Blood and Pompadours (Shaman King #11) ★★★★☆ (Manga Monday)

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Blood and Pompadours
Series: Shaman King #11
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 208
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Grandpa Asakura is revealing the secrets about Hao Asakura to Anna when they catch Tamao eavesdropping. Turns out the Asakura's did kill Hao, but he had already developed the power to reincarnate himself. Gramps reveals there is a book of spells that could help Yoh but to release it would also release 2 of Hao's familiars, ogres of incredible strength. Tamao picks the book up and accidentally breaks the seal. Everyone panics and Gramps is ready to die to defend the girls. Anna simply snatches the book, reads the spells on how to control the demons and controls them. A truly worthy woman to be by the side of the Shaman King. Anna and Tamao take off to deliver the book of spells to Yoh.

Our Gang reaches the base of a mountain and Horohoro wants to go snowboarding. The rest of the gang go on ahead to the next town and wait for him. His spirit ally gets jealous and leaves him and Horohoro has an accident and wakes up in a Park Ranger's cabin 3 days later with 2 broken legs and Kororo still missing. The park ranger is protecting a wounded bear and Horohoro goes and convinces it to leave and hide in the deep wilderness. Then some redneck hunters kill the bear while it's standing right next to him. He confronts them but ultimately doesn't kill them as that would put him on their level. It does reunite him with Kororo though.

Our Gang reunites and head to the former Patch village. There they find a mysterious passage guarded by a group of other Shamans. They also happen to be minions of Hao. Hao has left them strict orders to stay away from Yoh but to kill all his friends so as to prepare him for future use by Hao.

Lyserg is attacked first and attacked by Dracula no less. However, Dracula's first name is Boris. Dracula kills one of his own comrades when Our Gang starts laughing at him for not looking like Dracule and pointing out the other guy who does. Ol' Drac then sucks the dead guy to ashes and Lyserg starts feeling the effect of the vampire's bite.

Ryu steps forward to do battle and his pompadour magically grows back. An epic fight looks to be brewing between Dracula and the baddest street thug in Tokyo. Yeah!

The story then cuts away to the Patch tribe, who are somehow watching everything going on. Goldva, chief of the Patch appears to be operating under orders from Hao and the rest of the younger Patch are getting restless with how Goldva is manipulating things.

The volume wraps up with Lyserg jumping on Yoh to prevent him from helping Ryu, the rest of Hao's minions revealing that they are guarding the entrance to the Patch Village and Ryu figuring out that Boris isn't a real vampire, just a human using his oversoul to mimic one. The book ends with Ryu preparing to put the smackdown on Boris.

My Thoughts:

Phrack yes!!!!!! This is the awesomeness I want and expect in a Shonen manga. Ryu is awesome and I'm glad he got to show some of his stuff. He doesn't even use his sword yet, just beats the crap out of Boris with his hands and feat. I suspect the next volume will be all about him using his techniques.

The revelations about Hao put paid to my ideas that the Patch were soft on him. He's able to reincarnate at will, so what is death to him? Man, the threat he represents just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I don't know what his end will be but I hope it is full of pain and suffering before being snuffed out of existence. Of course, with Yoh's attitude, they'll probably all become best friends and eat icecream together or something.

Glad to see Manta and Anna coming to America. I like when the WHOLE gang is altogether. Even that wretchedly stupid Tamao.

Now that the side characters are getting their own side stories (Horohoro's was kind of pathetic, but whatever) and growing into their own, I think I'm liking Ryu. His pompadour just fascinates me and his heart of gold hidden beneath that punk surface just makes me want to give him a manly fist bump of support.

Keep this up and my goodness, it might come close to Eyeshield 21 levels of enjoyment!

★★★★☆

• Shaman King #10-11 (2007 Review)
• Clash at Mata Cemetary (Book 7)
• The Road to the Tao Stronghold (Book 8)
• Voyage of the Shaman (Book 9)
• Song of Doom (Book 10)

Joy in the Morning (The Jeeves Omnibus #2.2) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Joy in the Morning
Series: The Jeeves Omnibus #2.2
Author: P.G. Wodehouse
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humor
Pages: 272
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Bertie gets roped into going to Bumpleigh in the Country to help his Uncle by marriage close a business deal with an American Magnate. At the same time Bertie is supposed to help his cousin get said Uncle's blessing to marry a rich novelist who the Uncle dislikes immensely (for good reason). Then Bertie gets engaged to a woman who he was engaged to a year or two ago and who broke off her engagement to a policeman who was one of Bertie's old classmates. Said Classmate is a sack of man-meat and looking for any excuse to jail Birtie.

