Manga Challenge Reviews October - December and Wrap Up Posts

Please post the links to your manga challenge reviews using Mister Linky below. If you do not have a blog please feel free to email me and I can post it for you. Alternatively please add it to the comments section on this post. Also please add a link to your wrap up posts to be eligable for a prize for completing.

Once again please feel free to read more than 6 if you have the time and money. I know I will be!

Manga Challenge Returns in 2010

So the Manga Challenge will be returning in 2010. I have made it's own dedicated blog this year and full details can be found there : http://mangachallenge.blogspot.com/ It has the mister linky sign up as well.

Thanks again to Nymeth and her boyfriend for the lovely buttons. Hope to see you in the challenge!

Apologies or Why I am a Bad Blogger

So I have prefaced this apology with a cute picture of Eris sleeping on my face! It's a distracation from how rubbish I have been. For the last few months I haven't been keeping up to date with my reviews. I also haven't been commenting much on other blogs. I am so sorry, I am still here reading your blogs but mostly form my phone where I can't leave comments. I have been feeling really low lately with not a lot of energy, but I feel really guilty for not being around more. My aim is to get up to date on my book reviews at the end of the year and that in the New Year I will clear my reader and start again getting to all of your blogs again. It is one of my New Years Resolutions!

Pretties, Specials & Extras - Scott Westerfeld

Rating : 4.0/5
Number of Pages : 370
Series : #2 Uglies
Format : Teenage Fiction, Science Fiction
Reason for Reading : Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge, to continue with the series

Tally Youngblood is back after the events of Uglies, but now she is a Pretty. The Pretty operation is what happens to everyone when they reach 16. They have their face and body changed to conform to Pretty standards. She lives with the other Pretties who form cliques/clans. They party all the time, have access to as many clothes and amusements as they want and generally have no responsibilities.

Tally is part of the Crim clique and their thing is pulling tricks like they did in their younger Ugly days. It gives them a buzz and helps them wake up from the Pretty haze that they otherwise live in. Tally is drawn to fellow Crim Zane and the two of them quickly start spending more and more time together. Events from Tally's past though don't stay buried for long and people form the Smoke start appearing to her with a series of clues and tests for her to follow. Trouble is, will she like what she finds at the end and where will it take her next.

This was a lot of fun. I like Tally and it was good to meet some new characters like Zane and Andrew Simpson Smith. The story moved on nicely and I am looking forward to the next in the series.

Rating : 4.5/5
Number of Pages : 372
Series : #3 Uglies
Format : Teenage Fiction, Science Fiction
Reason for Reading : Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge, to continue with the series

The third and final in the main Uglies series. Tally and co return again this time as Specials. There is still tension between Tally and Shay, but it is surpressed now that Shay is the leader. They are still trying to stamp out the New Smoke and Tally is keen to get Zane to join their team to make him better after the events in Pretties. The Specials are fighting machines, they are Cruel Pretties designed to instil fear into others and were created by Dr Cable just in their city.

Shay leads the Crim group in a chase of the Uglies, but they capture Fausto leaving Tally alone to save Shay. They take Shay too and Tally decides to follow them and ends up meeting up with Andre Simpson Smith again to get coordinates. It takes her on a journey to the New Smoke and another city. She learns the truth finally and gets involved in a war.

A great conclusion to the story. I was glad it didn't have a completely happy ending, it was quite a realistic series despite the sci-fi elements and this made it more so. I am interested to see how Extras fits in as the story closes quite nicely.

Rating : 4.0/5
Number of Pages : 417
Series : #4
Format : Teenage Fiction, Science Fiction
Reason for Reading : Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge, to continue with the series

Aya lives in what must have once been Tokyo, Japan. Their city works on a system of face ranks. Everyone has their own feed and those that are the most popular have a higher face rank and are more recognised and watched. Aya's rank is 451,369 and she dreams of being in the top 1000 so she can be invited to the thousands ball. She is a kicker, someone who writes about stories and uncovers hidden things bringing them into the open. Her brother if one of the most famous kickers in the city and she has a lot to live up to.

She stumbles across a group of girls one night who ride the mag-lev trains which is illegal and very dangerous. If she can get enough information and footage on her flying camera Moggle she can kick the story and really increase her face rank. The question is, is she comfortable lying and betraying her new friends? She has also started hanging out with Frizz, someone with a much higher face rank than her who had surgery making him unable to lie. He wouldn't take kindly to her lying to others either.

An interesting addition to the main series. It's a completely new story in a new city, but it does link back to Tally and her experiences as she is the most famous person and has a face rank of 1 despite never having been seen. There is more scope to add books to the series which I hope happens.

October Summary

Check out the awesome set of cat nail polishes I got yesterday, each colour has a different kitty picture on it. How cool!

Not a bad month for reading although I read mostly manga and graphic novels. I am at that time of year when my reading is really lagging and I still have so many challenges I want to complete. I did finish the RIP IV, What's in a Name II and Scott Westerfeld Challenges this month though so I can cross some off. I am still very behind with reviews, now a whopping 18 which is the highest so far. I just seem to have so many things pulling me in different directions at the moment. I am going to the gym more and am really into playing Disgaea on the PSP which have both caused my reading slump. I really want to finish the 666 and Vampire Challenges this year as well as the ones with Mariel and Nymeth so I will be prioritising these.

