting or target shooting, and less informed about dealing with people. When Sally visits her father’s office and utters the phrase “The Seven Blessings” to one of her father’s business associates, he is so frightened that he falls over and dies. Sally is soon caught up in a mystery involving the shipping trade, a mysterious Ruby, and a not inconsiderable amount of opium. Sally leaves her detestable guardian and attempts to strike out on her own. She’s aided by the Garlands, a brother and sister with an unconventional lifestyle who run a photography business. A clerk named Jim with an addiction to penny dreadfulls is also along for the adventure. A horrible woman named Mrs Holland who runs her own criminal empire in the slums of London is after a ruby that may actually be Sally’s legacy. Mrs Holland’s abused servant girl Adelaide ends up helping Sally unravel the mystery of her father’s death. Not knowing how to act like a typical girl leaves Sally to come into her own without the constraints of the society she lives in.

Shadow In the North

One of the things I like about these books is that they reflect happenings in history. While the first book focused on the opium trade, the second has spiritualism and mysticism as a backdrop. A few years after the events in The Ruby in the Smoke, Sally has become a financial consultant. Her friend Fred Garland is now a private detective, and the photography business has been invigorated by Sally’s capital and business sense. Fred often asks Sally to marry him, and she always refuses, because she doesn’t want to give up her independence. One of Sally’s clients loses money in an investment in a shipping company, and Sally senses a strange pattern when she looks at the way the business failed. While Sally investigates shipping issues, Fred and Jim are caught up in a case involving a charismatic and cowardly magician. An evil businessman plans to build an ultimate weapon, and the trio of friends are determined to stop it.

The Tiger in the Well

Sally lives on her own with her young daughter Harriett. Someone has been building a trap for Sally for years, and the day that she’s served with divorce papers and a custody claim from a non-existent husband turns into a psychologically harrowing nightmare as Sally tries to discover who her shadowy enemy is. The presence of a faux husband could cause all of Sally’s assets as well as her daughter to be taken from her, and the court system does not favor unmarried mothers. Sally goes on the run with Harriett and finds an unexpected ally in the form of Dan Goldberg, a socialist Jew and political leader. The plight of immigrants and the lower classes in London is clearly portrayed as Sally seeks refuge in neighborhoods that she’s never had to travel before. Sally dodges the police by hiding with her daughter in tea shops and boarding houses, and gradually finds out that a man the Jews call the Tzaddik is behind the attempt to take her daughter away. Sally does some undercover detective work of her own in order to find out the identity of her enemy.

The Tin Princess

The fourth book in the series focuses on some of the supporting characters, as Sally is happily married to Dan Goldberg at the start of this novel. Jim continues with his detective work and literary ambitions, penning thrilling plays and sending them off to theaters only to collect rejection slips. Adelaide who disappeared into the slums of London after the first novel, and when she turns up in the Tin Princess she’s married to a prince from the tiny European country of Razkavia. Unfortunately Adelaide is ill-equipped for princessing, as she is illiterate and doesn’t speak German. A young tutor named Becky visits the new princess, but a bomb goes off outside the house as they conclude their lesson. Jim loiters outside, as he’s been searching for Adelaide for years, and he quickly takes charge of the bombing aftermath, earning the friendship of Adelaide’s husband Prince Rudolf. Becky, Jim, and Adelaide travel to Razkavia together, determined to detect the people behind a recent outbreak of royal assassinations that lead to Adelaide assuming the throne after her husband is killed. Adelaide’s determination to do right by her suddenly adopted country is admirable. There’s bonus knitting content in this volume, as Jim unravels a sweater that Sally knit for him in order to create some improvised weapons.

I think of the series, the first book is one of the strongest and strangest just due to the presence of opium induced visions. The second book was a little muddled, as I was a little taken aback by Fred’s sudden transformation into detective. The third book was the most emotionally gripping, and it was nice to see some of the supporting characters featured in the fourth book. Overall, the Saly Lockhart books are extremely entertaining and well worth reading if you enjoy historical fiction and mysteries.