Throw in a nephew whose every act of kindness turns into some kind of disaster, a country ball where Bertie wears a stolen police uniform and midnight escapades and you have this novel in a pinch.

My Thoughts:

More of the same, more of the same.

At this point, if you've made it this far you know you're going to keep on going with the series. If this wasn't for you (Yes, I'm looking at you, Miiiiiiister Newton!), you'd have given up sometime during the first omnibus.

Spineless Bertie can't act like a man for 2 seconds. Which leads to humorous situations that only Jeeves can manipulate him out of for the betterment of everyone involved. The thing is, as a reader you HAVE to accept the stupidity of Bertie to enjoy this series. Not malicious stupidity but plain old genetic dumb-assery. If you can't get past that, and I don't blame anyone who can't, this just isn't for you.

But if “rich people having problems” can amuse you, you'll just keep eating these books up. Wodehouse obviously has a limited repertoire of situations he can bother Bertie with (the main one getting married) but they are still of good variety.

Sit back and chuckle and enjoy Bertie being a dumbass. Because Jeeves is the benevolent force of nature behind the scenes making sure that everything turns out alright.

★★★☆½

• Previous Jeeves Reviews

Bitter Gold Hearts (Garrett, P.I. #2) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Bitter Gold Hearts
Series: Garrett, P.I. #2
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 288
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Garrett is paid to consult on a kidnapping case for one of the rich and powerful folks of town.Everything seems to be just fine until someone murders the girl who was the go between, who happens to be related to the kidnap victim. Then the heir, who was returned, supposedly kills himself. A wagonload of gold has also disappeared. Garrett is then hired by the remaining daughter to ostensibly find the gold but to also find out what is going on.

Garrett figures everything out but has to reveal it all to the Head of the Family who has just returned from the war. She's a Storm Lord of no small power and she ends up killing almost everyone involved to cover it all up so her “honor” won't be besmirched. Garrett realizes what is happening in the nick of time and wraps things up neatly and presents the “evidence” to the other Storm Lords. They strip her of her power and the daughter inherits.

And that wagonload of gold? It disappeared, just like the Steward, who hired Garrett to consult in the first place.

My Thoughts:

Garrett sleeps with a lot of women. First, there's the woman from the previous book, who is away for this one. Then there's the cousin who ends up murdered and is the cause of Garrett really staying involved in the whole thing. Then there's the daughter of the Storm Lord. Between all that wenching and the gallons of beer he consumes, I'm surprised Garrett hasn't died from either syphilis or his liver giving out.

Other than bit of moralizing, I had a blast reading this. Garrett and some shady characters invade a criminal troll stronghold and end up burning the place down. It was violence and action and comedy and humor all in one situation and I loved it. Garrett does a lot of skulking around and I could have done with a little less of that, but eh, he's a P.I., skulking is part of the job.

I really liked the ending, with the Storm Lord going full on murder spree and Garrett stopping her before she murders him and his friends too. I didn't see it coming, so when Cook sprang it on me, I was quite surprised, as it meant the book didn't end with a little “oh, I've solved things, lets go home now” from Garrett

I don't think that I could tell you that the guy who wrote this series is the same guy who wrote the Black Company books. It's not just the change in sub-genre (comedic detective fantasy versus dark fantasy) but so far, I've seen nothing related to or from the Black Company or the Dread Empire. Not a phrase, not a character type, not a situation. That is really good. After 10 books of the Black Company and almost as many with the Dread Empire, I like this change. I hope this tempo can be sustained for another 12 books.

I just realized that maybe I should be adding the mystery tag, as Garrett is private detective after all. But while I will be, these don't strike me as mysteries. I don't know if it is because I've been steeped in the Agatha Christie, Ellis Peters type of mystery for so long or what.

★★★☆½

• Sweet Silver Blues (Book 1)

Song of Doom (Shaman King #10) ★★★☆½ (Manga Monday)

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Song of Doom
Series: Shaman King #10
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 208
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Our Gang is on Route 66 but are in the middle of nowhere. Ryu and Tokagero use the Legendary Hitchhiker Thumb move and the group gets an immediate pickup by Farmer Bill. At the next town they begin their exploration for the Patch tribe, only to find out there is no Patch Tribe. The local librarian reads them a small scrap of poetry from an extinct tribe that seems to show the Patch are evil.

