Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: July 2019

Monday, July 29, 2019

Grave Thief (Twilight Reign #3) ★★★☆½

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Title: Grave Thief
Series: Twilight Reign #3
Author: Tom Lloyd
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 548
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

With the fall of Scree, the gods have been enraged at what the Shadow has done. Unfortunately, all this has accomplished is to make the priest of various gods more warlike and to incite them against their own citizenry. This in turn places a huge strain on the Kingdoms that are trying to oppose Styrax and his Menin, who are taking city after city.

Styrax's goal is to take all of the crystal skulls and to become a god himself. He is studying a puzzle at one of the conquered cities and unearth's another skull. He also happens to set free its guardian, a very big and very cranky dragon.

While this has been going on, Isak has been trying to keep his kingdom from tearing itself apart. The priests are out of control and have hired their own mercenaries to act as their law. Eventually Isak declares a Crusade against Styrax and his godless Menin. This accomplishes getting all the nutjob priests out of the way and allows Isak to oppose Styrax and hopefully slow him down before he reaches Farlan.

At the same time, Azeur the Shadow has been born in human flesh. He attaches himself to a duchess of one of the soon to be conquered cities so as to remain under the radar from King Emin and Isak. He sets priest and citizen against the other so that at the right time they will look to him as a savior. He is growing at a rate of years in months time and at the time Styrax takes his city is about 5 years old.

Some of the gods, the lower hierarchy, realize that this time is an opportunity for them to rise. As such, they begin bonding with mortal humans and creating a new level of human power structure. Duke Vesna, one of Isak's closest allies, is one such human. How it all plays out and what the final cost will be is yet to be seen.

The book ends with a battle between Farlan and Menin. Isak knows he can't best Styrax so he follows a plan (that is unknown to us the readers) hatched by his Secretary of Everything. Isak kills a huge amount of the Menin with magic and then kills Styrax's only son. Styrax kills Isak and sends him to hell using the power of his skulls.

My Thoughts:

Much better. Now that I'm not floundering around trying to get adjusted to Isak as a character, I could concentrate a bit more on Azeur and Styrax. Of course, with Lloyd killing Isak right at the end, I'm not sure WHAT the next 2 books hold. I highly doubt Isak is “really” dead though. If he is, then I'll be wicked pissed off in the later books.

I still have issues with Lloyd starting a chapter and not naming the character we follow until several pages in. It is annoying. Plus the character point of view shifts with only an extra line break still gets me. I'm getting better at picking up on those though, even if only subconsciously. I guess Lloyd is training all his readers to be his own personal cadre of Manchurian Candidates.

I didn't like that some of the characters we'd really been invested in in previous books, King Emin, etc, were sidelined. I almost feel like I need to re-read the first 2 books just to place the new'ish characters like Styrax and his son into better context. I know I read about them in earlier books with all of my attention on the main character, what they did has slid right out of my mind. I think that comes down to the author not handling multiple characters and locations as well as he needs to.

There were also a couple of places where the words that were written weren't the words meant. I can't bring any specifics to mind but it is the kind of thing that needs a copy editor to look over and find.

On the positive side, what I am reading is reminding me and more of what I read, and liked, in the God Fragments series. The similarities in authorial voice are much more noticeable. Whereas the first book of this Twilight Reign series had me scratching my head over the fact that the same author wrote them, now I can see it. And I'm liking what I'm seeing.

★★★☆½

Friday, July 26, 2019

Dark Intelligence (Polity: Transformation #1) ★★★★½

Title: Dark Intelligence
Series: Polity: Transformation #1
Author: Neal Asher
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Thorvald Spear wakes up in a hospital. Which is odd, because he remembers being killed by a Polity AI named Penny Royal, almost 100 years ago, an AI that was supposed to be rescuing him and his men on a Prador occupied world. With his memory still a bit glitchy, Spear does know one thing for certain, Penny Royal must die.

Spear tracks down Penny Royal's old spaceship. With the help of a powerful gangster named Isabel Satomi, who made a deal of her own with Penny Royal and is now regretting it, Spear plans on tracking Penny Royal down to whatever hidden lair it's hiding in. With Satomi's transformation having gone a bit further than anticipated (she's turning into a hooder), Spear abandons her and sets out on his own.

Satomi wanted revenge on Penny Royal for the changes it started in her. But with Spear's betrayal, she'll happily kill him too. She heads to a world in the Graveyard (an area of space between the Polity and the Prador Kingdom where neither has an official presence) where she can gather her forces and pursue Spear and then Penny Royal. While on The Rock Pool, a world ruled by a prador named Sverl who also made a deal with Penny Royal, the other Prador revolt against Sverl and he is forced to help Satomi if either of them want to survive.

