April '07

CROSSROADS: SPIRIT GATE
-K. Elliott-fantasy
-445- a new world, a new adventure. I shall not be buying this series. To much unnecessary sexual innuendo. It just pervaded everything. I was really looking forward to this series too. Sigh...

ONE PIECE #11-13
-E. Oda-manga
-Captain Arlong is defeated, the crew finally make it into the Grand Line. I laugh so much reading this, it is SO silly. Great stuff

SHAMAN KING #10-11
-H. Takei-manga
-Yoh and the gang begin the journey to the Patch Village. But they come across another Indian who shows them that all is not what it seems. Hao, another contestant, is actually a 1000 year old shaman, intent on world domination. Journey across America continues.

FRUITS BASKET #3-5
-N. Takaya-manga
-Tohru-san meets more of the Sohma family. I am enjoying this series. It gets complicated with so many characters who all have nicknames and pet names though.

TALE OF TWO CITIES
-C. Dickens-fiction
-469- haven't read this in over 6 years, so its time. During the time of the French Revolution. A man goes to France to save an old vassal[he has renounced his holdings and aristocratic living though], is arrested and charged with death. Another man, a dissolute wastrel, who looks just like him, takes his place so that he can be with his wife and child. It showed the horrors of the French Revolution and just how self-gratification oriented it was.

RAGNAROK #1-2
-M. Lee-manwha
-a story about Ragnarok, the legendary "last battle" of the Norse gods, in which they will all die. Manwha is the korean variant of manga. Not suitable reading due to excessive sensuality.

BLEACH 1-2
-T. Kubo-manga
-a boy who can see ghosts becomes a Reaper, one who sends ghosts to their rest. Reminded me of Yu Yu Hakusho, with spirit power, ghosts, etc.

THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
-V. Hugo-historical fiction
-586-this was a very tough start. Hugo goes on and on and ON about architecture. He gives a whole chapter over to describing Paris, another chapter describing the Notre Dame Chapel and another one that waxed philosophical about architecture. Once you got passed those though, it was a truly Gothic tragedy. A mother and daughter separated 15 years ago. A Priest dedicated to knowledge. A terribly deformed man. 3 different aspect of love-casual lust, all consuming lust, selfless love. 3 different men, 1 woman. All but one die in the end. Sad, to see a man consumed by his lust, to see a selfless spirit trapped in a fallen body, to see a woman throw her love away on a libertine. Get rid of all the boring blabberings on architecture and this would be a fantastic read.

BLEACH #3-6
-T. Kubo-manga

FRUITS BASKET #6-9
-N. Takaya-manga

DOWN THE LONG HILLS
-L. L'Amour-western
-150-2 children survive an Indian attack on their wagon train. Face the Elements, Indians and 2 outlaws as they try to survive while the boy's father tracks them down.

HANGING WOMAN CREEK
-L. L'Amour-western
-151-a lone cowpoke outlives rustlers and vigilantes to inherit a man's stake and marry the man's sister.

PSYCHIC ACADEMY #1
-K. Aki-manga
-187-fan service.

HUNTER X HUNTER #10-13
-Y. Togashi-manga
-Gon finally gets into the Hunter Game "Greed Island".

FULL METAL PANIC! #1-8
-S. Gatou-manga
-fanservice. Funny though. and Gatou is a woman. Weird.

UTAH BLAINE
-L. L'Amour-western
-191-man takes on the management of a ranch, kills all the badguys and marries the pretty girl.

SHADOWMARCH: SHADOWPLAY
-T. Williams-fantasy
-641-So much happens, so many side by side threads, that to summarize it is really hard. Ok, Briony escapes, ends up alone, is in the process of making contact with a possible ally. Barrick, with companions, is captured by a demi-god, escapes. Quinnitan is recaptured by the Autarch.

THE KING'S FIFTH
-S. O'Dell-historical fiction
-264-about a young cartographer who finds gold, and everyone in his group, except him and a young native woman, die. His trial for failing to take the treasure and give the Spanish King his "fifth". Just shows how greed destroys a man from within.