5/50 and 2/26
I've been busy :)
5. The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff
I've seen a lot of Huff's books on the shelves of various libraries and stores over the years but never read any, so when this one's description sounded neat I decided to give it a chance. Basically, a witch from a family of witches gets left a small shop in another town under mysterious circumstances and heads on over to check it out.
The story's not bad, but the writing left something to be desired. It felt like it had been written in a rush. The author has a weird habit of describing things juuuust after a description would have been useful. Example: Two characters are picking people up at an airport. Out of nowhere they start commenting about something. Then we find out that the awaited arrivals have shown up... in weird costumes. Which occasioned the comments. That happened before the arrivals.
It was weird pacing. Still, strong main female character - well, strong female characters overall, really. Interesting story, various fun characters. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but it was a fun enough read.
2. Peacemaker Kurogane
Set in Kyoto during the period right before the Meiji Restoration, this one follows the Shinsengumi, as seen through the eyes of a young page. Okay, so this one's been on my to-see list for awhile, and the combination of my buying/reading Rurouni Kenshin recently (I had seen the anime before, but not read the manga) and this project led me to finally see it. At which point I whipped through that sucker. Oh, Okita, you're so cool. *Ahem*
This one is rather unique in my memory. On the one hand, I quite enjoyed it. On the other hand, it's weird.
I'm having trouble explaining this.
Ooookay, here goes: Kurogane is clearly derivative. It came out just after Kenshin, which was v. popular, and it's clearly ripping some of Kenshin's elements. Early on, for instance, a young man has a flashback of someone he loved being killed via katana. The flashback is shown in blue tones, overwritten by a red flower. Now, that sentence could pretty much be applied to either Kenshin or Kurogane. The makers of Kurogane just lifted the technique and plopped it on their scene. That's probably the worst example, but you get the idea.
There's another angle to the weirdness. The mangaka of Kurogane appears to have decided that people must look weird/ugly while killing/threatening/scaring other people. So people (not just Okita, I swear) look awfully cute... until they don't.
It's weird. But fun. And more historically accurate than I had thought. Also more violent than you might think from looking at the advertising art. Weird. Yeah... that's pretty much my review. Weird, but fun. But also weird.
5. The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff
I've seen a lot of Huff's books on the shelves of various libraries and stores over the years but never read any, so when this one's description sounded neat I decided to give it a chance. Basically, a witch from a family of witches gets left a small shop in another town under mysterious circumstances and heads on over to check it out.
The story's not bad, but the writing left something to be desired. It felt like it had been written in a rush. The author has a weird habit of describing things juuuust after a description would have been useful. Example: Two characters are picking people up at an airport. Out of nowhere they start commenting about something. Then we find out that the awaited arrivals have shown up... in weird costumes. Which occasioned the comments. That happened before the arrivals.
It was weird pacing. Still, strong main female character - well, strong female characters overall, really. Interesting story, various fun characters. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but it was a fun enough read.
2. Peacemaker Kurogane
Set in Kyoto during the period right before the Meiji Restoration, this one follows the Shinsengumi, as seen through the eyes of a young page. Okay, so this one's been on my to-see list for awhile, and the combination of my buying/reading Rurouni Kenshin recently (I had seen the anime before, but not read the manga) and this project led me to finally see it. At which point I whipped through that sucker. Oh, Okita, you're so cool. *Ahem*
This one is rather unique in my memory. On the one hand, I quite enjoyed it. On the other hand, it's weird.
I'm having trouble explaining this.
Ooookay, here goes: Kurogane is clearly derivative. It came out just after Kenshin, which was v. popular, and it's clearly ripping some of Kenshin's elements. Early on, for instance, a young man has a flashback of someone he loved being killed via katana. The flashback is shown in blue tones, overwritten by a red flower. Now, that sentence could pretty much be applied to either Kenshin or Kurogane. The makers of Kurogane just lifted the technique and plopped it on their scene. That's probably the worst example, but you get the idea.
There's another angle to the weirdness. The mangaka of Kurogane appears to have decided that people must look weird/ugly while killing/threatening/scaring other people. So people (not just Okita, I swear) look awfully cute... until they don't.
It's weird. But fun. And more historically accurate than I had thought. Also more violent than you might think from looking at the advertising art. Weird. Yeah... that's pretty much my review. Weird, but fun. But also weird.