All during this time Penny Royal has been dancing around and through everything, apparently orchestrating “something”. It shows up at Masada, an apparent guest of the newly sentient Atheter. Both Spear and Satomi also show up at Masada. Satomi is now a complete biomech warmachine, like the Technician before its demise. With such a weapon, the Atheter can now claim full control of Masada and kick the Polity out.

Satomi's consciousness is pulled from the hooder into a crystal memplant. Spear realizes he has been manipulated this whole time so Penny Royal can begin making good on all the bad things it did while a Black AI.

My Thoughts:

The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars this time around was because there was a very awkward, unnecessary and completely gratuitous sex scene ¾ of the way through the book. Other than that, I loved this book, again.

It has only been about 4 years since I initially read this but that is something like 600 books ago, so this was a good refresher. I remembered some of the larger details but that didn't in anyway detract from my enjoyment.

The first time I read this Penny Royal kind of came out of leftfield because I hadn't been paying any attention to mentions of it in previous Polity books. On my re-read of the Polity, I paid more attention to that and now it is paying dividends.

Asher is not telling disconnected stories all set in his Polity universe. Each series builds on the previous ones but without turning into a Never Ending Series. Each series has a definite beginning and a definite end, as does each book. You have no idea how much I appreciate an author that still writes that way.

I would not recommend starting Asher's Polity with this book. While you could, I guess, there is just too much in the background that you need to have read in his previous book for this to make sense.

★★★★½

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Dark Run (Keiko #1) ★★★☆½

Title: Dark Run
Series: Keiko #1
Author: Mike Brooks
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 434
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Captain Ichabod Drift is the proud owner of the Keiko and the master of a rather disparate and ragamuffin crew. Before Drift became Drift however, he was someone else, someone who worked for the Federation and committed acts in their name that they disavowed. Having faked his death to escape that life, Drift is dragged back into it by his former boss. All Kelsier wants Drift to do is deliver a package to Amsterdam at a very specific time while avoiding all the tedious stuff like inspections, etc that Earth has setup. Kelsier is also paying quite handsomely.

With no way to say no, Drift agrees and counts on the greed of his crew to overlook any issues. They succeed in getting the package to Earth but don't quite make it in time to Amsterdam. As they're preparing to dump the cargo out in the middle of the city, they cut of the locks and discover a nuclear bomb. They immedately head out to sea and dump the bomb, where it explodes and starts a worldwide panic. The crew hide and shake the truth out of Drift. Nobody is happy with him, not at all. They all vow to get revenge on Kelsier.

With some help from their onboard hacker, the crew of the Keiko get GIA (Galaxy Intelligence Agency) credentials and forged letters telling any locals to help them out. They track Kelsier down to a hidden fortress and with the help of the local army, take him out.

The book ends with the crew deciding to stay on board and stay loyal to Drift, as they all have their own little secrets.

My Thoughts:

This was a very fun read and I'm thankful to SavageDave for bringing this to my attention.

I am having a hard time finding the words that I want to use for this review. This was a solid book, there was nothing wrong with it, I enjoyed it but at the same time nothing really got me excited about writing about it. I would definitely recommend others read it but I can't really muster up the “oomph” to write the why's and wherefore's. I know, my apostrophes don't really fit, sue me.

A captain with a past, a misfit crew, a first officer that is super competent yet has secrets all her own, the Laughing Man (the galaxies most efficient killer who has an electronic tattoo of a skull over his face to hide his identity), a nuclear bomb, cage fighting, an extremely diverse ethnic crew (not something I look for in my reading but I know a lot of shallow puss buckets do these days) and some good old fashioned fighting, well, this has it all. I've seen comparisons to Firefly and I think they're pretty apt. I didn't feel like I was reading a Firefly fanfic though. On the otherhand, I enjoyed Firefly, and Serenity, but it didn't bother me that the show got cancelled so maybe I'm not a big enough fan to comment on whether this is Firefly fanfic or not.

If it is fanfic, well, I'm just going to kill myself then. Because I hate fanfic, I mean with a loathing and scorn that only an aristo can summon up for pathetic plebes doing really stupid and pointless things. His Grace, Lord Bookstooge, despises Indies and Fanfic. You may now bend the knee.

If you like space opera in any form, you'll probably enjoy this. I did and I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.

★★★☆½

Monday, July 22, 2019

[Manga Monday] A Song Someday (Shaman King #32) ★☆☆☆½ [Final]

Title: A Song Someday
Series: Shaman King #32
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 224
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

All the various groups are on the beach and Anna projects the mana numbers for everyone. The Gang is fighting the next Patch Officiant and Hao is at the last plant, preparing for the sleep that will put the Great Spirit within his grasp.