Books Read = 17, Total = 159
Pages Read = 4,156, Total = 35,955

Manga Challenge : 6/6 plus 14 alternatives
Scott Westerfeld Mini Challenge : 3/3 COMPLETED
Arthurian Challenge II : 1/6 (read 6-8 books)
What's in a Name Challenge II : 6/6 COMPLETED
Challenge with Nymeth : 1/5
Challenge with Mariel : 0/5
Graphic Novel Challenge II : 15/18
Guardian Challenge : 42/50
Vampire Challenge : 1/2
666 Reading Challenge : 18/36
GLBT Challenge : 5/6
Sookie Stackhouse Challenge : 0/9
LJ Smith Challenge : 0/6
RIP Challenge : 4/4 COMPLETED

100 Mile Challenge : 35/100

RIP IV Challenge Wrap Up

The annual RIP Challenge is now nearly over and I am all completed. Carl posed a series of Perils and I went for the First option which was to read 4 books from the following topics : Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror and Supernatural. The challenge ran from 1/9/09 until 31/10/09. I decided to mix up the types of books I read so I choose an urban fantasy, a manga, a graphic novel and an audiobook.

The four books I read with links to their reviews were :

1. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

2. Homecoming - Patricia Briggs

3. The Rest Falls Away - Colleen Gleason

4. Bizenghast v6 - M Alice LeGrow


I also read a few other books during the two months and am still putting up my reviews :

• Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
• Claimed by Shadow - Karen Chance
• Embrace the Night - Karen Chance
• Kith - Holly Black & Ted Naifeh
• Season of Mists - Neil Gaiman
  

All of the reviews can be found at the dedicated reivew site here.

Bizenghast v6 - M Alice LeGrow

Rating : 3.5/5
Number of Pages : 192
Series : #6 Bizenghast
Format : Manga
Reason for Reading : RIP IV Challenge, to continue with the series

Dinah is back releasing the ghosts in the masouleum. She is nearly at the final levels now and has gotten further in the job than any other human for the last 40 years. She is due to meet the third guardian, Eniri, to recieve a special gift that will help her with the final vaults. When she goes with Edaniel and Edrear to see her she is gone. It also seems that the seed of the mausaleum is missing too. It looks like Eniri has taken it which doesn't make any sense.

The three discover another shocking secret and when Dinah returns to the world above she finds the inhabitants of Bizenghast seem to have all gone mad. They need to figure out the dark secret of the town and fast. Edrear is still stuggling with his feelings for Dinah and she is really blossoming into a confident young woman.

Another gothic slice of beautifulness. The artwork is stunning as always and I am really intrigued to see how the final installment wraps everything up. I feel that there are so many loose ends at the moment and am not sure if they will all end in the final novel. Depending on how Alice leaves it, there could be spin off stories or follow ups.

The Rest Falls Away - Colleen Gleason

Rating : 4.0/5
Number of Pages : 347
Series : #1 The Gardella Vampire Chronicles
Format : Urban Fantasy Novel
Reason for Reading : RIP IV Challenge

Meet Victoria Gardella, the latest in a long line of vampire hunters. In each generation a Gardella is born with the innate gifts allowing them to hunt and kill vampires. It is up to them is they accept the call. If they do they must first pass a test and kill a vampire. If they succeed they are given a piece of blessed jewellry, a vis bulla, that gives them extra strength, power and healing.

Set in Jane Austen times when girls have coming out debutant parties. Victoria has to balance her vampire staking duties with balls, picking out new gowns and falling in love. Some of the other vampire hunters (Venator's) believe that you can either be a Venator or settle down, marry and have children. Victoria particularly butts head with Max who is a Venator by choice rather than family calling. He lost family members to vampires and has devoted his life to killing them ever since. Victoria has other ideas though and her Aunt thinks the best thing is to let her take her own path.

Think Pride and Prejudice meets Buffy. The setting made it stand out from the many other vampire series out there although it does take a lot of inspiration from Buffy (I love Buffy though so that's not a bad thing!). There is a twist near the end which was not unexpected, but the final ending was. It ends on a sad note and I am glad that the story is not completely romanticised. It made it seem more realistic somehow.

Homecoming - Patricia Briggs

Rating : 3.5/5
Number of Pages : 112
Series : Prequel to Mercy Thompson Series
Format : Urban Fantasy Graphic Novel
Reason for Reading : RIP IV Challenge, I love the Mercy Thompson books

Let's take a step back into the world of Mercy Thompson. This graphic novel sets the scene for the rest of the novels as it is a prequel and tells of Mercy first coming to Washington. Mercy is a walker, a magical being who can shapeshift into a coyote. She travels to Washington for a job interview to work in a school. The interview doesn't turn out quite as planned and she somehow manages to get involved in a gang war between two rival packs of werewolves.

Her mother is also posing a problem as she thinks Mercy is ruining her life and she is determined to sort Mercy out once and for all. We see how she meets Zee, Stefan and Adam for the first time. We also see how she first begins working at the garage which Zee later sells to her. There is also an interview with Briggs at the end which was really interesting as well as some character sketches.

I liked the style after I got used to it. There was quite a lot of nudity which Briggs felt apprioriate for Mercy changing shape. I have put in a couple of pictures of the strips to give you an idea of the artwork. The story was interesting and I hope Briggs decides to do some more graphic novels to expand on the existing novels.