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A Suitable Vengeance by Elizabeth George: C+

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From the back cover:
Award-winning author Elizabeth George gives us an early glimpse into the lives of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James, and Lady Helen Clyde in a superlative mystery that is also a fascinating inquiry into the crimes of the heart. Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his family home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride. But the savage murder of a local journalist is the catalyst for a lethal series of events that shatters the calm of a picturesque Cornwall village and embroils Lynley and St. James in a case far outside their jurisdiction—and a little too close to home. When a second death follows closely on the heels of the first, Lynley finds he can’t help taking the investigation personally—because the evidence points to a killer within his own family.

Review:
It took me ages to finish this. Well, okay, more like a month.

The chief problem with it was this: the first third or so was entirely comprised of relationship angst. Not only that, it was flashback relationship angst, so the outcome was already known to anybody who’s been reading the Lynley books in publication order. There was some family angst, as well, since Lynley had issues with both his brother and mother. The most frustrating part was that most concerned preferred to ignore obvious problems or feelings. This resulted in a pretty boring story at the start, and I was clamoring for someone to get murdered already!

Once someone finally died, the book improved though the angst never quite subsided. The case focused on a journalist from the village nearest Howenstow, and whether his death was related to personal quirk, some fairly hefty misdeeds, or a story someone wanted to suppress. It wasn’t the most fascinating investigation I’ve ever read (I figured out the victim’s Big Secret on page 230 and had to wait sixty-eight pages for the characters to catch up with me), but the end result was a surprise and I liked seeing so much of the action from the perspective of Simon St. James, Lynley’s friend and a forensic expert in his own right. There was one detail about the solution that bothered me, though. Here are some paraphrased quotes:

Lynley: What about the condition of the room and the missing money?
Suspect: I don’t know. Maybe Red Herring took it.

A few minutes later…

Simon: Lynley, who’d you tell about the money?
Lynley: A few people. Why?
Simon: But not Suspect?
Lynley: No.
Simon: … Then how did Suspect know?! (dun dun dunnn…)

Me: Um, because y’all basically just told him?

Enduring all of the angst paid off towards the end, when people finally started saying what they had needed to say to each other for years. Though it was kind of cheesy, I actually really loved the scene where Lynley forced himself to watch as his fianceé freaked over Simon’s supposed death and then clung to him once he revealed himself to be alive. I think I’m a sucker for the tortured, self-loathing type.

So, yes, definitely not my favorite of the Lynley/Havers mysteries so far (I despaired of the latter’s absence, but she actually did make a brief appearance), but tolerable once the investigation got going. It wasn’t so awful that I’m discouraged from reading the rest of the series.

Apology

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I’ve spent most of the week pretty much frantic and exhausted, any thoughts of potential blog posts withering as soon as they were born. I have a lot I’d like to talk about. I finished the volumes of Fruits Basket that Deanna sent me, and have also been keeping up with other series as new chapters have been released. I’ve seen a few other blog posts that have inspired thoughts too, particularly Sarah Rees Brennan’s post on female characters in fiction, which I hope to write a bit about when I’m able. I’ve even watched some anime I may wish to discuss. Unfortunately, my schedule has not relaxed at all, and it’s likely I won’t have a chance to write anything substantial until Tuesday at the earliest.

See you then?

A Definitive Guide to Ghost Hunt

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When Mai Takiyama breaks an expensive camera belonging to ghost hunter Kazuya Shibuya, he tells her she can work off the debt by acting as his assistant. Thus, Mai is introduced to a world of spirits, curses, and exorcisms as well as Kazuya’s arsenal of gadgetry used to scientifically measure paranormal activity.

To start with, most of the spirit activity the Shibuya Psychic Research team investigates takes place on high school campuses, but the series eventually does branch out into things like mansions, churches, and secluded restaurants. In addition to Mai and Kazuya (dubbed Naru for his narcissistic tendencies), SPR employs Lin-san, Naru’s quiet yet capable assistant, and a variety of mediums and exorcists. Together, they fight crime spirits.