The Patch Officiant Number 3 kills Faust to prove how serious he is. He warns everyone to just give up, as they'll run out of mana before even reaching Hao. Faust resurrects himself. And is promptly killed AGAIN by the Patch. Yoh then defeats the Patch through the Power of Love and Faust is a now a ghost.

The two kids who use the golem disappear from Mikihasa's supervision. They want to attack Hao directly on Mu. They die in breaching the mana walls surrounding Mu but the golem is revealed to be powered by the soul of their mother and so they all keep on trying to kill Hao. Goldva, the Patch Chief, destroys them with the oversoul of the First Patch but the golem regenerates.

The next officiant takes down Horohoro but Yoh integrates with the ghost of Faust and fixes him up.

Team Gandala has gained 3 of the 5 ElementalSpirits and the Gandala leader is about to fight the King of Hell for the 4^th.

One of the golem children, now a ghost, delivers the Spirit of Fire to Yoh, as Hao doesn't need it anymore.

Yoh realizes, or reveals, or whatever, that the only true way to defeat Hao is to let him have what he wants and realize how empty that desire is.

The storyline ends with Anna and Manta saying they're going to wrap up loose ends while Yoh and the Gang deal with Hao.

The manga-ka then includes an afterwords apologizing for ending things how he did.

We then jump about 10 or 15 years into the future and follow the son of Yoh and Anna. Anna sends Hana (the son, a 6 year old) to an American Prison with Ryu to find Jocono, now known as the Legendary Warrior. Ryu tries to break him out and ends up in jail himself. Hana then attacks some tourists thinking they're trying to mug him. He ends up with Ryu in jail. Once released they make their way to a mountain seeking an old hermit. We then see the woman Hana knows as his mom, only she reveals herself to be Tamao, not Anna. She reveals that she's been taking care of Hana and will tell him the truth on his birthday.

The book ends with 5 mysterious characters making their way towards Funbari Hot Springs and 2 of them appear to be Anna and Yoh.

My Thoughts:

So the series got cancelled and that is why the manga-ka wrapped things up, or didn't. The fight scenes I didn't care about at all and I gave the rating I felt it and the “ending” deserved. It sucked. The power-up'ing trope was out of control and I was bored. This had become like every other fighting shonen manga I'd ever read or watched and the multiplicity of groups just diluted any connection I had from the beginning.

The ending with Hana and Ryu and the revelations about Tamao was fantastic. It captured the spirit of what Shaman King started out with. The 5 Mysterious Strangers was an awesome thing. That part I gave 4 stars to but it just wasn't enough to overcome the boring slugfest that came before.

Series Thoughts:

Shaman King started out fantastic. The friendships and interactions between Yoh, Manta and Ryu and Yoh and Ryu's ghost allies worked really well. Ren was a good frenemy and could have carried the villain/anti-hero part for the series.

Things started to go downhill when “Avengers, Assemble!” began happening. While characters like Horohoro and Jocono were ok in and of themselves, including them began to dilute what Yoh had with both Manta and Ryu. Both of those characters ended up being sidelined and not taking much part of the story later on. The main characters became those who had power instead of those who were just friends with Yoh.

When Hao was introduced as the Ultimate Bad Guy and he just kept getting bigger and bigger, that is when I felt this series slid off the rails. Instead of telling an intriguing story, like had been going on, the manga-ka devolved to Power Up and Escalation. It was boring and cliched in the bad way. I'm not surprised the manga was cancelled due to lack of interest by this point.

The Epilogue with the son and everything was a complete return to form and if the manga-ka had managed something like this sooner I suspect the series might have lasted longer. Having said that, I looked up on Wikipedia and the sequel to Shaman King, following Hana, only lasted a couple of books then fizzled out. I'm guessing the manga-ka is great with initial ideas and creating fun characters but then runs out of how to keep them going. Maybe if he'd stuck with writing shorter series he'd have done better.

Overall, considering how this ended I'm pretty disappointed in it. The humor was what drew me in initially and that just slowly drained out as characters kept getting more and more powerful.

★☆☆☆½

All My “Shaman King” Reviews

Friday, July 19, 2019

Patch Song (Shaman King #31) ★★☆☆☆

Title: Patch Song
Series: Shaman King #31
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

The gang must make their way through the 10 Patch officiants to reach Hao. Ryu fights and loses against the first Patch and Ren and Horohoro step up. They defeat the Patch while using the absolute minimum mana.

The scene then shifts to Manta and his dad. And Manta's dad is tied up and on a leash held by Anna. All of the shamans killed on the beach have been resurrected and everybody is everybody elses friend all of the sudden.