The librarian gives them the address of the last surviving Seminoan, a woman named Lilirara. The scene cuts away to her declaiming how the Patch are subverting the Shaman Fight so they can rule themselves. She vows to stop Our Gang so they won't further the Patch's aims. She subjects them to the fight the last Seminoans had and Our Gang all have their limbs chopped off,in their minds.

Lilirara shows Our Gang a vision of what happened and it turns out that the Patch were trying to create a Shaman Empire. To be more specific, someone who looked like an adult Hao with his Fire Spirit was trying to forge a Shaman Empire. Our Gang convinces her that they mean to oppose Hao and she tells them what she knows of the Patch village. Once they leave, Hao shows up and kills her. Hao does reveal that he was the evil Patch shaman from 500 years ago and that it was an Asakura who stopped him. Now he wants Yoh to grow strong so that Hao can make Yoh a great servant and thus gain his revenge.

Our Gang meets up with another shaman from England who drops his pants upon meeting them to prove he's a guy. Yeah.....

His name is Lyserg and Horohoro and Ren attack him on suspicion that he's an ally of Hao. Lyserg takes them both down quite easily, which is when Yoh gets involved. He warns Lyserg off and prepares to take his friends to the local hospital. Lyserg reveals his backstory of how Hao killed his parents 8 years ago and that he, Lyserg, must gather strong allies to defeat Hao. Lyserg attacks Yoh and Yoh repels the attack with one blow. Lyserg keeps attacking until Yoh destroys his shaman weapon. Yoh then smacks him around to get him to listen to reason. Lyserg joins the team and everybody is hunky dory.

Back in Japan, Yoh's grandfather has called Anna to the Asakura shrine and unlocked the Forbidden Temple, the Temple of Hao. Turns out, Hao is 1000 years old and the ancestor of the Asakura's. Gasp, shock, reeling...

My Thoughts:

Dang! Hao is proving to be one wicked badass guy. 1000 years old, the creator of the Asakura clan line AND a Patch? I'm looking forward to hearing about how he was defeated 500 years ago.

Horohoro is such a hot head. Attacking Lyserg with no real reason, he definitely earned his beating. Of course, Lyserg isn't much better, acting so high and mighty. Good beatings for everyone and then they're all friends. Yep, just another day in the Shonen Manga Lifestyle!

Lilirara's death wasn't shown, so either she was killed by Hao or he somehow subsumed her and she'll come back in a later volume as a bad guy. She did do her part to provide Our Gang with a clue of where to start finding the Patch.

Obviously a lot of things are going on behind the scenes with the Patch and I for one am looking forward to them getting their asses handed to them for not dealing with Hao all those years ago. Exiling someone for crimes only works if you don't care about the rest of the world. There is only one way to deal with such evil. Death. They should have chopped his head off 500 years ago. Of course, if they did, we wouldn't have a story, right? Blasted Manga-ka!

At this point in the game, I'm pretty satisfied with how this manga is going. By this point with the Oh My Goddess manga I was just about ready to throw in the towel. I was kind of afraid I'd repeat that here but thankfully, I'm even more ready to keep going than I was after the first volume. Onward and upwards!

★★★☆½

• Shaman King #10-11 (2007 Review)
• Clash at Mata Cemetary (Book 7)
• The Road to the Tao Stronghold (Book 8)
• Voyage of the Shaman (Book 9)

The Merry Wives of Windsor ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Series: ----------
Author: William Shakespeare
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Play, Comedy
Pages: 80
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Falstaff, a fat, flagrant lecher, pursues two married women of Windsor at the same time. The two wives decide to turn the tables on him and put him through all sorts of trials at the hands of their unsuspecting husbands. One time Falstaff is taken out of the house in a basket of laundry and thrown into the river. Another time he has to dress up like an ill-favored Aunt and is beaten by one of the husbands who hates the Aunt.Finally, he ismade to dress up in deer antlers and beset upon by a group of children and pinched and beaten at midnight.

There is a smaller sub-plot of a young man and woman who want to get married and that is carried out under the nose of the father and mother, who each want the girl to marry the suitor of their choice.

Everyone but Falstaff ends up happy.

My Thoughts:

I wonder, why would a fat old man think he could woo happily married women? If I'd been one of the husbands, I'd have stuck a sword through Falstaff first chance I got.

