Click 2 by Youngran Lee: B-

April 7, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Poor Joonha has moved to the big city and is now living incognito, as a girl, at a new school. But that doesn’t mean his (her?) troubles are over. First, Taehyun, the obnoxious class playboy, coerces Joonha into a “friendship” that royally ticks off Yoomi, Taehyun’s ex. That’s before the reappearance of Heewon, the lovesick stunner who’s followed Joonha all the way from their old school—and whose feelings apparently stay the same whether Joonha is a boy or a girl!

Review:
I liked this one much more than the first volume, to the point where I’m tempted to give it a B. There’s just too much lingering sexism (albeit an incredibly diluted amount compared to volume one) for me to justify doing so. There does look to be some progress on this front, though. First, Joonha, being severely humbled, is not actively being arrogant and cruel to girls. She does still, however, have this notion that being a girl means that there’s no reason to do well in school anymore or to have ambitions of any kind, so she’s been slacking off in a major way. When her new friend, Taehyun, gets wind of this attitude his response is one of disbelief at this antiquated notion. He encourages Joonha to live life to its fullest, whatever her gender may happen to be, and she ends up turning out a bravura performance on her next round of class exams and makes plans to join Taehyun as his business partner.

There’s all sorts of other drama going on, too, including the girl Joonha spurned in junior high emerging on the scene and beating up the leader of Joonha’s new gang of admirers, Taehyun’s serious-minded lackey falling in love/obsession with her, an angsty family background for Taehyun, and the return of Joonha’s childhood friend Jinhoo (now a famous concert pianist) after a concert tour.

Despite the persistent problem of no truly likable characters, but I can’t deny that it’s getting pretty addictive at this point. The volume serves up a couple of nice cliffhangers in the final chapter, too.

Filed Under: Gender Hijinks, Manhwa Tagged With: ,

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson: B

April 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.

Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.

Gripping from the first word and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.

Review:
As in The Devil in the White City, Thunderstruck offers parallel tales of highest achievement and foulest crime. The book begins by showing how the invention of wireless telegraphy will be responsible, in 1910, for the capture of wanted murderer Harvey Crippen who has fled England on a ship bound for Canada. This gives the reader a nice hook to be reading towards as the narrative then cycles back a dozen years or so to show how things all began.

While it’s interesting to follow the progress of wireless telegraphy and the deterioration of Crippen’s marriage, I felt that sometimes the author was a little too proud of including random details his research had unearthed. One particular instance that sticks in my mind is a description of the childhood home of Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless, down to the kind of plants that grew in the tubs that flanked the front door of the residence. He does, however, do a very good job describing the flawed personalities of those involved, particularly Marconi and his seeming inability to understand how his actions might hurt or impact others.

While the history is a little slow going at times—I never really understood the technical and scientific issues—by virtue of its construction, it gets more exciting as it goes along. In fact, I’d venture to say that the final chapters, featuring a Scotland Yard detective who hops a fast steamer in an attempt to intercept Crippen’s vessel before he can reach Canada and the world’s breathless anticipation of the results, are positively riveting.

Too, I liked the epilogue that mentioned what the central players ended up doing with their lives after these exciting events. It’s unfortunate that the whole book ends with an irritatingly unanswered question, though. I’m not sure why the author thought that necessary or desirable.

Filed Under: Books, Crime, History, Nonfiction, Science

Goong: The Royal Palace 3 by Park SoHee: B+

April 7, 2009 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
Chae-Kyung and Shin return to their separate quarters at the palace, but the crown princess can’t shake the feelings aroused by her new husband. Try as she might, there’s no denying it—she’s completely fallen for him! When Chae-Kyung lets a confession slip, she braces herself for the prince’s rejection. Instead, he doesn’t even acknowledge her! Though the suspense is killing Chae-Kyung, does she really want to know what Shin has to say?

Review:
This series kind of reminds me of Newton’s third law of physics. No, really. This law states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In volume two, the relationship between Shin and Chae-Kyung was on a pretty even, if antagonistic, course. In this volume, matters first swing one way, as they seem to be getting closer. In one particularly nice conversation, Shin admits that he’s jealous of the closeness of Chae-Kyung’s family and also says that he feels closer to her than anyone. The pendulum then heads back in the opposite direction, with Shin behaving rather cruelly to both Chae-Kyung and his former girlfriend. Because of Shin’s nastiness, I just couldn’t like this volume as much as its predecessor.