The second Path catches most of the group in a net but Lyserg and Ren are not caught and fight back. Lady Jeanne comes out of her coffin thingy and she and Lyserg take down Patch number two. Patch number three is being taken care of by Ren while Yoh talks to little Opacho about his skills.

Back on the beach everyone is having a cookout. Anna and Mikihisa are keeping track of the group fighting the Patch via an Oracle pager and realize that Jeanne is out of the running with her resurrecting Ren and Ryu and Horohoro.

Then we move on with another installment from Yoh's parents past. Part way through it switches to a future installment where a young boy is venerating at a shrine for Mikihisa and calls him “Grandpa”. An older Ryu bursts into the room calling him Young Master and the volume ends with the pictures that the young master was venerating. One was the former owner of the hotsprings Inn that Anna runs. The second was Faust. Apparently he died during the final Shaman Fight and refused resurrection. The final picture was of Mikihasa, who died in a car accident while coming home from a pachinko parlor. He was not resurrected due to his wife being mad at him for something.

My Thoughts:

At the beginning of the book there is an author's note where he says “something” is up with Shaman King but he's going to do the right thing. It sounds like Shaman King got cancelled out from under him and he's going to have to wrap things up in one volume instead of a bajillion more, ala Bleach.

Yeah, this was feth'ing crap. The manga-ka has lost control of his own story line and even the battles with the 3 Patch wasn't very good. It was fighting for fighting sake's and even worse, it was obviously that. I read everything to make sure I wasn't missing anything important but I just wanted this to end.

The ending with the Young Master venerating at the shrine and the little blurb about each deceased really came across as wrapping things up without having the time or ideas on how to actually wrap it up.

I am very disappointed even while not being surprised by this.

★★☆☆☆

All My “Shaman King” Reviews

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Extraordinary Days (Shaman King #30) ★★☆☆½

Title: Extraordinary Days
Series: Shaman King #30
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Team Ren and Team Yoh are sitting in a hotsprings after recovering. Ren and Yoh start recapping everyone's power and level. Hao shows up and Lyserg immediately attacks him. Hao shows them a new form of an oversoul in defense and everyone starts talking buddy buddy. Hao reveals that the final round of Shaman Fights will take place on the Lost Continent of Mu and that is why Mr Oyamada has shown up. Horohoro tells Hao that he's nuts and Hao tells Horohoro to shutup or he'll tell everyone who he likes.

Hao also reveals that the Patch won't do anything about the battle fleet Mr Oyamada brought and it is up to the remaining Shamans to deal with them. It is also revealed that a former X-Law is helping Mr Oyamada and has brought some big shaman guns (figuratively speaking).

Everyone, friend and foe, gather on the beach to fight the battle group brought by Mr Oyamada. Hao begins the attack and pretty much singlehandedly takes all threats down. The renegade X-Law in Oyamada's employ releases Azazel, the most powerful of Angels. Hao breaks Azazel and which destroys the X-Law. A shaman witch tries to stop Hao with voodoo and he returns the favor and kills her.

The Patch create a spirit submarine and all the shamans get on board to go to Mu. All the opposing Shaman Teams renounce their standing, giving Hao the win by default. Now Hao must commune with the great spirit and the Patch will defend him while he's in this helpless state. The opposing teams say they'll take the Patch down but only use it as training to eventually fight Hao.

Hao is taken to the ceremony and the others begin the journey to stop him. Silva, the Patch that initiated Yoh into the shaman fight is the first Patch they must fight to move onward. Yoh takes down Silva but 2 other Patch show up and tell the group that the Patch broke Silva to make him compliant and that the next 8 Patch are successively stronger. Ren realizing that they don't have enough mana to resurrect anyone so this is a do or die situation.

The volume ends with a short story about how Yoh's parents met.

My Thoughts:

The story is just getting messy. The manga-ka seems to pick up and discard ideas like a lint trap in a dryer. A huge fleet shows up in one volume, Hao takes it out in 3 pages. The 5 Warriors and the High Spirits are put forth and then just take a back seat. The whole feth'ing Shaman Fight, just ends because all the main characters decide so? Now the fights are going to be between the Patch and the good guy Shamans?

It feels like Takei is on drugs. Or he's lost the thread he started on. Whatever the reason, I felt like a pinball while reading this. It was not enjoyable and while some of it may be me reading these one after another, I'm just annoyed. I shouldn't be annoyed; the excitement should be building, the tension getting tighter. I shouldn't want this “just to be over with”.

There was nothing particularly “wrong” with this volume, it was just everything coming together, or not as the case may be.

★★☆☆½

All My “Shaman King” Reviews

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

O Jerusalem! ★★★★½

Title: O Jerusalem!
Series: ----------
Author: Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 745
Format: Paperback Edition

Synopsis:

A brief history of the events leading up to Britain's departure from the Holy Land in 1948 and the war for survival that Israel then fought against 5 Arab countries.