I enjoyed this a good bit as I was able to make the play happen in my head. I had to consciously do it, but picturing it in my mind made it so much more palatable than just words on the page. Falstaff getting dumped in the river and beaten had me laughing out loud, like it was supposed to.

I have to admit that the whole “jealous husband testing his wife” thing that Shakespeare seems to thrive on (in regards to almost any married couple) doesn't work for me. I don't know if its a cultural thing or a personal thing or what, but if I ever suspected something untoward regarding Mrs B, I'd ask her. If there was another man then a 1^st degree homicide would occur, but I wouldn't be setting up scenarios to try to trap her or to try to make her act unfaithfully. That isn't how real love works. Good old murder now, that's how Twue Wuv weally works. * Fezzik cheers *

I am thankful this was as entertaining as it was. I was afraid I was going to have to put some more space in my reading rotation so I could continue on, but this helps keep me interested. Reading a Complete Shakespeare is kind of like a marathon. Don't do it lightly and for phrack's sake, don't ever, ever, EVER sprint.

★★★☆½

• Previous Shakespeare Reviews

Fear Nothing (Moonlight Bay #1) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Fear Nothing
Series: Moonlight Bay #1
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 450
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Christopher Snow was born afflicted with (insert really long medically sounding name), otherwise known as XP. His body can't heal from UV damage and something like a flashlight can take years off his life or make him go blind in months. He is now 28 and his parents have sacrificed a lot to give him as much freedom as possible. He roams the night, writes successful novels and surfs.

Several months ago his mother died in a car accident. The book opens with his father expiring from cancer in the local hospital. Everything Chris ever starts to go sidewise as he sees the local mortician replace his father's body with some hitchhiker's. His father's body is loaded into a van and taken away to Wyvern, a supposedly closed military base.

During the next 2 days Chris uncovers a lot of secrets hiding in Moonlight Bay. His mother was involved in genetic experimentation with the aim of helping cure Chris's XP. Chris's father's cancer might have been caused by a rogue genetic experiment gone awry. Chris finds out that the experiments have been successful, but not in the way his mother intended. The politicians and top army brass have used it to enhance intelligence in animals and to transfer animal characteristics to humans. Unfortunately, the carrier evolved and people began becoming infected unknowingly and spreading it even outside of Moonlight Bay.

Several of the solid citizens of Moonlight Bay have already fallen to the gene therapy. The Chief of Police dreams of raping and killing little girls. He tries to kill Christopher to keep his secret but dies in the attempt. A troup of bloody thirsty enhanced monkey's attack Chris, his girlfriend and his beach bum friend one night. The troup is led by a court-martialed sociopath who has been hiding his own “becoming” from all his superiors.

To top it all off, it turns out that Chris's own dog, Orson, is the product of the tests and is just as intelligent as a human. Orson, however, shows no sign of the psychopathic murderous tendencies exhibited in almost all the other patients that Chris has seen.

The book ends with Chris realizing that he simply can't fight this end of the world as we know it.

My Thoughts:

I actually read the sequel to this 18 years ago. I wasn't reviewing per se, so I didn't remember any details and so nothing was spoiled for this book. Just an anecdote, that is all.

In the character of Chris Snow are the seeds that will, 5 years later, turn into Odd Thomas and that much more successful series.

I found the scene between Chris and the Chief of Police to be as horrific as Koontz intended without it being offensive. There is nothing graphic in what Koontz writes and yet when the Chief is talking to Chris about his nightmares and his plans and his descent into animal savagery, I was horrified. It walked the line of talking about something absolutely evil without crossing that line into being voyeuristic about it. More authors should take note, as it takes real skill to write that way.

I enjoyed this but once again, like his Frankenstein series, Koontz is actually only telling one story and splitting it up into “books” to satisfy publishing demands. This book ends with Chris and Co surviving the attacks by various infected creatures, human or otherwise but the threat is so big that it IS the end of the world as humans know it. If I hadn't known there was another book, I would have assumed this was a standalone with the Big Ending (ie, the end of the world) left up in the air for the readers to imagine.

Considering how proto-Odd Thomas Chris Snow is, I was figuring that Snow's girlfriend was going to die the whole book. Color me pleasantly surprised when she made it through almost unscathed. That'll teach me to be cynical.

The other thing I'm learning about Koontz seems to be that he likes to write about short time periods. The first ¾'s of the book only took 12hrs and the final ¼ was the next 24. Thirty-six hours for a 450 page book. I'll have to remember that so I don't expect dramas drawn out over the years.