I was kind of disappointed with how the cliffhanger from volume two was resolved, but I guess it’s too soon for that kind of thing to go anywhere squee-inducing. It’s kind of frustrating seeing all these covers and splash pages of the main couple being affectionate, because it’s probably going to take a long time for the story to actually get to that point. As the back cover blurb points out, Chae-Kyung does (after some annoying pseudo-confessions done in jest) end up telling Shin how she feels about him. Alas, it’s this that seems to spur him into cruelty, as he threatens to answer the question of whether he still loves his ex in front of both the ex and Chae-Kyung, not to mention a bunch of witnesses at Yul’s birthday party. Chae-Kyung reacts impulsively to her strong desire not to hear the answer, and though she makes a pretty big mistake, I was sympathetic to her sudden fear to know.

This volume also introduces new levels of political intrigue, which I always appreciate. Yul’s late father was the original crown prince, and his mother is now spearheading a campaign to get him posthumously declared King. This will give her a rank called daebi, which will allow her to move into the castle and have a say in how things are done. Her main goal, however, is to restore Yul to his place as the rightful crown prince. Meanwhile, there’s also some romance drama among the older generation, as it’s hinted that Shin’s parents have never loved each other, and his mother is made miserable by knowing that his father was once, and might still be, in love with Yul’s mother. Lastly, Shin concludes the volume by announcing that he intends to relinquish his crown prince duties in a few years.

Oh, teh drama!

Filed Under: Manhwa Tagged With:

Goong: The Royal Palace 2 by Park SoHee: A-

April 6, 2009 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
With the wedding ceremony complete, Chae-Kyung and Prince Shin are finally newlyweds… but now they have to spend their first night together! And, as she tries to get accustomed to life as a princess, homesick Chae-Kyung finds no comfort in her haughty husband who seems determined to antagonize her at every turn. Will the crown prince’s attitude ever change? Is the dream of marital bliss doomed to be a nightmarish marital blunder?!

Review:
As much as I enjoyed volume one, this volume is even better.

It begins by outlining the procedures of a traditional Korean wedding, including a nifty scene where Shin and Chae-Kyung are being conveyed across town via palanquins through a very modern downtown area. Cool as this is, it’s what happens next that’s truly worthy of praise. There are a few chapters that consist almost solely of conversations between Shin and Chae-Kyung and they are absolutely fascinating. They’re both very complex characters with their own way of looking at things, and even though Shin does seem to do more than his share of the antagonizing, Chae-Kyung is also pretty prickly at times. Still, even though there’s a lot of bickering going on, it’s never frustrating to read.

There’s also not as much comedy this time, which I appreciated, since the art during those segments is so unappealing. Still, the comedy in this series is pretty amusing, as it grows from the story rather than interrupts dramatic moments. A great example is the scene where Shin and Chae-Kyung, about to spend the afternoon smiling for the public as they ride along a parade route, practice mouth-stretching exercises beforehand. It’s basically a two-page spread of them contorting their faces in amusing ways and is very cute.

Lastly, I am enjoying the further development of the other prince, Yul. His late father was older brother to Shin’s father, and so was the original Crown Prince. In fact, when the old king and Chae-Kyung’s grandmother promised that their grandchildren would marry, it was actually Yul that the old king had in mind. When Yul’s dad died, however, the line of succession shifted to Shin’s dad and ultimately to Shin himself. Yul’s nicer, if more melancholy, than Shin and since volume one has remarked more than once on Chae-Kyung’s cuteness. There’s a nice scene between Yul and Chae-Kyung in this volume and one can’t help but think how much happier they both would be if the marriage had taken place as originally conceived. There’s a great part at the end when Yul watches the happy couple drive off after school, in which he says, “You’re in my seat.”

Also, the end of this volume—involving Chae-Kyung’s growing physical attraction to Shin—leaves one very eager to read the next. Luckily, I have it on hand.

Filed Under: Manhwa Tagged With:

Click 1 by Youngran Lee: C+

April 6, 2009 by 6 Comments

From the back cover:
Joonha is a normal, healthy boy of sixteen who has cruised through life without too many problems. Imagine his surprise when a recent trip to the bathroom suddenly reveals that he’s not normal at all! With a shriek of “Oh, my God!!!,” he finds himself missing, well, something he never thought he could live without.

