Black Cat

by Kentaro Yabuki

This week I decided to review one of my favorite manga series. (The anime is entertaining, but isn’t nearly as interesting or deep.) For those who don’t know, manga is the Japanese version of comic books, but they are more book and less magazine like. Just like American comics, they aren’t always child appropriate. BLACK CAT isn’t for children, but for teens and above. This is a fantasy story that deals with bounty hunters, nanobots, a secret peace-keeping organization, and a loveable main character who only wants to make up for what he did in the past.

The things that draw me in:
I love the characters. My favorites was Sven and Eve and the connection that they had. The scene where they first meet just sets the stage for what is to come. They make each other stronger. Eve’s ability is neat and how it matures over the course of the series. While it isn’t the most original, her character is. The other characters are good, though some of them could be considered trope by manga standards.

When talking about manga, I have to talk about the artwork as well. The characters are vivid and unique. The world isn’t as defines, but the characters really carry the story so it didn’t bother me. This isn’t the most high end art, but it was clear and got the point across.

I like that it has an end. Some series don’t always leave me feeling satisfied after I finish them.

The things that kick me out:
Creed, the antagonist, was a little over the top. I can understand that he is supposed to be a little off of his rocker. But, I feel that when a villain is completely insane, I can’t believe that he would actually be able to be a fully competent protagonist.

There are a lot of characters and I thought they could have gotten rid of some of them and added more depth to others. This was especially true with the villains. I have noticed that a lot of manga have this issue.

I actually didn’t like the flashbacks as much. I like the main story better than learning about Train’s past, but that is probably because I like Sven and Eve more than Train.

Conclusion
Should you read it? I think that this is a good manga to get started on if you have always wanted to try it.

Should you buy it? It is an investment since you will be buying roughly 12 paperbacks. You will want to read it first, though if you want to buy the first one to see if you like it, that isn’t as expensive and will give you a taste of what is going on.

Moving at Last

Last Friday we finally closed on our house. It has been nearly five months and two houses later. Now we get to leisurely move. We are paid through the end of March in our trailer, so we have some time before we have to be out. We take a truckload or two a night. I still can't believe that we got such a nice house. Part of me feels guilty, but first, we can afford it, and second, there wasn't much of an option in the houses for sale. This was the cheaper of the ones we looked at. The other was a mansion. While it would have been neat, it wasn't as practical and didn't have as much liveable space. Now if we can just figure out where to go to get the water turned back on. We know who, we just can't find the office. I never thought this would happen in such a small town.

Scarlet

by Marissa Meyer

SCARLET is the second book in THE LUNAR CHRONICLES. The first book is CINDER. I was looking forward to this book because I enjoyed CINDER so much. This is a YA science fiction with fantasy elements. This isn’t just a retelling of the fairy tale, but rather a whole new take on it. Just because you know the fairy tale, it doesn’t mean you know how the story will end, especially with SCARLET.

The things that draw me in:
The background behind the character Wolf. I thought I had him figured out, but there was more to him than I initially realized. Granted some other readers may be quicker at figuring it out than I was. Not only Wolf, but the other new characters in addition to the ones from CINDER, were unique and drew me in.

The blending of science fiction and fantasy is marvelous. It adds a depth to the story that I feel other YA stories are missing. This also includes the way the fairy tale is incorporated. It just adds another depth and keeps me interested. I am a fan of fairy tales but the book can get old if it isn’t done well.

I like the fact that Scarlet was 18. Random, I know, but it is the truth.

The things that kick me out:
I thought the beginning was kind of slow. Part of the problem I decided is that there were more viewpoint characters. I wanted to stick with one character longer. The jumping around added for more redundancy because we got the same information from multiple perspectives at times. However, by half way I didn’t feel as bothered by it.

The character Scarlet was annoying at times. She was so one track minded that I was bothered by how it made her stupid. I think if it was toned down at times it might have been a little better or at least not pulled me out.

As a side note, I don’t like this cover as much as CINDER. It is still better than a lot of the photograph covers, but it doesn’t have the same impact.

Conclusion
Should you read it? If you enjoyed CINDER, read this one. Sci-fi Red Riding Hood and villian's mind-controlling lunar powers = awesome.

Should you buy it? It is a book I want to own because I know I will read it again. Despite how much I was annoyed by Scarlet, the interaction between her and Wolf made me happy.

League of Utah Writers

I have been working on getting a list of potential speakers together for the League of Utah Writers – Fall Conference. The conference isn’t until next year, but I like to panic, early and often. I was trying to decide if it was a good thing that I am doing this early. I wanted to make sure that the people that I asked wouldn’t have anything else planned, but now I am worried that people are reading the date wrong. I had someone tell me that they were already booked for September. Either I needed to ask earlier or there was a failure to communicate.

As I have been thinking through the possible speakers I always have a nagging voice in the back of my head that I am going to let some people down. I am primarily a science fiction and fantasy reader and writer. The majority of the authors that come to mind write these genres. I keep going through my list of authors and changing it back and forth while trying to get a good balance of writers and poets.

I have learned that the hardest part is coming up with some keynote speakers. I need at least two, if not a few more. My mentor told me that the best place to decide who is good is to look up them up on YouTube. Only truthfully, I don’t like YouTube. I guess that I should just bite the bullet and do it. I mean there have been previous keynote speakers that have been less than desirable, only it wasn’t that their speaking topic wasn’t interesting. They just went three times longer than they were supposed to. I need to come up with a way to make sure that the speakers don’t go over. My idea includes tennis balls, or perhaps a foghorn.

I guess I should put panicking about the Fall Conference on hold. I mean I still have to get through the Spring Workshop in April. I had a nightmare about it a week or so ago. Everything was perfect, except I had forgotten to order the food. I was running around trying to find enough food for everyone. Ever since that nightmare I have been wanting to order the food, but I keep reminding myself that I can’t until I have a better idea of how many people will actually be there.

Let the panicking begin.