★★★☆½

Of Mice and Men ★☆☆☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Of Mice and Men
Series: ----------
Author: John Steinbeck
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 73
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

George and Lennie are looking for work. George has a dream of owning his own little bit of land some day and all Lennie wants is to have rabbits so he can pet them. George has been looking after Lennie for years and benefits from his lack of intelligence and from his brawn.

On a new farm, they come across an old one handed worker who has half the price saved up to buy the piece that George has his eye on. All George and Lennie need to do is work one month, collect their pay, pool it with the third man and then they can “live on the fat of the land”.

Their new boss has a young son who is recently married. The young man, Curly, has a chip on his shoulder and is always fighting those who are bigger than him. He takes an immediate dislike to Lennie and Lennie simply doesn't understand what is going on. Curly's wife has a roving eye and wants socialness, something that she just isn't getting from Curly or life on a ranch.

She corners Lennie one afternoon to talk to him, since she knows he's too stupid to go away. Lennie feels her hair, as he has a weak spot for soft things. This frightens Curly's wife and Lennie freezes up. She starts to scream and Lennie puts his hand over her mouth to stop her and ends up breaking her neck. He runs away to a special spot that George told him to go to if he ever got in trouble.

Curly gets together the men of the ranch to hunt down Lennie and makes sure George is with them. George knows where Lennie is and steals a gun from one of the other ranch hands. He finds Lennie and tells him the wonderful story about the place they are going to own to distract Lennie. George then shoots Lennie, killing him instantly so that he won't suffer at the hands of a lynching led by Curly.

The book ends with George giving up on his dream of a place of his own and resigning himself to spending his monthly pay on whores and whiskey.

My Thoughts:

What a fantastically written horrible book. As much as I wish it weren't true, Steinbeck can write. His books are considered Classics for a reason. By the end of this little tiny novella, George and Lennie felt as real to me as anyone I know from my work.

That being said, Steinbeck was an asshole in choosing to waste his talents on such horrible subject matters. My take is that Steinbeck wanted to show the worst parts of life, and only the worst parts, and then extrapolate that ALL of life is that bad. Meaningless, hopeless and ultimately completely futile.

I had read the Red Pony back in 7^th grade and it so affected me, negatively, that I have never read another book by Steinbeck until now. I wanted to see if growing older and more mature made a difference in how I viewed his writing. Nope,not one jot.

What a waste. A waste of talent, a waste of a life, a waste of such potential. I don't mourn, but it does sadden me that people can make such choices and do such things.

★☆☆☆☆

Bite This (Kurtherian Gambit #4) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Bite This
Series: Kurtherian Gambit #4
Author: Michael Anderle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 270
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Bethany Anne and Crew have a lot to do.

One of their smaller companies has created an AI but didn't tell anyone. They shut it down so there was no chance of it going all Skynet on the world. When BA finds out, she puts her father and some others on the case as they need some super intelligence to help guide them through the coming minefields.

The Company needs a military base as a “Corporate Headquarters” so they can start bringing their own people together, to work and to protect. If any nation state learns what BA is doing or capable of, they're going to have to protect themselves. They also need a place where scientists can start studying TOM's spaceship. The spaceship itself needs to be moved from the mountainous area to a secure birth on the super yacht.

BA has given the responsibility of getting Europe back under control to Stephen, another of Michael's direct children. He has to deal with young vamps on the edge of becoming Forsaken as well as Pack politics. European Were haven't been dealt with for decades and they are thinking that maybe vamps aren't tough as all that. Stephen shows them WHY vamps are top of the food chain and Europe starts to settle down.

And if that isn't enough, one of Michael's direct children, now a Forsaken in South America, is attacking BA using political connections. BA has to figure out who the politician is and where this Forsaken is actually located. Then she can deal with both of them. Just to complicate things even more, it looks like this Forsaken has a secret formula for making Nosferatu more intelligent and even stronger.

My Thoughts:

I have to admit, while reading this, I had the Beach Boys song “Fun, Fun, Fun” running through my head. And BA's daddy doesn't take the t-bird away, so yeah, lots and lots of fun.