Taken from newspapers, private journal entries, interviews, government documents, Collins and Lapierre weave a narrative of courage, horror, bravery, cowardice, ingenuity and turn what could have been a dry recounting by the numbers of the birth of a modern nation into something that had a face of its peoples.

My Thoughts:

My, my, what a good start to my first dedicated foray into non-fiction. I'd read this back in 2000 and just remembered that I'd really enjoyed it then. I thoroughly enjoyed it again.

I also enjoyed reading about events from both sides, both Israeli and Arab. Getting accounts from both sides allowed the authors to delve a lot deeper and to make connections that wouldn't be possible without that knowledge. They also don't fall into the trap of worshiping one side and demonizing the other.

That being said, they also don't pull any punches. The Moslem Brotherhood is shown for the terrorist group it is. Anyone who watched the events of the Arab Spring in Egypt a couple of years ago will know their name. They're as “moderate” as Hillary Clinton and President Obama. The authors also show how a splinter group of the Israeli military (the Stern Gang I think?) tried to pull a coup and caused the official army to have to fire on its own people, WHILE THE WAR WAS GOING ON.

It is amazing how politics played such a huge part. For all that the Arab leaders were talking publicly about wiping Israel off the face of the earth, privately they were dead set against such a war. But they wouldn't keep their mouths shut and their people were ignorant savages and when you get that kind of combination, well, you get war.

There were very few footnotes or anything, but at the end of the book were almost 30 pages of sources and each chapter had its own little heading showing what sources were used to substantiate the chapter. Made me feel much better and that the authors weren't pulling rabbits out of hats.

★★★★½

O Jerusalem! (2000 Review)

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

The Shaman Fight Shakedown (Shaman King #29) ★★★☆½

Title: The Shaman Fight Shakedown
Series: Shaman King #29
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Some guy on the beach gets a call from Mr Oyamada and he tells him that all of Hao's minions on the beach, who were going to destroy them, have destroyed themselves. Oyamada makes it clear that he is after the Great Spirit itself, for all the power it contains.

We then flashback to the Oyamada minion taking down all of Hao's minions with modern weaponry. He, and by extension, Mr Oyamada, don't believe in souls and so the Shaman's powers simply don't work against him. A few of Hao's minions survive and warn him of his minion's demise. Hao simply shrugs, says he needs more mana and tells the survivors to sacrifice themselves so he can devour their souls.

Anna begins to fight Hao but Hao reveals his powered up (yet again) Oversoul and begins taunting Anna. If she can't save herself, how is she supposed to save Hao's minions, who might not even want to be saved? Yoh shows up and tells Hao that Anna is simply Anna.

Anna brings the minions back to their place and Yoh and Hao have coffee at a Patch coffee shop. Hao seems to revel in the fact that he's destroying anyone to become stronger while Yoh acts like a stoner.

Mikihisa, Yoh's dad, comes across the massacre on the beach and starts doing some kind of ceremony. Sati revives Lady Jeanne so that together they can resurrect the rest of their allies.

Yoh and Ren have a little talk and Ren shows that he thinks the only way to stop Hao is to kill him. Yoh doesn't believe it is that simple and that Hao still has a heart. The next shaman fight is between Team Ren and Yoh's team and they're fighting for their belief in how to deal with Hao.

Horohoro and Ren immediately take out Faust and Ryu, so as to isolate Yoh. Yoh reveals his mana neutralizing powers and Ren answers with his own power of nature using lightning. Both sides are going all out but only Yoh is completely certain in his mind. Suddeny Lyserg appears and stops the fight and Sati pulls out all of her teams, thus ensuring that both Team Ren and Yoh advance.

The Asakura's and the Tao's get together to figure out how their collective families can taken down Hao and deal with whatever Mr Oyamada is trying to do.

Despite the shenanigans pulled by Sati and her Gandala teams, Team Ren makes it clear they are going to finish their fight against Yoh. Lyserg steps in to cover for Ryu and Faust. The fight WILL continue.

The volume ends with a shot of the ship owned by Mr Oyamada and something going overboard.

My Thoughts:

This was a really twisty, turny volume. The idea that non-shamans are getting involved ratchets this up even more but in a way that I fully support. It is different from the shamans just endlessly powering up and pulling new powers out of their butts.

In the last review I was talking about how I missed Manta and in this volume, he plays a very small part but it is extremely pertinent. He's asking himself why he is even there. I'm really hoping that his friendship with Yoh will be one of the deciding factors in the final battle. Especially given that everyone now knows just how powerful Hao truly is. He is unbeatable and no one has the raw power to defeat him. I doubt even the 5 Warriors with a spirit ally could do it.