As the series continues, the cases gradually become gorier, though this does not necessarily result in heightened creepiness. The first volume is actually probably the best for maintaining spooky tension throughout; there’s just something about watching spectral phenomena on a video monitor that adds to the atmosphere. My favorite case is actually not gory at all, nor is it one of the longer ones. Instead, it’s the side story “Silent Christmas” (included in volume four), about the spirit of a boy who used to be an expert at hide-and-seek.

The characters are kind of a mixed bag. I like Mai, who is spunky and generally level-headed. It’s especially noteworthy that, although she has feelings for Naru, she never lets them get in the way of her work and whole volumes will pass without her dwelling on him at all. Naru’s also pretty interesting, even though he does have the unfortunate habit of being rude and insulting on occasion. Alas, few of the supporting characters are developed in any meaningful way and one is often left to ponder what purpose they serve. The sum total of information on one particular character is that he’s a young-looking priest from Australia. This guy has appeared in nine volumes so far!

The series’ two long-running story arcs focus individually on Naru and Mai, with varying degrees of success. The gradual development of Mai’s intuitive ability is well-integrated into early volumes, and even after her powers are confirmed several volumes later, they continue to develop. By contrast, tiny nuggets of information on Naru’s mysterious origins and possible powers are doled out sparingly and left to hang without resolution. It’s only in volume nine that we actually get some concrete evidence of his own psychic abilities.

After volume five, there’s a noticeable slide in quality. I attribute this to the end of Ghost Hunt’s serialization in Nakayoshi and the beginning of direct-to-tankouban releases. The art becomes inconsistent after this point, reminding me of American comics with the way certain characters’ facial proportions change in every panel in which they appear. The characterization also suffers and many cases have moments where explanations don’t make much sense.

The ninth volume is an improvement over the few preceding it, and reveals some answers about Naru’s mysterious “capabilities.” At the very least, it gives me hope that the series might once again produce something really good. For now, I can really only recommend the first five volumes.

VOLUME 1

GRADE: B+

Summary: After accidentally breaking an expensive camera, Mai is drafted to help with the investigation into alleged spirit activity in an old building on her high school campus. Despite her expectations, she enjoys the experience and, at the end of the volume, accepts a job working in Naru’s office.

Creepiness Factor: Low. There are plenty of mysterious sounds and accidents in the old building, but the only truly creepy thing is a chair that appears to move on its own.

VOLUME 2

GRADE: B+

Summary: The Shibuya Psyshic Research team investigates a residence with a deadly history: every pre-teen child who has ever lived there has died. The case hinges on a creepy doll owned by the 8-year-old girl currently residing there.

Creepiness Factor: Low. And this is coming from someone with childhood trauma concerning a creepy doll.

VOLUME 3

GRADE: B+

Summary: Many strange incidents and ghost sightings have been reported at a high school that has recently been abuzz with the discovery that one of the students has psychokinetic abilities. Mai’s powers of intuition lead Naru to test her for psychic ability.

Creepiness Factor: Zero. A very cute scene between Naru and Mai makes up for that, though.

VOLUME 4

GRADE: A-

Summary: Yet more strange incidents at a high school, making three such cases in four volumes. This time, events seem to focus on the spirit of a student who had a grudge against the school. This volume also features a great side story about the spirit of a boy, expert at hide-and-seek, who wants to be found.

Creepiness Factor: Low. There isn’t much in the main story itself, but the resolution of the side story is pretty creepy.

VOLUME 5

GRADE: A-

Summary: The case that began in the fourth volume is concluded here. Although the story isn’t anything particularly special, the solution is more of a group effort than previously, and there are some great scenes of conflict between the two leads.