I complained about the last book introducing a ton of characters really quickly. Thankfully, it pays off here. The book cycles through quite a few POV's which is only possible because of all the new people. I still say Anderle could have done it a bit slower but it isn't something I can complain about in this book. Gabby the vampire ends up in the medical box and becomes an alpha vamp probably on the level with Michael. I'm surprised that BA isn't running some of her own crew through the box to build up a small army of loyal alpha vamps. I consider BA to be Vamp Zero and maybe she doesn't want any alphas going wild and blowing her cover and destroying her chance to bring the world up to readiness to deal the the enemy aliens. I don't know. I do know that I would be biting my loyal guards until they were all vamps, especially since they would be daywalkers.

The whole AI storyline is just getting going. There is lot of relocation and talking and plans but the switch hasn't been thrown yet to bring it back online. I'm definitely interested to see where this plot line goes.

There is a battle scene where Gabby saves a german shepherd by giving it her blood. BA also gives it her blood. So we're going to end up with vampire dogs. I'm guessing Anderle will use them as Nosferatu detectors and such. I really didn't care for this inclusion, as I'm not an animal person.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this. At under 300 pages, I felt like I just raced through it. I know Anderle has this series in omnibus editions with 3 books in each and I'm tempted to go that route just so I can get a big long draft of BA kicking butt. I know I won't though, as I'd rather stretch things out and stay a little hungry than burn out. Nothing worse than burnout.

★★★☆½

• Love Lost (Book 3)
• Queen Bitch (Book 2)
• Death Becomes Her (Book 1)

Seal of the Worm (Shadows of the Apt #10) ★★★★½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Seal of the Worm
Series: Shadows of the Apt #10
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 641
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Che and her compatriots are stuck in the kingdom of the worm. They find out that the worm kinden found an alternate source of power to magic or aptness in the form of a giant centipede that they worship as a god. This god wipes out all thought of magic and aptness from the minds of those in its vicinity. Che tries to raise the populace to revolt but it ends up turning into a run for survival as the Worm begins to devour all of its underground slaves in preparation for breaking forth upon the surface.

Empress Seda figures out a ritual to re-seal the seal of the worm but she needs so much power to do so. To obtain this power, she will use the death of the thousands of Inapt subjects of the Wasp Empire. She begins a progrom using the Slave Corp and once the camps are established, uses the Red Watch to oversea the setting up of machinery to distribute the bee-killer gas in the camps.

General Tynan, now governor of Collegium is torn between his duty to the Empire and plain old common sense. The Empress has him rounding up Inapt instead of fighting the Empire's enemies. He is eventually driven out of Collegium by Stenwold Maker and his sea-kinden allies. Tynan retrenches in the Wasp capital and prepares to face multiple armies that are all taking advantage of Seda's preoccupation with the ritual instead of running her Empire.

The Worm begins breaking out all over the world and destroys half of Capitas (wasp capital). When Seda begins her ritual, a lot of the guards at various camps rebel and do not use the bee-killer on the prisoners. Seda reaches out to Che, as her sister in magic and Che drags Seda to the underworld. They duel and Che wins. Totho, rogue artificer and rejected lover of Che, is also in the underground kingdom. He is captured and taken to be fed to the worm but has a belt of grenades. He is able to use the grenades and destroys the giant centipede. This destroys all the worm segments attacking the surface world and fighting grinds to an immediate stop.

General Tynan, now in charge, makes treaties with the various armies and their cities. Stenwold dies in a worm attack. Tisamon is finally set free from Seda's magical imprisonment as her bodyguard. Che and Thalric make their way to the surface.

My Thoughts:

I did not race through this book. I would read 20-30 pages here and there and it took me almost 2 weeks to finish this off. Yet at the same time it was not because I wasn't enjoying it. I immensely enjoyed this re-read. It just felt like a big steak that I simply couldn't gulp down. I had to take the time to cut it up into small pieces and then chew each of those pieces thoroughly.

My only real complaint was how the worm god died. As I was reading it, it struck me how exactly the same it was as the movie Edge of Tomorrow. Both this book and that movie came out in 2014. They were released within months of each other so I find it hard to believe that one influenced the other. At the same time, the whole idea of a belt of grenades killing the big baddie almost at the end of the story seems too similar to ignore.

I had forgotten that Stenwold dies. I was under the impression that he went back under the sea with his lady friend. It was rather fitting though, since the group that started the book are now all dead. Very “circle of life” and all that.

In that vein, I thought Tchaikovsky did a good job of wrapping up all the various characters and their storylines. Very few have a happy ending but those who live have a decent ending and a chance to go on. After 10 books of almost continual warfare, you really can't ask for much more than that.