If you enjoy informative recaps of the adventures of semi-obscure DC comics characters, I encourage you to hop on over to Dave’s Space Cabby Sunday. Space Cabby drives a cab in space!

I have mixed feelings about the four issue mini-series that came out in the late 80s. While I was happy to see Amethyst again, her character changed dramatically. I thought the contrast of Amy Winston with her older incarnation as Amethyst made the earlier series charming.

In this mini-series, Amethyst is a remote goddess, with little trace of Amy left. The art in the series is very pretty, although less innovative than the look that Ernie Colon established for the series.

This mini-series firmly ties Amethyst to existing DC continuity, specifically the Legion of Super-Heroes.

The cover of the issue proclaims “The Legend Reborn.” Amethyst stands in a forest surrounded by magical creatures.

She holds her gemstone over her head, and it radiates purple light.

As the issue opens an old man prepares to face his day. It is White Opal! He gets out of his hermit’s hut, preparing for his job.

The title of the issue is “…And Wait the ‘Pointed Hour”

Continue Reading »

I’m about to be traveling for awhile so manga reviews will be on hold for awhile. Traveling with little children means cutting down on my usual library of fun vacation reads in order to have more space to pack sippy cups and Elmo sticker books. I’m only packing one book for myself, Georgette Heyer’s An Infamous Army. Maybe I will just spend the next two weeks blogging about Waterloo.

I’m around midway through the series now, and I continue to be entertained by the amount of over the top drama in Glass Mask.

There’s Soul Shattering Death! Tsukikage turns Maya over to the Daito Corporation and Hayami begins the work of turning her into a star. She’s acting in a supporting role on a TV drama and has a role in a movie. Unfortunately she’s surrounded by saboteurs who delight in spiking her food and booby trapping her sets. Maya’s mother is now blind and tubercular, trapped in a hospital with no contact with the outside world. Hayami is paying off the hospital because he wants to engineer a touching mother daughter reunion for the media at the premiere of Maya’s new play. Maya’s mom figures out what’s going on, escapes the hospital, and hitchhikes to Tokyo in the rain in an attempt to find Maya. She ends up dying alone in a movie theater, listening to her daughter act in her first movie.

There’s All About Eve Shenanigans! A mysterious girl named Norie shows up and starts acting like Maya’s personal assistant. Unfortunately she is studying Maya’s every move so she can take over her roles. Norie tells Maya that Hayami was preventing her from seeing her mother. Then Norie pays off a motorcycle gang to take Maya to a beach and ply her with drugs. Maya goes along with it, as the recent events have left her a total zombie. Maya passes out on the beach and misses her first performance. Norie steps in for the role. Maya’s fledgling career is shattered.

There’s Revenge in the form of Acting! Ayumi is disturbed by her rival’s abrupt fall from grace and does some investigating. She discovers that Norie is responsible and maneuvers her director father to cast her in a supporting role as a vampire in Norie’s new play. Ayumi destroys Norie with the power of acting, turning her vampire supporting character into the lead role and blowing her off the stage. Maya is left on her own to rehabilitate her career, and she does so by putting on amazing one woman shows at her high school.

There’s Romance! Maya’s first love ends up being not the patient and long-suffering Sakurakouji but her teen idol television co-star Satomi. They go out on a couple dates, but Satomi’s manager decides that they can’t date anymore after Maya’s fall from grace. Hayami gradually realizes that he’s in love with Maya and he’s appropriately creeped out at himself for entertaining feelings for a girl 11 years younger than him. Even though he keeps paying for Tsukikage’s hospital bills, he still exhibits plenty of his old traits as a heartless bastard. He forces Maya to go on stage after the death of her mother, and even kidnaps her from time to time when she has pneumonia and needs medical treatment.