As it turns out, his family is abnormal in the weirdest possible way. After puberty, their chromosomes undergo some kind of mutation, which converts their bodies into the opposite sex!

Review:
There are a few things that bothered me quite a lot about Click, even while I think it’s fundamentally fairly interesting and I plan to keep reading.

1. Before spontaneously turning into a girl, Joonha is the most thoroughly infuriating chauvinist pig imaginable. He treats girls like his playthings in an attempt to teach them the feminine virtues of obedience. When the girl he likes confesses to him, he blows her off, saying that it’s her duty to “wait gracefully until you are chosen.”

2. When Joonha begins to live as a girl, he’s more tolerable, but I can’t help but think that this is because he suffered such a tremendous blow to his pride. The remorse he shows for his past actions is more along the lines of, “I should have kissed her” rather than “I shouldn’t have treated her that way.” It’s still ultimately about what’s in it for him.

3. None of the other characters are really all that likable, either. Joonha’s friend from childhood, Jinhoo, comes closest. The fact that he merely expresses mild disapproval of Joonha’s treatment of girls, however, speaks volumes.

4. Joonha’s parents are annoyingly chipper and dim. When he asks why they didn’t tell him about the family’s tendency to change genders, they claim they forgot about it. Yes, I know, I always take stories with wacky premises too seriously, but this is just too ridiculous to be suffered quietly.

There are a few good moments scattered throughout, though. My favorite is the scene in which Jinwoo and Heewon (the girl who confessed her feelings to Joonha) share their hurt feelings about Joonha’s sudden disappearing act. The art is also quite nice. It’s interesting to note, too, that once Joonha begins living as a girl, he doesn’t embody the same ideals of feminine behavior that he once held.

At this point, it’s hard to care about the story or any of the characters, but I plan to give it a couple more volumes at least to see if it gets any better.

Filed Under: Gender Hijinks, Manhwa Tagged With: ,

Goong: The Royal Palace 1 by Park SoHee: B+

April 5, 2009 by 1 Comment

I reviewed the first volume of this long-running manhwa for Comics Should Be Good. Check it out!

This volume was published by ICE Kunion in May of 2006, after which the series languished in licensing limbo. After a delay of over two years, volume two was published by Yen Press in July of 2008 and the series has been coming out every few months since then. As of January 2009, there are currently 18 volumes published in Korea.

Filed Under: Manhwa Tagged With:

One Piece 4 by Eiichiro Oda: B-

April 5, 2009 by 3 Comments

From the back cover:
Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates was the most feared evil genius on the high seas… until he vanished. Most people believe he’s dead, but only his crew knows the truth: Captain Kuro has been lying low in a small seaside village, posing as a mild-mannered butler until the time for pillage is just right. Now that time has come, and the ruthless Black Cat Pirates are about to attack…

Unless, of course, Monkey D. Luffy can stop them! All Luffy has on his side are his sword-wielding first mate, Zolo; his thieving navigator, Nami; Usopp, a local kid with a knack for telling lies; and his own bizarre rubber-limbed powers. If these four amateur pirates want to stop the entire Black Cat crew, they’ll have to come up with a pretty slick plan…

Review:
There really isn’t a great deal to say about this volume. It consists almost entirely of a battle against the pirates and the attempts of the main cast (plus Usopp, lying villager boy) to protect the village from their attack. There are plenty of reversals to make things more interesting—like Luffy and Zolo getting delayed only to make a dramatic entrance later, characters nearly getting defeated only to become reinvigorated, et cetera—but in the end, it’s still just one really long fight scene. And it’s not over with this volume, either.

Sometimes extended fight scenes can be really cool, but this volume just didn’t do much for me. I think the wackiness of the One Piece villains is starting to get to me. I like it best when the opponent is someone you can be interested in as a character, like the Soul Society Captains in Bleach or the sympathetic Seta Soujirou of Rurouni Kenshin. Despite their gimmicky cat-related attacks, characters like the Meowban Brothers of this volume can never truly interest me.