The Patch continue to sit on the sidelines and have their own little behind the scenes game and I still hate them. Sati and Gandala manipulating the fight seems a bit amateur to me. If the Shaman Fight has been going on for thousands of years, someone of a tactical mind would have already done something like it and I'm sure the bloody Patch would then institute rules to prevent such manipulation. You know, people were still pretty smart even 500 years ago. Technology doesn't equal intelligence.

With only 3 volumes to go, I suspect this is going to end extremely fast. And that the Power of Friendship will solve everything. I mean, you can't have a fighting shonen manga without that trope!

★★★☆½

All My “Shaman King” Reviews

Monday, July 15, 2019

[Manga Monday] A Good Woman (Shaman King #28) ★★★☆☆

Title: A Good Woman
Series: Shaman King #28
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

The volume starts out with Lyserg alone in some deserted city and the title of the chapter is “Separated in Hell”. Then Team Ren, now separated, all get the same “You're in Hell to train to become one of the 5 Warriors Speech”.

Back in the real world some of Hao's minions are taunting Sati and Ryu about Lyserg being blown up and Ryu loses his cool and attacks them. Sati intervenes and tells Ryu he musn't kill anyone, no matter the provocation. She is then stabbed by one of the minions.

Tamao and Manta survived the car explosion but Marco, Lady Jeanne and Lyserg are all dead. Tamao vows to safeguard their bodies until Sati can resurrect them. The minion of Hao who initially attacked them was also called on to destroy the bodies. Now Tamao, with help from Manta, must stand against the minion. Marco makes a comeback, thanks to Lady Jeanne blessing him right before they all died. Now that he's resurrected, he's stronger than ever and easily defeats the minion. Instead of killing him though, he tries to make a deal. Then Hao and Luchist show up and Marco gives his oversoul to Tamao so she can escape with the bodies of Lady Jeanne and Lyserg.

The island that the Shaman Fight is taking place on has now been revealed to the world since the X-Laws used a super-secret space laser on it. The Patch are trying to figure out what to do but reveal that the second part of the Tournament will take place somewhere where no one can interfere.

Anna shows up with the Golem to help Tamao and Marco and Hao reveals that he's planning on making her his bride once he becomes Shaman King. A battle ensues between them. Also, another team of Hao Minions show up at the inn where the bodies of Team Ren are. If the bodies are destroyed, they can't come back from hell.

Yoh faces down all the ogres and makes them take him to the king of hell, Yama. Ryu is fighting, uselessly, against the minions to protect Sati and Yoh's bodies. Dr Faust resurrects Yoh. Yoh instructs him to resurrect Sati while he holds off the minions.

A warship shows up at the island, helmed by Tycoon Oyamada, Manta's father.

Back at the Hotsprings Team Ren is resurrected by Jun Tao and Team Ren tests its new powers by taking on the Hao minions. The minions are recalled by Hao for “cleanup duty”, as are Hao's minions all over the island.

Lyserg continues his training in hell.

The volume ends with Hao's minions being told to “clean up” the warship. Dissension arises as some of them don't want to fight non-shamans and infighting commences.

My Thoughts:

Phracking aye, this was a busy volume. Too much time is spent shifting around to various characters instead of just sticking with a core group. It also made me realize that I miss Manta. He's not a shaman so he's pretty much been sidelined for quite some time. However, his interactions with Yoh in the first few volumes were what were so great. I miss that.

The plot continues to expand, what with the “real world” now getting involved. It is tough enough that Hao has about 50 bazillion shaman minions, but then between the X-Laws and Gandala you had another bazillion people and then the core group of Yoh and his friends. Now adding outsiders? It just feels like the manga-ka is going as “wide” as he can. Focus has been lost and everything feels frenetic. I'm barely hanging by my fingernails to the plot because it's become so twisty and convoluted.

I suspect the continued escalation of Everything would blow a teenagers mind. I'm not a teenager anymore so my mind is just bored.

★★★☆☆

All My “Shaman King” Reviews

Friday, July 12, 2019

Exotica (Shaman King #27) ★★★☆☆

Title: Exotica
Series: Shaman King #27
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Ryu is about to go berserk when he realizes Sati has killed Yoh but she reveals that she did it so Yoh would become one of the 5 Warriors, beings able to control the Five High Spirits, which are needed to defeat Hao.