The series overall upon this re-read came out even better. Tchaikovsky can write and each book told a good story while advancing the series narrative. The quality of his writing was top notch and shows that he has mastered the art of writing entertainment. I bought this decalogy when it came out and this re-read has shown me that that was money well spent. I started this re-read back in February of 2017 and am finishing it now, so its been 1 ¾ years of making my way through this. I have enjoyed my time and don't begrudge it in any way.

I realize that Tchaikovsky isn't going to be for everyone, but he is one of those authors that I think everyone SHOULD try at least once. Highly recommended.

★★★★½

• Seal of the Worm (2014 Review)
• War Master's Gate (Book 9)
• The Air War (Book 8)
• Heirs of the Blade (Book 7)
• The Sea Watch (Book 6)
• The Scarab Path (Book 5)
• Salute the Dark (Book 4)
• Blood of the Mantis (Book 3)
• Dragonfly Falling (Book 2)
• Empire in Black and Gold (Book 1)

Voyage of the Shaman (Shaman King #9) ★★★☆½ (Manga Monday)

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Title: Voyage of the Shaman
Series: Shaman King #9
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 208
Format: Digital Copy

Synopsis:

Yoh has broken Ren and Jun out from the dungeon their father has imprisoned them in. Ren insists he's going to confront Yuan again and Yoh decides to go along. They make it back to the hall where they see both Horohoro and Ryu being defeated by one of Yuan's super corpses. It is revealed to be Sha-wen, the old Master we met in an early volume. Jun appears with a fixed up Bai-Long and Bai-Long takes out his old master Sha-Wen quite easily.

Yuan comes crashing down on his throne and begins lecturing Ren and Jun and attacking everyone. Ryu and Horohoro cut his arms off but it has no effect on Yuan and he puts them back on and proceeds to demolish everybody. Ren finally has enough and everyone starts fighting with their “serious” faces on. Yuan reveals he's been pulling a Wizard of Oz for years and then Ren's mother and Grandfather show up. Everyone sits down for a merry family feast. For real. Ren is confirmed as the Tao heir and Yuan gives him some special family sword heirloom. Then everybody high tails it back to Tokyo for the next Shaman Fight.

All the Shamans assemble at an old Military base in Tokyo. Everyone is all chummy when some chump walks up and punches Horohoro through the porch. He introduces himself as Hao and says with absolute confidence that he is the future Shaman King. Hao reveals all the other shamans he's already subverted and tells Yoh to survive so he can be a good servant once Hao is Shaman King.

The Patch reveals a jumbo jet will be taking everyone to the Patch Village “In America” (say that in your BEST Bandit Keith voice). Hao and his confederates begin talking amongst themselves and it becomes obvious that they have inside information about what is going to happen. Turns out that the “jumbo jet” is just an oversoul of the Patch officiants and they dematerialize at 40,000 ft and 700 miles from the Patch village. The test is to survive the fall and find the Patch village in 3 months.

Our group combines their oversouls to create a last second cushion that allows them to survive the fall. The volume ends with Our Gang now in American but clueless as to where to go.

My Thoughts:

The fight with Yuan and everyone else was pretty good. It quickly resolved into the ridiculous and the denouement was Yuan's wife and father-in-law showing up with a table full of food for everyone. I was grinning like an idiot, because it fit, it really did. Unfortunately, the grandfather then goes on some philosophical spiel about good and evil being the same thing and all that mystical baloney. Have to admit, I wanted to shoot him for that. Let's see him talk about good and evil while his guts are coming out of his back!

That Hao. Ugh, what a complete creep! He's so obviously the bad guy that I hate him already. And the fact that he's got an entourage and knows what is going to happen means underhanded skullduggery. Finally, we get a real badguy we can root against!

I was pretty happy with this volume. A good solid fight and the reveal of the slimey badguy. Oh, Dr Faust the 8^th and his spirit Eliza show up at the end of volume falling through the air. A guy in a wheelchair cackling like mad at Our Gang (which is what I'm now going to use for the group we've come to know as the good guys) as they flail around at 40,000 ft. How perfect does THAT ridiculous image fit in this manga? It fits just right :-D

★★★☆½

• Shaman King #7-9 (2007 Review)
• Road Trip to Izuma (Book 6)
• Clash at Mata Cemetary (Book 7)
• The Road to the Tao Stronghold (Book 8)