I look forward to the end of this arc, which will hopefully happen in volume five. Perhaps whatever lies beyond that will be more to my liking.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With: ,

The War at Ellsmere by Faith Erin Hicks: B

April 5, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Juniper, nicknamed Jun, is especially driven for a thirteen-year-old. She’s determined to become a doctor, and to accomplish her goal, seeks out the school with the best reputation for getting its students into esteemed universities. Her search leads her to Ellsmere Academy, a distinguished institution with 200 years of history and a high price tag. Her single mother can’t afford the tuition, but Jun’s brains enable her to win a scholarship to attend.

Once there, Jun makes friends with her eccentric roommate, Cassie, and quickly earns the enmity of Emily, a cruel classmate who picks on the other students while excelling academically. Jun and Emily clash a few times, the incidents escalating to the point where each girl faces expulsion, and ultimately learn the truth about one of the school’s oldest legends.

Perhaps the biggest flaw of The War at Ellsmere is how much it reminds one of other things. You’ve got the dark-haired, bespectacled protagonist entering a castle-like boarding school environment peopled mostly by the progeny of families of long standing. The protagonist makes friends with a red-haired and freckled classmate who is smarter than it initially appears and who is continually taunted by the bully of the class and said bully’s two loyal minions. There’s also a spooky forest nearby that, as the stories go, houses supernatural creatures. Sound familiar? Too, the idea of the daughter of a single mother earning a place at a ritzy private school only to encounter a mean yet brilliant adversary is straight out of Gilmore Girls.

On the positive side, Jun is a likable character with believable flaws. She’s smart, but occasionally boastful about her own intellect, and unhesitatingly defends Cassie from Emily’s verbal abuse. When the difficulty of the coursework at Ellsmere catches her by surprise, Jun is challenged to exert more effort in order to succeed. She also inspires Cassie, previously content with her poor grades, to work harder and to achieve some distinction as a writer. It’s very nice to read a story presumably aimed for teenage girls that has nothing to do with romance, and instead features a solid female friendship and a protagonist who places a high priority on learning.

There are quite a few plot threads going on simultaneously, but Hicks handles them skillfully. Because Cassie has discovered a talent for writing, for example, it makes sense that Jun would give her a tape recorder for Christmas. It didn’t even occur to me that the recorder would figure in to the big climactic moment of the story, but it does. The backgrounds of Jun and Cassie are explored a bit, and each even undergoes some character growth by the conclusion, which is impressive when one considers the brevity of the book and how it also contends with schoolwork, fitting in, bullying, and a supernatural mystery.

The art in The War at Ellsmere takes a bit of getting used to. At first, I found it rather unattractive, and Cassie’s design—with her snub nose, freckles, and large eyes—reminded me of something out of The Ren and Stimpy Show. After a time, though, I grew accustomed to it. Lines are thick and chunks of solid black abound, but it’s still very easy to tell what’s going on and there is an admirable range in the characters’ facial expressions, as well.

On the whole, I enjoyed The War at Ellsmere. I’m not sure where the story could go from here, but I for one would love to read more featuring these characters and this setting.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Graphic Novel Tagged With:

10, 20, and 30 1 by Morim Kang: B

April 4, 2009 by 4 Comments

From the back cover:
Krumb is a clumsy, scatterbrained widow in her 30s whose teenaged daughter, Rok, is forced to take care of her. Belle is Rok’s jaded, twenty-something cousin suffering from a messy breakup with her boyfriend. The president of Krumb’s company has proposed, and she is posed to become a married woman once again, but Rok, who dreads the thought of growing up and its attendant responsibilities, hates men and is sure to complicate matters.

Review:
10, 20, and 30 features three female characters in different decades of life. Rok is seventeen and rather anti-romance, Belle is 26 and being pressured by her family to marry, and Krumb (Rok’s mother) is 36 and a widow. They each have a particular guy who fancies them, but whom they’re disinclined to accept for various reasons. Initially the story cycles between them, but once Belle is disowned by her parents for refusing to marry the male friend she’s been sleeping with and moves in to mooch off Krumb (her aunt) and Rok, there are more scenes with the three of them together.

Because of the setup of the story—particularly the wise-beyond-her-years teen saddled with a scatterbrained parent—and the whimsical artwork, 10, 20, and 30 feels like a sitcom at times, but there are still some nice moments that elevate it beyond mere comedy. Much of the volume focuses on Belle and the pressure she gets from her parents to marry. She balks at the idea of marriage, since she has “never really been free in [her] entire life.” Still, when her putative groom hooks up with someone else, she’s surprisingly upset. Another scene that made me smile was one in which Krumb and her boss (who has recently proposed to her) surreptitiously glance at each other during a company meal.

