Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda

An American ambulance driver of Hispanic and Irish descent in WWI, Jade del Cameron’s beau, David, died in her arms, making her promise to find his brother after the war, and give him their father’s legacy. Except, according to David’s mother, he was an only child, and Jade eventually realizes that the brother must be a half brother from the father’s time in Africa, which he had returned to shortly before his death, only to die there. (The book explains this far better than I can at 11:45 pm…)

After the war, she gets a job with a magazine and goes to Africa to write and photograph an article on a safari, hoping that the British expatriates she meets will be able to help her in her search. Except, of course, she begins to suspect that the death of David’s father was no accident, especially when others begin to die in a similar manner. While she hears-and is interested in-rumors of a laiban, a witch doctor that can turn into a savage animal, but begins to suspect a man who has trained wild beasts.

The book skirts around the obvious issues of race-both in Africa and Jade’s own heritage-but makes enough nods to the conditions of the time period to show that she’s aware of them. While most of the focus is on Jade and the expatriates, the natives are treated as independent characters, and at least one is set up to be a major player in later books, and not in the typically subservient manner. Being raised on a ranch in the 19-teens and an ambulance driver in the war makes Jade pretty convincingly hard and capable, and she also seems to have a bit of shellshock.  Actually, more than a bit, and I'm assuming (hoping) that this will be explored in future books, now the the place, cast and time are all set up.  I was a bit leery of this one going in, but I’m glad I gave it a chance, especially as my 19-teens India book ended up a disappointment (the “detective” was having people explain everything to him in miniscule detail, and while not terrible, the atmosphere was lacking-unlike this book-and the handling of natives wasn’t giving me a lot of hope.)

manga: Moon Child Vol 1

The Little Mermaid according to Hans Christian Andersen(simplified): The title character is the youngest daughter of the sea king. When she saves a human prince, she falls in love with him. He, however, thinks a human princess is the one who saved him, and they fall in love. The mermaid makes a bargain with the sea witch exchanging her voice for legs, with the condition that she has to make him fall in love with her, and if he marries someone else, she will turn into sea foam the next day. To save her, the mermaid’s sisters trade their hair to the sea witch in exchange for a knife. If the mermaid kills her prince, she will become a mermaid again, and live for decades. Unable to kill her love just to save herself, she throws herself into the sea, and her body becomes sea foam, but her spirit is able to live on and perform god deeds.

The Little Mermaid according to Reiko Shimizu: Mermaids are aliens. Earth is their breeding ground. Every few hundred years, they swim through space to reach Earth, even though this cn take decades. The Little Mermaid, Seira, was destined to breed with a merman named Pronto. Instead, she fell in love with a human prince. To prove her love, she betrays the merpeople, declaring them to be witches and creating the witch hunts that would plague the merpeople who came to Earth to breed for centuries.

( I...I don't even know what would qualify as spoilers here... )

This manga is wrong is every way it possibly can be wrong, but is strangely fascinating. Mind you, some of it is just from the fact that Japan managed to come up with something else that shocked me.  I suspect we are going to eventually go the "overcoming fate and carving our own destiny" route.  This actually somewhat disappoints me, as it would indicate an eventual romance between Art and Jimmy as opposed to the "destined" relationship with Shona.  I don't find either option particularly appealing at this point, but am much less appalled by the idea of a relationship with Shona than one with Art so far.  It came out in the 80s. I think Clamp, Kaori Yuki, and You Higuri all took detailed notes.

rachelmanija 's tag.
oyceter 's  post on the first 7 volumes.

shaenon 's mostly unspoilery overview, WITH  PICTURES!


ETA: If you have links to other posts on the series, send them this way.

Is there something in the water?

☆♥☆ Shojo Beat Friending Meme ☆♥☆

(no subject)

I feel like making icons before I forget how to but can't decide what of.  Anyone want to make a recommendation?  (That is something that might actually inspire me-read: that I like-and that I can get graphics of fairly easily.  I was gearing up to Claymore anime icons, but those caps are still on the computer, not the laptop.)

manga: I Hate You More Than Anyone Vol 1

From the description of this, I was expecting it to be a Love Triangle of Doom that would drive me up the wall. Seventeen-year-old Kazuha is the oldest of six children, very responsible, and an unintentional tomboy. The only person to ever treat her like a normal girl is Mitzushima, the teacher of her five-year-old brother. Meanwhile, Mitzushima’s friend, Sugimoto, a hairdresser, always comes to the daycare on the days Kazuha picks her brother up to tease her. Sugimoto claims to love Kazuha, but she can’t stand him. Kazuha, however, decides to confess her feelings to Mitzushima. When she asks Sugimoto for advice, he tells her that she’s mistaking admiration for love. Kazuha, of course, reacts badly to this, but realizes he’s right when she learns Mitzushima is engaged.

At this point, I stop twitching as much over the romantic aspect, as the threat of a love triangle is done away with by the end of the first chapter. Kazuha also uses this to actually think about her feelings, and wonder if she’ll be able to tell when she really does like someone, and to reconsider her feelings for Sugimoto. In all honesty, I think that Kazuha/Sugimoto, as characters, make for a pretty fun pairing. However, while I have no problems with the idea of a seventeen-year-old crushing on a twenty-four-year-old, I do have problems with a twenty-four-year-old fawning over and aggressively pursuing a seventeen-year-old.

Reading this, I was thinking of the various manga with pairings with similar or greater age differences that don’t bother me, and I realized that in the others, it’s either the younger one doing the pursuing/expressing the interest, or it figuratively-or literally-takes other cast members bashing their heads together and presenting them with a detailed diagram explaining that they like each other. My problems here were compounded in one scene, where Sugimoto has convinced Kazuha to let him cut her hair. He wants to cut it short but knows she won’t let him, so he stages a friend with a female friend, pretending that they’re lovers and his “affection” for Kazuha is all so she’ll let him cut her hair, the-successful-goal being to get her so mad at him that she cuts her own him to “thwart” him. Then the truth is revealed, and all is well. Now, I don’t know exactly how the mangaka meant for the scene to come across, but what I got out of it was a pair of adults playing a vicious prank on a teenaged girl and toying with her feelings to get their way. And more minor complaint: the short hair makes Kazuha and her brother look too much alike.

However, while I’m not quite comfortable with the romantic aspect yet, Kazuha’s family is great and ranges from adorable chibis to her deadpan teenaged brother to her strong-willed fourteen-year-old sister. From the author’s notes, I gather that the family has appeared in other stories of hers. Then there’s Kazuha’s school. Kazuha goes to an all girl’s school. Like most schools, there’s someone that all the students have to fangirl over. Here, that’s Kazuha and her “rival” (in the classic “antagoistic rival means sooper sekrit best friend and they will keel you if you mess with the other” way) Renka, who has a crush of Sugimoto. Kazuha gets love letters from other girls. Renka teases her over them. They have public fights that I think turn their classmates into shippers. Meanwhile, there’s their mutual super-girly friend (I didn’t catch her name) who encourages this and points out that they’re everyone’s idols and takes secret pictures of them to sell to the fangirls. I kind of love all three.

Short version: Not so sure about the romance yet, but the book as a whole is pretty fun.