Two Flowers for the Dragon by Nari Kusakawa

Two Flowers for the Dragon manages to be a nice light fantasy manga despite being burdened with a clunky premise. The dragon in the story is the main female character. Shakuya is the heir to the dragon clan, a family that is charged with protecting a desert oasis. Long ago her fiance Lucien left town, and she has since been assigned a new fiance – the stoic officer of the law Kuwan. Kuwan is an older man, and his mystique is further emphasized by his eye patch. Lucien suddenly comes back, but with a twist. He has amnesia and doesn’t remember Shakuya or his life, although he treasures a letter Shakuya sent him as one of his dearest possessions. Now Shakuya has two fiancees, and two flower tattoos on her hands. Bellflowers represent Kuwan and roses represent Lucien. As her feelings increase, the tattoos grow in complexity. K’s flower has several blossoms on Shakuya’s arm. There is a single rose on Shakuya’s hand for Lucien.

Shakuya goes through her day, occasionally being interrupted by her protective duties. She can turn into a dragon with the power to control water, which certainly comes in handy when her oasis is threatened. Lucien’s flirty demeanor begins to get under Shakuya’s skin, and Kuwan’s habit of being strong and silent isn’t helping her to remain confident about his feelings. The rose tattoo begins to sprout a bud, and Shakuya quickly covers up with gloves to hide the evidence of her emotional confusion.

Shakuya and her two suitors deal with a traditional festival featuring armed combat, the antics of two tiger cubs, and a snake charmer whose abilities have an unexpected effect on people with dragon blood. I thought Shakuya’s habit of turning into a powerful dragon when her emotions get out of control provided an interesting twist on the traditional power dynamic that you usually see in shoujo manga. The art is attractive and dynamic. Shakuya’s eyes are large, with cat-like pupils that highlight her status as something more than human. While I haven’t read any series by Kusakawa before, CMX publishes two other titles by the author – Recipe for Gertrude and the Palette of 12 Secret Colors. I’ll definitely be on the look out for those titles, since I did enjoy Two Flowers for the Dragon very much. It is a perfect fantasy manga to read on a weekend afternoon when you don’t want to think too hard.

Glass Mask is a shoujo classic that I wish was translated into English, but since the series is so long and unfinished (although new chapters are starting to appear again) I guess there is a slim chance of it ever reaching the US. Glass Mask is a 43 volume manga about a girl struggling to become an actress. It started in 1976! I think that’s an example of what makes manga awesome. While we might not be able to read the manga, Crunchyroll is streaming the 2005 anime version of Glass Mask, so at least that’s one way to experience the story.

Maya Kitajima is a girl who is remarkable for being undistinguished. She doesn’t perform well at school and she isn’t particularly pretty. What she does have is an insatiable appetite for drama. When she sees a dramatic TV show or catches a glimpse of a movie, she’s mesmerized, memorizing all of the dialog and gestures of the actors to perform the story later to the neighborhood children as her own one woman show. Maya is raised by a single mother who is constantly lamenting about her useless daughter. Maya tries to help out at the restaurant where her mother works, but whenever Maya delivers ramen near a movie theater she disappears for hours.

A mysterious woman whose overgrown Veronica Lake hairstyle hides horrible scars on half of her face spots Maya in one of her impromptu performances. She decides that Maya is the girl she’s been searching for, the Girl of 1000 masks. She’s Chigusa Tsukikage, a legendary actress who retired after her face was scarred. She has the rights to the play that produced her signature role, the Crimson Goddess. Tsukikage is determined to prevent the play from being performed until she finds an actress worthy of the role.

Tsukikage starts an acting school and Maya runs away from home in order to train. Maya is almost savant-like in her acting abilities, having instinctive reactions on stage that showcase her natural ability. Tsukikage’s training methods seem to involve much yelling, all night acting sessions, and the occasional violent backhand blow to the face. Tsukikage is under stress because she doesn’t really have the money to support her new school and the Daito theater corporation is after her to relinquish the rights to the Crimson Goddess.