Creepiness Factor: Low. There’s one spooky scene in a nurse’s office, especially after the spirit menacing Mai suddenly disappears. Somehow, that’s always worse than a sudden appearance.

VOLUME 6

GRADE: B

Summary: Plot trumps characterization in this installment, when the SPR is hired by the Prime Minister to research a series of unexplained disappearances at a mansion.

Creepiness Factor: Medium. Prior volumes haven’t featured much blood, but this time Mai’s precognitive dreams include plenty of it.

VOLUME 7

GRADE: B

Summary: The Case of the Creepy Mansion (not actual title) concludes. Art and characterization continue to be not as good as in the first five volumes of the series.

Creepiness Factor: Medium. The best part was when messages from murdered spirits appeared all over the walls.

VOLUME 8

GRADE: B-

Summary: A secluded restaurant is cursed—whenever ownership changes hands, the transfer is accompanied by many deaths. In the course of the investigation, Naru is possessed by one of the spirits.

Creepiness Factor: Low. There are a couple of panels of a possessed child grinning eerily. That’s about it.

VOLUME 9

GRADE: B

Summary: The team works together to determine the cause of the curse, freeing Naru in the process. When he awakes, he finally reveals his powers and confronts a wrathful chunk of driftwood. I snark, but it’s actually fairly cool, and meaningful progress on the “Mystery of Naru” plot line is always welcome.

Creepiness Factor: Low. A bunch of frog-like spirits crawling on windows and one possessed middle-aged guy lurking menacingly amongst some shrubbery.

Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler: A-

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From the back cover:
God is change. That is the central truth of the Earthseed movement, whose unlikely prophet is 18-year-old Lauren Olamina. The young woman’s diary entries tell the story of her life amid a violent 21st-century hell of walled neighborhoods and drug-crazed pyromaniacs—and reveal her evolving Earthseed philosophy. Against a backdrop of horror emerges a message of hope: if we are willing to embrace divine change, we will survive to fulfill our destiny among the stars.

Review:
Lauren’s diary entries begin in July 2024, on the eve of her fifteenth birthday, and continue through October 2027, when she is eighteen. In the meantime, the walled neighborhood near Los Angeles in which she and her family live is destroyed and she is forced out onto the road, heading north in search of a better life. Lauren is mature for her years, however, and is more prepared than anyone else for the day when catastrophe strikes. On the road, she collects companions and instructs them in the new religion she has discovered (she states firmly that she did not invent it) while searching for a place they can settle and create a community.

I wondered initially whether I would like this, or if it’d be too religious for me. There were times, indeed, where Lauren’s instruction of her new traveling companions did seem a little creepy and cult-like. Earthseed is really more of a philosophy than a religion, though, and boils down to: “There’s no God who cares about you. So stop sitting around, praying for His intervention, and take care of things yourself.” Since I don’t disagree, the religious stuff didn’t end up bothering me too much.

I found all of the dystopic details very interesting, though occasionally gruesome and horrible. The plot wasn’t complicated—let’s walk North!—but the various encounters with dangerous and desperate people turned what could’ve been a boring travel narrative into something engrossing. I also really liked Lauren, who is smart and level-headed, as well as the way race was dealt with (it’s mentioned and not ignored, but neither is it the defining trait of any character).

I’ll definitely be reading the sequel, Parable of the Talents, and probably checking out other things by Octavia E. Butler, too.

I’m still trying to stop your heart

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Um. Apparently this has temporarily become a music blog. Back to the usual manga-talk and self-important essays soon, but first:

Last night, one of my very favorite bands, Northampton’s own Winterpills had a cd release party for their third album, Central Chambers at the Iron Horse Music Hall. It’s always great to see Winterpills at the Iron Horse, because they are able to bring up all their musical pals and create a really rich and exciting show. Last night was no exception.