Yoh is confronted by the giant ogre demon that he slew helping Anna several years ago and he senses the presence of Matamune, who is hiding in the shadows. The ogre tells Yoh he now serves Sati and that Yoh must think of Anna to make through all the levels of hell. The ogre leaves and Yoh's first opponent shows up looking like his dad. Turns out to be his distant ancestor who defeated Hao 500 years ago. Yoken eventually uses his ultimate power, that he used to defeat Hao, against Yoh and Yoh stops it cold. During the fight Yoh realizes Yoken isn't evil but just guilty about killing Hao, which is why he is still bound in hell.

Back in the real world, the Patch Officant for Gandala overhears Sati talking and confronts her. He states that the 5 High Spirits belong to the Patch and them alone.

Yoh and Yoken are talking and Yoken reveals that there are only 2 options for defeating Hao. One is total dissolution, which means no reincarnation and Yoh states he'll try the other way. Then a giant hammer kills Yoken and another giant ogre climbs up onto the battlefield. Yoh kills that ogre but the a whole clan shows up.

Team Ren is confronted by the Wisdom Kings, who tell them they know all about the 5 Warriors. However, the Wisdom Kings tell Team Ren that'll they will never leave the bathhouse alive.

Then 3 of Hao's minions show up to confront Sati and Ryu while the Patch Officiant makes snide remarks about how neutral he is. Sati knows that the X-Laws have been wiped out.

The story then moves into a shot story from which this volume gets its name. A story about 2 young street racers using “exotic” cars, ie, a lamborgini and a ferrari.

Then the manga-ka spends 15 pages illustrating his time doing the aforementioned one shot.

My Thoughts:

Ok, this was going along strong, definitely into the 3.5star territory. We finally get to see Yoh be really serious when the Ogre kills his ancestor. The fights with Yoken were pretty cool but since I am an experienced connoisseur of fighting shonen manga, having watched every single Yu Yu Hakusho episode, it didn't blow me away. I was impressed though.

The whole 5 Warriors/Spirits thing seems to be the manga-ka's way of shaking the story out of any potential ruts. I guess I can deal with that.

Then the whole stupid one shot story happened. I've read the Initial D manga so the whole japanese street racing thing is old hat. Considering this took place at least 3+ years after Initial D was released, it felt like he was trying to ride the coat tails of its success. And to be honest, I haven't given 2 figs about cars since I was 16. I drive them and I earn money to pay somebody else to fix them. That is it. And the icing on the cake was the manga-ka then illustrating how he came to do the one shot. He basically ran out of ideas for the one shot and so padded it out with the “how to” of it. Completely took me out of the Shaman King world. I feel like I'm being very generous with only dropping this to a 3. If there is another instance like this in any of the future volumes I'll drop it to at least a 2, if not lower.

Only five more volumes to go. I feel like I'm in some kind of weird book marathon or something. And I have no one to blame but myself! Well, except maybe you. Yep, I'm definitely going to blame you this time. Bad you, go sit in the corner! Sit!

★★★☆☆

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Thursday, July 11, 2019

The Brother's Nose (Shaman King #26) ★★★☆☆

Title: The Brother's Nose
Series: Shaman King #26
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Yoh realizes Team Ren has powered up so he and his cohorts race out of the stadium for more special training. The new member of the Wisdom Kings takes Ren out with a mental attack and Joco steps up to do battle with him. Joco's new oversoul tells him to keep cool when suddenly the 3^rd member of the Wisdom Kings does a sneak attack and apparently kills him. Now it's up to Horohoro to face down the strongest members of the Wisdom Kings.

Horohoro pretty much goes super-sayan on them and just completely overwhelms them. The scene cuts away to the lady in charge of Gandala and she's thanking Bonze the musician monks and Jun Tao for bringing Team Ren to her attention. Turns out Horohoro is some wolf-god incarnate and so powerful that Hao realizes the futility of turning him. Team Ren wins and the next match between a Hao affiliate and a Gandala affiliate begins.

Hao's team almost literally slices and dices their way to victory. While this match is going on, some X-Laws are attempting to assassinate Hao. Hao unleashes his fire elemental on them and devours their souls. They knew that Hao could read their minds, hence their plan, so they initiated a secret plan, an unrevealed Angel of Fire, a laser satellite and use it to destroy the entire area where Hao is.

Sati, the head of Gandala, confronts Yoh and tells him he must die for the sake of the 5 Warriors. Yoh prepares to test out his new oversoul.

At the time of the rogue X-Laws attack, a brother of one of the contestants beaten by Lady Jeanne confronts the car carrying Marco, Lyserg, Jeanne, Manta and Tamao. Marco appears to be killed outright.

The volume ends with the X-laws attack failing, Yoh being killed and sent to hell by Sati and Lady Jeanne and Co defenseless.

My Thoughts:

A good bit of fighting but once again, it is overwhelming on a visual aspect. I see this huge explosion of power and just pass it over as it's to much effort to parse it out. It would appear that Joco has been co-opted by Gandala and the whole 5 Warrior thing, whatever that is. Honestly, it seems a bit late in the series to be introducing yet another wrinkle into the plot. It certainly does create tension though.