I had a bit of a hard time getting into the first few chapters, but beginning in chapter three, I found that the characters and art style were really growing on me. Too, there’s a warm feeling to this series that I find very appealing. It even improved my mood when I was feeling rather grumpy. I’m very interested to see what happens next.

10, 20, and 30 is published by NETCOMICS. The first two volumes were released in print editions but the others are only available online. According to the site’s update schedule, the chapters of the seventh and final volume of the series will appear throughout April 2009.

Filed Under: Manhwa Tagged With:

The Sharing Knife: Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold: B

March 31, 2009 by 6 Comments

From the front flap:
Young Fawn Bluefield has fled her family’s farm hoping to find work in the city of Glassforge. Uncertain about her future and the troubles she carries, Fawn stops for a drink of water at a roadside inn, where she counters a patrol of Lakewalkers, enigmatic soldier-sorcerers from the woodland culture to the north. Though Fawn has heard stories about the Lakewalkers, she is unaware that they are engaged in a perilous campaign against inhuman and immortal magical entities known as “malices,” creatures that suck the life out of all they encounter, and turn men and animals into their minions.

Dag is an older Lakewalker patroller who carries his past sorrows as heavily as his present responsibilities. When Fawn is kidnapped by the malice Dag’s patrol is tracking, Dag races to rescue her. But in the ensuing struggle, it is not Dag but Fawn who kills the creature—at dire cost—and an uncanny accident befalls Dag’s sharing knife, which unexpectedly binds their two fates together.

Review:
For all that this book took me something like six weeks to finish, I find that I don’t actually have all that much to say about it. The description quoted above admirably sums up the beginning of the novel, in which Dag rescues Fawn from some bandits, her pregnant status provokes a nasty creature to kidnap her back again, and they end up taking down a “malice” together. I can’t help but think that the reason the blurb doesn’t touch on any plot after this point is that there really isn’t much of one.

Beguilement is really more of a romance than a fantasy novel, though Bujold has still done a good job with the worldbuilding, working in details on the differences between Fawn’s and Dag’s cultures throughout the novel. But after the malice is defeated, there isn’t much going on except them riding on horses, staying in inns, developing fancies for one another, finally consummating their relationship, doing it many more times and often outdoors in the company of bugs, encountering Fawn’s not-so-supportive family, convincing them to support a marriage, and getting hitched. I guess if I lay it out like that it looks like a lot happened, but really, how much of that sounds like a fantasy novel?

The fact that the characters are both likable makes up for some of the plotlessness, at least. Fawn has had a very sheltered upbringing where her thirst for knowledge was not encouraged. Now, with support for her quick wits, she proves herself to be pretty clever and resourceful. Dag is a very experienced patroller who was widowed before Fawn’s birth (there’s quite a big age difference between them) and has been fiercely solitary ever since, so opening himself up to her is a pretty unique experience for him. Because there’s a lot that Fawn doesn’t know and is curious about, it sometimes seems like you’ve got the “wise man teaching ignorant girl” dynamic going on, but it’s not really pervasive. There’s one scene near the end where Dag praises Fawn for a brilliant leap of logic that comes across as completely admiring and not at all patronizing. It even made me a bit sniffly after seeing how little her family appreciates her.

Too, Bujold simply writes really well. Without being overly wordy, she can paint a scene so vividly that it’s incredibly easy to visualize. The best example is probably the part where Dag has found the malice’s lair and is taking in the layout of the area: I swear I could picture it perfectly after only a couple of sentences. And even if the parts with Fawn’s family were rather uncomfortable to read, considering their dismissive treatment of her, they were still entertaining. Probably, enduring all that strife was necessary so as to be as relieved as the main characters when they were finally able to leave it all behind.

While I like Fawn and Dag both together and separately, I do hope that there’s more of a plot to the next book. A typical fantasy series would have an epic quest to wipe out evil, but I sort of doubt Bujold is going to adhere to standard genre tropes. Because I do admire her writing, I’m willing to stick around and see how the story develops, but if this was the first installment of a story by anyone else, I’m not sure I’d be too keen to continue with it.

Additional reviews of The Sharing Knife:Beguilement can be found at Triple Take.

Filed Under: Books, Fantasy, Romance, Triple Take Tagged With:
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