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Tales of Awesome

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Yesterday began on a pretty depressing note. Groggy and cranky after a night of poor sleep, I noticed, just as I was about to leave for work, a kitchen full of inky footprints (which led to inky footprints in the living room, where a very inky dog sat chewing on an ink pen). Long story short, I arrived at work very late with ink-covered hands, and the day went downhill from there. Everything changed, however, at the end of the day, and I spent the evening being reminded of two very important truths:

1. People are awesome. Waiting for me when I returned home from work was an unexpected package from the very wonderful Deanna Gauthier, who sent me her entire collection of Fruits Basket manga, and the anime series as well! Now, this is a person I’ve only interacted with online, and the only reason we know each other at all is because she went to graduate school with a mutual friend. She lives way out west, we’ve never met, and yet here she’s sent me this big box of manga that I otherwise would not have the opportunity to read anytime soon. Deanna, you are incredibly generous, and seriously awesome. Thank you so much.

2. Music is awesome. The planned awesomeness for the evening, and the reason why I have not yet dipped into that marvelous box of manga, was a trip to Boston to see British singer-songwriter Tom McRae at Berklee College of Music’s Cafe 939. I’ve been a fan for a while, but this was my first time hearing Tom play live (Paul had seen him once before). The evening was even better than I’d imagined.

Tom McRae is somewhat known back at home, I believe, but horribly under-appreciated over here, and though the cafe has a nice sound system, and is very well-run, I was depressed to see that he’s playing such small venues in this area, and that even this place was not full. When my husband found out I’d be blogging about this concert today, he said, “Beg. Please beg.” And so I will. Tom McCrae does not have nearly enough fans in this part of the world, so please, follow the jump and allow me to beg your attention.

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The curse of the critical eye

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This morning, I read a post by a good friend of mine, sistermagpie, over at LiveJournal, in which she talked about some conversations she’d seen recently revolving around whether academic analysis could ruin a person’s enjoyment of fiction. The crux of her post was that she couldn’t imagine that analyzing a story could ruin her love of reading, and when I first read her argument, I was in complete agreement. Wouldn’t analysis simply deepen my love for something, by helping me to fully understand and appreciate the depth of the material? Then I remembered my state of mind when I left the commercial theater business, and my brain said, “Oooooooh, that’s right.”

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Time Stranger Kyoko 2 by Arina Tanemura: C-

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This volume finds Princess Kyoko and her bodyguards on the search for more of the god stones required to awaken Princess Ui from her sixteen-year sleep. After the first two stones are found in the possession of the leaders of the dragon and flower tribes, the hunt is on for the rest of the tribe leaders in the hope that each of them will have one of the powerful jewels, too.

Each new psychic or “Stranger” that Kyoko encounters has some silly obstacle to overcome before they can join up with her, like nearly being sold at auction or being tricked into relinquishing their god stone to a member of the demon tribe. These stories are painfully boring and have absolutely zero depth, especially the one in which the leader of the fish tribe tells her sibling, “It doesn’t matter if we are brother and sister… I love you!” Arina Tanemura, you’re no Kaori Yuki. Just don’t even try.

Kyoko’s also preoccupied by the fact that someone kissed her while she slept in the last volume, so there’s much tedious speculation over who it could’ve been. This combined with everything else results in a muddle so mind-numbingly bad that I very nearly awarded this volume a D. A sudden twist in the final chapters provides the bare minimum of interest to avoid that fate, but I still can’t recommend slogging through the rest of it to get there.

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

Lunchtime check-in

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A cool side-effect of Saturday’s post, Why you should read NANA is that in checking out my site statistics, I noticed that it had been linked from this fantastic website, When Fangirls Attack (womenincomics.blogspot.com), which is a blog that simply posts links to “articles on gender in comics and comics fandom,” including specific manga editions. How I’ve missed out on this for so long, I have no idea, especially since, if my stats are anything to go by, everyone else is reading it. The upside, I suppose, is that I now have an endless archive of links to peruse at my leisure, most of which will probably be new to me. Hurray for women in comics!

