Books 67-71
チェンソーマン 6 [Chainsaw Man 6] by Tatsuki Fujimoto
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Honestly this is going the same way a lot of Shōnen manga go and not unexpectedly either. The genre's target is teenaged boys (Hence Bomb being naked on the cover even if she's not in the manga, because why not institutionalize misogyny right out of the gate) It follows the typical pattern our heroes fight, get beat, train fight better and win.
So yeah lots of action and very little plot. Me not being a teenager regardless of gender identity, it bores me quick (much as Naruto and Bleach did too, started out with interest and some plot that fritters away) Don't get me wrong, if you want a lot of action and amputations, you'll get in this. I still feel sorry for Denji on occasion like when he asks why does no one want HIS heart, all they want is the devil heart inside him. You're reminded that he is a boy who grew up devoid of love (and education and boy does that show). All of the devil hunters have hard short lives. For the me that's the more interesting part.
The art is great as always. So I guess as long as my library keeps stocking it, I'll keep reading it but this is not one I'd add to my personal library.
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The World After the Fall, Vol. 1 by Undead Gamja
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was an interesting start of a series. The whole plot is more or less in the blurb. Huge towers appear around the globe and monsters spill out. People called Tower Walkers enter the tower and must fight their way, gaming style, to the top in the belief if they can reach the 100th floor, they'll get answers and stop this invasion.
Jaehwan is one of those Tower Walkers, going into battle with great hopes and no doubt a load of PTSD by the end. This is an adaptation of a novel and it's done in color. The palette is muted and appropriate for the apocalyptic feel of the story. I love the art.
If you follow my reviews, you know I usually get bored fast by the fight fight fight style of story telling but it's too soon to tell if that will be the case. Maybe not as this does feed plot tidbits in between all the fight scenes. We shall see. I don't want to give out more of the plot because it would be a heavy spoiler. I do think I'll look for more of this for my personal library at the moment.
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Death on the Danube: A New Year's Murder in Budapest by Jennifer S. Alderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is one of those loss leader giveaway books to get you into the series and in this case, it worked. I enjoyed this mystery. Lana Hanson is at the end of her rope. Her marriage ended. Her career imploded. And it's her first Christmas without her husband. Her friend Dotty offers her a plum job, step in as a tour guide for the guide who got injured. After some debate about not being sure she can do it as she's only done day tours in kayaks before this, Lana goes to Budapest to pick up the tour. (Where are my friends who suddenly need tour guides in historic places?!?)
Lana, previous to this, was an investigative reporter whose source hung her out to dry and instead of getting the whistleblowing case of a life time, she was vilified and fired. I have to say her former job makes her as an amateur sleuth much easier to believe. Once she gets to Budapest, she has to work with Dotty's other guide, Carl. She knows him, thinks he's kind of sleazy but Dotty's friend Sally just got engaged to him.
I will say it takes slightly over half the book before someone is killed (three guesses who) and the killer has to be someone on the tour. The police naturally pick Sally based on Carl's con artist, womanizing ways but Lana and Dotty believe otherwise. Despite no crime happening in the first half, the set up was interesting enough that I didn't mind. Nor did I mind solving the case before Lana as I enjoyed the characters. I would like to see more of this series.
Body and Soul Food by Abby Collette
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Keaton and Koby are twins separated in early life. Keaton was lucky. She ended up with a protective, sheltering actually, parents while Koby remained in the foster system until he aged out. That said, he did have a strong mother figure from his time there and found family siblings like Reef. Now reunited, the twins are opening a combo restaurant (Koby's) and bookstore (Keaton). Koby is more easy going. Keaton is anxious and has a bit of a crush on Reef.
To their horror, Reef is killed and the police are looking at them (but of course since that's almost inevitable in the first book of a cozy mystery). Reef has left Koby an inheritance he didn't expect, a houseboat among other things but oddly enough other people at the harbor were on the train when Reef died. Keaton sees parallels to her beloved Agatha Christie and Murder on the Orient Express.
Desperate to find Reef's killer and to clear their names, the twins go after the clues and their mothers are there to help (also they do want to find their birth mother but that's a story for a future birth). There are some annoying (to me) things like them not telling the police things that most people would (especially since they might clear them) but that's also typical of cozy mysteries. I'm not a fan of cozies with hostile police (or inept ones). The detective here isn't overly hostile and he has reason to suspect them so it worked for me.
I enjoyed meeting Keaton and Koby (and the author at the Ohioana book festival) and I am looking forward to more of the series.
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Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Honestly a 3.5 read mostly because a) it's way too long for a book this meta b) Simon is annoying AF and the whole first third is nothing but him c) I figured out the mystery way too early on.
That said I did like the book, even if Simon annoyed the hell out of me. Penny and Baz saved the day. I know this was the book another Rowell book used for that lead character to be a fan of and if it all didn't start as Harry Potter fanfic, I'd be shocked because it feels like it. It's a darker school of magic and you're picked from the start of your time at the school to have a certain roommate. Simon and Baz have been stuck together for years and Simon is sure a) Baz is a vampire b) Baz wants to kill him (and he's not exactly wrong, pretty much the only reason Baz has failed is he's in love with the utterly clueless Simon)
Simon is supposedly the chosen one and he and Penny have been fighting this monster that sucks magic straight out of the world with all the bad parenting/inept adults you'd find in any YA. Honestly it's pretty painful in that respect. But what is this monster? Why does it want to kill Simon? And where the heck is Baz for the first half of the semester?
It shouldn't take 500 pages to answer these questions but it does. It could have stood a lot of editing. Will there be more? I have no idea. GR has it as book one but on the other hand it felt very complete as is. Did I like it? Yes. Did I love it? No. Would I read more? If the library had it yes. They can have my copy of this as is.
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