Other people in Maya’s life include the man who is the heir to the Daito corporation, Masumi Hayami. He appears to be fascinated by Maya’s fresh enthusiasm for acting and Maya herself. Hayami anonymously sends Maya purple roses for each of her performances, but doesn’t reveal to her that he’s her fan. Instead he allows her to use her hatred of Daito and him as a goad to improve her acting. Daito has an acting school of its own called Ondine. Two of the students at Ondine are important to Maya. Sakurakouji has a crush on Maya but is constantly frustrated in his romantic ambitions by Maya’s obsession with acting. I guess it is hard to date a girl when she just wants to watch plays, run lines, or learn how to play the piano for a role. Ayumi Himekawa is a young woman with all the advantages that Maya lacks. Her parents are rich. Ayumi’s father is a director and her mother is a renowned actress. Ayumi has grown up with the intensive training that Maya lacks, and she’s Maya’s main rival for the role of the Crimson Goddess.

So since It might be a long time or never before the manga of Glass Mask is translated into English, I recommend checking out the anime if you are interested in the story. It seems to me that the character designs are mostly slightly modernized versions of the characters in the manga. The anime version has many amusing touches, like a magical girl transformation sequence where Maya puts on the mask of the character she is about to portray and Tsukikage seems to always be accompanied by ominous organ music wherever she goes.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is what my YA book club is reading this month. Life as We Knew It is a harrowing and gripping story that details one family’s life after a meteor collides with the moon. It is written in diary format, as Miranda chronicles her daily life at school where everyone is dimly aware of the impending collision. After the meteor hits, the effects are worse than predicted, with tsunamis and volcanic activity destabilizing the Earth’s climate. Miranda’s mother does her best to hold the family together by hording food and rationing meals. Her brothers help out with the house, and while a semblance of normal life continues for a time as winter sets in the conditions grow worse and worse, and it is clear that the family is slowly dying of starvation.

Miranda’s normal concerns of high school friendship, sports, and boys continue while her family struggles to stockpile wood for the winter, but as people in her town die off or move to warmer locations in the hope of finding more food her world grows smaller and smaller until she’s left with only the room with a wood burning stove where her family sleeps on mattresses. The book ends on a slight note of hope, but the impact of the disaster on Miranda and the world in general isn’t minimized. I finished this book in a day, and it is definitely worth reading if you enjoy well-written YA speculative fiction.

The History of the West Wing by Jiayu Sun and Guo Guo

History of the West Wing is based on a classic Chinese play but the truncated story and lack of plot and character development failed to capture my attention even though it was bolstered by some lovely art. A wandering scholar named Chen Yuquing catches a glimpse of the beautiful PianPian at a Buddhist temple. Through chance encounters in the gardens, a dropped handkerchief and a rainstorm, they begin their courtship. Obstacles prevent the couple from achieving happiness. PianPian is already engaged to a dissolute noble who Chen knows due to his association with his equally infamous sister. Bandits threaten the temple and PianPian’s mother promises her daughter’s hand in marriage to whoever defeats them.

Chen promptly rides away and shows up with his own army to defend the temple. He’s then given the task of passing first in the civil service exams. He does that too! Then PianPian doubts Chen’s fidelity due to the sudden appearance of a woman from his past and one panel later after talking over the situation with her maid, she decides to trust him. Then they get married and the story ends.

I think some of the most interesting parts of the story were never shown to the reader. How exactly did Chen manage to find a handy army in the mountains? How did he manage to study well enough to pass the civil service exams with a perfect score? I had no idea how these things happened. Plenty of time was spent on PianPian and Chen’s initial meetings, but the rest of the story felt strangely abrupt. While the art in the book was gorgeous with soft colors and detailed costumes for the characters it didn’t make up for the lack of story in this slim volume.

The production quality of the book is great, as the cream colored paper stock set off the watercolor hues of the art. Several bonus illustrations of the characters are included after the story. If you need any sort of satisfying story, this isn’t the book for you. If you enjoy comics solely for the illustrations, History of the West Wing is worth a look. I felt that this book was much less satisfying than Bride of the Water God, another example of pretty art and patchy storytelling.