Speaking of the NANA post, I’ve now added a blog category for persuasion posts (a term I started using when I realized I could no longer stomach the term “pimping”). I’ve posted three of these here so far, the one for NANA of course, along with Making the case for Banana Fish, and Why you should read xxxHolic. I have to say, I probably enjoyed writing these more than anything else I’ve ever posted here. If only people would pay me to push my favorite manga series on them, I could live a life of perfect bliss. Oh, cruel world!

Lunch is eaten. Now I must refill the wonderful water bottle our assistant production manager gave me last week for Boss’s Day (who even knew there was such a day?), and attempt to ignore my stuffy nose and aching head. Later!

Why you should read NANA

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It’s difficult for me to imagine that anyone really needs me to sell NANA to them but the truth is I will enjoy writing this, and if it encourages one or two more people to jump on the NANA bandwagon, that will thrill me.

NANA is the story of two young women, both named Nana, who meet on the train to Tokyo and, through a series of coincidences, end up becoming roommates in an old seventh-floor walkup. In many ways that apartment, number 707 (“Nana” in Japanese means “seven” by the way), is nearly as important a character as the two Nanas themselves.

Written and drawn by Ai Yazawa (author of Paradise Kiss, among others), NANA contains some of the most authentic human beings I have so far encountered in manga. Yazawa’s characters are rich and complex, each just a little bit (or more than a little bit) broken as most of us humans are, and because of this, their relationships with each other and their choices, both good and bad, feel so real, they could come straight out of the reader’s own life. It would be so easy for a story like this, which focuses mainly on relationships, to fall into soap opera-like melodrama but the intensely real characters save it from doing so, time and time again. This is especially surprising in a manga where a good portion of the characters are rock stars.

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Fairy Tail 4 by Hiro Mashima: C+

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From the back cover:
S-Class quests are so dangerous that one false move means certain death! Now loose cannon Natsu, rookie Lucy, and nearly powerless Happy have embarked on a stolen S-Class quest, setting out for the Demon Island. Can anyone stop them before they get themselves killed?

Review:
Sigh. Well, the resolution to the cliffhanger of Erza’s arrest was completely lame, as was the conclusion of her duel with Natsu. It felt like the mangaka suddenly lost interest in that plot line.

The S-Class quest wasn’t all that much better. I’m definitely not the ideal shounen audience, since I tend to get very annoyed with characters who do things they’re not supposed to and then get into perilous situations as a result. The lack of foresight also bothered me. It was bad enough Natsu hatched this hare-brained scheme, but Lucy continued to go along with it even after learning it would likely result in her expulsion from the guild she had been so desperate to join back in volume one. And evidently felt hardly a qualm about doing so!

Ultimately, their quest lead to various angsty revelations about Gray’s past which Mashima admitted including in an attempt to lure more female readers. About the only good thing in this volume was the introduction of a cool new guild member, Mystogan, whose power is to put everyone to sleep. Ironically, that was the one bit that didn’t have me yawning.

Blank Slate 1 by Aya Kanno: B-

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Zen has no memory of the last twenty years, and doesn’t much care. The back cover, with its line “he can’t remember if he’s a killer or a hero,” erroneously leads one to anticipate a story of an amnesiac’s quest for identity. In reality, Blank Slate is all about the action.

The story takes place in the country of Amata, which was invaded and conquered in a war two decades earlier. The occupying government honors justice and order and employs a fleet of bounty hunters to eradicate all manner of undesirables. Zen is a notorious criminal and has committed every kind of crime imaginable. His philosophy is, “I do whatever I want. If it gets in my way, I smash it.”

I had a really tough time getting into the first chapter. It’s the stand-alone tale of a bounty hunter sent to kill Zen who instead joins him on a murderous spree of destruction and ruin. It wasn’t the best introduction to the setting or characters, and I found it very dull. The real serialization of the story commences in chapter two, and the improvement is immediate. From this point, there is a continuous plot focusing on the tensions between the native Amatans and the occupying Galayans and featuring kidnappings, prison breaks, and lots of guns. It’s pretty interesting, and I was surprised by several twists in the story.