One of the X-Laws sees Hao crying right before Hao kills him. Which means that Hao's ability to feel sympathy/empathy isn't gone like he claims. Not sure what that is going to portend, but I'm sure the manga-ka will make hay with it at some point.

Right at the end, when Sati kills Yoh, Matamune is shown greeting Yoh in the afterlife. So hopefully Matamune will power up Yoh and reveal some weakness about Hao. Or he'll just blather the manga-ka's useless palaver about not hurting anybody, ever, blah, blah, blah.

★★★☆☆

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Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Death Wish ★★★★★

Title: Death Wish
Series: ----------
Author: Brian Garfield
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Paul Benjamin is a successful accountant in New York City. One afternoon his wife and married daughter are attacked in Paul's apartment and savagely beaten. His wife dies and his daughter ends up in a sanitarium, insane for all intents and purposes.

Paul has always been a good guy. He's done charity work for prison reform, contributes to causes left and right and thinks that if he obeys the rules that Society will protect him. With the attack on his family this delusion is ripped away and Paul must confront what living in a big city really means.

As he mulls these thoughts over, he begins to change. He realizes he has been afraid and he is now going to stop being afraid. But how does one stop being afraid? By taking responsibility for ones self is the conclusion Paul comes to.

On a business trip to the Mid-West Paul has a one night stand with some stranger at his hotel. When she leaves he realizes how empty his life is. How empty those hoodlums have made his life. He buys a small calibre pistol at a fishing shop and takes it back to New York with him hidden in his carry on baggage.

Paul begins roaming the city at night, exposing himself to danger so as to kill the perpetrators of violence and crime. After several kills the papers pick up on the fact that there is a vigilante on the loose. The book ends with Paul having just shot 4 teenagers who were throwing 50lb rocks onto a train to kill people inside and a cop seeing him. The cop raises his hat and deliberately turns his back and Paul walks home.

My Thoughts:

My goodness, another fantastic book for this year. Definitely gets the “Best Book of the Year” tag.

So, this review might be long and rambly, please bear with me or just skip it. Either way, it's all good.

I had heard about this through the 1974 film starring Charles Bronson. Knowing the type of movie Bronson usually starred in, I never got around to watching it. Then in 2018 a remake with Bruce Willis was made and it eventually came to Amazon Prime. I watched the reboot, as I really like Willis. That led me to watching the original with Bronson and then to hunting down the book. I plan on talking about the movies in a Versus post later this month. Death Wish vs Death Wish vs Death Wish!

Based on the synopsis and the movies, I was expecting a book about a vigilante getting his revenge. A soft, pasty, weakminded fool seeing reality for the first time in his life and going all gung-ho to the other extreme. What I got was a psychological book that impressed me over and over and over. Paul never finds the hoodlums who killed his wife and he never expects to. What I read was the mind of a man pushed beyond its self-imposed limits. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't always easy to read about but it was good.

I've always considered Crime & Punishment to be THE book on what a criminal mind goes through after a murder. Death Wish is entering the same territory in my mind but from the other end. What does a man go through when he truly realizes how broken, destructive and unsafe his world is? This book shows the answer to that.

Given the fact that I already agree with most of the statements made in this book (see my Quote post from the other day) it is no surprise that I liked this. The only part I struggled with was Paul taking the role of Executioner into his own hands, not lightly, but so determinedly. I believe that every human has the God given right to defend themselves. I believe that laws like the Stand Your Ground laws are essential to a free society. However, when defense of Self moves into the defense of Society then I cannot blindly accept or promote it. But neither do I blindly negate it. Evil, and people who commit acts of Evil ARE evil, must be resisted not only by the dutifully elected officials of Law and Order but by every conscientious citizen as well. The flip side of the Right to Self-defense is the Responsibility of Self-defense. This book was written in 1972 and is pretty dated but the battle that Paul goes through in his mind is as relevant today as it was then.

I don't know what someone who is in staunch opposition to the right of self-defense would make of this book. I don't think it would change their mind. It is not meant to however. This was a book written to all of those people who sit on the fence and think they are safe because “of the police” or that “it couldn't happen here in Safe Safe Happy Funland.” Brian Garfield also NEVER ridicules those who think like Paul at the beginning of the book. I really appreciated that.

I would love to unreservedly recommend this book but honestly, I can't. For me, it was the right book at the right time. People can have their minds changed and responsibility can grow from even the stinkiest compost heap.

To end, this was not an action/adventure novel of revenge and over the top violence. This was the story of a man finally growing up.

★★★★★