Aside from the abundant bishonen, there’s nothing stereotypically shojo about Blank Slate. Zen is as heartless as they come and kills casually. Most of his victims are aggressors or authority figures, but he’s not above threatening the life of a child who could expose his hiding place. His companions are more sympathetic, particularly Hakka, a righteous doctor who has fallen into evil to protect something important to him.

The art style is visually clean, a necessity in a title like this where the story is enough to be puzzling over. Most of the character designs aren’t anything special, but Zen is really quite spectacularly pretty. This isn’t achieved through any gimmick of flowing hair or sparkly eye but simply with a beautifully drawn facial structure that’s quite stunning. I’ve reviewed a lot of manga, and never before have I devoted three full sentences to how pretty some guy is. Trust me on this.

Blank Slate certainly isn’t the best thing I’ve ever read, but the story it’s spinning is entertaining enough that I will surely be returning for the second and final volume due out in December.

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

The Keys to the Street by Ruth Rendell: A-

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From the back cover:
When Mary Jago donates her bone marrow to help a complete stranger, the act bonds her with the young man who lives from her transfusion. He will change Mary’s life in ways she could never imagine.

But every act has consequences, often unforseen. Mary’s generosity returns her not only love, but also its opposite. She finds herself in danger from both the middle class world she belongs to and the world of the dispossessed and deranged.

Review:
The Keys to the Street follows several different characters. In addition to Mary Jago, there’s Roman (a middle-aged man who became a vagrant as a way to deal with personal tragedy), Bean (a spry, elderly dog-walker with an eye for opportunities to blackmail his clients), and Hob (a young drug addict who beats people up for cash). Each is interesting and complex in their own right (though Mary is annoyingly weak in dealing with her overbearing ex), and Rendell skillfully and gradually weaves their lives together in an intricate way.

Several homeless people have been killed in the London park that all these characters frequent, and information concerning the deaths and subsequent investigation is parcelled out as each person becomes aware of it. The mystery is never actually the driving focus of the story. There are also subplots concerning Mary’s budding relationship with the man who received her bone marrow and Roman’s gradual realization that he’s ready to rejoin the “respectable” world.

Rendell does a great job with all the characters and tidily wraps up all the plot threads in the novel’s conclusion. My very favorite thing, however, is how she gives readers all the clues they need to put things together for themselves. Rather than spell out the significance of a particular cardigan or a funeral, for example, she allows readers to work out the meaning on their own. I spent a while wondering what the deal was with Mary’s new fella, and it was while I was standing at the sink peeling potatoes that I realized that I had all the information I needed already.

Also, this is the kind of book one keeps thinking about even while peeling potatoes.

The Keys to the Street was a recommendation from Margaret, to whom I am grateful. She mentioned two other books by Rendell that are particular favorites, and I shall be reading those in the near future.

Note: Quite a lot of detail is given on the environs of London’s Regent’s Park and I found it helpful to consult a map. I’ve included the link here for any who might be interested.

Staring down the blank page

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I’ve been doing a lot of staring at the blank page lately, and it’s been apparent in this blog perhaps more than anywhere. I’ve been under an unprecedented amount of stress in both my personal and professional lives lately, and it’s definitely taking a toll on my productivity. This has led to such soul-soothing activities as media bingeing (lately that’s been NANA in all forms) and creating pointless blog pages with photographs of each of our pets (oldest-to-youngest): Dorrie, Lucy, and of course, Kino. I feel a lot of guilt, however, towards those of you who keep clicking over here in search of real content.

I may not be writing, but I have been reading a lot recently. I’ve started using Google Reader, which has made keeping up with my blogroll a lot easier. A few links to share: …

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